“This looks great, Honey,” Dad said. “Thanks.”
“Yeah,” Isaac said, shoving half a buttered roll into his mouth. “Great.”
Mom smacked him lightly on the back of the head. “No wonder you have no wife. You have no manners. Girls don’t want to see you shove as much food as possible into your mouth, Isaac.” She sighed. It was a long-suffering sound. She really had done her best to instill manners into us. Only about a third of them stuck. Dad’s genetics for stubbornness were just too strong.
“Yeah and chew with your damn pie hole closed,” I told him with a grin.
He flipped me off.
“Boys,” Dad said, not even looking up from his pot roast as he cut the tender meat up. “Enough.” We were thirty-three, thirty-five, and thirty-seven and he still called us boys.
Relay was too busy shoving his own dinner into his mouth to comment for once.
“When’s the last time you ate?” Mom asked him, concern filling her tone.
“This morning,” he grunted. He looked up. “I’m fine, Mom.”
Worrying about us was in her job description and she took it seriously. And we all worried about Relay more than anyone else. He’d been through so damn much during his time in the military. Our parents and brother didn’t know the half of it. But I did.
Relay shot me a look and I frowned when I read the apology in his dark brown eyes. Why was he looking at me like that? What was he-
Oh shit.
I didn’t even get the chance to non-verbally threaten him before he was chucking me under the damn bus.
“Bolo has some news.”
Bastard. He’s going to pay for that.
Our family had taken to using our road names—which started off as nicknames from our military days—so it was rare for any of us to use our given names anymore. Isaac was the only one who didn’t go by his nickname. He wasn’t in an MC and his name from the military had never really stuck. He just preferred Isaac, so that was what we went by.
“You do?” Mom asked, her hopeful eyes landing on me. And then the look in them sharpened as she focused fully on me. “You do.”
That second statement was more of a demand to tell her. The military seriously needed to employ her as an instructor at SERE school. She was so damn good at digging information out of you that it was actually impressive.
I shot Relay a look that promised retaliation. He just shrugged, happy enough to be out of the spotlight for the moment that he didn’t give a shit what happened later. “I thought I’d wait until-”
“Your thoughts always get you in trouble, may as well tell us now,” Dad said, a grin growing as he watched his wife study me.
Sighing, I looked back and forth at all the expectant faces. Even Relay was watching me with curiosity. It confirmed that he didn’t know what my news was, just that I had some. “I’m…seeing…someone.”
Mom beamed at me. “Finally!”
I chuckled at that. “We’re not exactly dating.”
Her smile slipped. “Why not?”
I blew out a breath. Was it better to beat around the bush or rip the bandage off fast? “She’s pregnant.” I went for the bandage method.
They all blinked at me, some trying to figure out exactly what that meant. I got her pregnant? She was pregnant before meeting me? I could read all the questions on their faces. “It’s my baby.”
The silence was so damn thick I could cut it with a knife. I gave Mom a quick look, then sighed. “Why are you crying?” There was panic building up inside me. I glanced over at Dad, who was now glaring at me for making his wife cry.
“You’re having a baby?” Mom asked, sniffing back tears.
I was sure at some point my news would sink in enough for me to get a lecture. But for now her face and eyes were soft and wistful. “Yeah.”
“Is your girl that cute young thing you met in the bar?” Dad asked. Then he winced as Mom’s head snapped in his direction.
