Page 42 of Claimed By Ruin

“Apparently not,” I said, a smile on my face. “There’s a distribution center about thirty miles out. Looks like a couple of trucks got tangled up in traffic, so all this stuff was just sitting there.”

“And the truck?”

“Drove it right off the lot. And saw an obnoxious yellow one that has your name on it.”

The screen door slammed before Miles could respond, and I heard thudding feet and turned to see Lourdes running off the porch, Asia a step behind her.

She hadn’t taken the time to dress, and was wearing the too-tight T-shirt she slept in, braless, eyes wide with adrenaline, sockless feet stuffed into her boots. Not even the end of the world would allow Asia to walk outside barefoot.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Look at all this stuff Jack found!” Miles said.

“What?” Asia asked, blinking and wiping at her face.

“Yeah. I got all this stuff. A new truck too.” I grinned like a fucking fool.

“What is all this?” Lourdes asked.

“I found an eighteen-wheeler, but didn’t want to risk the attention of bringing it back, so I improvised. We’ll go out later and get the rest of the stuff,” I said, “but I got the most important things first.”

Lourdes stepped over to the truck. “And this? Formula, diapers, a crib?”

“For the baby,” I responded, looking at Asia.

Her eyes widened, and I watched her sink into herself.

“This crib is beautiful,” Lourdes said, her voice deliberately light, “at least the picture on the box is.” She gestured towards Miles. “Start unloading.”

Miles had already beat her to the punch. He’d grabbed the hand truck and started to unload cab. “Caitlin’s gonna have a lot of inventory to manage,” the kid said excitedly.

Asia looked at me, looked at Lourdes, who gave her a gentle smile, and then turned and marched back into the house.

“Go,” Lourdes said, looking at me now.

I barely spared her a glance before I followed. I found Asia pacing in her bedroom.

She stopped when I entered and closed the door behind me, her eyes aflame with fury.

“What the fuck was that?” she said, her voice shockingly calm, especially with the fire in her eyes.

“Can’t keep it a secret for much longer,” I said with a shrug.

“Oh, and it’s for you to decide when that changes?” she said.

“I found some stuff. Brought it back. There’s no reason to try to pretend—this is happening,” I said.

She gawked at me, and I pushed against the door and took a few steps across the room, stopping in front of her.

“Do you think he’ll like this?”

I lifted the tiny, plush gray elephant I held and handed it to her.

She took it from my hands, but still didn’t look at me. Her gaze was focused on the elephant, which she held like it was the most fragile glass. Like it was precious. The way I knew she’d hold our baby.

She pulled one of the soft, floppy ears and stroked a finger over the elephant’s baby-blue T-shirt, her eyes soft and gentle.

“Yeah. He will,” she said, her voice soft, wistful.