Page 145 of Pack Baby for the Silver Foxes

“Such as?”

“Implanting in my body without consulting my diary.”

I fell to my knees and put my hands on her hips. “I’ll speak to them.”

“Please do. You may have more authority.” She glanced down at her belly. “Now listen to your dada.”

I looked up. “You said dada.”

She looked down at me on my knees. “But that’s what you and Hudson are.”

I lowered my mouth to her belly. “It sounded right, didn’t it?”

Her scent trembled. Then she said, “Well, I’m growing them. It would be rude if they called you Barry or me, Barbara.”

“Barry?” Hudson laughed. So did I.

Mary smiled, but her eyes were wet.

I kissed her tummy and whispered, “Keep being good.”

Then I stood. Hudson nodded for me to tell her.

She sighed like she already knew.

Hudson came to her other side. “Mary,” he said, “we need to talk about Damien.”

The light left her face. “Now?”

“Soon,” Hudson said. “Not tonight if you can’t.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “He’s coming in a few days..”

“Yes.”

“And he doesn’t know about me and he’s going to think I ruined everything.”

“He may,” I said.

Hudson looked at me, but I wouldn’t soften that lie for her.

“He may think that at first,” I said. “He will be hurt. Angry. Probably cruel.”

Mary flinched.

I put my hand on her stomach. “And he will still be wrong.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“You were his girlfriend,” I said. “You left him because he cheated and treated you badly. You didn’t know who we were. We didn’t know who you were. You didn’t trap us. You didn’t replace him.”

The word replace lodged between us.

Mary heard it too.

“Did she?” she asked. “Damien’s mother. Did she think she was being replaced?”