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“I know what you mean.”

“Like, how the fuck do we find him if all we have to go on are the breadcrumbs he wanted us to find? He’s leading us in goddamn circles and I’m losing my shit over here.”

I lean against the wall of the office and drop my head back. “I know what you mean. Pretty sure I’m single handedly ruining my relationship.”

“That sucks, dude. I actually like Piper. She’s good for you.”

“Yeah…” I mutter as the idea I had in the truck pops into my mind. “Hey, do you think this guy would meddle in our lives? Like send our women flowers and make fake hotel reservations?”

He scoffs. “At this point, I don’t even know how to answer that. We know about the girls but he has probably been messing with us in other ways that we don’t even know about. Who knows what he’s actually done.”

“Right,” I reply. It’s the answer I wanted but it doesn’t make me feel any better. “All right, man. I gotta get back inside before the doctor calls Piper back.”

“Whoa. Is she okay?”

I grin, remembering his reaction to Tate’s news at our housewarming party. “Yeah. We just found out she’s pregnant.”

“Motherfuckers. All of you,” he says before hanging up the phone and I laugh as I slip it back into my pocket and walk back into the office.

“Piper,” a woman in pink scrubs calls from an open door as soon as I step inside and I glance over at Piper as she stands up. Relief washes over her face when her eyes meet mine and we meet halfway across the waiting room, locking our hands together as we stop in front of the nurse. She smiles at us and turns. “Follow me, please.”

We trail behind her and after she takes Piper’s weight and blood pressure, she leads us back to a room with a table, two chairs, and a desk. As I sit down in the chair, she hands Piper a paper gown.

“Just put this on. The doctor will be in shortly.”

Piper smiles. “Thank you.”

She closes the door and Piper jumps off the table and pulls her dress over her head before slipping out of her panties and pulling the gown on. When she’s covered again, she grabs her clothes off of the table and folds them, setting them in the chair next to me.

“You gonna ignore me all day, baby?” I ask as she sits up on the table and she shrugs.

“I don’t know. You gonna keep acting weird?”

Leaning forward, I drop my head into my hands. “I don’t know, Pip.”

“I was thinking about going to your parents’ house again this weekend. Tell them the good news, you know?”

“Yeah,” I whisper, meeting her gaze again. “That sounds good.”

“Did it help? When we went last time?”

The memories of last weekend flash through my mind and I scrub my hand over my face, unable to believe that was only a week ago when I feel like it’s been months since then. Being back home did help but I’m not so sure how well it would work a second time. As I look up at my wife, I feel so much love it feels like my heart might bust open but there is also that little voice in my head, screaming all my doubts and suspicions back at me.

I’m at war, with myself, with her, and with this threat shadowing all of our lives. It’s constant, teasing me, tormenting me, and it’s not hard for me to understand how Piper spiraled out of control so easily when I deployed. Most days, I feel like I am one more incident away from losing it but the only thing that holds me together is the knowledge of what could happen to Piper if I’m not here to keep her safe.

“Wyatt,” she whispers, tears welling up in her eyes as she stares at me. “Please talk to me.”

I can’t though.

I can’t tell her all the awful thoughts running through my head because she needs me to be the strong one. She needs me to hold everything together, for her.

I open my mouth to assure her everything is okay when someone knocks on the door and before we can answer, the door swings up and the doctor, a lovely older woman, walks in, flashing me a smiling.

“Hello. I’m Dr. Ward.”

I nod, shaking her hand as she holds it out. “Wyatt.”

“You must be Piper, then,” she says, turning to my wife and glancing down at the chart in her hand. “I see you came in yesterday for the official pregnancy test so we’re just going to run over a few things and take a look at your little one today. That sound good?”