Taker - A Single Dad's New Baby Romance (Criminal Passions Book 4) Page 10

  My gut tensed as I looked around, trying to find any other clue as to who it might’ve been. But there was nothing. And for all I knew, whoever it was still watched me.

  I held the bat out in front of me, a hard expression on my face that sent the message I wasn’t scared.

  But I’d been put on edge. Any hope of being forgotten about was long gone.

  As I made my way back to the house, I tried to tell myself it might’ve been some random hiker, or maybe a neighbor out for a stroll.

  But the explanations didn’t take. Someone had been watching the house, someone skilled enough to make a silent getaway when they’d been spotted.

  Someone skilled enough for that kind of work.

  Marshall had possibly found us.

  And I had to be ready.

  Chapter 15

  Abbie

  “Morning.”

  I woke up to the same lovely sight I’d been lucky enough to wake up to every morning for the last several weeks.

  Tate was on his side in my bed, a slight smile painting his lips, his head propped on his arm. And he was bare from the waist up.

  But I was worried. And the knitting of his brow as he regarded me let me know he could tell.

  “What’s up?” he asked, moving his body close to mine.

  “Restless dreams,” I said, sitting up and curling my arms around my legs. “Didn’t sleep too well.”

  He sat up next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “What’s on your mind, Ab?”

  I took a deep breath, collecting my thoughts. “How long have we been here?”

  “A little over a month, I think.”

  “And no sign of Marshall,” I said. “Other than that night when you saw whoever that was out in the woods.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “And I’ve gone out every night looking for some sign of anyone out there. Nothing.”

  “What does it mean?” I asked. “There’s no way he’s just given up on us, right?”

  “Not a chance. But there’s the possibility that whoever it was wasn’t associated with Marshall. Maybe some Peeping Tom.”

  “Do you believe that?”

  The look on his face suggested he wanted to, but couldn’t. “I don’t. There’s no way Marshall would let us go like that.”

  “Then we need to start thinking about our next move,” I said. “We can’t stay here forever.”

  “And we can’t run forever either,” he said. “We leave, and he’ll just track us down wherever we end up.”

  I felt hopeless. I knew Tate was doing his best to protect me and Connor, but it seemed only a matter of time before the other shoe dropped.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m still reaching out to my contacts. There’s still a good chance one of them will get in touch and work with me to take him down.”

  “Or…maybe it’s time to get the law involved.”

  Tate’s hard expression showed he wasn’t a fan of this option, but I wasn’t about to let the matter drop so easily.

  “Tate, we have to consider it. I know you don’t want to work with the law, and I know there’s a chance Marshall will find out. But we can’t just wait for him to do whatever he has in mind.”

  “I know.”

  I waited for him to say more, but before he could, it hit me. My eyes went wide as a wave of incredible nausea rushed through me.

  Still naked, I sprang from bed and ran to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me.

  “Abbie?” called Tate as I dropped in front of the toilet.

  It took only a few seconds for me to totally empty my stomach into the bowl in front of me. The nausea faded, and I rolled onto my side as I let my body recover.

  “Abbie!” Tate knocked on the door. “You okay in there?”

  I took a few deep breaths before getting to my knees, flushing the toilet, and standing up.

  “Abbie? I’m coming in—”

  “Hold on!”

  I quickly brushed my teeth, then grabbed the robe hanging from the hook on the door, putting it on before taking a look in the mirror. My face was red, my eyes watering.

  What the hell had just happened?

  “Abbie! Let me know you’re okay?”

  I stepped to the door and opened it, Tate standing there in a pair of sleeping pants, a worried look on his face.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, giving me a once-over. “You get sick in there?”

  I moved past him and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting to make sure another wave of nausea wasn’t about to hit me. Tate joined me, placing a gentle hand on my back.

  “Yeah,” I said. “It was really weird. Totally out of nowhere.”

  “But you feel all right now?”

  “I think so.”

  He kept his eyes on me for a moment longer before getting up and grabbing the laptop he’d recently bought from the electronics store in town. He set it on the desk, opened it, and started typing.

  “What’re you doing?” I asked.

  “Checking out some of the doctors in the area.”

  “Tate, you don’t need to do that. I’m fine.”

  “You went from ‘fine’ to ‘sick’ to ‘fine’ again. That’s not exactly normal, Ab.”

  “It passed. Probably just dinner last night not agreeing with me.”

  “I’m not about to take any chances. If we need to up and leave, we can’t have you being sick. Not to mention it’s my job to look out for you.”

  I opened my mouth to protest but thought better of it. I’d spent enough time with Tate to know he didn’t compromise when it came to matters like this.

  “Found one. Give me a second.”

  I watched as he took the phone and rang up the doctor. He walked around the room as he spoke, giving the doctor a fake name and asking if there were any openings for that day.

  “All right, great. See you then.” He hung up and turned to me. “They can get us in at eleven. Perks of being in a small town.”

  “Did they say what they think it is?”

  “No. Best to talk to the professionals and see what they say. Come on, let’s get some breakfast and let Connor know we’re heading into town later.”

  “We don’t all need to go. I can do it on my own.”

  “Not a chance I’m letting you go by yourself. We still don’t know who’s out there, and you being alone might be just the thing Marshall’s waiting for.” His tone was hard, uncompromising. “If you were to go into town and not come back… That’s not an option.”

  Nothing seemed to make him angrier than the idea of something happening to Connor or me. And he had a good point.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s do this.”

  We quickly showered and threw on some clothes, ready to wake up Connor. But to our surprise, he wasn’t in his bed. The two of us headed down to the kitchen and spotted him in there at the stove, making breakfast.

  “Good morning!” he said, grinning over his shoulder. “I’m making scrambled eggs.”

  Tate and I stepped to his side, and sure enough, that’s what he was doing. And he seemed to be handling himself well.

  “And I made coffee, too.”

  “How the heck do you know how to make coffee?” asked Tate, taking the pot out of the machine and giving it a look over.

  “I’ve been watching you guys.”

  Tate and I shared a proud look as Connor went on.

  “I wanted to wake you up, Dad. But when I went into your room, you weren’t there.”

  Tate and I shared another look, this one of mild worry. We’d been keeping our relationship, or whatever it was, hidden from Connor. But we knew it was only a matter of time before he found out something was going on between the two of us—he was too bright not to notice.

  “Uh, don’t worry about it,” said Tate, glossing over the matter for the time being. “Anyway, kiddo—we’re taking the morning off from school stuff. Going to make a little trip into town.”

  His eyes lit up. “Can we get lunc
h at the diner? I want a milkshake!”

  “If we’ve got time, sure. But let’s hurry up with breakfast, okay? We all need to get ready.”

  I helped him finish the eggs and made a few pieces of toast to go with them. Breakfast was quick and tense, though Connor seemed oblivious as he chatted about school and his plans for cooking and everything else on his mind.

  I had to admit I was worried. What if I’d come down with something serious? I didn’t tell Tate, but my nausea that morning hadn’t been the first time I’d experienced it. But it had been the first incidence of vomiting.

  Whatever was going on with me, it was getting worse.

  We finished up breakfast, Tate taking care of the cleaning while I got Connor ready. Once we were ready to go, the three of us loaded up in the truck and headed down the winding, forest-shaded road down into Williamston.

  An hour later I was seated in the doctor’s office. The nurse, a friendly middle-aged woman with short, silver hair, came into the room where I sat and started off with the usual series of questions.

  But there was one, in particular, that gave me pause.

  “How long has it been since your last period?”

  I stopped, trying to think of the answer.

  “It was…hm. I mean, I’m always pretty regular. It was before we got here, so maybe five weeks ago?” I said the words as if there wasn’t anything noteworthy about them.

  The nurse’s next question dispelled that idea.

  “Are you on birth control?”

  “I mean, I’ve been taking it. I might have missed a day a few weeks back, but I figured it’d probably be okay.”

  “And you’ve been sexually active?”

  Tension formed in my stomach as it became clear what she was getting at. And the next question, this one from me, burst out of my mouth.

  “Am I pregnant?”

  She set down the clipboard where she’d been taking notes and sat down in the chair across from the examination table.

  “It would certainly explain your symptoms. But I don’t like to speculate without running some tests first. What I’m going to do is take some blood work. We’ll send that down to the lab and should have the results in a few days.”

  “A few days? What about those quick pregnancy tests?”

  “Best to wait for the blood work. It’ll let us know beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

  The rest of the appointment passed in a blur. The nurse left, coming back with an assistant who helped her draw some blood. After a little more work, I was back in the waiting room.

  Tate and Connor looked up when I came in.

  “Everything okay?” asked Tate.

  “Are you sick?” asked Connor.

  I didn’t know how to answer.

  “Can we stop by the pharmacy?” I asked, my voice small. “I need to get something.”

  Tate was worried, and I knew I couldn’t hold the truth of the situation back for long.

  “What do you need to get?”

  “Come on,” I said, hurriedly leading the two of them out of the office and onto the street.

  When Connor was momentarily distracted by a dog someone was walking, I leaned close to Tate and whispered into his ear.

  “I’ll tell you when we get back. But he can’t hear. Pharmacy first, okay?”

  His expression turned grave. “Sure.” He turned to Connor. “Hey, kiddo. Abbie’s not feeling well. How about we get lunch to-go?”

  “Sure,” said Connor, not seeming bothered by the situation.

  Together we went to the diner to put in the to-go order, but I wasn’t hungry in the least. All I could think about was what the nurse had said.

  While the food was being prepared, we went to the pharmacy.

  “Mind waiting out here while I go in?” I asked Tate.

  I could sense he wanted some answers, but at the same time was fine with giving me a little privacy until we got back.

  “Sure.” He opened his wallet and removed a pair of twenties. “This enough?”

  “Should be. Thanks.” I pocketed the money and hurried into the store. I didn’t take long, grabbing three tests, figuring one might be wrong, but three wouldn’t, paying for them, and leaving. After a stop back at the diner to pick up the food, we were on our way back, my stomach tight with worry the entire way.

  Once back at the cabin, I hurried inside and ran upstairs to the bathroom.

  “Go ahead and get started,” I heard Tate call out to Connor. “Be right there, bud.”

  However worried I was before, now it was even worse—I had to tell Tate. No holding it back from him.

  “All right,” he said as he came into the bedroom. “Let me in on what’s going on.”

  I still had the bag in my hand, and figuring it was as good a time as any, I opened it and dumped the contents onto the bed.

  “What are—” But he realized right away as soon as he laid eyes on the boxes. “Holy shit. You think you’re—” He stopped and looked around, making sure Connor wasn’t within earshot.

  “I don’t know,” I said, worry in my voice. “The nurse said the only way to make sure is to take a blood test.”

  “And did they do that?”

  “Yeah. But it’ll take a few days. In the meantime…”

  He nodded. “Go ahead and do what you need to do. I’ll be downstairs with Connor.”

  I couldn’t hold back how I felt any longer. “Are…are you mad? I missed a dose of my birth control a couple of weeks ago, and I know I should’ve said something, but…”

  Without a moment’s hesitation, Tate came over to me and put his hands on my shoulders.

  “I’m not mad at all. When I said we were in this together, I meant it. No matter what, I’m here for you. Okay?”

  As always, his touch and his words calmed me down right away.

  “Take a deep breath,” he said. “And do the tests. I’ll be waiting for you. Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out together. All right?”

  “All right.”

  With that, he leaned in and kissed me softly, deeply on the lips, holding my body close to his. I realized in that moment how lucky I was to have a man like him at my side.

  “Talk to you soon.” He squeezed my shoulder and left.

  I didn’t waste any time going to it. I removed one test from the box and then another and then another. After quickly reading the directions, I did the necessary actions and set them on the counter all in a row, then put a timer for three minutes on my phone.

  It was the longest three minutes of my life. I paced back and forth in the bedroom, wringing my hands and watching the seconds tick down. As I did, I thought about what this might mean, what the future might hold for me if I were pregnant. It all seemed murky and uncertain, a direction I hadn’t thought of, never prepared for.

  The timer went off, and I hurried over to the tests.

  Each one was positive.

  I was pregnant.

  My heart racing, I picked them up and looked them over, checking with the directions to make sure I was reading them right.

  But I had. According to each one of them, I was pregnant with Tate’s baby.

  There was nothing to do but tell him. I took all of the tests and boxes and put them into the bag, tossing it into the trash. And when I was ready, I went into the kitchen.

  Tate and Connor were there, both snapping their eyes up to me as I entered.

  I said nothing. But I was sure the look on my face did more than any words could.

  Chapter 16

  Abbie

  Connor happily ate his lunch, going on about everything he wanted to do that day.

  But Tate and I had other things on our mind. We regarded one another over the meal, me barely picking at my sandwich and Tate putting the occasional French fry into his mouth, presumably only because he didn’t want Connor to think something was up.

  “Hey, kiddo,” said Tate when we were done eating. “Why don’t you go play some video games in the living room? Me an
d Abbie have some stuff to talk about.”

  Connor’s expression lit up. Video games during school time was a treat, and he didn’t appear to want to second-guess it.

  “Okay!” He sprang out of his chair and was gone.

  “Come on,” said Tate when we were alone. “Let’s talk about this outside.”

  “Sure.” My voice was weak and so was my body, my legs barely able to support my weight as I got up. I still felt like I was in a daze, in a dream. It was too much to process.

  Tate led me out onto the back porch and we sat overlooking the forest. He didn’t waste any time taking my hand.

  “You’re pregnant,” he said, more confirming than asking.

  I nodded. “That’s what all the tests said. We still have to wait for the blood work, but—”

  “If three tests say you’re pregnant, then that’s a good enough answer for me.” His eyes were on the forest, and I tried to figure out what he was thinking.

  “Are you mad?” I asked, unable to hold back.

  He snapped his eyes over to mine, narrowing them with such intensity it almost scared me. “Abbie, don’t ever think I’d be mad at you for something like this. You’re pregnant with my child—how could I be upset about something like that?” He took my hand. “We’re going to get through this. Hell, it’s not even something to get through. This is something to celebrate.”

  “I know. But still…”

  He nodded. “There’s all the rest of this. I know.”

  “I just want to be able to put this all behind me,” I said, feeling helpless. “Whatever happens with us.”

  “Me too. And it’s going to happen.”

  “But how do you know? How can you be sure you can keep us safe?”

  The next question that came out of my mouth, I hadn’t planned for. It came out on its own, and I regretted it as soon as I spoke the words.

  “What happened with you and your wife, Tate? What happened to her?”

  His expression turned grave, and he clenched his jaw hard.

  Part of me felt I’d crossed a line. But another part felt I had a right to know, to understand the past of this man to whom my life was now forever joined.