Page 70 of Thunder with a Chance of Lovestruck
I’d moved back into the manor full-time when I was eight months pregnant (the irony of getting pregnant the first time we were together wasn’t lost on me). Breaking the news to Henry had gone as well as I’d expected. He’d demanded the name of the baby’s father, but I’d refused to tell him. For a while, he kept hinting about it being Robin, but he finally let that go.
I’d asked for Drest to be my assigned Hunter eight months ago, right after he’d claimed me. Henry knew as much, but it wasn’t until a set meeting time two months back that he noticed the way Drest was watching me and how close he stayed to me the entire evening.
After that, Henry had made snide comments about the Nightshade Clan more than normal, each time looking at my swollen stomach.
Amice had tried calming him down, all while keeping my secret, but he always managed to work himself into a dither again.
Nile had begun getting extended phone privileges and visiting hours. That meant he was calling more and talking on the phone to Henry for up to an hour some nights. And Henry was visiting him at the prison more and more.
Twice he’d called, and I’d answered, not knowing it was him phoning. He’d been just as creepy and inappropriate as always. Though he’d stopped threatening to kill me and resurrect me.
The last call had been extremely off-putting. It was then I realized my brother must have told him I was expecting. Nile had made a comment about me being an unwed mother and how he might be willing to see to help me raise the baby if I was to beg for his forgiveness and agree to obey his rules.
I hung up on him.
I’d thought that would be the worst thing I had to deal with. Never did I expect to have a sheriff show up at the front door of the manor, telling me my brother, his wife, and his daughter had been in a serious car accident and that my sister-in-law had died on impact when the car went off a bridge into water. Henry had been banged up, but other than that, he’d been uninjured. Astria hadn’t had a scratch on her—thankfully.
I’d barely had a moment to adjust to the reality of a life without Amice in it. Between being eight months pregnant now, caring for Astria—who kept asking me when her mommy would be coming home—and watching my brother spiral into madness, I had my hands full.
Work for Drest had been hell. He kept me up to date on what he was working on both at the police force and with the Nightshade Clan, calling nearly nightly. Henry hadn’t asked who was on the phone with me for so long, and I didn’t volunteer the information.
I had to admit I missed seeing my husband. Our schedules had conflicted for the past four weeks. The last I’d seen him had been at Amice’s memorial service, and with everyone being there, we’d had to act like we were nothing more than friends. All I’d wanted was to have him hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay.
But I wouldn’t have believed him. I knew the truth. Whatever my brother was doing in the basement wasn’t good, and nothing would be okay.
Henry was acting like Nile had in the months before body parts had been discovered in the basement. I refused to let my brother spiral down that same dark path as our uncle. He had to pull himself together, if not for me, then for his daughter.
Astria needed her father’s love and support. Instead, all she got from Henry was hard looks and backhanded comments, blaming her, a four-year-old, for what had happened on that bridge a month ago. The bridge in question had been made famous by Irving’s tale of the headless horseman.
From what Henry had told me, Astria had been fine in the backseat one second, and the next, she was screaming bloody murder about a man on a horse who didn’t have a head. Amice had tried to comfort her but hadn’t had any luck. She kept screaming.
Henry lost control of the car and went off the road. It had been a horrible accident, but an accident all the same. Astria wasn’t to blame.
He was spending morning, noon, and night locked away in the very same workshop Nile had used. He wasn’t eating, and he refused to speak to me. Whatever he was doing down there was loud and left me on edge, setting off my inner alarms.
Drest had told me a little of the cases he was working on. They involved dead bodies and missing body parts. The minute he’d said as much, my heart had sunk.
Deep down, I knew Henry had something to do with it all. I just wasn’t sure how to tell my husband.
I’d nearly broken down and called Robin for help instead, worried about the wedge this would drive between Drest and Henry and what my husband might have to do to my brother.
If Henry was involved, I couldn’t allow him to continue. Not with innocent people being put at risk. But I also couldn’t watch the fallout from it all. Couldn’t see my husband having to take extremes with my brother.
After the way I’d left things with Robin eight months ago, I didn’t feel I had a right to ask for his help even though I knew he’d give it. Ultimately, I’d reached out to Drest, giving him the smallest amount of information. All I’d said was that Henry was locking himself away in Nile’s workshop and that I had a very bad feeling about it all.
That was all I’d needed to say because he was now standing in the foyer with another Hunter, waiting for me.
The tea finished steeping, and I gripped the tray, ready to lift it from the counter. There was a loud bang from the basement, and I jerked, nearly spilling everything I’d worked so hard on. With the noises came flickering bulbs. That had been happening for days, so I didn’t pay it much mind. The noises died down, and the lights stopped flickering, at least for now.
With a deep, calming breath, I lifted the tray and proceeded to waddle toward the foyer. I felt like I was as big as a house and had lost sight of my feet a couple of weeks ago.
Drest and his friend were where I’d left them, still close to the front door. Drest’s gaze locked on me and desire spread over his face as I continued with the tray.
His friend elbowed him in the ribs.
Drest grunted and glared at the guy as the man mouthed, “she’s pregnant,” like I couldn’t see his lips move.
Idiot.
