She didn’t want it to, but disappointment fell hard in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t say why exactly she wanted children; perhaps it was an overflow of joy that she was no longer alone. Perhaps it was simply biological.
“Do you–” she started…
And the doorbell rang.
~*~
Colin lay back on the limp pillow of his dorm room bed and stared up at the ceiling. Same crappy bed, same small room, same gut full of beer he’d had every night here in Knoxville, but all of it rendered irrelevant by the warm female voice coming through the cellphone pressed to his ear.
“Are you behaving?” Jenny asked.
He grunted. “I always behave. Usually. Sometimes.”
Sha laughed. “Let me rephrase that. How are things going with your brother?”
He frowned and reached to touch the spot on his jaw that was only just now starting to feel normal again. “They’re going.”
She paused. “Going bad?”
“Dunno. Whatever. I don’t want to talk about him.” He sighed and forced thoughts of Mercy away on the exhale. “How are you feeling?”
She took a breath that sounded a little shivery with nerves. He couldn’t blame her; his own nerves crawled under his skin like an army of ants. “I’m starting to be a little green, so I guessthat partof it’s starting.”
“Hmm. I’m sorry. Want me to bring you some ginger ale?”
“All the way from Tennessee, yeah, that’d be good.”
A flat joke, and they both fell silent afterward. Finally, Jen said, “We’re gonna have to tell Candy soon. I won’t be able to hide it much longer.”
No, there wasn’t much hope hiding a baby.
Colin wished he hadn’t had so much to drink; his stomach cramped and he rolled to his side, phone cradled between his head and the pillow. “It’s gonna be okay,” he told her, because telling her anything else wasn’t an option. Even though he was petrified. Even though he’d never wanted kids.
The good part, though, if therewasa good part to any of this, was that she hadn’t wanted children either. So it was terrifying for both of them.
A knock sounded hard against his door a fraction of a second before it opened. Mercy filled up most of the doorframe, wide shoulders blocking the light from the hall. His face was serious, at first. But as he stepped into the room, he spotted the phone in Colin’s hand and grinned.
“Aw, is that your girlfriend?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Colin said, sitting upright.
“What?” Jenny asked.
Shit. “Not you, baby.”
“It is,” Mercy said, delighted. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Hey, Jenny!”
“Oh,” Jen said, chuckling. “Brotherly bonding? Hey, Felix.”
“She says ‘hey,’” Colin grudgingly passed along. “What do you want?”
Mercy’s expression changed. “Say goodnight, Casanova. We’ve got business.”
Thirty-Six
Sam tightened her hands on the wheel of the Caprice. Her palms were slicked over with sweat and it was a miracle she’d been able to steer at all. As she braked at the gate, she scrubbed her fingers furiously down the short length of her skirt, releasing a deep, tense breath through her teeth.
“You’re gonna have to calm down,” Jasmine said in the passenger seat, but her voice trembled.
