"Lucas?!" I stared at him while my mind worked to figure out what the hell he was doing here.
He gaped at me. "GRACE? What the hell are you doing here?"
I bristled. "I should ask you the same damn thing!" I looked over to Marissa, then back at Lucas, and everything suddenly came into sickening clarity. "Oh. Oh God."
Marissa waggled her fingers at Lucas, but when she saw my expression, her brow knit together.
"No!" she said. "No no no no no. God no!"
"Is this your kid?" I asked him. "Is that why you didn't want to date me? For the love of the gods man, what kind of pig are you?"
"Pig?" he spat. "You're calling me a pig?"
"If you're going on dates while your pregnant wife is home alone, then yes! You're a pig! You're worse than a pig!"
Marissa cleared her throat. Loudly.
I spun to her.
"This is not Lucas' baby. Not even a little bit." She gave me a sweet smile.
"I don't get it. How in the world do you know Lucas and why did he burst in here like the house was on fire?"
"First things first," she said to me, but she was looking at Lucas. "Would you like to hold the baby?"
He blinked and his face went pale. Lucas swallowed hard and nodded. Marissa motioned him over and he took the baby from her arms. A soft inhale of breath came from him and he stared at the child, enraptured. I watched as Lucas took the baby's fingers and counted them in a whisper.
Something broke inside of me and the anger I'd been holding against him slowly began to dissipate. We all watched him handle the baby, and when he handed him back, I let out the breath I'd been holding.
"Lucas," I said quietly. "I'd like to know what's going on here."
He gave me a sharp nod and led me outside. I could feel Marissa's eyes on us both as we walked out the front door. Lucas sank onto the porch swing and patted the seat beside him. I declined and leaned against the railing front of him.
"I owe you an explanation."
I tilted my head. "I'm not sure you owe me an explanation for this," I said, waving my hands around Marissa's house. "That should come from her since she basically accosted me at the grocery store for help." That wasn't exactly true. I could have steered my basket away from her, but that would have made me a monster.
He shook his head. "No. This is intertwined and concerns my behavior over the last several weeks."
"So that really isn't your baby?"
He shook his head. "No. It's my best friend's child. He was killed in action overseas."
I sucked in a sharp breath. "Oh. I am so sorry." This didn't explain the weirdness that was Marissa, but it was enough to explain his weirdness. Somewhat. Death could make even the best of us crazy.
"Marissa was his wife. She was unaware she was pregnant until several weeks after his passing."
"That must have been really tough for her."
He nodded. "Sikes was a werewolf."
I was about to offer some additional condolences, but his statement stopped me in my tracks and sent my brain into a tailspin. "And Marissa is...?"
He ducked his head. "A vampire."
I took the seat he'd previously offered. "Shit."
"Yeah."
