“Casey?”Clara knocks on my door.
“Come in.”
She closes the door behind her, sitting on the edge of thebed.With a stern look that doesn’t match the soft stroking of my hair, shescolds me.
“Why haven’t you told Ethan yet?”
Fuck.“Told him what?”
“Honey, I have six of my own.I know the signs.”
With a groan, I stare into her eyes.“You can’t tellanyone,”I plead.
“That’s not my place, but you need to tell him.Hemustknow.”
“Maybe I’ll tell him if I can stop throwing up long enough.”
“Your morning sickness does seem excessive.Have you had anultrasound yet?”
“In two weeks.Why?”
“Nothing to worry about.In the meantime, I have some herbaltea that can help.”
“Ugh… I’ll try anything.I have to go to work soon.”
“I’ll fill the thermos, and you can take it with you.”
“Thanks.”
“You should at least tell your father.He’s worried aboutyou.”
I take her hand with a solemn stare.I don’t know what Iwould have done without her these last couple of months.
“I want to thank you, Clara.In the short time I’ve knownyou, I’ve really come to care about you.What you’ve done with Daddy is…miraculous.You’ve… you’ve been like a mother to me.With my own mom gone, you don’t knowhow much that means to me.”
She swipes a tear from her cheek and pats my cheek lovingly.
“I feel the same way, dear.”
Before I can say anything else, I have to rush off to thebathroom to do that not-so-cute thing for the umpteenth time today.
By the time I leave for work, I’ve had three cups of Clara’stea, and I feel much better.That is until the smokers arrive.I’m pregnant—Ican’t be around all this smoke!But I can’t exactly make it a non-smoking bar,either.I know!Maybe I could have an outdoor smoking area.Put up a fewtables, some speakers for the music, maybe a pool table.I’ll have to run it byRusty, see what he thinks.I can’t have anything affecting little EJ or Katy.He/she is the only thing keeping me going right now.
***Ethan***
“So, the guy’s a professional.He’s a P.I.from Billings.”
I listen carefully as Charlie fills me in on what he foundout about Casey’s shadow.
“He’s communicating with Stone through email.They nevermeet.At the end of each day, he sends an email from his phone and then headshome.We’ve checked the LUDs on the phone, nothing there.We did hack hisaccount, though.The emails just detail Casey’s movements.”
“Have you checked his place?”
“It’s clean.He doesn’t leave anything there.Keeps hisphone and notepad on him at all times.”
“Fine.Get rid of him.”
He’s of no use to me if he can’t lead me to Stone.As we getcloser to my house, I realize that possibly the entire pack is gathered there.Whatthe fuck?Brick and Charlie both shrug in ignorance when I look over at them.What are all these people doing in my home?I can smell Mother and Shae, so Iknow they must be up to something.When I step inside, Mother walks forwardwith a satisfied smile.
