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“I’ve suspected for a little over a week,” she admitted. “I was going to call the doctor the day they told me my witness died.”
“You could have called me.”
“Right. That would have gone well.”
“Maybe not,” he admitted.
“Almost done. Hold still.” She fished out the last two splinters and the glass and smeared antiseptic ointment over the wounds. She prayed her poorly-timed announcement wouldn't ruin the progress they’d made last night.
“It’s the kind of news you should give in person,” she said. The plans she’d made to tell him tonight after a quick shopping spree were literally going up in smoke.
“I guess so.”
She rolled her eyes and shoved at his shoulder, no more able to budge him than she might have moved a mountain. And then his reticence clicked. “How did Beth tell you about Kyle?”
He nodded toward the trash can. “About the same way.”
One more reason Kellerman deserved to die. He’d wrecked something that should have been special, a moment full of excitement and hope, just between her and Bart. “I was going to tell you. Tonight. I had a better plan than… that.” She cursed the hormones that brought tears to her eyes.
“Hey, relax.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “Shh. It doesn’t matter how I knew. That’s water under the bridge.”
She replaced the tube of antiseptic ointment and caught Bart checking his watch, but it wasn’t on his wrist.
“Wait a minute.”
“I’ll have to guess.” He held up his bare arm. “Didn’t grab that on my way out this morning.”
“You knew I was pregnant?”
“Well, I suspected.” He tugged her into his lap and kissed her temple. “Maria confirmed. She’s made that tea for more than one employee in the same boat. We should think about names.”
“We?”
“Unless you and the baby don’t want me around.”
Her heart spun a tidy little pirouette of happiness in her chest. “Of course I want you around.Wewant you around, but this isn’t the time,” she scolded, trying to get up. “We need to get Kellerman.”
He ignored her, pulling the first aid kit closer. “It’s my turn to play medic.”
She fidgeted and tried to help, but he refused to hurry things along. His big hands were gentle and soothing as he dealt with the scrapes and raw spots where she’d struggled against the zip ties.
“That’s good. I’m great. We need to get out there.”
Bart just smiled and brushed a thumb across her swollen lip, then the tight, swollen skin of her cheek. “You’re gonna look rough for a couple of days.”
“You aren’t suggesting I hide out someplace safe?”
“Nah. I wouldn’t dare. I think you should wear it with pride. Takes some serious courage to go up against a guy like Kellerman alone.”
Courage, maybe. Hannah thought it took love. The bone-deep, do anything to protect, once-in-a-lifetime kind of love that she felt for this man.
The words were there, every mushy emotion she wanted to tell him balanced on the tip of her tongue, but they wouldn’t fall. “Kellerman’s escaped by now,” she murmured instead. All the evidence in the world wouldn’t help if the criminal himself wasn’t around to face the consequences. She dreaded the idea of going back to square one to track him down again.
“I wouldn’t be too sure.”
She saw it now, the cold assessment in his gaze. “What do you mean?”
He glanced away. “Every good plan has a backup.”
