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Damn, the woman had some cojones. Not as big as Judge’s but close. Sig bit back a grin. While that was amusing, what he was about to say wasn’t. “Said the kid could come out with all kinds of birth defects. And not just ‘cause he’d be related to a Shirley.”
“He?” Stella asked.
“Yep. Red didn’t want to know, but I asked. From what the doc could see, even though the kid’s smaller than it should be, it’s a boy.”
Trip closed his eyes. “Damn.”
“Don’t even think about it, Trip,” Stella warned.
“They might want the kid,” Sig stated.
“Who?”
“The doc and her pig hubby,” Sig answered his brother.
“What?” Trip almost shouted.
“Yeah, said they’ve been lookin’ to adopt. Needs to run it by her rotten half first and, of course, Red would need to sign the kid over. She said she would.”
“Autumn’s willing to give up the baby?” Stella whispered.
“You really surprised?” Judge asked her. “Gotta be hard to keep a baby created from rape or... worse.”
“But still...” Stella whispered again, her hand pressed to her lower belly. She shook her head. “I get what you’re saying and it makes sense, but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it.”
“She don’t see it as a baby, Stel,” Trip reminded her. “It’s just a thing that she was forced to carry. For them. She probably has it in her head the kid wouldn’t be hers afterward, anyway. Put yourself in her shoes. Would you get attached to a baby knowin’ it’s gonna be stolen from you the second it was born? Fuck no. You’d separate yourself from it. Not get attached.”
Sig frowned at his brother. He was making too much fucking sense. And what he said did make sense and was a good reason why Red called the baby a “seed.”
“Anyway,” Sig said, “if Red will agree with the adoption and the doc’s pig hubby also agrees, she wants Red to come stay with them ‘til the kid’s born. Then they’d pay to send her wherever she wants to go from here. They’d help her get far away from that mountain and those inbred sister fuckers. But you all know what I fuckin’ think about her goin’ anywhere right now.”
Judge pulled at his long beard and tilted his head. “Adoption’s a damn good option, though. What’s to avoid those brother fuckers from snaggin’ the kid after he’s born?”
Sig shrugged. “He’d have their last name. Doc said their names could be on the birth certificate. Everyone in town knows they’re waitin’ on a kid to adopt. Them gettin’ one wouldn’t cause a stir. It’s kinda perfect. Also might help that the father on record’s a fuckin’ pig.”
“Will the Brysons want the kid if he’s born,” Stella glanced at Sig’s closed door and lowered her voice, “with problems?”
“If he’s half Shirley, he’s gonna have fuckin’ problems,” Trip muttered, then grinned. Until Stella whacked him in the stomach. The grin was long gone as he winced and rubbed his gut.
Sig continued, “She also stated that if Red eats right, keeps her stress low, takes the vitamins she gave us, the kid could be okay. If she refuses to do better and remains in the condition she’s in, both could die when the kid’s born. She needs to get her strength up.”
“So, the Brysons want to take her in and make sure she’s taken care of,” Judge said simply.
Jury galloped back up the steps, her tongue hanging out and her tail wagging as she shoved her nose into everyone’s junk—like she always did—before sitting by Judge’s side, staring up at him like the sun rose and set on that giant motherfucker.
Judge always was spouting that dogs were more loyal than bitches. And Deacon always busted his balls by reminding his cousin, Jury was a bitch. Just of the four-legged variety.
“Yeah,” Sig finally answered the big man, after double checking to make sure all his junk was still intact after being molested by the dog.
“Autumn want that?” Trip asked, looking way too hopeful.
Sig assumed Trip was referring to Red moving in with the doc. “Didn’t ask her. I told the doc no.”
“Fuckin’ A,” Trip muttered. “Not likin’ this, Sig.”
His blood pressure was beginning to spike at this bullshit of them wanting Red to go stay somewhere else. “What fuckin’ part of she’s stayin’ on this fuckin’ farm don’t you understand? She can stay on my fuckin’ half.”
“Don’t work like that, Sig—”
“Sure as fuck does ‘cause I’m makin’ it work like that.” His fists clenched and unclenched as he tried to keep his shit packed tight. “Also told the fuckin’ doc we’d be better at protectin’ her and why.”
“I’m sure she liked hearing that since her husband is a Bryson,” Stella said dryly.
“She agreed.”
Stella’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
Trip and Judge also looked surprised at that answer.
He shrugged again. “He works, she works. Who’s stayin’ with Red when they’re both workin’? Who’s makin’ sure she don’t freak the fuck out and start runnin’? Who’s makin’ sure she eats and takes her vitamins?” He tipped his chin down and growled, “Who the fuck’s makin’ sure those goddamn inbred billy goat fuckers don’t come kidnap her from right under their nose? Bryson’s limited on what he can do legally.”
