My face twists with disgust.What goes around, comes around, you piece of shit.
“Olivia!”
Preston sees her before I do and is running toward her. Uniforms are spread out inside the barn, going over the place.
That’s when I realize I’ve been holding my breath. The air pours into my aching lungs as I walk toward Liv and Preston, who is holding her tight against him. I want to grab her and hug her, to promise her everything will be all right, but it won’t be. Not for a while. Atthe moment, the reassurance she needs has to come from Preston. Everything else will have to wait.
I will do whatever necessary to find a way to protect her from all the official stuff.
I muster up a calm face and join the two of them. “You okay?”
She nods. “I will be eventually.”
The thousand knots in my gut loosen a little.
She looks to her fiancé then. “There’s so much I have to tell you.”
He hugs her again. “We’re going to be fine,” he promises, his voice breaking.
Liv’s right. She will be, and I’ll do all in my power to help make that happen. Sounds like Preston intends to do his part as well.
We’re all, I realize, going to be okay.
Thirty-One
Detective Olivia Newhouse
Four months later
“It’s a boy!”
David and I stare at the ultrasound screen. Tears slip from my eyes even as I try to blink them back.
“Olivia”—David stares at me, his own eyes wide and filled with wonder, his hand squeezing mine—“we’re having a boy.”
I can’t speak. I can only smile and let the tears flow.
The evening after I found Fanning in the barn at the farm, I told David the whole story. All of it. Since then, I have been amazed every day by how kind and caring he has been about every single thing. He has gone above and beyond to help me through each day, and there have been some tough ones. I am truly grateful that he is the man I fell in love with. That never changed. He was only reacting to what was happening to me. I was the one pushing him away, because subconsciously I felt I didn’t deserve him and that I couldn’t make him happy. I had to find my way through all that. The man tells me every morning when we wake up how much he loves me, how thankful he is for me. How he can’t wait to be a father to our children. I am so very happy.
Not to mention, his family has been incredible as well. Everyone is thrilled about the baby. It’s just all so wonderful. Sometimes I worry that it won’t last. But then I remind myself that I know it will.
Once we’ve seen Dr. Raiford and she has assured us that all looks just as it should, we drive home.
As he navigates into the garage, he says, “There’s something I should tell you.”
I groan. I can only imagine what he is up to. He’s so on top of everything. The nursery is complete except for the final bits of decor related to gender. Those will be going up next. He has already decided to take an extended leave when the baby is born. Just days ago, he informed me that he’s even planning a babymoon. He is so excited. It makes me very happy.
I, on the other hand, am still somewhere in the neighborhood of somewhat terrified. I’m having a baby, and I have no idea how to do that or how to be a mother. David insists we will figure it all out together.
I’m counting on him.
He shuts off the engine. “Don’t be mad.”
I turn to him. Have no clue what he means. “How could I be?”
David really has proven over the past few months how he intends to be there for me and our child through whatever comes our way. I can count on him, and that means so much. If he has some big surprise planned, how can I be upset?
“I know we promised each other there wouldn’t be any more surprises, but I couldn’t help myself.” His face tells me he really wants me to understand.
