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That was to fuck a bunch of women on a boat and drink all day. Now I was fucking just one woman. Didn’t work as well. “Maybe next spring.” The baby would arrive at that time of year, so I probably wouldn’t be traveling for a while.
Mother wore a disappointed look, but she didn’t press me on it. “Anything else new with you?”
“Giovanni made cookies before I left. That’s something you don’t see every day.” The most interesting parts of my life pertained to work, but I couldn’t tell her about all the threats I made that day, how much money I earned in investments, or that I was still waiting to find out if Connor Beck had struck oil or not. If he didn’t, I had to execute his whole family and put them in oil drums. But no mother wanted to hear that.
“Cookies?” Bates asked. “You don’t eat cookies.”
“I guess he was in the mood,” I said with a shrug.
“Or he made them for someone else…” Bates grinned before he drank his wine.
Mother knew our behaviors well because she raised both of us. She could read between the lines better than anyone else. “Is there someone else living with you, Cato?”
It was a direct question, and my natural impulse was to tell the truth. I didn’t like to lie, not because I was noble, but because lying was cowardly. It meant you were too afraid of the other person’s opinion to be honest. And in that instance, they had more power over you.
“Yeah?” Bates pressed. “Is there?”
I would punch my brother right in the face the first chance I got. He loved every moment of this. When I told my mom I’d knocked up a woman I wouldn’t marry, she would be disappointed in my foolishness. That would make Bates look pretty damn good.
Mother set her glass down and watched me, knowing I wouldn’t lie to her.
“Yes, there is someone else living with me.”
Bates grinned.
“Who?” Mother asked. “Who’s living with you?”
“A woman. Her name is Siena.” I skipped the pregnant part.
“I thought you said you weren’t seeing anyone?” she asked.
“Because I’m not,” I said calmly.
“Then who is this woman?” She began to grow frustrated the longer this didn’t make sense.
“This is going to come as a big shock, Mother.” I held her gaze before I told her news that would change her life. “Siena and I are having a baby. She’s living with me in the meantime so I can be there for her throughout the process.”
When she brought her hands to her face to cover her mouth, she knocked over her glass of wine, but she was so overwhelmed by the news she didn’t even notice.
Bates righted the glass. “Yep. Cato knocked up some lady.”
“Honey.” She lowered her hands from her mouth, her eyes watering. “You’re having a baby?”
“Yes.” Now I waited for her to give me that look of disapproval, that disappointed expression every man feared from his mother.
“I’m going to be a grandmother?” she whispered. “Honey…that’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.”
Bates couldn’t hide his shock.
She grabbed my hand on the table. “When is the baby due?”
“In the spring,” I answered.
“Aw, that’s wonderful.” Mother rose out of her seat to hug me. “You have no idea how happy that makes me.”
I’d never expected my mother to react this way, to be so supportive over a mistake. “I’m glad you feel that way.”
“You’re going to have your own family.” She patted my back before she sat down again, still teary-eyed. “That’s so wonderful. I have to meet Siena. I bet she’s lovely and will give you a lovely baby.”
That was a situation I hadn’t foreseen. “Uh, maybe in a few months.”
“In a few months?” she asked. “She’s barely a few months along. It’s not like she can’t get around.”
Having them interact was a terrible idea. Siena could easily tell my mother what my plan was, and my mother would be so appalled that she wouldn’t let me go through with it. Only one woman in the world had the power to affect my decisions—and that was my mother. “We’re still reeling from her pregnancy, so maybe when everything dies down, you two can meet then.”
Now my mother looked livid. “Cato, this is the mother of your child. The mother of my grandchildren. You bet your ass I want to meet her.”
Bates smiled again.
I gave in just to make her happy. “Alright.”
“Good,” she said. “Are you going to marry her?”
“No.” I would never marry anyone, whether there was a baby involved or not. “She and I aren’t together, like I said.”
“But you’re living together?” she asked incredulously.
“She doesn’t have the resources to take care of the baby on her own. Living with me just makes it simpler.” I hated explaining my personal life to my mother like it was any of her business. “I want to be involved to keep them both safe. I’m afraid if she’s alone, someone might try to hurt her because of me.”
