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“May I?” I held my hand over her belly.
“What?”
“Feel the baby?”
She moved the blanket and sheet away and raised her gown. I rested my hands on her bare skin and closed my eyes, willing our little girl to let me feel her. She didn’t disappoint. When I felt her tiny kick, I opened my eyes and looked into Sloane’s. “Such a miracle.”
“I know,” she said, rubbing her stomach and then covering it back up with the blanket.
“You’re planning on going to your parents’ tomorrow?”
“I think it would be best.”
“Why?”
“I know about Nick, Tackle.”
“You do? How? Did your dad get a call too?”
“What are you talking about?”
“That’s what the call was about earlier. Someone, from Caruso’s crew would be my guess, got to her. Beat her up pretty bad. Doc doesn’t know her condition but said it’s not good. They’re bringing her here, actually.”
“Oh my God. What about the baby?” she gasped.
“Sloane, I honestly don’t believe that you or the baby are in any danger, but I can arrange for more security if it would make you feel more comfortable.”
“Not our baby; her, and your, baby.”
“What are you talking about? Nick isn’t pregnant.”
“Tackle, don’t lie to me. I saw her. She came to the duplex the morning you left for California.”
“What? This isn’t making any sense. Nick was in Chicago, not Boston.”
“No, she wasn’t. She showed up at my place midmorning. I was expecting my mother, so like an idiot, I opened the door without looking to see who it was.” Sloane shifted to her side. “Anyway, she took one look at me and said that she’d come to ask me to let you go so you and she could raise your baby together. After she saw me, she said she figured I would ask her the same thing.”
“Nick isn’t pregnant.”
“Tackle, I saw her.”
“So did I. How pregnant did she tell you she was?”
“She didn’t need to tell me. She was as big as I am.”
“I saw her a few hours after that. She didn’t look the slightest bit pregnant.”
“You and Nick aren’t having a baby?”
“Of course we aren’t. Is that why you disappeared on me again?”
“I needed time to think. She was pretty convincing.”
“How so?”
“She said she could prove it. She was about to call you, but I slammed the door in her face. I’m telling you, she looked pregnant, Tackle.”
“I can’t explain why. All I know is that when she landed in California, she didn’t.”
