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I stared at the cell phone in my hand and let out an exhausted sigh. No, that line wouldn’t work. She needed to know, she deserved to know, but now I felt terrible for not looping her in on this sooner. I’d wanted to save her the hassle, but things had gotten so, so much worse since then.
I had avoided telling her about Mercy because I thought I could handle that situation on my own, but also because I knew Secret’s history with Mercy was much more fraught than my own.
To put it lightly.
Mercy had tried to kill Secret at least three different times, and had damn near succeeded. Putting the two of them back together was a recipe for disaster.
Now things had gotten about a thousand times more complicated with Lucas’s return. I had no choice but to tell Secret, but I was still hesitating. This was going to turn her entire world upside down. Her relationship with Lucas had been complicated, considering he had stood her up on their wedding day, among other things, but she had loved him and had mourned his death. Now she had a new life, and him being back was going to make a huge mess of things.
I had her contact page open on my screen and my finger hovering over the call button, but I couldn’t bring myself to take the plunge.
“Do you want me to do it?” Wilder was at my side suddenly, making me realize how zoned out I’d been.
I was standing on the back deck outside my bedroom, watching the backyard in an offhand way, half expecting Ben and Mercy to reappear at any moment. The idiot part of me that cared about my brother wanted to imagine he was doing all this just to trick her.
The realist knew he was up to something much more selfish.
“As much as I’d love to take you up on that, I don’t think this is the news she should here from a stranger.”
We were planning to head back to New Orleans as soon as I made the call, but I’d wanted to stay here in case Secret wanted to talk to Lucas. She might need to hear his voice to believe it was real.
Hell, I’d sat right next to the guy and even I was having trouble believing it.
“Here.” He took the phone out of my hands before I could protest, and hit the call button, making it look so easy. I heard Secret’s voice say, “Hello?” on the opposite end as he thrust the cell back into my hands.
“You shithead,” I groaned.
“Excuse me?” her voice came through the line.
Wilder smiled at me and leaned against the railing. What a jackass. He was lucky I was so damned in love with him.
“Not you,” I said into the phone.
“I should hope not.”
“You’re not deep in the jungle are you? God forbid I’m racking up your long dista
nce bills.”
“No, I got back a couple days ago.” I heard her say ow and then curse at someone. “Business as usual, you know.”
Business as usual.
“Secret, you might want to sit down.”
“Are you pregnant?”
I blinked several times, not expecting to hear those words at all, they totally threw me off. Wilder, who was standing close enough he could hear everything she was saying, blushed furiously and I could smell the fear coming off him.
“No.”
“Engaged.”
I narrowed my eyes at Wilder as if daring him to act scared. He was busy looking at his own phone, a deep crease between his brows like he was reading something unpleasant. He gave me a half-hearted smile then returned to the bedroom to leave me alone with my conversation.
“Secret, this is serious.”
“Babies and engagements are serious.”
