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“It’s time to make them.”
Forty-Three
EVAN
I found her in a private moment, sitting on the edge of the bed. She was holding her stomach. Staring down at it in contemplation, as the golden light of the desert sunrise streamed in through the window behind her.
“Hey…” I called softly. “You okay?”
Quinn jumped a little at the intrusion, then smiled and nodded — all in one movement. I knew the smile was for my benefit only. The intrusion, unfortunately, came with the territory. Especially considering the size of the rooms at the shitty strip-motel we’d just rented.
“Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “Didn’t mean to barge in on you, I was just—”
“C’mon,” she smiled, adding a laugh. “Don’t be silly.”
Quinn patted the bed beside her, and I sat down. Beneath our combined weight, the cheap mattress sagged almost to the floor.
“It isn’t always like this,” I told her.
“What isn’t?”
“Us. Moving around all the time. Jumping on planes, and flying across the country in the dead of the night.”
We’d left the cabin early, on word from one of Cole’s contacts. Not even nine hours later we were rolling through the barren deserts of New Mexico — a far cry from the lush green pines that shrouded our hideout in Maine.
“Didn’t you move all over the world together?” Quinn asked. “Mission to mission? Place to place?”
Her golden hair shone like platinum in the morning sun. Every tiny movement caused hundreds of strands to dance around her precious face.
“Sure. All the time.”
“So this should be no big deal for you.”
I shrugged. “I guess it isn’t.”
“Well it isn’t for me then, either.”
She was trying to be a trooper, I knew. Rolling with the punches was just Quinn’s style. But she was also rubbing her stomach again, absently, thoughtfully. Cradling the life that was growing inside her.
For some reason it made her the most beautiful creature in the universe.
“When we decided to do this,” I said, nodding at the child she was carrying on our behalf, “we thought this part of our lives was over. We never imagined it would get dangerous again. Otherwise… well…”
“I know.”
Quinn took my hand and slid it beneath hers. Placing it palm-down over her lower stomach, she guided me over the sexy little bump that had bowed out her normally-flat belly.
“This baby is going to have the best life,” she murmured. “The best fathers. The best of everything.”
My throat constricted and my heart swelled. I was suddenly choked with such love and admiration, I didn’t even know what to say.
“I want you to know I believe in you,” Quinn said softly. “And that’s why I’m not afraid. Not for me. Not even for her…”
Interlacing her fingers with mine, she swirled our hands over her belly.
“Her?”
“Yes.”
