Shame the Devil (Portland Devils #3) - Rosalind James Page 0,189

to save the running for next week, huh?” Owen, he could tell, was itching to get to training camp the same way he was himself. As grueling as camp was, as much as you swore and ached and hated almost every minute of it—if you didn’t burn to be out on the field, you didn’t belong in this game. Plus, Harlan might have something else to play for now. That made a difference.

Owen’s face, though, was serious. Nearly grim. Harlan thought, Jennifer. The baby. And time froze.

He thought, He doesn’t even have a name yet.

Owen said, “Jennifer’s here. I left her back at the office where it’s cool. She wasn’t looking too good.”

Harlan was already going, but he turned back to say, “The kids.”

“I’ve got the kids,” Owen said. “Go.”

Harlan could run the 40 in 4.27 seconds. He ran this faster. By the time he got to the mobile home that was the football camp’s office, he was breathing hard, and his golf shirt was stuck to his back.

Jennifer wasn’t sitting inside, in the cool. She was sitting on the front steps, and when she saw him, she stood up and came to meet him. In her work clothes, which meant a turquoise knit dress that stretched over her soccer-ball-sized bump, and if he was sweaty, she was worse, her skin flushed and beads of sweat on her upper lip.

He said, “Let’s go inside.”

“Harlan—” she started to say.

“Inside,” he said, suddenly furious. “Why won’t you take care of yourself?”

She reared back, and he forced the calm and said, “Sorry. Whatever it is—tell me inside.”

After she was sitting down with a bottle of Gatorade in her hand, he said, “OK. Tell me.” And braced himself to hear it.

It would be Annabelle. It had to be Annabelle. Except that if it was Annabelle, why was she here? She would have stayed with Annabelle.

One of his other sisters. Something. Something bad.

She said, “Your dad’s accepted a plea deal. He’s confessed, and he wants to talk to you. And they’ve released your mother’s body.”

Annabelle and Dyma were waiting at the airport. Waiting on the jet, in fact, because Jennifer had chartered it. When he came through the door, Annabelle jumped up and ran. He caught her midair, held her hard, and said into her hair, “Hey. Hey, now, Bug. Hey. It’s OK.”

She said, “Mom. Dad. I just …”

“Shh,” he said. “I know. We’re going.”

It took a while, but finally, he was sitting across from Jennifer again. Dyma and Annabelle were sitting on the couch behind them, watching the same movie, Dyma holding Annabelle’s hand like the good friend she was.

An hour and a half to Bismarck. It was time to figure things out. He took a breath and said, “OK. Next steps.”

Jennifer said, “Three things. Logistics of the trip, your mom, and your dad.” Composed again, and efficient always. She went on, “I’ve already done the logistics. I got us all places at the Residence Inn. Two two-bedroom suites, and one one-bedroom for Vanessa, all close to each other. It has kitchens, and a gym and pool, because you’ll need to work out, and so will Annabelle. It’ll make you both feel better. I put it all on your card, and the flight, too. Normally, I wouldn’t have run up charges this big without asking you, but I went ahead anyway.”

He said, “Of course you should’ve done that. That’s why I put your name on it. I told you, anything you need. And that’s good, about the pool. It’s hot, and you’re achy. You need to be able to swim.”

She smiled, a little watery, maybe, reached across the table to take his hand, and said, “If I haven’t said it enough—I love you. You are such a good man. You make me proud to … to know you.”

He said, “I want to marry you.”

He didn’t mean to. It just came out. Because what he’d wanted her to say was, “You make me proud to be your wife.”

She said, “Oh,” then almost visibly set it aside and said, “We can talk about it later, don’t you think? It’s kind of an … emotional time right now.” Then smiled, just a twist of her mouth. “A really emotional time. This is as bad as it gets.”

“We can talk about it later,” he said, “but I’m not changing my mind.” It was right there in front of him, so clear that he couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it sooner.

“OK,” she said, “but I’m going to tell you