Drilled - Jayne Rylon Page 0,13

tried not to wring her hands.

“So what’s the special occasion?” Tom asked as he piled on to Ms. Brown, enveloping them both in his strong, reassuring hold. Kate could have stayed there forever. She understood why Joe was drawn to this place and these people and the possibility of a true family, even if it wasn’t exactly the one he’d been born into. Tom and Ms. Brown had become parental figures for them all. She squeezed them back, and if they noticed her trembling in their grasp, they didn’t rat her out and only held her tighter.

“That’s a very good question.” Mike swept his gaze over Kate from her eyes to the tips of her sneakers as if he could find a clue written on her somewhere.

Kate almost seized the chance then, but before she could, not only Eli, Alanso, and Sally appeared, but also Joe, then Sabra and Holden chasing their twin sons, who were shouting, “Is Landry here? Can he play with us?”

Soon Kate was taking turns hugging what seemed like a million people, and yet she felt guilty because her husband was staring at her in concern, trying to wait for her to finish greeting them all, though he wasn’t exactly the patient-type.

“Shouldn’t you be a bit happier to see your wife, buddy?” Roman teased with a light elbow to Mike’s ribs. “If Carver drove five hundred miles to see me, I’d be a bit more excited. Especially since she left the kids at home, you know what I mean?”

“Shit, sorry. I’m thrilled to see you,” Mike promised her, then frowned before addressing Roman. “I’m still trying to pry whatever my wife came here to tell me out of her.”

“Oh shit, we’re interrupting.” Carver, Roman’s husband, grabbed his arm and tugged, walking a few steps backward toward the garage.

“No, no. It’s okay.” Kate blinked. But was it? Suddenly it seemed like she’d made a terrible decision. What if Mike didn’t want the baby? What if she embarrassed him by dropping this bomb in front of all the people they cared about? It got harder to breathe.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, stepping closer and extending his hand toward her.

“Yeah,” she replied reflexively. Except she wasn’t.

Surrounded by so many people—their warmth and the pressure of their attention on her—she overheated. The world tipped and Kate’s eyes blurred. She probably should have drunk some more water on the drive, but she hadn’t wanted to stop to pee too often and delay getting there until after dark. If it hadn’t been for her husband, she might have crashed to the ground.

But he proved again that he would never let her fall. She sagged, ending up plastered against his chest.

The crowd around them went silent, pretty much a miracle.

She drew several deep breaths until the world stopped turning too fast and she could find her footing again.

“What the hell is going on, Kate?” Mike was going to lose his shit if she didn’t find some way to convince him she was okay.

So she opted for the truth. Looking at the concerned and familiar faces surrounding them, she didn’t mind sharing the moment with everyone. They were family, in the broadest sense of the word. Hopefully Mike wouldn’t care either. “I wanted to think of some clever way to tell you but, uh, I’m sort of pregnant.”

“What?” Mike blinked at her.

“Sort of?” Uncle Tom unleashed a giant belly laugh at that. “It’s been a while since I heard those words directed at me, but as far as I remember, it’s not a sort of condition.”

Ms. Brown smacked him lightly with the back of her hand. “Tommy. Shush.”

“Oh my God, that’s amazing news.” Sally, who was also pregnant, sniffled then crushed Kate between her and Mike. “Congratulations, you two!”

And yet, Mike still stood there, frozen. “A…a baby? Like a miniature person. That kind of baby.”

Kate nodded a few times quickly, but not enough that she’d get dizzy again.

“You’re having a baby?” Mike asked as he brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes so that he could look directly into them.

“We’re having a baby,” she answered.

“Hang out here a while and your kid can be besties with Eli’s.” Holden grinned. “Might as well share baby shit and sitters while you’re at it. We have no shortage of those around here, you know.”

Stay? In Middletown? Kate peeked over Mike’s shoulder at the construction site and the future Joe and now Mike too for a little while at least, were building here. It