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“Zen figures it was working at the church. He was doin’ maintenance work for them, janitor and handyman, that kind of thing. And his phone records show a whole string of calls with your people before the trip and durin’ it.”

“Even if he had a job at the church, he would have needed that money to survive on. Now, it’s pretty clear that my father probably gave him the money.”

He sets the report down on the kitchen table. “I don’t doubt it. Your parents told him where to find you and Noah. Zen also says his phone records reveal they kept talkin’ to him the whole way here.”

I sit back in my chair and put it together out loud. “So, Aunt Dorothy dies. My parents clean out her house, and my dad finds Aunt Carol’s letters. They read them and learn Noah is alive and where we live. They hand all of it to Dylan and wind him up, convincing him that he was somehow wronged by me.”

Sabre picks it up when I leave off. “Then Dylan makes the poster, gets to Noah through that history forum, drives out here, breaks into Carol’s place, thinkin’ he can convince or force the two of you to return to Billings with him. When neither of you are there, and the brothers show up, he takes off. Out of pure desperation he sets up a meetin’ thinkin’ he can sweet-talk you in person. Unfortunately for him, when he shows up at the Rusty Anchor, he gets arrested. That’s game over. Now he’s sitting in lock-up waitin’ to get extradited back to Montana if he hasn’t been already.”

“For the first time since all this started, there isn’t a single question left,” I say.

“What about your family?” Sabre asks. “You don’t think they’re gonna want to meet their grandkid?”

I shrug. “They didn’t care about me running off. They didn’t care that Dylan was beating me. To be honest, the fact I have a kid is probably of no interest to them. They probably see me as spoiling the family bloodline.”

“I guess you know your family better than anyone else,” Sabre says quietly. Something about his tone of voice makes me wonder if he’s really going to let it go that easily.

***

I’m in the shower a day or two later, thinking about a new seasonal menu for the restaurant, when my mind wanders to the last time that I had a period. I count backward once in my mind and when I don’t like the number I come up with, I begin to think that strange feeling in my stomach and the episodes of nausea might be something more than unresolved anxiety from everything that’s happened.

My period isn’t just a few days late. I haven’t had one since I’ve been with Sabre. . I’ve got the house to myself this morning, because on Saturdays, Sabre takes Noah to the clubhouse. After I get changed, I drive to the nearest drugstore and grab a pregnancy test kit.

When I return, I head straight to the bathroom. Taking the kit out of my purse, I read the directions twice. Three minutes turns out to be a really long time when you’re waiting on an answer that can impact the rest of your life.

When the timer on my cell phone goes off, I pick up the test. There are two pink lines, dark enough that there’s no reason to doubt the positive result.

I sit there for a few minutes, still holding the test strip. My mind fills with a ton of serious questions. Will this baby be a boy or a girl? How will Noah take the news? I even find myself wondering what a little Sabre would look like.

The one question I never ask myself is whether to keep it. I’m already feeling those same mama bear feelings for this baby that I felt when I was pregnant with Noah ten years ago. This child is mine. I’m not going to let anyone take it away from me. I’m now part of a family of three, four if Sabre opts in.

Right now, I’ve got a good man at my side. My hand comes up to rest against my leather-clad belly. I’ve been wearing Sabre’s property cut since the day he gave it to me. I’m his old lady. I hang my cut right beside his every night and we’ve got a whole motorcycle club that already thinks of us as family. I also have a nine-year-old who will probably take being a big brother more seriously than most kids his age. I’ve still got my job, so I know I can help support this baby.

If Sabre and the club’s support go away, I’ll raise this child alone.

That’s my one worry. With Sabre, everything’s happened so fast. He’s a good man. He stands up for what’s right. But what if he’s too good? What if he’s just got a hero complex, and it’s not really me and Noah he loves, just the thought of helping someone. And then what happens when real life kicks in.

I know it’s probably pregnancy hormones, but I can’t help the thoughts that start filling my head. I put the test kit back in the box it came in and cram it into the bottom of my purse, thinking out of sight, out of mind for now.

Chapter 17

Linsey

It’s been about a week since I found out I was pregnant. I still haven’t told Sabre. I’m trying not to listen to the doubting voices in my head and instead listen to what Sabre shows us. And he shows us that he’s a good man. I’m keeping the test strip in my purse and trying to work out a way for us to either go to the lake or one of the scenic overlooks. I want someplace that’s especially beautiful, where we’re not surrounded by a bunch of people to spring the news on him.

Noah is at school and Sabre and I are having a relaxing breakfast together. The eggs are ready and Sabre is standing in the doorway with a cup of coffee watching me slide them from the skillet into a plate.

I’m just about to suggest we take a ride out to the lake this morning when my phone rings.

I tell myself to let it roll to voicemail, but Sabre’s deep voice advises, “You’d best grab that. There could be somethin’ goin’ on with Noah at school today.”

I whip out my phone and stand there staring down at an unfamiliar number with a Montana area code. All the warm, fuzzy feelings evaporate in an instant.

Sabre walks across the kitchen. “What’s wrong, darlin’?”

“It’s a Montana number, and it isn’t Shelly or Dylan’s number.” I answer the call with shaking hands. Unsure what to expect, I put it on speakerphone so Sabre can hear.

“Hello. Who’s calling, please?”