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“And?” Kingpin asked, approaching me.
“It’s none of your business,” I said automatically.
“Is it Hallow’s?”
He’d guessed right. “It’s probably something you should discuss with a future life partner, yes.”
“What? You can’t have kids or something?” He pretty much guessed it.
Feeling like I’d been hit by a truck, the truth, my throat burned. My face exploded in tears.
Before I knew it Kingpin had his arm around me, he stroked my hand consoling me. “Fuck, Eve. I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
In such a state, I couldn’t refuse the comfort.
“It’s not the end of the world.”
His dismissal only made my anguish flourish. “Unless you wanna have a baby,” I wailed, releasing the true reason I was so distraught.
It hadn’t just been about Hallow. I’d been all alone. Hallow wasn’t there. I grieved alone. I managed the loss of the possibility alone. I’d not even made an appointment to figure myself out.
“Is that what Hallow wants?”
“He’s talked about it til the cows come home. Ever since the first time we met. You forget, we live over at the Eagles’ Nest. There are so many kids running around and Hallow keeps hinting. Everyone in the club keeps asking us when we’ll be getting pregnant. We said we would right away if the creek didn’t rise. I didn’t want to tell him about the high water,” I blathered out in between sobs.
“Is that what you want?” Kingpin asked.
It was what I wanted more than anything. Thinking of my dead mother and my lost time with her, I longed to be a mother myself. I collapsed against Kingpin’s chest, letting the realization stab me in the gut. He caught me, his hand falling to my back.
“Marrying him without telling him. I was lying to him,” I cried, getting it all out.
Prez stole my chin and lifted my head. He stared at me like he often did but with so much empathy. “Listen here, love. Hallow’s a lucky man. You’re probably the prettiest girl in Nashville. One of the feistiest, for damned sure. And you happen to have the voice of an angel. Hallow doesn’t want you, we’ll do what we planned to anyway.”
Kingpin was determined to make me a star. Before Hallow and a baby, it was what I’d wanted more than anything, but the notion gave me little comfort.
He asked, “Are you sure you can’t get pregnant? How do you even know?”
The question sparked more tears. Snorting, I practically wiped my face on his chest. But I tried to explain the worst of it. “Because I’ve already lost our baby. My doctor said I shouldn’t even try again.”
Saying the horrible news aloud, I really lost it. Kingpin tried to soothe me as I wept into his arms.
He asked, “Does Hallow know?”
That was the worst part. I’d kept it from him. If I admitted that, I didn’t think I would survive the tears. I wouldn’t be able to pick myself off the floor. I resorted to Kingpin’s advice to dry my tears.
I lied. “Yeah, he knows that much.”
The lie settled me. It was between Hallow and I, anyhow, I told myself. My tears were drying, and I was beginning to realize the error of confessing my sins to the biggest sinner himself. I raised my head off his chest ready to detach myself.
“Where are you sleeping tonight?” Kingpin asked, ending our conversation.
“I’m over with Paisley,” I said, preparing to let him know I could manage my own way over.
Unexpectedly, Kingpin let go of me. I about tumbled to the floor. Catching myself, I saw why. Sky ran from the room. Naked as a jaybird, she had walked in on us in an embrace. Kingpin ran after her to explain. Mortified, I ran out of the room and down the stairs.
As I was leaving, I heard Kingpin shout, “Fuck, Sky. It’s not what it looks like.”
“Really? You’re half naked. Your pants are unzipped,” her voice came back.
