I let Rene choose the new assistant. Fee felt it best to still work for BAM, thinking we needed that separation. I hated it and had tried to persuade her to change her mind, but she was adamant. I had to admit, the young man, Clark, who Rene had hired, was excellent at his job. Rene enjoyed bossing him around a great deal.
The office was busy, productive, and hummed all day and often well into the evening. Luckily, Bentley’s office wasn’t far away. So on occasion I got to see Fee during the day for lunch, and she often came after work to help me out. Those were my favorite days.
“Another hour, love. I promise. I’ll bring home some soup?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I feel a little better. I hope you don’t get it.”
I chuckled. “Since both Clark and Rene had it, I’m shocked it skipped Lydia and me and went for you.”
“I guess I hugged them too much last week.”
“You had best save your hugs for me, then,” I growled playfully.
She laughed. “Incorrigible.”
“Yep. Mine.”
She sighed. “Come home soon, counselor. I miss you.”
Her words made my chest warm the way they usually did.
“Soon.”
I hung up and dug into my pocket, bringing out the small velvet box. For the hundredth time, I opened it and stared at the ring. The beautiful emerald sparkled under the light, the diamonds surrounding it brilliant. Bentley had sent me to a friend of his, and she helped me design and choose the perfect gemstone and setting. I wanted an emerald because of Fee’s lovely eyes and the warmth of the color. Diamonds seemed too cold for her. I was sure Fee would love it, but I hadn’t given it to her yet for some reason.
She had already said yes, so the ring was a simple formality, but I was still nervous. Rene found it amusing, and I knew he was anxious for me to give the ring to Fee. I would as soon as she was over this flu bug. It had been a twenty-four-hour thing for him and Clark, but for Fee, it had been a few days.
A throat clearing made me look up. Reid was in my doorway, his laptop under his arm, looking oddly nervous. I was surprised to see him, and for some reason, his unease put me on edge.
“Hey.”
He came in, shutting my door, and then sat across from me.
I slid the ring box back into my pocket. “What’s going on?”
He sighed and leaned forward. “I was cleaning up my drive today—deleting files and freeing up space. I saw something I thought you needed to know.”
“What?”
He hesitated, then opened his laptop. His anxiety made me tense, and I frowned as he spun the screen in my direction.
“There was a file from Scott’s computer. I hadn’t noticed it until today, and it caught my eye as I was deleting them. I opened it and read it. It seemed—well, it seemed important.”
I pulled the laptop close and read what looked like a medical report. I read it again, then met Reid’s eyes.
“Holy fuck.”
He raised his eyebrows in agreement with my statement.
“Scott had a vasectomy? He told Fee his tests came back fine. How is that possible?”
Reid tugged a hand through his hair. “I’ll give you the gist of what I discovered. Scott hired a doctor, who has since lost his license. The report was false. Scott’s vasectomy happened six months before they had their tests.” He met my gaze. “Fee’s test was falsified as well. It appears Scott had no desire for kids but didn’t want to tell Fee, so he lied.”
I froze. “That bastard made her think it was all her.”
“Yeah.”
“Goddamn asshole,” I fumed.
“Ah, Hal?”
“What?” I growled, wishing Scott were still alive so I could kill him all over again.
“I don’t want to get personal here, but doesn’t Fee supposedly have the stomach flu?”
Supposedly?
“Yes.”
“Ah, do you use protection?”
I blinked at his question and was about to tell him to mind his own business when the lightbulb went off. Fee wasn’t infertile, and we’d been having unprotected sex for weeks.
She’d been ill longer than Rene. Her symptoms were somewhat different.
It wasn’t the fucking flu.
I stood so fast, my chair toppled over.
“Holy fuck. I have to go.”
He laughed and stood, then shouted at me before I reached the door.
“Hal!”
I spun around. “What?”
He held out the ring box. “You might need this.”
I grabbed the box that had fallen from my pocket. “Thanks.”
He winked. “Congrats—on all the news.”
I tore out of the office, running as quickly as I could.
How the hell was I going to tell Fee?
I found her on the bathroom floor, resting her head on the cold tub beside the toilet. She lifted her head wearily as I rushed in, offering me a small smile.
“It came back.”
I lifted her into my arms, cradling her close. “Sorry, love.”
She pushed away. “Ugh. I smell awful.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do. Let me clean up.”
I stood behind her as she brushed her teeth and washed her face. She was pale, her eyes exhausted.
My thoughts were rampant. I had to tell her that her dead ex-husband was a lying sack of shit, and then follow it up with, “And by the way you may be pregnant since I fuck you every chance I get. I stopped and got a pregnancy test—wanna pee on the stick?”
I chuckled dryly as I wondered if she’d knee me in the balls or just yell.
She looked at me in the mirror with a puzzled look.
“I look so bad, you’re laughing?”
I wrapped my arms around her, tugging her back to my chest. “You’re beautiful. I’m laughing at my own thoughts right now.”
“Did you bring the ginger ale?”
“And crackers.”
“Crackers?”
“Ah, Rene said they were good for nausea.”
He had said a lot of things when I called him from the car. He had also laughed so hard, I was certain he was crying.
“Oh, Halton. You have no idea. Your life—” his laughter rang out again “—oh, how your life is about to change. I am going to enjoy the hell out of this.”
“Rene, how am I going to handle this? I never planned on children!”
He sobered. “You never planned on falling in love either. That turned out pretty damn well, I would say. Tell me, Halton, what are you feeling right now?”
I took the exit for the house. The one I shared with Fee—our home. I thought of his question. Hearing the news, I had felt no anger or stress. None of the nonsense about not bringing a child into this world. Fee and I would make sure they were okay. She would be sure I was okay. There was only worry about getting to Fee and the wonder of telling her. I knew once she got over the shock, she would be ecstatic.
“Happy and worried, I think.”
“Worried about being a dad?”
“Worried about Fee. And yes, being a good dad.”
“You will be, Halton. Put your mind to it the way you do everything else, and you’ll be a great one.”
“I want to be.”