Dalton, Tymber - Hernando Heat (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (22 page)

While hungry, when her food arrived she only managed a few bites before putting down her fork. “I’m sorry. I thought I could eat, but I can’t.”

Joe and Mason looked at her oddly. “What?” she asked.

“How long have you been feeling poorly?” Joe asked.

“Ever since that last business with…them.” She didn’t like to say their names if she could help it.

Mason stood. “That’s it. You’re seeing a doctor before we go home.” He threw his napkin into his chair and walked outside. He returned a few minutes later. “There’s a doctor on the next block. He’s in, and he can see you right now. Let’s go.”

Joe paid the bill and the men escorted her to the doctor’s office. The men nervously paced in the waiting room and anxiously confronted a stunned Katie as she emerged from the office.

Joe grabbed her hands. “What’s wrong?”

“How is she?” Mason asked the doctor, who’d followed her out.

The doctor laughed. “She’s fine.”

“We need to get rid of one of the beds,” she managed in a shocked whisper.

The men gathered around her. “What?” Mason asked. “Why?”

She looked at Mason, then Joe. “Because…” She burst into tears as she collapsed into their arms. The men looked at the doctor.

He laughed again. “It’s all right. Women in her condition are often very emotional.”

“What’s her ‘condition’?” Joe angrily demanded as he tried to comfort her.

The doctor laid a hand on Joe’s shoulder. “She’s pregnant, son. Congratulations.”

Katie sobbed even harder. The men guided her over to the sofa in the waiting room and tried to get her to talk. When she finally could, she looked at them, tears streaking her red cheeks.

“Paul and I tried for so long,” she whispered. “I didn’t think I could get pregnant.”

Mason hugged her tightly to him. “Sweetie, I don’t think you had a chance against the two of us,” he whispered, making her laugh.

Joe smiled as he brushed hair away from her eyes. “Not much chance at all.”

During the ride home, Katie didn’t speak much despite her men’s attempts to engage her in plans for their baby. She kept her hands resting on her belly. When they passed the road leading to the cemetery on their way out of Dade City, she asked Joe to make a detour.

He obliged without comment or complaint.

Mason and Joe offered to wait in the buggy, but she instead grabbed their hands and quietly led them to the marker. She hadn’t been there since the day Senior confronted her over a year earlier.

Releasing their hands, she dropped to her knees in front of the stone marker and traced Paul’s name with her fingers. “I love you, Paul. I’m sorry I lost you so soon, but I did as you asked. I found happiness.” She kissed her fingers and touched the phrase “Beloved Husband” etched in the sun-warmed stone.

After a few moments and a few more tears, she held her hands up to Mason and Joe.

“Are you okay?” Joe asked as they helped her stand.

She nodded and kissed him, then kissed Mason. “Let’s go home, boys.”

THE END

WWW.TYMBERDALTON.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tymber Dalton lives in southwest Florida with her husband (aka "The World's Best Husband") and son. She loves her family, writing, coffee, dark chocolate, music, a good book, hockey, shoes, and her dogs (even when they try to drink her coffee and eat her shoes).

When she's not dodging hurricanes or writing, she can be found doing line edits or reading or thinking up something else to write. You can drop her a line through her website/blog and keep abreast of the latest news, views, snarkage, and general ramblings she feels like posting when the mood strikes her. (She also writes for BookStrand as
Lesli Richardson
.)

Also by
Tymber
Dalton

Tasty Treats Anthology, Volume 3:
Boiling Point

Ménage Amour: Tasty Treats 7:
Steam

Ménage Amour:
Safe Harbor

Ménage Amour: Space Confederation:
Fierce Radiance

Ménage Amour ManLove:
Acquainted With the Night

Siren Ménage Amour:
Stoneface

For all other titles, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/lesli-richardson

www.bookstrand.com/tessa-monroe

www.bookstrand.com/macy-largo

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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