Laura forced a smile. “I’m fine, thank you.” Then she turned back to the nurse. “Am I all set?”

Della nodded. “Yes, we’ll see you back in three weeks.”

“Thank you.” Laura turned to walk away. “Nice seeing you, Mr. Kern.”

Bill fell into step beside her and sensed her agitation. In the car he quickly locked the doors once they were inside. “Okay, sis. What’s that about? Who was he?”

She filled him in. “Customer from the shop. It unnerved me seeing him there until I remembered he’s a pharmaceutical sales rep. And Englewood is a very small town.”

“So he’s just creepy?”

“Yeah, but apparently he’s got a girlfriend now. Sara said he brought a woman in with him for a dive last week.” Laura groaned and smacked her leg. “I can’t dive!”

“What?”

“I’m supposed to run the check-out dives this weekend. I can’t do water classes. Crap!”

“Why?”

She looked at Bill. “Duh. What’d the doc just say?”

He winced. “Sorry, sis. I’m not used to the fact that I’m going to be an uncle yet.” He drove. “Where to?”

She closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat. “What time is it?”

“Noon.”

“Let’s go to Rob’s station.”

“I need directions.”

* * *

They found Rob at the station. He was happy to see them until he got a good look at Laura’s expression. “What’s wrong?”

“We need to talk,” she said quietly.

Rob looked at Bill. Bill shook his head. No help there.

Rob took her hand. “Come on.”

Bill followed them inside and sat in the lounge to watch TV. The captain let them use his office, where Rob sat her down.

“Okay, tell me what’s wrong, baby girl. What did the doctor say?”

Her tears finally broke through the shock and she sobbed, unable to speak.

He put his arms around her, trying to soothe her. “Honey, please, what’s wrong? You’re scaring me.” His imagination pictured the worse. Was it cancer? Was she dying?

It took her several minutes to calm down enough to sniffle her answer against his shoulder, and he couldn’t understand what she said.

“Sweetheart,” he whispered, “please. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it together. I love you. Tell me.”

She sat up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Sir, I’m pregnant.”

He stared at her, sure he misheard her. “You’re not sick?”

She looked at him. “What?”

“What did you say?” He must have misheard her, as upset as she was.

“I’m pregnant, Sir,” she whispered. “About six weeks.”

The words finally made it through to his brain and he felt his dread lift. He grabbed her hands. “We’re going to have a baby?”

She nodded, and he grinned. “That’s fantastic!” He hugged her, “Jeez, I thought you were going to tell me you were dying! You scared the crap out of me! I should beat you on general principle just for that.”

She finally laughed and managed to pull free. “No, Sir. Not dying.”

“That’s great! A baby—” He processed the look on her face. “What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with it?”

She shook her head. “No, Sir. Not that I know of.”

Rob studied her and finally understood how upset she was. He lowered his voice and dropped into full-on Dom tone. “Baby girl, why do you look like you’ve received bad news?”

She looked down at her lap. “Because we decided to wait, Sir.”

“It’s okay.” He pulled her to him again. “It’ll be okay sweetheart. Don’t you still want to have a baby?”

“Yes.”

“Then tell me what’s wrong.”

She shrugged. “I’m just… It was a shock, Sir. It hasn’t sunk in yet.”

He kissed her. “Have you told anyone else yet?”

“Bill was there when the doctor told me.” She barked out a laugh. “He mistook Bill for you and we had to explain he was my brother.”

He caressed her cheek. “I love you so much. You have no idea.”

She rested her head against him. “I don’t want to tell anyone else yet, Sir.”

“Why not?”

She shrugged. “I don’t mean not tell Shayla and our close friends, or Steve and Carol and Sarah. I just don’t want it to be public knowledge.”

He studied her face. “Okay,” he agreed.

* * *

Bill stood when they finally emerged from the office a few minutes later. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. Rob held her hand and walked them out to the car. He hugged her before opening the door for her. “Sweetheart, this is okay. This is good news.”

She wished she felt the same. “I know.” She forced herself not to call him “Sir” in front of Bill.

Rob held the door for her while she got in, and he leaned in and kissed her one last time. “Take it easy, all right? Don’t wear yourself out.” He closed the door and watched them pull out of the parking lot.

“Where to, sis?”

She sighed. “Let’s pull through somewhere, get something to eat, and take it to the shop.”

There were no customers when they arrived at the shop. Steve put down the regulator he was working on when she walked in. “What’s wrong?”

Bill laughed. “Who says anything’s wrong?”

He frowned and pointed to Laura. “I’ve known this girl since she was a kid. What’s going on?”

Laura shook her head. “Where’s Carol and Sarah?”

“They’re out back. Why?”

“I want to say this once and get it over with.” They took the food outside and found Carol and Sarah at the table.

“Honey,” Carol said, “what’s wrong?”

Bill shook his head. “Does everyone have this weird psychic stuff?”

“About her, yes,” Sarah said. “What’s wrong?”

Laura sat and started to unwrap her burger. “I’ve got something I need to tell you all. And you can’t tell anyone. It needs to be between just the three of you. Bill knows, obviously. And Rob.”

“What is it?” Steve asked.

She looked at him. “I’m pregnant.”

Sarah grinned. “That’s great!” She studied Laura, her smile fading. “That’s not great? Why do you look upset?”

Laura glared at her. “Psycho guy after me. Sort of preempts the baby buzz.”

“Oh. Yeah.” She looked at the table. “You’re right.”

Carol patted her arm. “This will be fine, honey. I’m sure. But why don’t you want anyone to know?”

“What if it sets this psycho off?”

“Oh.”

They all fell silent. Steve finally spoke. “Well, you’re dry-docked for the duration. We’ll need to come up with a story for a while. But it’ll be awfully hard to hide a baby bump once you start to show.”

“I already thought about it. We can tell people I’ve got a perforated eardrum. That’ll explain me being sick to my stomach, blame it on vertigo. That’ll get me through a few months. Hopefully this creep will be in custody by then.”

“What about Cody? You don’t want to tell him or the others?” The boat captain was a friend, but she didn’t trust him or the others to keep her secret. They might likely reveal it accidentally, not intentionally.

She shook her head. “Not yet. Not right now. The fewer people that know, the better.”

* * *

The next email arrived one Wednesday afternoon after Bill had returned to Montana and while she was home alone. Rob was at work, just starting two days on duty.


A little stork told me you and your man have been busy. The more, the merrier.


Laura ran for the bathroom. She collapsed in front of the toilet, sick, sobbing. Twenty minutes later, she finally pulled herself together and called Det. Thomas. He wasn’t in, but she left a voice mail and he called her back a few minutes later.

“He knows I’m pregnant. How can he know that?”

Thomas was quiet for a long moment. “Maybe he’s someone close to you. We need to reinvestigate—”

“No. You ruled out everyone around me the first time. We know it wasn’t Rob or Steve or Cody. It wasn’t any of my friends. It damn sure wasn’t my brother. This guy has got to be local.”

Thomas went quiet again. “Laura, maybe it would be best if you left town for a while.”

Rage washed through her. “No! I am not putting my life on hold again for this son of a bitch. He ran me off once, he’s not doing it again. I want him to come after me once and for all so I can put a fucking bullet in his head!”

“You need to calm do—”

“Calm down? How dare you! You’re not the one being stalked. You have no idea what I’m going through.”

“No, you’re absolutely right, I don’t, but getting this upset isn’t good for you or the baby.”

She fell silent. He was right, of course, but she didn’t want to admit it.

“Did you tell Rob yet?”

“He’s at work. I don’t want to worry him.”

“You need to call him.”

“No. There’s nothing he can do.”

“I’ll get Hutchinson working on the latest email. Call Rob.” He hung up.

She stared at the phone, trembling. She wanted this over with, wanted the bastard out of their life.

I can’t even enjoy my pregnancy in peace.

Finally, she called him. She almost hoped it’d go to his voice mail, but he answered.

“What’s up, baby girl?”

She broke down crying and it took her several tries to get the story out. “Calm down,” he said. “I want you to pack. I’m going to call Sully.”

When she tried to argue with him, he overruled her. “Stop,” he said, taking Dom tone with her. “Are you listening to me?”

He didn’t raise his voice. In fact, he lowered it, forcing her to listen. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good girl. Go pack. I’ll call Sully. Then call Seth and have him come get you and drive you up to Sully’s. You be ready to go when he gets there.”

She didn’t respond.

“Did you hear me?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Are you going to obey me?”

“Yes, Sir. But what about Doogie?” He weighed nearly a hundred pounds and still acted like a puppy.

“Let me worry about Doogie. I will call you back in five minutes, and you’d better be getting packed.”

She wanted to break down crying again and knew she wouldn’t—couldn’t—disappoint him. “Yes, Sir.”

“Good girl. Love you.”

“Love you, too, Sir.”

When he called her back five minutes later, she was already halfway packed and Sully had okayed her bringing Doogie with her to their house.

Two hours later, Seth was pulling his truck into Sully, Mac, and Clarisse’s Tarpon Springs driveway.

Clarisse hurried down the steps first and engulfed Laura in a tearful hug as soon as she stepped from the truck.

“Hey, momma,” Clarisse said as she laid her hand on Laura’s tummy. “How you doing?”

“I’ve had better days.”

Mac had made his way downstairs, with Sully behind him.

“Go on,” Seth said. “We’ve got your bags.” He grabbed Doogie’s leash as the dog tried to lunge out of the cab and head for the bushes. “And I’ll walk the moose.”

“Thanks, Seth.”

Clarisse hooked her arm through Laura’s as Mac and Sully walked over to her.

“Hey, sweetie,” Sully said.

“Hey.” She burst into tears as the three of them gathered around her in a hug.

“It’s okay,” Clarisse softly said. A hard edge crept into her friend’s voice. “You have your gun, right?”

Laura gave a tearful laugh. “Yeah. I’m afraid Sully and Sir would both spank me if I didn’t.”

“Might make me go a little switchy myself,” Clarisse admitted. “You keep that on you, even here. Okay?”

“Yeah.”

Seth rejoined them, a more subdued Doogie now walking on a slack lead. “Who gets this guy?”

Mac smiled and reached for the leash. “I think Bart’s going to have his paws full trying to dominate this guy.”

“Oh, my god,” Laura said. “Please don’t let Doogie chew any butt plugs!”

* * *

Laura stayed with her friends for a week, spending time at the local gun range with Sully and improving both her aim and her confidence with her gun. When no more emails from the stalker arrived, she begged Rob to let her come home.

He finally relented and came to get her. He had three days off on rotation, and they spent it locked in the house, making love, curled in bed together, and watching TV.

Rob didn’t want her to return to work, but finally gave in on that point, too. Laura tried to hide the worst of her morning sickness from everyone. It wasn’t easy. She had to stay home until well past noon every day, usually when her stomach decided to behave.