“I’m a few days late. And I took one of those over-the-counter tests, which showed positive. I just won’t believe it until I see a doctor. I didn’t want to get your hopes up until I knew for sure.”
Kit chuckled. “Goddamn. This makes me so happy. You can’t even know.” She heard his sigh. “I need to ask something of you. A couple of things.”
“Okay.”
“I need you to stay put at the house. My sister, too. Just until we know for sure this thing is contained here at the community.”
She looked at Mandy, who was watching her tensely. “We will.”
“And I’d prefer if we could keep this on the down-low until Rocco’s gotten his news. I don’t know how he’s going to react to being a dad again. I don’t want our joy to affect him in an unintended way.”
“Of course.”
“I’m going to send him home. The sooner we can break the news, the better.” He sighed again. “Honey, I wish I could be there, but I can’t come home right now.”
“I know. I know. It’s all right. Everything’s fine here.”
“No hugging Casey, now. At least, not for the next month or so until her shot has fully healed.”
“That’s going to be hard.”
“Yeah. I’ll give her your hugs for you until then.”
“I love you, Kit.”
He huffed a little breath. She could just see his expression. “I love you, too, babe. Hand the phone back to Max.”
She handed it over to Max. He arched a brow at her as he asked, “So, boss, we cool?” A big grin split his face. “All righty, then. Roger that. I’m out.”
Max looked at the two of them. He smiled and held out his arms for them. “It’s going to be okay. I’m happy for you both. Mandy, I think you know you’ve got a challenge with Rocco, just because of everything he’s been through. We’ll help you through it, though.”
Mandy sniffled and nodded.
He looked down at her terrified face. His thumb forced her face upward. “Be full of joy. This is good stuff. Everything else will fall into place.”
Ivy reached across Max’s chest to squeeze her wrist.
Mandy dabbed at her red eyes. “I am happy.”
Max laughed. “I can see that.”
*
Hope hurried to catch up with Max before he took the elevator to the bunker. “Hey, Max!”
He stopped outside the bedroom with the secret bunker entrance. He smiled, then frowned at her bandaged arm. Holding her elbow, he bent and kissed the edge of her shoulder. “These shots hurt like a sonofabitch. Sorry you had to have one.”
Hope shrugged. “No worries. It’s better than the alternative.”
“S’up?”
“I wanted to talk to you about Lion. Have he and his boys been vaccinated?”
“They have.”
There was something he wasn’t telling her, but she knew better than to ask for details he couldn’t give her. “Good. I was thinking, if we were to ever get him and his pride off the WKB compound, now would be a good time to do that, under cover of everything that’s happening.”
Max stared at her. She could tell his mind was running through various scenarios. “You’re right. I’ll bring it up with Kit and Owen.”
She squeezed his hand, wanting to say more, wanting assurances he couldn’t give. “Thank you.”
Max smiled and leaned over to kiss her. “I’ll take your mind off your sore arm later,” he said, still grinning.
“I’m counting on it!”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Mandy was in the corral, brushing Kitano, when Rocco came looking for her. Though the horse was still skittish as hell, her being able to groom him was a big step forward. He had an uncanny ability to sense her moods. He didn’t seem to mind her brushing him when she had something she needed to think through.
“Keep that up, and Kitano will be one ugly horse. You’ll have brushed him bare.”
Mandy spooked at the sound of Rocco’s voice. Kitano gave an agitated shake of his head. She patted his shoulder, releasing him, then walked over to greet Rocco. She stepped on the lowest plank of the corral fence and leaned up to kiss him.
He was just showered. He’d shaved. His cheek was soft. His hair was still damp. His eyes were wrecked. “Was it bad out there today?” she asked.
“Very. Smallpox isn’t a naturally occurring disease. Hasn’t been since it was eradicated worldwide. Someone infected the people of the community. It was like a war zone, with the CDC and other medical staff, the FBI, and Army there. When I left, they were setting up a field hospital inside the community. They’d decided it was best to keep the outbreak contained in place, at least until they better understand the full extent of it.”
He touched her arms carefully, just above her elbows. “What’s got you upset? Did the vaccination hurt?”
“I didn’t get the vaccination.”
“Why?”
Mandy stepped down from the fence and started toward the stable. Rocco followed her inside. She set the brush down on a shelf, then turned to face him. “Because I’m pregnant.”
For a moment, his face looked like marble, pale and hard. She wondered where his mind slipped away to. Perhaps to his wife, Kadisha, and the last time he’d been given similar news.
“Okay,” he said at last.
“Okay? That’s it?”
“How are you feeling?”
She folded her arms and dropped her gaze to the middle of his shirt. “I’m a wreck, honestly. I cry at everything. I’m starving, but when I eat I get sick. And I’m terrified of losing you.”
She felt his arms slip around her as he moved closer to hold her. “That makes two of us.”
She wrapped her arms around him and leaned her forehead against his chest. “You aren’t going to lose me.”
“Marry me.”
Mandy didn’t answer immediately. “No.”
“Why?”
She leaned back so that she could see his face. “Rocco, you’ll be an amazing dad to our baby. I’ve seen you with Zavi. I know this for a fact. But marriage needs to be for us, about us, not an obligation because of an unplanned baby.”
“That doesn’t make sense. I’m asking for us. You, our baby, Zavi—you’re my family. I want us to be together.”