by Geri Krotow
“The murderer you saw on the lake followed you to your town house, I heard. So you two decided to hole up here?” Daddy was a dog with a bone. He thrived on details.
“Not exactly.” As she replied, Fenwick got up from the island stool and walked around, looking at the place. He wasn’t one to sit still for long.
Still energetic and wire thin, he never had a shortage of women who wanted to be with him. She and Layla had compared notes and agreed their father wasn’t going to have a fourth wife. He saw potential mates as future divorce adversaries—money grabbers. And Patience would like to think he was afraid of another broken heart, though he never displayed anything that indicated it.
“Nice touch with the gas insert.” Fenwick stalled, and for the first time Patience wondered if he wasn’t a little lonely. Unless he had a date on his arm, he went home alone to the expansive mansion she’d grown up in.
He stood in front of the fireplace, then turned to look out the picture window, where the porch lights illuminated the Appalachian chairs and rocker. “And the porch looks like a nice place to start the day.”
“It is...” She almost choked on her words as she saw the huge pile of baby supplies beneath the window. She’d forgotten about Nash’s shopping spree.
Her father’s hawkish gaze missed nothing. When he turned to face her, he assessed her, pausing when he got to her belly. Incredulity and comprehension played across his features.
“What’s with the kid stuff, Patience?”
Patience swallowed as she faced down the first adversary she’d ever known.
Chapter 14
Nash wished Fenwick Colton would magically disappear. Why couldn’t the man see his daughter as the beautiful woman she was? Instead, he treated her like she was his possession. Enough.
“I brought the supplies here. They’re mine.” Nash spoke up, seeing the consternation on Patience’s face. Her cheeks were flushed and she bit her lower lip so deeply he expected to see blood. The least he could do was buy her time. If she didn’t want to tell her powerful father that she was pregnant, he’d lie.
“Can I ask why?” Fenwick looked from Patience to Nash, then back to his daughter. She waited for Nash to meet her gaze, and when he did she nodded. She raised her chin and squarely faced her father.
“Daddy, you’re going to be a grandfather.”
Silence fell in tense shards, and Nash fought to think of something he could say or do to ease the stress he knew this caused Patience. She’d turned to him that first night they were together because she’d had a blowup with Fenwick and Layla. Something to do with Fenwick’s business floundering and Layla agreeing to marry Hamlin Harrington, two things Patience believed were related. She blamed her father for pushing her sister to marry the much older businessman. Nash didn’t want to get in the middle of family stuff; he had enough of his own. But the baby in Patience’s belly was his.
Fenwick Colton and he were family by default. Holy hell, he’d never taken the time to think about that. His thoughts, his heart hadn’t gone past Patience. And the baby.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Congratulations!” Fenwick rounded the breakfast bar and took his daughter in what Nash thought was a genuine hug. Patience looked a little stiff, but she did hug him back. It was a start. When Fenwick released her, he looked at Nash. “I take it you’re responsible?”
“We’re both responsible for the baby, Daddy. I don’t have to tell you how it works.” Patience blushed and Nash bit back a laugh.
“No. No, you don’t.” Fenwick eyed Nash. “What are you going to do about it? As far as raising the child? My grandchild.” Of course, Fenwick immediately claimed the unborn babe, another possession.
“Patience and I are working out the details.” He walked over to her so that they’d face Fenwick together.
But her dad wasn’t accusatory. He seemed bemused. “Is that why you’re here together? Besides keeping safe from the Lake Killer. You’re figuring things out?”
“We’re assigned to the same case, Daddy. I work with the RRPD on any K9 operation, technically, but this one is requiring extra time.”
Fenwick gave his daughter a look that Nash knew probably melted his opponents in the boardroom. Patience stood her ground, and Fenwick turned to Nash.
“You’re responsible for her now.”
Nash saw red. Patience wasn’t a commodity to be traded for a dowry. He refused to raise the tension in the room, though. And truth be told, he did feel responsible for Patience and the baby’s safety.
“I’m responsible for me, Daddy.” Patience certainly had the dog-with-a-bone DNA in her, too.
Fenwick waved his hand at both of them. “I would have preferred you did this the old-fashioned way, getting married first. But I also wanted you to join the family business instead of going to vet school.” In what Nash suspected was a rare admission, the elder Colton’s face fell as he contemplated his daughter. “And look at me. Two divorces, the awful, tragic loss of your mother, five kids, and I’ve not done well by you or your brothers and sisters. Who am I to say what’s best?”
“Daddy, you did the best you knew how to do at the time. And we’ve all turned out okay, haven’t we?”
Fenwick nodded. “That you have. Congratulations, my dear.” He kissed Patience on the forehead, and Nash saw that she seemed reserved after such an emotional display by her father. This wasn’t a family used to outward expressions of affection.
“Nash.” Fenwick stretched his hand out and Nash shook it. “All I ask is that you do right by my daughter and grandchild.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Keep yourselves safe from the Lake Killer. And I mean business about the Groom Killer, Nash. The RRPD needs to get Demi behind bars. Red Ridge needs its sense of security back. We need people to feel safe to get married again.”
* * *
“Is your father always such a prick?” Nash sat on the sofa next to her. Patience had distracted herself from her father’s surprise visit by opening the pile of baby supplies after he departed.
“This is like Christmas, Nash. How did you know which swing to buy? I was at a friend’s baby shower a while ago and she received four different swings, each supposedly the best.” Patience hadn’t paid attention to the discussion of timers and wireless controls. She’d dismissed it as useless information. “You know you’ve purchased the top-of-the-line swing, right? This has not only a timer but also a Wi-Fi speaker so that you can customize the baby’s music. And it says here that the speakers will not exceed safe decibel levels.” She pored over the service manual.
Nash’s strong hands covered the text. “Answer my question, Patience. Do you think how your father behaved was appropriate?”
“Which part? How he arrogantly assumed we’d both do his bidding and work to get Demi arrested? Or how he threw his usual barb at me for being a ‘mere’ veterinarian and not working for the high-and-mighty Colton legacy?”
Nash looked at her with compassion sprinkled with a little bit of surprise.
“You’re an amazing woman, you know that? I don’t mean to put down your family, but it’s fair to say that your father is a known entity in Red Ridge. You don’t fit in his world, Patience. Money isn’t your be-all and end-all. I get it. I have degrees in finance and computer science. I could have used my siblings as an excuse to follow through with my postcollege plans and gone to San Francisco or Chicago to get a moneymaking job. Bring in the bucks for my siblings, focus on their financial future. My aunt and uncle would have taken them in.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“Because I’m made of the same stuff you are. I knew the kids needed their closest family member, their half brother, more than they needed trust funds and college accounts.”
“What made you pick law enforcement?”
“I was interested in white-collar crime and was beefing up my résumé with sec
urity jobs for high-end corporations. But it was too sterile for me. I wanted, needed, to work with real people every day. And I’ve always loved dogs, so K9 was a natural fit. I had just graduated the police academy when my folks were killed.”
“Talk about divine timing.”
“Yeah, it was, in an awful way. I had a regular paycheck from the get-go. And in total disclosure, the kids aren’t without college funds. There was a life insurance policy that provided enough for each of them to attend a state school. Paige and Maeve are on the scholarship track, though, so the sky’s the limit for where the boys will go to university.”
His pride in his siblings touched her. “You’re a wonderful father, Nash.”
“Big brother, you mean. Yeah, I’m their parent, four times over. But I’ve had help. Besides my aunt and uncle, there are so many other family members and friends of my parents who’ve stepped up. My folks each had two siblings—that’s a lot of babysitting power right there.” He grinned, making what he did seem easy.
“I don’t know how you’ve done it. Watch hours, duty assignments... They aren’t all family-friendly.”
“I haven’t done anything anyone else wouldn’t have.” Nash’s modesty made him all the more attractive.
“Give me a break. You’ve gone above and beyond and you know it.”
“Which begs the question, Patience. Are you going to let me participate fully as the baby’s father?” His question jarred her out of the bubble she wanted to stay in. Where she didn’t have to make a big decision, where her heart wasn’t at stake. Where a mad killer hadn’t drawn a bright bloodred target on her back.
“Is this really the time to talk about it? There’s a serial killer out there, another killer after me and the Larson twins after both of us. Why don’t we get through the next few weeks and to the point where, hopefully, the Groom Killer is stopped and whoever I saw on the lake is apprehended? The Larson twins aren’t stupid enough to come after us directly, but they might send their own thugs. To figure out how we’ll manage the parenting—it’s just a lot to take in.”
“Come here.” Nash opened his arms and Patience sidled up to him on the sofa, loving the unwavering strength he so freely gave her. Once her head was nestled on his shoulder, he spoke as he stroked her hair.
“Neither of us planned this, Patience. After these last days together, I’d say we have an attraction that doesn’t come along every day. You don’t want to settle down—I understand completely understand that, neither of us wanted to. It’s okay to enjoy one another, draw fortitude from our bond, though, isn’t it? And the baby will do better if his or her parents get along.”
“I can’t argue with that, but it’s not that simple, Nash.” She ignored the disappointment when he admitted he didn’t want to settle down, either. And she wasn’t ready to correct his assumption that she hadn’t changed her mind about it, either. All she could think of was the fight she had in front of her to balance her career and impending mommydom. She’d fought long and hard to achieve independence from her father and the darker side of the Colton legacy, only to find out the K9 clinic in her mother’s name was under threat of closure. “We have to catch the Lake Killer and the Groom Killer.” As she said the words, she still couldn’t get her head wrapped around the fact that two murderers were on the loose in Red Ridge.
“Speaking of that, I have some updates from Finn. I didn’t want to say anything in front of your father. We believe the Lake Killer is an operative for a North American heroin and fentanyl distribution ring. He’s an expert at disguises and disappearing as needed. We’re getting closer to him, Patience.”
She shivered. “I hate being so close to such evil, Nash.”
“I know. Let me do the heavy lifting, worrywise, for you. The only thing you have to concern yourself with is staying safe and healthy. Trust me as your friend to take care of the rest for you.”
“You can’t charm your way out of this one, Officer Maddox.” She playfully punched his jaw. His stubbled, sexy jaw.
He caught her fingers in his teeth and his tongue circled the tips, shooting mind-numbing awareness to the spot between her legs.
“Who said anything about charm?” He tugged on the tendril of hair he’d been playing with until their lips met. Patience had no argument. The next days and weeks would be scary until they caught both killers. She’d take comfort in the security of Nash’s arms while she could.
* * *
The next week Patience drove to her prenatal checkup with a combination of nervousness and hope in her belly. She laughed as she realized something else existed inside her—the baby. Was it a boy or girl? She and Nash were minutes from finding out.
As much as she tried to convince herself she could do all of this on her own, she was excited to know Nash would be here, would see the baby for the first time with her.
It was hard to imagine life before, without Nash, and now it was impossible to conceive that he wouldn’t always be at her side, as their child was born and then grew over the years.
Her heartbeat sped up and it wasn’t from distress. Maybe it would have a year, six months ago. Before she’d been with Nash. She was a different woman, with a fresh perspective on life and the importance of appreciating those who meant the most.
Nash was definitely in that category.
She spotted Nash’s car in the ob-gyn’s parking lot and pulled up next to it. Nash rose to his feet when she entered the reception area, a copy of Your Baby in his hands. The sight of such a big strong man holding a magazine about babies made her smile. And then tears formed in her eyes.
“Patience. What?” Nash stood in front of her, clutching the periodical.
She shook her head, wiped her eyes. “Nothing. Hormones. I’ll get checked in—give me a minute.”
As soon as she’d given her insurance information she sat beside Nash, clipboard in hand.
“You have to fill that whole page out?” Nash eyed the questionnaire.
She fanned the multipage document. “More like three pages. The doctor needs to know my entire history, plus how I’m feeling.”
“And how are you feeling?” His concern touched her and she fought tears again.
“I’m good.” Grateful. Hopeful. But hopeful for what? That the baby enjoyed perfect health? Or that Nash might actually be a permanent part of her, and the baby’s, life?
“Patience?” He refused to allow her off the hook that easily.
“It’s just the hormones. And let’s face it, we’ve had a lot going on.” She looked around the room at the other waiting mothers, in various stages of pregnancy. She kept thinking she looked the same as usual, but in fact, anyone could see she was pregnant. Her belly was fuller and starting to protrude like a basketball.
“We have.” His tone matched hers—low and measured. But still, there were plenty of ears to catch their conversation and this wasn’t the place for police talk.
Her hand paused over the question about family history. “Nash, do you know if anyone in your family had any birth defects, or congenital disease?”
His brow furrowed. “Not that I know of. All of my half siblings are healthy as horses, as you’ve seen. Since I don’t have a biological full sibling, I don’t know about anyone but me, and from what my dad told me, my mother had no problems with my birth. She died when I was a teen, long after their divorce. I’d lived with both of them on an alternating schedule up until her death. My dad remarried a year later, and he and my stepmom had all four kids pretty quickly.”
“I’m sorry, Nash.” Patience had never thought to ask him about his parents and why his dad had remarried. And now all three parental figures in his life had passed. “The baby must mean that much more to you.”
“You understand that better than me.” His gaze left hers and he looked around the waiting room. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Yes.” She finishe
d filling out the form and realized she’d underestimated how much could go wrong with a pregnancy. As a medical professional herself, working with animals, she understood the basics. But she hadn’t taken the time to apply it to her situation, to her baby.
“Ms. Colton?”
“That’s Dr. Colton.” Nash spoke up and Patience blushed. The nurse looked at her file.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Colton. Follow me.”
Patience stood, and with Nash at her side walked into the examination room, where they’d find out how their baby fared.
* * *
Nash hoped like heck that Patience didn’t see how freaking nervous he felt. Thankfully, she couldn’t see his sweating palms, or feel how tight the muscles in his chest clamped down on his rib cage. He’d watched countless canines whelp pups, and he dealt with kids on a daily basis. But his siblings weren’t babies and puppies were...pups. Not a human baby with an entire life in front of it. His father and stepmother had made it look so easy when the kids were young, when the house was a complete cacophony of toddlers and babies. He’d come in later, when they were old enough to dress themselves and eat from a plate.
“Do I need to put on a robe?” Patience appeared fine, her usual confident self, except for the way she kept biting her lower lip. At this rate she’d gnaw it off before they got to the ultrasound part.
“No, that isn’t necessary. You’ll pull your waistband down so that the doctor can measure you, and then he’ll put some gel on it for the ultrasound. That’s it. Are you interested in knowing the sex of the baby?”
Patience’s gaze flew to Nash’s. “What do you think?”
He gulped. “I don’t know. I guess it’s a good idea, to be prepared.”
“But the surprise of finding out at birth might make it more fun, more to look forward to.”
The nurse cleared her throat. “I’ll let you two talk about it while you’re waiting for the doctor. He had a late delivery last night—early this morning, actually—so we’re running about fifteen minutes behind. We’ll be back shortly.” She left the room.