Page 256 of Mountain Men Heroes

I shrugged and grinned. "We used condoms. But I guess my guys are stronger than the average swimmers because at least one of them broke his way through."

Trinity whacked me on the shoulder. "That's gross, Mac."

"Just speaking the truth," I teased.

"She's from Lover’s Cove? How did she find you?" Eeli narrowed his eyes on me.

I figured this was coming. I'd been through hell and back with these men. There's no way they'd let me drop a bombshell like that without a full explanation. So I shared everything—where my head was when I arrived in the small beach town after some shit for brains bureaucrat gave us bad intel that made the mission I'd just barely made it out of go FUBAR to meeting Gabriella at a club one night and allowing her to breath a little life back into me with her sunny smile. I brushed over the details of the night we'd spent together for Trinity's sake, but I'm sure my buddies got the picture.

"The next day I had to head back to the unit and that was it. Until Gabriella showed up this morning and told me she was pregnant."

"Are you sure it's yours?" Eeli blurted out like sandpaper over a wound.

My eyes narrowed. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to launch myself across the table and beat the shit out of my friend for even thinking Gabriella would lie about such a thing. I might not know every last detail about her, but I could judge a person’s character. Lying wasn’t part of who she was.

Eeli held up his hands. "No offense meant, man. I'm just looking out for you. Someone had to ask the obvious and get it out of the way."

I nodded, but my jaw stayed clenched and I gripped the arms of my chair tightly.

Trinity leaned in and put a gentle hand on my arm, despite a warning grunt from Sawyer.

"It's obvious you care about this girl, Mac. We just want to make sure she's not taking advantage of you. You know how some women are and what lengths they’ll go to in order to land a man."

The anger leached from my body as I met Trinity's eyes. She had first-hand experience of how some were for sure. Trinity's mother had been a gold digger and never did pay much attention to what she had to do to score with a man with deep pockets.

Because of her mother’s reputation, Trinity had to face a lot of wagging tongues when she hooked up with Sawyer. Not only because of the size of his bank account, but also because she landed the son of a man her mother chased for years before abandoning her.

I offered Trinity a smile. "I appreciate you guys looking out for me. But I’m pretty sure the baby is mine. Unless she's the best damn liar in the world, and I don’t think that is the case." I quickly explained the timing and the fact Gabriella was shocked out of her mind to find out she was three months pregnant and did not know it.

"She didn’t even realize it before then? Oh god, how scary! And to be all alone." Trinity's eyes grew wide and a little panicked. Being abandoned by a parent haunted a person. Usually, Trinity did a very good job of hiding her past traumas, but right that second I could see old fears rear their ugly head.

Sawyer stood and pulled her from her chair into his arms. "Some people aren’t as lucky as we are, baby. You’ll never be alone like that again."

Sawyer's words hit me like an arrow to the heart. I tuned out of the rest of their conversation as I realized the truth of his words. Gabriella and I were having a baby together, but we didn't have the special connection Sawyer and Trinity shared.

Gabriella looked scared and said as much, but deep down the women had to be frantic. What security did she have that someone would be by her side through all of this?

None.

Turning my attention back to the people in the room, I realized Trinity was excusing herself to go make copies of a few of the pages Sawyer handed out during the meeting.

"She okay?" I asked him after she closed the door behind her.

"She'll be okay. It’s hard to calm people who’ve been through so much and their trust stomped on by so many people." Sawyer shook his head. "Her mother did a number on her and she felt like all the people of Wild Ridge and Hardwood thought she was the same kind of trash. It’s not easy to just stop thinking a certain way. I've been trying to show her this town loves her and she’s slowly coming to see it. She wants to start a family but gets scared everyone will think she’s using me. It’s a nasty web caused by others.”

"Sorry, man." What else could I say to that?

He shook his head. "No problem. The more we talk about it, the more she can come to terms with her past and realize she’s stuck with me for good."

"Have you shared your past with her? The shit we went through overseas?" Eeli asked. “When Dyson and I shared our pasts with Clara, it brought us closer. Helped us heal. Maybe doing that with Trinity will put you two on a whole other level and she can see how you’re moving on and do the same.”

For someone who didn’t talk much, Eeli had a lot of insight.

I swung my head to him and then right back to Sawyer.

It hadn't occurred to me that Sawyer would consider sharing his horror stories to connect with his wife.

Eeli’s idea made sense, but it drove icy fear through me to consider tainting someone as good as Gabriella with such ugliness.

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