Page 44 of Surprise Baby for the Enemy

A dog’s nose snuffles at the back of my hair, but I don’t bother to smack it away. The other dog wanders over to Derrick to inspect what he’s doing. Against my will, I watch Derrick pet him unconsciously while he swipes glass out of the seats with a balled-up towel. With quiet, patient commands he tells the dog to sit out of the way, then pets his ears again when he obeys. The dog nuzzles Derrick’s hand with obvious love, then looks right at me. As if to show me what I’m missing out on.

How can someone so warm and protective also be a slimy politician? Is this change in him something that happened because of my brother’s punishment, or has he just started to show me something that’s always been there?

I don’t care, I don’t care,I don’t care.

Derrick orders the dog away from him so he can shake the glass firmly out of the towel, then throws it into the trunk of the cruiser. He grabs their water bottles and food, letting them each get a sloppy drink and a treat, then opens the back door for them so they can get settled again.

When he finally looks up at me, I catch something in his gaze before the mask comes up again.

Hurt? Disappointment? I don’t know. I don’tcare.

“Time to go,” he says, opening the passenger door for me.

I think about fighting, about saying fuck it to everything and just running. But there’s nowhere left for me to go and no one here I can lie to anymore. I get to my feet and slip wordlessly past him into the car.

Derrick pulls into the nearest gas station and pauses for a moment before heading inside. When he returns, he’s holding a small, unassuming bag. “I picked up a pregnancy test. We should find out for sure before jumping to any more conclusions.”

I glance at the bag and nod. “Fine,” I say, taking it from him and heading inside to use the restroom.

When I climb back into the car, Derrick’s eyes are on me with a mixture of impatience and concern. I hand him the two test sticks. “I used both, just to be extra sure.”

He examines them and asks. “So, two lines mean positive?”

“Yep.”

Derrick places the sticks in the center console, a slight smile tugging at his lips as he shifts the car into reverse and we’re off… to meet his mom… the baby’s grandma.

We make the rest of the drive in silence.

CHAPTER 23

Raleigh

I expectus to stop at another city, or at the very least a small town. But when Derrick takes his exit, the few buildings I can see are still misty outlines twenty minutes further down the highway. Where we turn off, there’s nothing but knee-high grass, weeds, and sparse trees.

We follow a rough road made more of potholes than asphalt for a few miles. Finally, a wooden fence appears, separating tall grass from tall grass. I see a barn off in the distance, a chicken coop, and a long, low ranch house painted pale teal. Derrick pulls into a gravel driveway, and behind another fence that separates the road from the fields, I see horses grazing. Goats and chickens wander in a side yard. And, coming around the side of the house, I see-

More enormous dogs.

Four of them, ranging from Chance and Justice’s size tomine, come barreling up to the cruiser as Derrick parks and releases his own dogs into the fray. He smiles for the first time since yesterday afternoon, but it’s at the dogs, not me. As they wheel around him, barking wildly for pets he doesn’t have enough arms to give, the front door of the ranch house opens and an older woman steps out.

She’s dressed in plain gray jeans and a flowery button-up shirt, with her gray hair pulled back in a messy bun. The deep crow’s feet and laugh lines on her face show her age, but her body is wiry and fit. Her blue eyes and straight nose tell me exactly who she is.

Derrick’s mother.

At the sight of her son, her face bursts into a startled smile that I immediately know he also inherited from her. Then her eyes catch on the multiple bullet holes in his cruiser, and her smile disappears.

“Oh my god, Derrick?!” she calls, running down the front steps and toward her son. “What happened- are you all right- what are you doing here-”

Derrick catches his mother in his arms and hugs her fiercely. A piercing ache shoots through my chest, startling me.

“I’m absolutely fine, mom,” Derrick tells her. “I’m sorry I didn’t call ahead but it was pretty late when we left the city.”

“That is not an explanation!” his mother accuses, looking over the embattled cruiser- and suddenly locking eyes with me. She jumps back, pressing a hand to her heart. “Oh-we.”

When Derrick looks into the cruiser at me, he’s still smiling, but it becomes more polite than warm. “Come on out, Raleigh.”

I would so much rather camp in the cruiser forever, but the longer I hesitate, the more awkward this entire thing will be. I step out onto the gravel driveway and amimmediatelyassaulted by the four new dogs.

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