Page 26 of Under Their Protection

“Bye,” I say as I step back with the guys.

“I’ll come by tomorrow since y’all leave out early Monday,” Mia says. “I added a ticket for you, Max. Go keep them company.”

“Okay,” Max laughs.

Emma and Mia go to Emma’s car and I sigh.

“What?” Rowan asks.

“This is weird, right?” I ask, laughing.

“Yeah, this is weird,” he laughs with me. “But it’s okay! One day at a time.”

“One day at a time,” I repeat.

“Come on, Wife,” he says as he opens the passenger door. We all get in and drive back toward The Cherry.

“What did she mean that we have to make it look real?”I ask.

“Y’all have to sleep in the same room, get rings, and just generally do the normal married couple things. On all of your trips, you’ll share a bed. It’s just all the stuff I know you guys will end up doing anyway,” Max says.

“I should probably tell my mom,” Rowan laughs.

“She’s going to be very confused,” I laugh.

“Yeah, but she adores you. She’ll love this,” Rowan says as he lays his hand on my thigh. He picks up his phone and taps around for a moment until his phone rings through the speakers in the truck.

“Hey, sweetie,” a woman says.

“Hey, Mom. Do you have a moment?” Rowan asks. Rowan's Mom, Maria, is a cute little woman from Puerto Rico. She raised Rowan by herself working three jobs since his biological father skipped out when he was a baby. Rowan’s sperm donor is white, but he favors his mother.

Now that Rowan makes good money, he supports her the way she did him. This allowed her to retire and enjoy life rather than working herself to death. She comes into the office and brings him lunch a few times a week. By him, I mean me and Mia also.

“Yeah, I’m just watching TV. Is everything okay?” she asks worriedly.

“Oh yeah, everything is okay. I just needed to tell you something.”

“Okay. What’s going on?” she asks.

“So, I’m not really sure how you will react to this, but I just need you to trust me, okay?” Rowan seems a bit nervous, but I think that is because I am listening.

“Okay, sweetie. Just tell me.”

“You know Anika from work?” he asks.

“Of course, I know Anika! She’s sweet. Has she left that awful man yet?”

“Uh, yeah. She sure has,” Rowan laughs.

“Are you two dating now?” she guesses.

“We got married…” Rowan says slowly.

“Did you get her pregnant?” she asks and Max busts out laughing. “Hey, Max.”

“Hey Mom,” he says, still laughing.

“No, I didn’t get her pregnant,” Rowan laughs. He glances at me, likely wanting to explain. I smile and nod. He goes through the entire situation, including a bit of my history with how I came to exist to begin with. He ends by explaining what Emma suggested and why.

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