Page 14 of Trouble Comes in Threes

“We haven’t been using birth control because we never thought we’d get pregnant.” He shook his head. “Obviously, we were wrong.”

“Jed, I had no idea.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

We sat in silence for a few seconds before I said, “What are we gonna do?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “She’s adamant that she’s meant to have this baby, that it was a miracle she got pregnant. She’s determined to see this through.”

“Okay,” I said, my mind scrambling. “She just found out. Maybe once she thinks about you and Daisy…” I stopped, because while she loved Jed and Daisy with her entire being, she would never, ever end this pregnancy unless she had another ectopic pregnancy. She’d been forced to end her first pregnancy years ago back in Oklahoma, and she still struggled with the guilt and pain of her loss.

He lifted one side of his mouth into a sad smile. “You just realized the truth.”

My chest felt heavy. “Yeah.”

His eyes welled with tears. “What am I gonna do, Rose? I love her so damn much. I can’t live without her.”

“You won’t have to!” I assured him. “We’ll do everything in our power to protect her. We’ll put her in a plastic bubble if we have to.” I thought about her digging at the Thatcher’s this morning. There’d be no more physical labor until after this baby was born.

He nodded, not looking entirely convinced. Neely Kate wasn’t a sitter. She was a doer, and we likely had at least seven months to go.

After a second, Jed made a face. “Would you…” He paused, rubbed his chin, and leaned forward. “Would you have a vision to make sure she’s going to be okay?”

I hesitated. “If it were up to me, I’d have a vision in a heartbeat. But it’s not my decision. It’s Neely Kate’s.”

“But you can suggest it,” he said, warming up to the idea. “And if you see her…”

“Die.”

He nodded, tears welling in his eyes. “If you see her dead, then maybe she’ll come to her senses.”

Even then, I wasn’t sure she’d do anything to end her pregnancy. She’d just try to find a way to avert the outcome.

“Let me think about it,” I said, then held up my hand when he started to protest. “I can suggest it, but we both know Neely Kate’s never been shy about asking me to have visions for her. If she wants me to have one, she’ll ask herself.”

“And she’s not going to want to know,” he said, sounding devastated.

“Like I said, it’s her decision,” I said. “I won’t force it on her, and I’m not sure I should even suggest it. I suspect it might upset her.”

He leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling as he released a groan.

“But there are other things we can do,” I said, trying to sound more upbeat. “The first is to make an appointment with a doctor and see how far along she is. And make sure it’s not an ectopic pregnancy. Years ago, she said the doctors told her she had a high chance of having another one.”

“Yeah,” he said, running both hands over his face. “That’s good. A plan.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “A plan.” It sounded promising, but then again, we’d had plenty of plans back when we were trying to protect the county from criminal forces, and our plans had rarely worked.

Maybe a plan would work this time.

Right, and flying monkeys were gonna fly out of Jed’s butt.

Chapter Five

I headed back to town, stopping by Chuck-N-Cluck to pick up our lunch before I drove to our office downtown.

When I walked in with the food, Neely Kate was at her desk with her phone against her ear and writing in a small notebook. The wooden box was on the side of her desk, all cleaned up, but it still gave off a slight musty odor.

“That’s as far back as it goes?” she asked into the phone. After a moment, she said, “Okay, thank you, Phyllis! I owe you a cupcake.” She hung up and set her phone on her desk. “I got a list of the homeowners.”

---