Page 95 of Love and Memories

Travis helped her out of the truck and held her hand as they walked in the tall grass lining the road. Each step was careful and calculated.

Once they were on the pavement, she looked down the road the way they were going. “I’m not sure I remember this.”

“That’s okay. It looks like the other twenty miles of this road.” He pointed ahead. “You were found just before that mile marker.”

Bella started walking, looking all around her for something that might spark a memory. She stopped and pressed her eyes closed.

What was I doing here, God?

The roar of a truck engine approached behind them. The sound grew louder, and Bella turned.

That was it. He’d come from behind her. She blinked, and she could see the truck approaching. Not the tan one coming toward them now, but the black one.

The black truck driven by Gunner’s best friend.

Bella reached out and grabbed Travis’s arm.

“What is it? Do you remember?”

The tan truck approached them slowly. The driver was an elderly man with a long white beard who waved as he passed.

She looked up at Travis, breathless and unsure what to do. “I know who hit me.”

35

TRAVIS

Travis scrolled through Bella’s online baby registry while she sat beside him in the waiting room reading a parenting magazine. This appointment was a big one. She’d have an ultrasound that should reveal the baby’s gender.

Grady had asked Bella earlier this week if she thought the baby would be a boy or a girl. She’d just smiled and said she didn’t know and didn’t care. She’d love it the same either way.

And that moment made Travis love her a little more. After living with a mom who didn’t get the daughter she wanted, he knew all too well that gender could matter. Yet, Bella really seemed ecstatic no matter which one they talked about.

Her excitement about the baby grew by the day. She didn’t do anything before considering the baby first. Eating, drinking, working, exercising, resting. She quoted the books she read frequently and got excited whenever she learned something interesting about pregnancy and babies.

She claimed she spent the entirety of his paramedic shift reading books she’d checked out from the library, and he believed her. He’d even found a book beside the couch on pottytraining last week, even though they were years away from that lesson.

Her baby registry was long but only because Camille had added most of the things to it, claiming people got generous when babies were involved.

Thanks to Camille, Travis had plenty of things to order. Every week, he picked a few things off the list and had them shipped to Anna’s house for her to wrap.

After today, they’d find out whether he should order the green-and-pink bedding or the brown-and-blue one.

Travis glanced over at Bella. Her grip on the magazine was tight enough to crumple the pages.

She’d been stressed ever since she remembered who tried to kill her, and Travis had woken her up from nightmares twice already this week.

This Switch guy had Bella on edge. She was certain the only reason he’d left her was because he thought she was dead. As long as Gunner and Switch continued to believe that, Bella was moderately safe.

Outside police forces were now involved in keeping watch over the Iron Fist, which meant Bella had allies whose pockets weren’t being padded by the club.

Travis reached over and squeezed Bella’s thigh. “Hey.”

She lowered the magazine and looked at him with wide eyes.

“Why are you so tense?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

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