Page 69 of Seven of Hearts

Logan looked around. “For your sake, I hope your family comes around. And I’ll do what I can to get them on board as long as they don’t cross any boundaries. But this is the kind of family I think our son should have. The kind who’s just there no matter what.”

Steve Pelham and Chase Brannan sauntered over. They were cops with the Beaufort Police Department, though rumor had it, Steve was retiring.

“Good to see you, kid,” Chase said as he pulled Logan into a hug before turning to me. “Leah. I heard the good news. How are you feeling?”

“Okay,” I said with a tentative smile. “It’s a new symptom every day, so that’s fun.”

Chase chuckled as he glanced over at his wife. “Yeah, I remember Bridget saying that.”

Steve gave Logan a good-natured slap on the arm. “Fatherhood looks good on you. I’m proud of you.”

I swear Logan nearly crumbled, but Steve and Chase didn’t notice. They were pulled into another conversation, but Logan didn’t flinch.

“Are you okay?” I whispered.

Logan nodded as he pulled a slice of pepperoni out of a box. “Yeah.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “It doesn’t look like it.”

He paused with the slice halfway onto his plate. “Steve and Chase were the ones who arrested my parents that night.” His eyes were glassy. “Steve helped me call Kristin because she was away at college. I was so freaked out that I couldn’t remember her phone number. He and his first wife helped us move in the aftermath after our house was seized by the feds. They would come by the trailer park to check on us every day and bring us whatever they could.”

My heart broke for him every time he shared pieces of his past. I smoothed my hand up and down his back.

“Before Will came into our lives, all I wanted was to make Steve proud.”

I had heard Kylie talk about “the poker club”—Kristin’s group of friends who had found each other and chose to be family. I had never understood the appeal until now. But I wanted it for Logan. I wanted it for our baby.

And I wanted it for me.

Kylie’s frosty gaze pricked at my back as she caught sight of Logan and me again.

“Want me to go over and talk to her with you?” Logan asked.

I shook my head. “She’s mad at me. Not at you.”

“We’re a team,” he said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “Where you go, I go.”

That might as well have been ‘I love you.’

20

LEAH

The clock ticked by as I waited for Logan to call. It was nearly eight in the evening and I hadn’t heard from him yet. He had told me that he had to leave his phone in his car while he was visiting his dad, and to call Kristin if I needed anything.

Kristin had even checked in around three this afternoon just to make sure I was okay. I stared at my phone and debated if wondering where Logan was because I missed him constituted “emergency” status.

My stomach growled as I stared at the mess on the floor. I had a burst of energy this afternoon and had started to purge my things to make room for all the baby paraphernalia I needed to start acquiring, but it had quickly waned as soon as the floor was covered.

Things always got significantly messier before they got organized.

Something deliciously fragrant had been wafting over from Dr. Mehta’s apartment since early afternoon. I had been battling the craving, but it was about to get the best of me.

I spotted a cereal bowl drying in the dish drainer, and that was that.

The smell only got stronger as I slipped out of my apartment and padded down the hallway with the bowl resting on top of my belly.

I knocked softly and prayed he had leftovers. The door creaked open and Dr. Mehta chuckled when he saw the empty bowl.

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