Page 119 of Protector

I glanced up at the ceiling, silently pleading for help.

At the sound of voices in the living room, my mouth went dry, and everything in me fought to run away. Telling Kate the truth was only going to make things worse between us.

Rick took a bite of cereal from the bowl in front of him before cracking up, sending a stream of milk onto the table in front of us. I glanced at the video of a cat tangled up in blinds, wondering if being high was a requirement to finding cat videos funny.

“Holy shit, Hail Mary.” He looked up with a grin. “I thought I heard you in there. How’s it hanging?”

Yet another nickname that made no sense to me.

It was as if Rick was incapable of just calling them by their names.

“What are you two doing here?” Kate asked with a furrowed brow.

Patting my leg under the table, Rick answered. “Hail Mary, I’m always here. You know that. I got a little hungry, and Caparina gets the best cereal. What are you doing here?”

She glanced around the small kitchen as if searching for answers. “I—are you high?”

“Kate, it’s not polite to ask people if they’re high,” I said, more out of reflex than anything else.

“Mama, I’ll get to you in a minute. Little Ricky, answer the question.”

He took another bite of cereal with a big grin. “Hail Mary, I was up late last night working, and I couldn’t relax, so I partook of the herb. It’s all-natural, with none of the harsh side effects of Ambien.”

I shot him a warning glance as Kate sank down onto the kitchen floor, muttering to herself. “This is psychosis—disorganized thinking and hallucinations.”

Rick paused the video to ask, “Is she talking to herself, Celia? Hail Mary, you’re thinking of peyote—not psychosis.”

“You said you were working late. What were you doing?”

I knew what she was getting at, but what had happened to the Blake family was not up for discussion. I squeezed his arm and shook my head. “Don’t.”

Kate continued watching Rick before leaning against the refrigerator with a groan.

“C’mon, Kate,” Dakota snapped as she walked in. “Quit moping on the floor.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” Kate screeched in reply. “You were so upset with me earlier, and now you’re acting as though all of this is fine. You shot your boyfriend after getting kidnapped. Mama is watching cat videos with the stoner over here. I’m sorry, I’m just having a hard time keeping up with everything taking place in front of me.”

Proving that weed only made him more unpredictable, Rick chose that moment to announce, “Caparina’s emotions are gonna be all over the place—at least until the second trimester.”

Kate’s eyes narrowed as she looked up at Dakota.

“I was going to tell you…”

Her hand came up over her mouth in shock. “How? When?”

Dakota joined her sister on the floor. “I found out last night in the ER; and when two people really love each other—”

“Stop. I get it.”

Kate’s breaths became ragged, and I knew that there was never going to be a good time to tell her the truth. Rick squeezed my shoulder as I stood up and made my way over to my girls.

“Kate, there’s something I want to talk to you about—”

Jeremy and Zane walked in, leaving me with a sense of claustrophobia. Dakota’s kitchen wasn’t made for this many people.

“Kate told you guys she got married in Vegas, yeah?” Jeremy casually asked, stopping me in my tracks. I’d almost been convinced that Jamie was mistaken; could’ve sworn that she wouldn’t have done something so reckless.

I knelt beside her. “You got married, Kate?”

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