Page 395 of Lodestar

I held up a hand. “What you two get up to is on you.”

Though she pouted, I could see the fragile combination of fear, anxiety, and hope in her gaze. Whether she wanted to admit it to herself or not, she was excited.

“Want me to come to the doctor with you?”

She released a shaky breath. “I forgot how good you are in a crisis.”

“This is hardly a crisis, Sav. This is a nice thing. Right?” I patted her arm.

Vana grabbed my hand and squeezed my fingers. “You’re not going to run off again, are you?”

My lips quirked. “If I did, I think Conor would come after me so I wouldn’t be away for long.”

She sighed. “You’re right. He’s the same kind of whacko as you.”

It amused me that she found that reassuring.

“Anyway, you going to introduce me to Jennifer or what?”

“She’s in the bedroom. She’s got a kid too. Saverina—” She paused to preen, “—drinks a lot.”

“Named after you? Christ, did they want her to be a Diva?”

Vana huffed. “Like you’re not a diva too.”

“You’re a capitalized Diva. I’m not.” I snagged Kat by the shoulder and steered her inside the living room with me. As the door closed, I asked, “Why are you so nervous now that you’ve told me about maybe being pregnant?”

“I’m not nervous,” she said nervously, hands still toying with one another as she glanced at her watch.

“You so are. What have you done?” I demanded, directing Kat over to a table.

When she took a seat, she scanned her surroundings, shrugged, then said, “Hi, Aunt Savvie. Oh, Star, I forgot to tell you. I gave her that laptop you wanted me to.”

My lips twitched as I shrugged off her words. “Better late than never told. Thanks, brat.”

She hummed and returned to her game. Last night hadn’t been good—two nightmares—so I wasn’t going to be hard on her about not being sociable.

“She means last year, right? At the Sinners’ BBQ?”

I smirked at Vana. “Yeah, she means last year. Unless she’s given you another laptop since then?”

“Nah.” Savannah blew out a breath but her anxiety was too high for her to pepper me with more questions. Handy, really.

I didn’t want her to know that I’d given Conor access to a worm via that laptop I’d smuggled off the Sinners’ compound through her.

“What’s with you?” I demanded.

“IinvitedPaddyheretoo,” she said in a rush.

“Paddy? As in Conor’s uncle? Good at clearing up the corpses of Catholic perverts? You invitedhimhere?”

“Yeah. That one. He’s Jen’s biological dad.”

Because that wasn't news to me, I hummed. “Did she ask you to arrange this meeting?”

“No.”

I groaned. “So why did you?”

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