Page 38 of Redemption

“Because she’s pregnant again, and it’s going to be hysterical watching the guys try to figure out if she has a baby on board or not.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ryder threw the rawhide, and Winters’s dogs took off, throwing themselves into the lake and splashing, one over the other over the other until one dog triumphed and raced out onto the beach. It wasn’t so much a beach as it was the sandy area that Winters had cordoned off for them to relax, kick back, for kids to play, and barbecues to be had by the water. Ryder let his toes dig past the top layer of warm sand into the cool wetness underneath. The dogs raced up and dropped the rawhide at their feet. Ryder tipped back the beer in his hand as Rocco reached down and snagged the toy from the sopping wet dogs.

Winters, Luke, and Rocco had all spent enough time with women who had been hurt that he could ask their opinion of how best to talk to Victoria. But he wasn’t quite there yet. He didn’t even know what he wanted to ask. And he didn’t want to tip off that hanging out with her was pushing his buttons but not in a bad way. She got under his skin. Again, not in a bad way. He wanted to help her—more than he should.

Ryder tipped back his beer again as the cool bottle sweated in his hand, and the hot sun blazed on his bare shoulders.

“Thirsty, much?” Luke rolled his beer bottle between his hands, noting that Ryder’s was nearly halfway empty.

“Relaxing, mate.” He raised his eyebrows, giving his bud a pointed look. “Suffering through this brew you Americans call beer.”

“Hey, don’t knock my beer.” Winters laughed. “Or you can ask Clara for a juice box.”

Clara, Ace, and the dogs ran in the grass a couple dozen yards away. Ryder wondered where Maddy and Caterina were and he hoped that Mia had talked Victoria into coming outside. Victoria said she went upstairs to change out of her pajamas when Rocco and Cat arrived. When he checked on her after twenty minutes, she wasn’t interested in coming back downstairs.

When Luke and Maddy arrived, everybody took the party outside. He decided to leave Victoria alone and give her space. They’d shared a lot last night. He had shared more than he had with anybody since Zoe, but more importantly, he’d learned a lot about her.Everything but a last name.

The back door opened, and Mia walked out by herself. Disappointment hit. The chances of Victoria joining them with Maddy or Caterina were nil, and if she wasn’t with Mia, she probably wasn’t going to get in the lake. A heavy weight settled in his stomach, and Ryder ran his tongue along his bottom lip. Caterina and Maddy walked out the door and let it shut behind them. No Victoria.Damn.

His disappointment was now flat out annoyance. Frustration piled on top of the discomfort that had already lodged in his chest.

“Mommy,” Clara squealed out and took off running toward Mia, creating a train of activity behind the little girl as Ace, Jacián, and the dogs trailed.

“Mommy,” Ace repeated as loud as he could. Both kids jumped on to Mia. Right before Ryder was sure Mia was going down, Winters stepped in and scooped Clara up, letting Ace catch Mia on her hip.

Despite the bathing suit cover that hung over her like a drape, Mia was a little thing, and one of these days, both those kids were gonna take her out. It’d be funny, and Mia would probably fall down laughing anyway. She seemed made to roll around with her children.

Rocco scooped up Jacián and took off into the water. The dogs changed directions and took off after them. The splashes went high and wild.

Ryder threw up an arm, turning away from the raucous fun, and ran away from the dogs as Maddy and Caterina with a baby over her shoulder walked down the hill. Cat waved to them in the water and called for Mia to join them. As Winters and the kids ran circles around her, she shrugged off the cover and made her way to the ladies.

Ryder narrowed his focus, gaze bouncing from Mia to Maddy and then Cat. Each woman wore variations of a black bikini, and he’d never been one to check them out, never compared and contrasted his buddies’ wives, but he knew what they looked like, and Mia looked different.

Her stomach was… not normal, and then, awkwardly he looked around. Nobody said anything. The other girls hadn’t noticed. Winters rolled on the ground now with Ace, so he couldn’t have said anything. But it would have come up since he’d been staying here lately. Wouldn’t it? Ryder glanced back at Mia. Her stomach definitely looked funny.Right? Or no?

Funny wasn’t the right word. Bigger? No, that wasn’t probably right either. Distended?Fucking hell.He looked at Luke, who was now searching the grass for…nothing. Ryder stepped closer to him, and cleared his throat. “Hey, what are the girls doing?”

“Dude.” Luke didn’t make eye contact. “Is Mia pregnant?”

At least Luke was the one to say it because Ryder never wanted to be responsible for asking that question if it wasn’t true.

Why would Winters have forgotten to mention if Mia was pregnant? Surely that he wouldn’t have held them out to dry like this, right?

“I don’t know,” Ryder mumbled. “Fucking hell. She’s so tiny; maybe she just ate a damn hoagie.”

Finally, Luke glanced up. “Or two.”

They exchanged glances that said one thing loud and clear. They were both sworn to secrecy and would never mention the conversation they’d just had.

Winters left Ace and splashed his way into the water then back on to the beach with Clara. “I give.”

“I’m catching butterflies.” She ran back into the water to meet up with Jacián as Rocco stepped out.

All of the men with exception of Winters stood, paralyzed, having no idea what to say. There had to be some sort of bro code where this type of information was shared so that none of them put their foot in their mouths, particularly if that person’s wife knew how to mindfuck them in ways they could never recover from.

Winters joined their gaggle, wiping water off his face.

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