Iron & Bone (Lock & Key #3) (14 page)

“Becca, your daddy’s here.”

I gripped the handlebar and guided the stroller up the street toward Rae’s driveway. I unlocked the front door, pushed it open, and steered the stroller into the house.

Rae sat in her padded lounge chair, her face drawn, her big dark eyes deceptively calm. “There they are,” she said, her voice straining to inject cheer into the room.

Catch’s long legs were stretched on the coffee table. His eyes flicked over me.

Yep, still sexy with that lazy slouch he’d perfected, the always mussed brown hair, the twist of indifference on his lips. In concert with his perpetually creased forehead and the opaqueness of his small brown eyes, he could aim a what-the-fuck look at you without any effort at all.

Yep, still relieved to be away from him.

Plastic smile.
“Hey. This is a surprise.”

His lax expression turned positively acidic, and my pulse sprinted.

Is there something I should be worried about?

Catch rose up from the sofa, his height filling the room, and I stepped back as he approached us. He bent over the stroller.

“There you are, cutie.”
Snap click
went the seat belt. “Daddy’s here. Look at you, baby girl.” He held her in the crook of his arm and planted kisses on her nose, her cheeks. Slowly, I let go of my pent-up breath.

“I’m sorry. Did I miss your call?” I asked.

“No,” he replied, his eyes glued on his daughter, who studied his face, a finger in her mouth.

I glanced at Rae. Her hands were flexed stiffly in her lap.

I should have been pleased that he’d come, unannounced or not. This was what I’d wanted, wasn’t it? Becca’s dad to see her, Rae to reconnect with her son.

“This is a nice surprise, huh, sweets?” I patted my daughter’s back. “Would you like some coffee? There’s plum cobbler. Rae showed me how to make her recipe this morning. There’s ice cream, too. Have you had dinner yet?”

“We have chicken pot pie from yesterday,” Rae added.

He ignored us, and turning away from me, carried Becca to the couch.

My scalp prickled. “Well…I need to get Becca her fruit and yogurt. Rae, do you need anything?”

“Just bring me the yogurt. I’ll feed her,” said Rae, her eyes on her son and granddaughter.

“Okay.” I ducked into the kitchen.

I got out the organic vanilla yogurt and an apple and a pear from the refrigerator. I washed my hands, cleaned the fruit, chopped it up, and tossed it into the small food processor. My limbs functioned on automatic. I was a robot performing its tasks.

I guess a ladies’ only evening of me and Rae watching that
Magic Mike
DVD that I’d rented for us this afternoon was now out. I’d been looking forward to a laugh and a mindless couple of hours.

I pressed the button on the food processor again to make the fruit pieces smoother, its sharp buzzing noise drilling into me.

He was being strange. I knew him too well. He usually joked and made small talk. My stomach did flip-flops as I mixed the fruit cream with the yogurt. I scooped it into Becca’s bowl, grabbed her spoon, several napkins, and her bib, and I flew back into the lion’s den.

“Here we go.” I set the bowl on the small round table at Rae’s side.

Rae wiped her hands with an antibacterial wipe. “Drew, could you bring her high chair from the kitchen?”

“I’ll take her,” I murmured, approaching Catch.

His dark eyes settled on me as I took Becca from his arms. He tracked into the kitchen, and I shot Rae a questioning look. But what was I expecting? She was his mother. She had to be thrilled to see him.

Rae’s lips pressed together, and her eyebrows quirked. Ah, Rae was not feeling the love either. Somehow knowing that she was as suspicious as I was only knotted my stomach tighter.

Catch returned with the high chair and set it at his mother’s side.

I slid Becca into the seat and fastened her belt. “There we go. Time for fruity tootie!”

“Apple, Mommy.” Becca smacked her lips together, her little fists banging on her tabletop.

“Yes, honey, an apple is in there,” I said.

Catch and I stood side by side like awkward preteens at a school dance as Rae fed Becca.

“Drew, get something to eat, son. You cannot come for a visit and not let me feed you.”

“I could eat. The cobbler sounds good. Haven’t had anything like that in a long time.”

Becca’s tongue lapped at the yogurt on her face.

I went into the kitchen, and Catch followed me.

“I’ll microwave it for you. With the ice cream, it’s better warm,” I said.

He only nodded.

“It’s good to see you.” I grabbed the cobbler from the fridge.

“Is it?”

Not really, but what the hell do you want me to say?

“Of course,” I replied. “What a great surprise for your mom and Becca.” I shoved the plate of cobbler in the microwave and tapped at the keypad.

He leaned back against the counter, his gaze wandering around the kitchen. “Bad surprise for you?”

“What? No. I’m glad you came.”

“Where’s Tania at?”

“She’s out of town, chasing a lead on some antiques just over the border in Wyoming.”

“She hanging out at the Jacks’?”

I took out the carton of vanilla ice cream from the freezer. “She spends time with Grace. Tania’s been helping her out with a project over there, going through some stuff they’ve had in storage for a while.”

“You helping her with that?”

“No, I help out your mom.” I jabbed and scraped at the hard ice cream with the metal scoop.

“You don’t go over there?”

Here we go again.

I squared my shoulders. “I’ve brought my car there for a tune-up and to have my tires replaced. Another time, I dropped off a couple of things for Tania that she’d forgotten at home, and I hung out with Grace in her office and helped her answer a few phone calls before going to a doctor’s appointment.”

Fuck.

I still hadn’t told him I was a gestational surrogate for Grace and Lock. I was almost four months along now, and I needed to tell him. It shouldn’t be a big deal. It wasn’t like I had met someone else and was getting married and moving to the Philippines and taking Becca with me. But everything having to do with Catch made me anxious. His temper was mercurial, his reactions unexpected. A real Gemini.

His brow creased. “Doctor’s appointment for Becca? She okay?”

I got the dish out of the microwave and topped the warm cobbler with the ice cream.

“At her age, there are regular visits, vaccinations—that sort of thing.”

“Right.”

Great, and the lying begins.

I handed him the dessert. “Here you go.”

Catch dragged his spoon through the mound of sweet, creamy homemade goodness. He gouged out a heaping spoonful and shoveled it into his mouth. His brown eyes rested on me while he ate.

“It’s good, right? You like it?”

He nodded. “So”—he swallowed—“you like it here?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Why?”

“Why?”

“Yeah, Jill.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Why?”

“I really like your mom. She and Becca are great together, and it’s the best thing for your mom to have that kind of happy distraction right now. Becca has her grandmother in her life. She’ll never know my parents, of course.” I took in a tiny breath. It was still hard, still hard to talk about, to say out loud. “Now that Tania has come back to stay, it’s been fun.”

“Fun, huh?”

“Yeah, we all get along, enjoy each other’s company. It’s nice.”

One of his eyebrows rose as he shoveled in the last spoonful. “A real family.” His plum-smeared dish clattered on the counter at his side.

The same spot on the counter where Boner had fingered me to heaven a few days ago
.

I cleared my throat. “We’re
all
a family, right? Becca misses you. If you had called us, we could’ve planned—”

“Been real busy lately. Hard to get away.”

“Things are good then?”

“Yeah, Finger gave me a few more responsibilities. It’s all good.”

“That’s great. I know that’s what you’ve been wanting.”

“Yeah.” He shifted his weight, staring at me, studying me.

I took his dish and brought it to the sink. “Rae is doing her exercises, and she actually feels better more often. She learned how to inject herself with her—”

“What are you talking about, inject herself?”

I rinsed his dish and tucked it in the dishwasher. “It’s one of the medications for MS, Catch. It’s really expensive, too, but luckily, her insurance is covering it—for now at least.”

“It took her a while to come to the door and open it. She was using a cane.”

“She uses a cane now and a walker.”

“It’s strange, seeing her have a difficult time moving. She was always a really active, independent person.”

“That’s what Tania said. We weren’t expecting you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken Becca out and left Rae to answer the door on her own. If she falls again—”

“We’re finished!” Rae called out.

I grabbed the microfiber dishcloth and went and picked up the empty bowl, wiping down the high chair’s table top.

“You want me to take the high chair back to the kitchen?” Catch asked at my side.

“Yes, please.” I unfastened Becca from the seat, and Catch took the chair.

“Someone was very hungry!” Rae laughed.

“You ate everything, didn’t you?” I said to my daughter.

She murmured something to me, her fingers in her mouth.

“Rae, I need to take a shower, and I can get that done before she needs a diaper change, which should be pretty soon. Is that okay?”

“Yes. You go on. Take your shower.” Rae shooed me with a hand.

“I got her,” Catch muttered, taking Becca in his lap.

I tossed her lilac and pink ponies onto the sofa next to him. Becca grabbed on to the lilac one right away, brandishing it in her dad’s face.

“I’ll be back in a bit.” I charged down the hallway toward the bathroom.

“Take your time, honey,” said Rae.

I closed the door behind me and took in a deep breath.
Okay, so far, so good
.

He was a bit cranky but seemed to actually want to be here to see Becca and his mom. He hadn’t called first, which still made me nervous, but he was here. He was here, and that was a good thing, a step in the right direction. He was probably tired, which was making him moody. Nothing new there.

I tore off my sneakers, socks, shorts, oversized T-shirt, and underwear. I tossed the clothes into the wicker basket and got in the shower, more relaxed than I’d been when I first entered the house.

Ten minutes later, I was in my bathrobe, heading back to my room, rubbing a towel through my wet hair. After applying my body and facial moisturizers, I tugged on a pair of cropped yoga pants and my new bra and panties. I found my favorite pale pink T-shirt in my drawer.

Dizziness swirled in my head, and I held on to the edge of my dresser as I took in a breath. The T-shirt fell from my feeble grasp.

“Hey, where are the diapers? Ma said you had more in here. We gotta talk, too.”

I pivoted toward Catch’s loud voice.

He stood in the doorway, his eyes trained on my body. His head jerked back, nostrils flaring. “What the fuck?”

“What?” I leaned over and grabbed my shirt. The dizziness surged inside me again, and I teetered and stumbled back against the bed.

He charged into my room and grabbed my arm, pulling me up from the bed.

“Ow! What the hell are you doing? Let go!”

But he wouldn’t let go. His grip on me tightened, and he shook me.

“Stop it, Catch! You’re hurting me!”

“You’ve been here a few months, and you’re already knocked up with some other guy?”

Oh dear God.

“You did it with me, and now, you’re doing it again?” His voice shook.

“What? I never did anything on purpose! You were the one who didn’t want to use anything, remember? You wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Now what? You just got knocked up again to get with somebody? I don’t even have to ask whose it is. I’ve had eyes on you, you fucking slut, and sure enough, my point has been proven.”

“You’ve had me watched?”

“You are such a fucking joke! You ran off from me, all accusing and a total fucking bitch about me and other women and how you were being treated. Then, you come here, and bam, you hook up with a One-Eyed Jack. You’re such a fucking train wreck.”

“Shut up! Your mother—”

“Yeah, you came up here to take care of my ma, to make a family for our daughter. What are you doin’? Skipping out in the middle of the night to fuck your Jack? Or maybe you’re letting him in here to fuck your brains out while our kid is in her crib in the next room? This was my room, growing up. My bed!” He pointed to the bed I slept in. “Jesus!”

“That’s not how it is. It’s not what you think!”

“You think I’m an idiot?”

“No. No, of course not. But it’s not—”

“Are you pregnant or not?”

“Catch—”

“Answer the motherfucking question.”

“Will you lower your voice? Please—”

His eyes seethed. “Answer me!”

My stomach curled. “Yes, I’m pregnant.”

He gripped my chin, his fingers digging into my jaw. “Is that what you do? Go from man to man, club to club, getting knocked up?”

I shoved at his chest. “Fuck you!”

“What are you, his mistake, and he’s out, partying with his bros?”

“’Cause that’s the way you did it, didn’t you?” I scooped up my T-shirt and tugged it over my head.

“What we had was different. I used to think it was. You used to say—”

“I used to say a lot of things,” I spit out. “Things that fell on your deaf ears.”

“My sister whoring herself out to them, too?”

“You are such an asshole.”

He smacked me, and I fell back on my hands on the bed. My face burned, tears sprang in my eyes.

He towered over me. “What I gave you wasn’t enough?” His voice was low, controlled, yet full of fervor. “I need to remind you?” His fingers went to his belt.

My hand shot up, my legs coming up against my tummy. “Please, please don’t do this! God, please—”

His hand lashed at my face again, and I fell further back on the bed, the wind knocked out of me. His fingers dug into my hair and pulled. My scalp screamed. I choked on a breath.