A Winter Wedding(44)

She could imagine Derrick justifying sex with Crystal by telling himself it didn’t mean anything on an emotional level, and that made Lourdes sick. “Having his cake and eating it, too, as the cliché goes.”

Kyle shrugged. “I’m not trying to lead you to any particular conclusion. We don’t know for sure.”

“But we could find out, if I hire someone.”

“It’s a possibility, if the person you hire is any good.”

Suddenly a bit shaky, she steadied herself by gripping the counter. “I’ll think about it.”

They carried the food to the table. But before they sat down to eat, she insisted on seeing the tree, since he’d been so excited about showing it to her. “It’s beautiful. You did a great job.”

Obviously proud of his efforts, he rested his hands loosely on his hips. “Thanks. It’s all ready for you to finish,” he joked.

“Sure, I’ll finish—as long as it goes with me when I move to the farmhouse,” she said.

He gave her a mock scowl. “Don’t tell me we’re going to have a custody battle over our tree!”

She smiled. Not only was he handsome, he was charming, too. Her own father must’ve been like Kyle when her mother met him—committed to the small town where he’d grown up, assured of what he wanted in life, happier away from the limelight. Otherwise, why would Renate have let him derail her dreams? “We’re not going to have a battle unless you fight me for it.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” he said. “Not when it means more to you. But—” he made a clicking sound with his tongue “—I’m not looking forward to moving it. I’m hoping you’ll change your mind.”

“Good point. On second thought, I don’t think I’m that dedicated to taking it with me.”

“I love a reasonable woman.” With a wink, he started back to the kitchen, but she caught his arm.

“I want to go ahead and...” She swallowed when he turned to look at her. She had such a visceral reaction to being this close to him, and it always caught her off guard. How could she feel such a strong awareness of another man when she was so upset about what was going on with Derrick?

“And...” he prompted.

“Hire a private investigator.”

His eyebrows drew together. “It might cost a couple grand. You should be warned about the price up front.”

She nodded to acknowledge that she understood. “It’ll be worth it. I have to find out if the doubts I’m feeling have any basis in truth.”

*

Callie went into labor that night. Kyle got the call as they finished dinner and he and Lourdes were deciding which movie they wanted to watch. After the hangovers they’d had this morning, they definitely didn’t plan to do any more drinking.

“But...isn’t it too soon?” he said to Levi, who was calling him on Bluetooth as he rushed his wife to the hospital.

Lourdes stopped clearing away the dishes.

“She’s thirty-six weeks,” Levi told him. “That’s...not as bad as it could be.”

Not as bad as it could be wasn’t exactly the reassurance Kyle had been hoping for. The anxiety in Levi’s voice made his own anxiety worse. “Right. Thirty-six weeks is...good,” he said, even though he’d heard Callie mention that a full-term pregnancy lasted forty. One month. How much difference could one month make?

When it came to creating a baby, surely four weeks could mean a lot...

“Can you call everyone else?” Levi asked. “I need to concentrate on...on her.”

And battle his fear... “Right. Of course. I’ve got it. You just get her to the hospital and we’ll be there soon.”

“What is it?” Lourdes asked as he pressed the end button on his phone.

He remembered Callie as he’d seen her at Black Gold, trying to get comfortable in her chair. “One of my closest friends is having her baby.”

“Everything should be okay,” Lourdes said, obviously reading the expression on his face for the concern that it was. “Granted, a baby who comes four weeks early isn’t in an ideal situation, but has an excellent chance of surviving.”

He experienced such an upwelling of emotion it almost brought tears to his eyes. His mother had died in childbirth, and she’d gone into the delivery room with no known health problems. “I’m not worried about the baby,” he said. “At least...not as worried as I am about the mother.”

“You said yourself that...embolism thing doesn’t happen often.”

“It doesn’t. But Callie nearly died when her liver failed a few years ago,” he explained. “At the last minute, they were able to find her a donor and do a transplant, and she’s been doing well since. But she’s on a lot of immunosuppressant drugs, which makes her more susceptible to infection and illness. Having a baby when her health is already so precarious is...tempting fate, in my opinion. If she was my wife, I never would’ve agreed to it.”

Lourdes moved the last of the dishes to the sink. “I’m sorry she’s had it so rough. What caused her liver to fail?”

“She had nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And don’t ask me what causes that, because no one seems to know.”

“Was the pregnancy an accident, then? Unexpected?”