Worth the Fall (The McKinney Brothers, #1)(63)

“Any time, brother.”

—

The door was open, letting in a cool fall breeze, and Matt heard a shout from the front of the house.

“Hey, you in here?”

He set down his hammer and headed toward the sound of Tony’s voice, wiping his face with the rag hanging out his back pocket. “You got a lot of time on your hands. You sure you’re running a business?”

“That’s exactly why I’m running my own business, so I can take off when I need to. Like today. Say hi to your Uncle Matt,” he told the kids—Alex, four, and Louisa, two.

“Hi, Uncle Matt,” they both said before wandering off to explore.

Tony walked further into what would be the kitchen. “The house is coming along.”

“Yeah.” He’d sold another one. The profit he was turning over was surprising. With that in addition to his military salary, which went mostly unspent, he was sitting on a sizable nest egg. One his brother Stephen had made even bigger. “So, why are you off today? Kid stuff?”

“Kind of. I’m taking these two to Mom’s, then meeting Beth at the doctor’s.”

Matt glanced at his niece, who was stirring his paint cup with a screwdriver.

“Everything okay with Beth? I just saw her at Mom’s.”

“She had to drop off a bag of necessities for the kids. And, yeah, she’s fine. Just a checkup. Hoping to hear the heartbeat.”

His brother’s face broke into a goofy grin and something sharp twisted inside him. Had Abby heard the heartbeat? Had anyone been with her? When was her next appointment? All things he would know if he were there. “You go to all her appointments?”

“I try to. I’m betting on a boy, but you know how Beth is about finding out. We’ll start the pool next week if you want to place your bet.” Tony grabbed Louisa and redirected her before she pried the lid off a bucket of plaster. “How’s Abby? She must be getting close.”

Matt mentally calculated exactly how far along she was. She was due December seventh, so…“Almost seven and half months.”

“She feeling okay?”

“I guess.” The truth was he didn’t know if she would tell him if she wasn’t.

If you were there, you’d would know.

If he were there, he’d make sure she never lifted anything heavier than a gallon of milk. He’d watch her like a hawk. Keep *s like William away. He really hated that guy. Because he was there? Because maybe he could be the kind of man Abby needed? The man Matt wasn’t?

Tony gave him a questioning look. “You cooling things off?”

“What? Hell no. Just thinking.”

“About?”

“You ever feel guilty?”

“For what? Knocking up my wife?”

Matt smiled with his brother even though he didn’t feel very smiley. “No, I mean for quitting, getting out of the air force and going into business for yourself.”

“Is that how you look at it? Quitting?”

That’s how it was.

Tony shook his head at Matt like he was a kid who’d done the same dumb thing again. “No, to answer your question. And I didn’t quit. I signed up, fulfilled my duty, and moved on.”

Matt straightened his tools into a line on the bar.

“Do I miss it? Sure, there’s things I miss—the guys, the rush, flying the government’s hottest toys. But watching my children come into the world…Nothing could ever compare to that. I know guys that do it, and I respect the hell out of them, but there are some things I just wasn’t willing to miss. Everybody’s gotta make their own choices. And you know Beth. Being the cause of her pain is one of the more dangerous things I’ve done.”

Matt laughed, thinking of his ball-busting sister-in-law, and gently removed a paintbrush from Louisa’s hand. “She’s had you tied up since you were fourteen years old.”

Tony smiled with a faraway look in his eyes. “She’s everything,” he said, then looked pointedly at Matt. No doubt remembering Matt’s very words regarding Abby.

Tony checked his watch. “Well, I just dropped in to see how it was going. I gotta get these little hellions to Mom’s. Unless you want to watch them?”

“Oh no. I love them and all, but they’re touching my stuff.”

“Come on then, little rascals. Say bye to Uncle Matt.”

Matt gave Alex knuckles like he’d taught him. “Bye, Louisa.”

She ignored him.

Tony laughed. “She’s pissed. She really likes to paint.”

“I’ll make it up to her,” Matt said with a wicked grin. “Maybe bring over some leftover supplies so she can redecorate her room.”

“Don’t you dare, and don’t forget to come by next week for chili.”

“If I’m here, I’ll be there.” Matt waved them off and moved around the kitchen, picking up tools. Might be cool to have Jack here, touching his stuff, showing him how things worked. If he took some kind of nonoperational assignment, maybe he could still work at the base, and he and Jack could build on the weekends.

But no. Either he was in or he was out. Either he was keeping his word to Teddy or he wasn’t.

What was Abby thinking? Up to this point he’d been afraid to ask, knowing he was moving too fast for her as it was. He didn’t want to open up a chance for her to call things off. Yet he didn’t know exactly what he had to offer her, and she deserved to know what she was getting.