Almost Eight Months Later

“I can’t believe we’re standing outside the theater like a couple of thieves casing the joint. You said he loves you? You… love him, or you wouldn’t be carting your pregnant ass all this way. Why can’t you just go up to him?” Katie asks.

She doesn’t understand. I wish it was that simple.

“It’s been almost nine months, Katie. What if he’s moved on? He thought I was dead! I can’t just walk up to him and say, ‘Oh, hi. I’m not dead. Here I am and, by the way, I’m having your baby.’”

“Why not? It’s the truth.”

“You’re really starting to annoy me.”

“It’s a gift,” she says, and I regret saying it instantly.

“There they are,” I whisper, my voice trembling.

I turn to watch as Skull’s crew comes out of the theater. There’s Sabre and Latch, Torch, and quite a few new guys I’ve never seen before.

“Oh, he’s pretty,” says my sister. “I wouldn’t kick him out of my bed. Well, at least not until I was done with him.” I can tell she’s looking at Torch. She’s probably not even kidding. My sister is nothing like me. I envy her sometimes.

“That’s Torch. He’s kind of a player,” I warn her.

“He could play me like a deck of cards. Slam me down, flip me over and deal me all fucking night,” she says. I can see her licking her lips.

The first one to really catch my eye is this huge man with a thick beard and so much hair that it’s hard to tell if there’s a face under it. “Beast. Oh, God… He’s okay.”

“Beast? Well, that’s a good name for him, that’s for sure,” Katie responds.

She makes me want to giggle, and how that’s possible when we’re doing this, I don’t know. If she hadn’t been by my side all this time, especially after we escaped our grandfather, I’m not sure what would have happened.

I stop thinking about all of that at once, because I see Skull coming out of the theater. He hasn’t changed much. He’s still so beautiful, he hurts my eyes. His hair is shorter… a lot shorter. I mourn it. I want to move my fingers in it like I used to. He’s lost weight too, though his muscles are still amazing, especially his arms. I want to take off running to him. Even being this heavily pregnant, I probably would.

Except for one small detail. He has a beautiful blonde standing beside him. She’s got angles and curves I could never hope to achieve. She’s laughing at him and you can tell she’s enjoying being with him. He’s got his hand on her back, just like he used to do with me. He has his club surrounding them, protecting her.

I know that’s it, without a doubt. My heart feels as if it’s being squeezed. Has he moved on already? I almost whimper at the pain that fills me with that thought. My hand goes to rub my stomach. I was so young and completely out of my element. What if what I thought was soul mates was nothing like that to Skull? It’s only been months. Could I have meant so little? Oh, God… What if I have this all wrong?

“Beth, I’m sure it’s not what it looks like. We’re going to go over there and stick to the plan, right?”

“I don’t know, Katie.”

“Well, I do! We’ve been through too much not to do this. Where’s your balls?”

“My balls?” I shake my head, snapping out of it. She’s right. I’m just allowing all the things my grandfather said to fill me with doubt. Skull loves me. He’s flirting, but he’s not telling her he loves her. I can do this. “To the wall, right?” I look at her, trying to build up my courage.

“Exactly.” She holds out her hand. I take a breath and grab it, rubbing my stomach. I’ve been on my feet too much; my daughter is protesting. I smile at the thought of the child I’m carrying. Hand-in-hand, Katie and I step away from the bushes and go to give my husband the shock of his life.

We get just behind them, and this big pain hits me in my back. It’s so hard that I have to stop and catch my breath. I breathe through it and concentrate on the sound of Skull’s voice. I can hear him now. Somehow, his voice is different. It doesn’t have the same depth to it as it used to. He almost reminds me of Torch; laidback, always happy… Is he happy?

“A pity, but yet you have not seen what I have to offer. Perhaps I may yet entice you,” Skull’s saying, and that pain in my chest increases. Entice her? Oh God, has he really moved on?

“You get an A for effort, but don’t bother, and save us both some trouble,” the girl says, but she’s laughing at him. They look good together. They look like they fit.

“I think I might be able to surprise you, querida,” he tells her.

And with that one word, it feels as if he’s destroyed me. I think, for a moment, my heart actually stops. The pain is so bad, I can’t breathe. I feel it everywhere. Tears fill my eyes. I just hold my stomach and try to sort through this, trying to bear the pain.

“Bethie?” Katie looks worried. She should be. I think I’m dying. There’s so much pain.

“He called her querida,” I tell her. He called me several things, true. But, most of the time, he called me querida. Dear one, he told me. It sounds like something an elderly grandmother would say, but not when Skull said it. When he called me dear one, I felt like I was dear and precious to him. “That’s what he called me…” I whisper.

I might have underestimated my sister because she gets such a look of anger on her when she looks at me. “Right. I got this, Bethie. Don’t worry,” she tells me. “I’m going to tear his balls off. We can put them on a chain and hang them in the baby’s room as a mobile,” she growls.

I want to yell at her—to either tell her to quit or to cheer her on—but right then, another pain hits my back and squeezes around my stomach. It’s so strong it nearly brings me to my knees. Then, I feel it. Warmth spreads from my legs and, in an instant, Skull isn’t on my mind.

“Katie!” I cry, my dress soaked. “My water just broke!”

The End.