Holy shit, I’m going to be a dad, Graham marveled as he followed Ro and Zach across the compound to the mess hall. He’d never considered the possibility before meeting Ro. Quite frankly, it still scared the living hell out of him to be bringing a child into the world when nothing was certain, and there was no hospital to run to if something went wrong. He had faith in Beau, but nothing was more important than protecting Ro and their baby. He still needed to convince Rick that the ranch was the safest place for them to be after the baby was born. He didn’t want Ro worrying for the next eight months about what might happen and whether she’d be faced with another devastating choice. She didn’t need that kind of stress, and he was going to make sure she didn’t have to deal with it. It was time to pull out the big guns. He was going to show Rick the bunkers and make whatever promises the man needed to hear in order to convince him to stay.
They filed into the mess hall. Erica, Rick, Grace, and Beau were seated around the scarred wooden table. Their heads popped up like meerkats when Ro walked into the room. He figured the shit-eating grin Zach had been sporting since they’d seen that second positive test gave away the results.
“So?” Rick asked.
Graham put his hand on Ro’s shoulder. Her eyes misted as she nodded. Erica was out of her chair and across the room before anyone could respond to Ro’s silent confirmation. She flung herself at Ro.
“I’m going to be an aunt!”
Graham studied Rick, thankful the man’s shotgun was nowhere in sight. His weathered face transformed into a wide smile as he rose.
“Come here, Rowan. Give this grandpa-to-be a hug.”
Erica squealed as Ro extricated herself from her sister’s embrace. When she stepped away from him, Graham realized that he was going to have a hard time letting Ro out of his sight—or hell, out of his reach—for the next eight months. The woman was his heart, his soul, and every other damn thing that mattered.
She hugged her father, and tears dotted her lashes.
“Don’t cry. Not unless those are happy tears.” Ro nodded, and her father wiped them away. “Everything’s going to be fine, Ro. We’ll figure it all out.”
That was his cue.
“I wanted to talk to you about that, Rick. There’s one more part of the inner compound here you haven’t seen yet, and I think it might change your mind about a few things.”
Rick released Ro from the hug. “What are you talking about? I’ve been over every inch of this place.”
“No, sir. You haven’t. But if you come with me, I’ll show you the rest.” Graham started for the kitchen. “Ro, baby, why don’t you stay up here and eat breakfast with your sister? Let Beau tell you all the stuff you’re not supposed to do for the next eight months.”
Her eyes sparkled with tears as she whispered, “Thank you.”
Zach followed Graham and Rick into the kitchen, and squatted to roll up the colorful rag rug that lay in the center of the floor. Graham knelt beside him and lifted a loose plank. Rick cocked his head to the side as Zach turned the recessed metal handle and a section of the wooden floor and a slab of eighteen-inch thick concrete lifted.
“What the hell?”
“Come on down,” Graham said as he climbed down the ladder. Zach waited until Rick had made his way into the bunker before following. Graham stood next to the red dome mounted on the wall.
“This actuator releases the hydraulic system so the floor drops back into place. Once the system is engaged from below, this bunker is inaccessible from above.”
“Well, I’ll be damned …” Rick’s look of wonder gave Zach hope that Graham’s revelation might actually change the man’s mind.
“That’s eighteen inches of poured concrete, reinforced with twice the amount of rebar normally used. That construction carries through to the rest of the bunker.” Graham pointed toward the porthole-style door across the room. “That steel door is a foot thick and, when it’s locked, it isolates this section from the rest of the tunnel and bunker system.”
“Rest of the system?”
“There are four bunkers, each provisioned and equipped with independent air filtration systems and stand-alone wells. If one section is compromised, the rest are still safe. This was originally built as a bomb shelter, and then upgraded to a fallout shelter. We’ve added our own touches over the past few years.”
“Well, shit. This place might just be built better than my little hidey-hole. It’s certainly bigger, especially if the other rooms are this big.”
“They’re near the same size.”
Zach was about to release a breath when Rick said, “I still think you’re going to have a problem with the feds beating down your door.”
“Then we fall back in here. We’ve got enough supplies to last us for years.”
“But what kind of life is that? Living underground?”
“The same kind of life you’ve got to offer. Isn’t your ‘hidey-hole’ underground? What makes it safer than this?” Zach could tell Graham’s patience was wearing thin as the muscles of his jaw tensed.
“It’s not the same. The main living quarters might be underground, but it’s far enough out of the way that it would be safe to come up during the day. There’d be fresh vegetables once the garden was established.”
Well, fuck. This is going nowhere fast, Zach thought. Time to put a stop to the pissing match.
“Just … stop. This isn’t about what you’ve got or what we’ve got. The only thing that matters is keeping your daughters and the baby safe. We’re on the same side. At least for now, anyway.” Zach met Rick’s stare. “We can’t let Ro wonder for the next eight months whether you’re going to walk out those gates with or without her and us as soon as she gives birth.”
“Now wait a minute—I’m not going to try to separate her from either of you.” Rick blew out a rush of air. “Look, as far as I’m concerned, the window for safe travel is closing pretty damn quick. I can’t say what this world is going to be like eight months from now, but I will swear to you that I will not do anything to make Rowan unhappy, as long as she and Erica and the baby are safe.”
Zach felt the tension in the room drain away. That’s good enough for now.
Allison insisted on another celebratory dinner—one that actually involved celebrating. Ro laughed as Ty and Travis toasted Graham and Zach repeatedly, urging them to take shot after shot of whiskey. Neither of them would be worth a damn if they kept going at this pace. Which was too bad, because she was ready to drag the pair back to their cabin and do very dirty things to them.
Grace giggled as Ro’s dad stole her nose and pretended to forget where he’d hidden it. Cam sat midway down the table, shielding Lia from the boisterous noise of the room. Erica cleared dishes and carried them to the kitchen. Ro pushed away her plate. The only evidence of her dinner was the bare rib bones and a smear of mashed potatoes. Full, she laid a hand on her stomach and marveled that there was a person growing inside her. A little bean that would be an amazing combination of her and one of the men accepting congratulations for ‘knocking up the little woman.’ She leaned back in her chair. The warm glow that settled over her had nothing to do with pregnancy and everything to do with the fact that somehow, despite everything that had happened in the last month, she had found a new home and was surrounded by the people she loved. Ro fingered the dog tags hanging from the chain she wore. One was Graham’s, and one was Zach’s. They’d dropped it over her head unceremoniously before dinner, explaining that if she wouldn’t relent on her no-wedding stance, she was damn well going to wear some sign of their commitment. To Ro's mind, they were better than any ring.
She’d gone from a strap-on induced pity party to celebrating the news of her pregnancy with her two men and her family. And all it had taken was a damn apocalypse. Go figure.
A girl really couldn’t ask for more.
Well … maybe she could.
She covered her mouth with her palm and faked a yawn. “I’m feeling a little … tired.”
Her hand hid a wide smile when Graham and Zach stood in tandem. Zach swung her up in his arms.
“Let’s get you to bed, baby.” Graham smoothed a wisp of hair away from her face. Ro grinned. She was getting lucky tonight.