Chapter Two
Covington flinched, her sigh of relief turning to a hiss of shock as her backside hit the cold toilet seat. Muscles unclenched and the floodgates opened and she wanted to get down on her knees and thank the pregnancy gods that she’d made it to the bathroom without embarrassing herself in front of Tris and two strangers.
Unfortunately that particular humiliation wasn’t new to her, she just preferred not to live through it over and over again.
Of course with the pressure off and the urgency gone, she had nothing to concentrate on except the reason she was here. Telling Tristan he was going to be a daddy. She wanted to hide out in this surprisingly well-appointed bathroom and avoid the conversation that was probably pointless now.
She’d heard one of the men outside with Tris when she’d made her less than dignified dash for the bathroom say something about pregnant women and their need to pee, but she’d had other things to worry about and didn’t feel guilty for having her ‘condition’ revealed in such an in-your-face manner.
And she had seen the brief look of shock that crossed Tris’s face when he’d pulled her into him. She might only be four months but with two babies on board she’d already ‘popped’, and with how lean she was everywhere else because of every day, all day morning—ha!—sickness, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that she was pregnant.
“How you doing in there?”
Covington jumped, made some sort of strangled animal sound, and almost toppled off the toilet. “Ah. Okay.”
“Tris wanted me to check. You’ve been in here a while. Do you need anything?”
“Um…no.” As an afterthought she added, “But thanks.”
Figuring she was out of time, she did what she had to and flushed. Tugging up her sweatpants Covington inched them over her rounded belly. The elastic was growing tighter with each day and she conceded her limited wardrobe would be nonexistent in the coming weeks. She’d have to rectify that sooner than later.
She opened the stall door and moved to the sink to wash her hands. Tried to ignore the woman leaning against the wall watching her with a speculative gaze.
When Covington turned the tap off the woman asked, “You’re from Miami?”
She nodded and ripped off a piece of paper towel. “Yep.”
“Long way from home.”
“Hmm…” Covington hummed in reply.
“Staying?” the woman persisted.
Covington shrugged.
Putting her hands up with a chuckle, the woman pushed off the wall and said, “Alright. I get it. None of my business.”
Smiling, Covington dropped the wet towel in the trashcan and moved toward the door. “I should…”
“Yes, you should. Harding is wearing a trench in the tiles waiting outside.”
“What?”
“Never mind. I’m Deanna by the way.” She opened the door and held it, motioning for Covington to pass through first. “After you.”
“Thanks. And I’m Covington.”
“Unusual name.”
“My mother’s home town and definitely better than the other option.” At Deanna’s arched eyebrow Covington added, “Mallow—one town over in case you’re curious—was behind door number two.”
“Perhaps a third door…?”
“Considering they were getting worse?” She shook her head. “I think I ended up with the best outcome.”
Deanna smiled and indicated the open door. “Shall we?”
Taking a deep breath, Covington raised her chin and steeled her resolve. She could do this. She had to do this. Tristan deserved to know and she needed someone to share the load with. Share the joy. Her heart skipped at the thought of getting to hold their babies. Would they look like her or Tris?
“There you are.” Tris rushed to her as she stepped into the hall, he gripped her shoulders, his worried gaze scanning her face. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
His gaze lowered to her belly.
“Oh, right. Um…”
“Come on.” He let her go. “The chief said we could use his office to talk.”
Nodding, she took the hand he offered and let him lead her down the hall.
“I can’t believe you drove all the way from Miami in that junker of yours. How long did it take you to get here?” Tris asked, as he ushered her into a meticulously neat office.
She’d left early Monday morning and today was early Wednesday evening. “Three days?”
“Three days!” He stared at her in disbelief. “You did the trip non-stop?”
“I didn’t want to waste time—”
“Why didn’t you fly?”
“I—”
“Shit. Don’t worry about that now. Where’s Dirk?”
“Dirk?”
“Yeah, your fiancé, why isn’t he with you?”
“We broke up months ago.” How could he forget that not so insignificant detail? The bust-up of her engagement was the reason they were in this predicament in the first place.
“He knocked you up and left!”
What? He thought Dirk was the baby daddy? “Ah, no.” Didn’t he think it was strange she was here if Dirk was the father? Did he think she’d driven all this way to tell him she was pregnant with Dirk’s kid? “Dirk isn’t the father.”
“What the fuck Covington?” He stepped closer, anger flaring in his eyes. “Tell me who it is and I’ll kick the bastard’s fucking ass.”
He was such an honorable guy. He’d never dream of leaving a woman if he’d gotten her pregnant. If he knew he’d gotten her pregnant.
Tears stung her eyes, tingled in the back of her nose. God. It shouldn’t be this hard to get the words out.
All she had to say was ‘you’re the father’ but her throat had closed up and her chest felt like a band of steel had wrapped around it.
“Aw, Cov.” He pulled her into his arms, tucked her head beneath his chin. “It’s okay. I promise you, everything will be all right.”
He had no idea what he was committing to. “I—” A sob choked off her words.
Rubbing his hands up and down her back, he made soothing sounds under his breath and it took every last bit of her remaining energy not to give in to the emotions overwhelming her and completely lose her composure.
It wouldn’t be the first time she’d succumbed to a crying jag in the last few months. It wasn’t a normal week without her emptying at least one box of tissues.
“It’s okay. You’re here now. I’ll take care of you,” Tris continued to reassure her.
She needed to tell him.
“First thing you need is rest. It couldn’t have been easy driving all that way on your own with no break.”
Being cradled in Tris’s arms felt wonderful but the idea of lying down, of closing her eyes and sleeping…
“I’ll get my keys and you can take my truck. You’re not driving that rattle-trap car anywhere else until I get someone to look at it.”
“But—”
“Shh.” He tipped her chin up with two fingers, placed his thumb over her lips. “My house is only a short distance down the road. It’s easy to find. I’ve got another twelve hours or so until my shift ends then I’ll be home. We’ll talk about everything then.”
“I don’t want to put you out.”
“You’re not.”
“I could see about staying—”
“No. You’ll stay with me.”
“Well, if you’re sure, but I can take my car.”
“Covington,” he growled as he lowered his face to hers, his eyes hard and uncompromising.
She leaned back but his hold prevented her from going too far. “Y-yes.”
“Take the fucking truck.”
Opening her mouth to protest, anything she might have managed to say was drowned out by a siren screeching through the building.
“Shit. That’s a call. I gotta go.”
Tris grabbed her hand and tugged her out of the office and back down the hall before pushing her into another room. This one had neat bunks and a row of metal lockers.
He gave her a nudge towards the far wall. “What?” she asked as she stepped further into the room.
“The locker with my name on it. Grab my keys and meet me out front.”
Before Covington could utter a word Tris was gone. She stood staring at the spot where he’d disappeared, confused and wondering if she should just wait until he returned. But the sound of running feet, shouting and the rumble of an fire engine coming to life snapped her out of her daze.
She found his locker easy enough. The keys were right in front beside his wallet—the one she’d given him last Christmas. Scooping up the keys, Covington shut the metal door with an unintentionally loud clang and pondered the absence of a lock.
The screeching alarm cut off abruptly and a split second later the wail of a fire engine siren took its place.
Rushing back into the hall she followed the noise to a large area where men and the woman from the bathroom were pulling on gear and climbing aboard the big red truck. The garage door had been rolled up and as Tris jumped onto the slowly moving fire engine he yelled over his shoulder.
“It’s the house with the green shutters about five minutes down the road. Eight-ninety-two.” He pointed to the right. “Text me when you get there so I know you’re safe. I’ll call when I can.”
Covington followed the truck as it rolled out of the station and stood on the driveway watching until it was long gone and the siren had faded to nothing but a memory. Glancing at the keys in her hand she thought about the last few minutes.
Seeing Tristan again hadn’t gone anything like she thought it would. For one thing, he didn’t seem at all angry with her. He’d offered her a place to stay and a reliable vehicle. He’d showed concern and given her comfort, told her everything would be fine. Promised it would.
And she hadn’t told him he was the father of her babies.
Hell, she hadn’t actually told him she was pregnant never mind that she was carrying twins and they were his.
***
Tris dragged his weary body up the walk to the front door and tried to remember where his Aunt had always hidden the spare key. He hadn’t bothered to look for it since moving in because he had the set the real estate agent had given him.
Lauren Harrison hadn’t been at all disappointed to lose his business when he’d told her he no longer wanted to rent the place out. When she’d met him at the house three months ago she’d been exactly as she appeared on her TV show—and for all her cool sophistication she was surprisingly warm and welcoming.
He’d run into her a number of times since then and she always smiled and asked how he was settling in. His realtor wasn’t the only town member who greeted him with a smile and a chat.
Then again, the people of Hope Falls really did want to know how you were doing.
He guessed when your Aunt was born and bred and a favored member of a small town you were greeted with acceptance and interest—like family.
Since that first day he’d felt at home. It helped that some of the kids—now adults—he’d hung out with in his misspent youth still lived here. Dylan still lived in the house next door. Which was how he’d gotten home seeing how the minute they’d returned from the fire yesterday evening he’d called Lance from Pine Tree Auto Repair to come and tow Cov’s death-trap of a car to the shop.
Lance had left with the directive to go from bumper to bumper, tires to roof and write down everything wrong with the old Chevy. No sugar coating either.
Tristan wanted to know if the car was salvageable or if he should start looking for something more appropriate—safe—for a future mother.
Reaching the house, he started with the doormat then moved onto the flowerpots lining the porch in search of a key.
Perhaps he should give Cov his truck. It had a dual cab and four-wheel drive and had one of the top safety ratings in the country. Perfect for navigating mountain roads.
“Hey.”
Glancing up he found Cov standing in the doorway. Waiting.
Jesus, he could get used to that sight.
Especially when she was bundled up in one of his old fire department sweatshirts and a pair of his work socks. The shirt was long on her and she’d pulled the socks up to her knees so only a few inches of her dance leggings showed between the two.
Smiling, he moved back to the door. “Didn’t want to ring the bell in case you were sleeping.”
She frowned. “It’s almost midday.”
“Is it?” They’d had a call that took them into change of shift but he hadn’t realized it had gotten that late.
Fidgeting on her feet and wringing her hands, both nervous actions he hadn’t seen in her before, she asked, “Are you hungry? I could make you something. I hope it’s okay I helped myself to some of your food.”
“Cov, baby, what’s mine is yours. And while I should probably eat, I’m in more need of a shower and sleep. I’ll take a rain check though.”
“Oh. Right.” She jumped back, made room for him to enter the house. “It’s your house and I’ve kept you out on the doorstep.”
He walked inside, chucking at the fact they’d been having a conversation while he stood outside his front door. Shaking his head, he turned toward his room.
“Um…”
When she didn’t continue he glanced over his shoulder and saw she was shuffling her feet and twisting her hands again. “What?”
“I had to, um, sleep…there’s only one bed…” She shrugged.
“Oh, yeah. I cleared out all the old furniture when my stuff got here. I haven’t set up the other bedrooms yet.”
Filling the three-bedroom cottage had been the last thing on his to-do list after his furniture had been delivered. He probably should have kept some of what was in the house when he arrived, but Tris couldn’t stand the thought of using what strangers had used. And he’d yet to go through the shed out back where his Aunt’s stuff was stored.
“Tris…”
“Give me a few minutes to shower. We’ll talk before I catch some Z’s.”
Cov nodded. “Okay. Sure.” She looked away. “I’ll just…make a list of what I ate.”
“Don’t do that. Jesus.” He didn’t understand why she was so anxious with him; they’d never been on eggshells around each other but right now Cov looked as though she’d shatter if he said boo. “Just put your feet up. I’ll be two minutes, tops.”
“I should replace—”
“No. You shouldn’t.”
Before she could come up with another argument or something else to delay his shower he strode down the hall and into the bathroom.
He knew they had things to discuss. Firstly, what she was doing here, why had she come to him? Then he wanted to know who’d knocked her up and left her to deal with the baby alone.
Tris would step up for her and the baby.
He’d made that decision while lying sleepless in his bunk last night. He didn’t care who’d fathered her baby; he’d make sure neither of them went without.
As the child of a single mother, Tristan had seen first-hand how hard things could be. He didn’t want that for Covington or her child. Between now and when the baby came he’d convince Cov to marry him and put his name on the birth certificate.
It was the best option for both of them.
He could provide a place for them to live and healthcare. He had no idea if Cov had her own insurance but he doubted it. For as long as he’d known her she’d only had the one long-term job and that was only a six-month contract. He also had no idea how much she earned. Did she get paid per job or per hour? Did she have savings?
And what would happen now she was pregnant. Tris didn’t think there was much demand for pregnant dancers and as far as he knew Cov didn’t have any other qualifications.
Dropping his sweatpants, he reached into the shower stall and turned on the water. The hot took forever to come through the old pipes and as much as he needed a wake up, the temp had dropped overnight to its lowest point this fall and there was more cold weather coming according to the forecast. They were in for their first real snow dump of the season in three days’ time. Right when he was due back on shift.
He’d have to make sure Cov had everything she needed before his next rotation began. He hated the thought of her attempting to navigate the snow-covered roads. Actually, now that he thought about it, he didn’t think she’d ever seen snow before.
Steam rose and he yanked off his shirt. He’d be quick in spite of his desire to linger. Now that he’d made up his mind about what they should do he wanted to move forward with his plan.
She’d come to him and he had to believe she’d done so because she needed his help. Maybe it was the ‘hero complex’ his mother accused him of having, but Tristan felt it was his job to make sure Cov was okay. More than okay.
He wanted her to have everything and anything she wanted. And if that meant marrying her and being a father to her unborn child then he’d gladly step up and do it.