It is early Wednesday morning. Mom calls a meeting at her home for the family. I attend, even though our relationship is still on the rocks. But I know when Catherine calls, it’s non- negotiable.

I arrive promptly on time. Everyone is here, including Theo. He has moved into the house and has no plans of ever leaving.

We are all sitting in the living room when Gabriel asks, “Okay, Mother, what is this about?”

Mother looks very happy. I can’t wait to hear this.

“I have very good news. Ms. Larussa has given us the casino for payment on her father’s debt. It’s over, we own it now.”

I jump up. “What do you mean, she gave it to us?”

Mom shrugs and says, “What do you need, proof? Here, Zander, read her letter. She has already signed the paperwork; all I have to do is meet with the attorney.”

“Why? Did you threaten her again?”

“No! I left her alone, like you asked, but I am glad it’s handled before I was forced to act. Because, son, I would have.”

I walk to the bar and fix myself a drink. I know it’s early, but I don’t give a shit. Gabriel walks to the bar to make himself one, too. He doesn’t look happy; he looks, I don’t know, maybe uneasy. He then walks back over to Fallon. He whispers something in her ear, she then picks up their son Gavin and leaves the room.

I slam my drink back and swallow hard. “None of this makes any sense.”

I reach for my phone to call her, but she doesn’t pick up. I try again; nothing. Damn. I call my men. Sam picks up.

“Where is she?”

“Boss, we just dropped her and her mother off at the airport. She said she had talked to you all about it. She claims she has some hired men meeting her there.”

“You dumb fuck! Go back and get them, hold them until I get there!”

I start to leave, but Gabriel shouts, “Zander, hold on, I have to tell you something.”

I stop and turn back. He best not fuck with me, not now.

“I gave her time to come clean with you, but I see she decided to take another route, which only verifies that she was lying.”

“Lying about what?”

Gabriel takes a deep breath. “She’s pregnant, Zander. She told me it wasn’t yours, but I could tell she was lying. I gave her a week to tell you before I would. I guess she thought it was better to leave.”

She’s pregnant with my child, and she’s trying to leave. I love my brother, I do, but he should have never held this information from me. I walk straight towards him and warn him. “You better pray I get to her before she has a chance to get away, brother.”

Theo grabs my arm and says, “Enough! You’re wasting time.” I turn to leave, but my mother is standing right in front of me. She slaps me hard across my face. “You better get me that baby. You fucked this all up. Do you hear me?! My grandchild will be born and raised here. That baby is a part of us, and it will not go anywhere else, boy. Go get her and bring her home.”

I walk right past her, holding my face. She doesn’t have to tell me shit. That’s my baby. I can’t believe she would think I would let Murphy run now. I can’t believe Murphy would.

I make it to the airport and call Sam. “Do you have her?”

He tells me where to find them; he says they were almost aboard before he caught up to them. I enter the airport and go straight to where he says they are. She is sitting there with her legs and arms crossed, looking pissed as hell. I don’t even see anyone else. I walk straight to her, without saying a word I grab her arm, pulling her out of the chair. I look around the airport, looking for someplace to bring her. The men’s bathroom is the first place I see. So, I drag her, literally drag her to the bathroom, with her hitting me and yelling my name. When I open the door, there are two men in the bathroom.

“Get out!” They turn and look at me. One leaves, and the other is pissing in the urinal. “Get out!” When he goes to say something, I growl towards him. He turns, pissing down his leg, and runs for the door.

I swing Red into the wall and cage her in. “You weren’t going to tell me?”  

She doesn’t say anything, she just looks down towards the floor. So, I yell, “Answer me! You weren’t going to tell me?”

She looks up at me with venom in her eyes. “Tell you what?”

“You’re pregnant with my baby.”

She fucking laughs, hard. It takes me a minute to shake off the frustration of her laugh.

“I am pregnant, but it’s not yours.”

“You’re lying!”

“No, Zander, I’m not. This is not your baby.”

“You should feel lucky you’re pregnant.”

“Why?”

“Because right now, Red, I want to spank your ass so fucking hard for lying to me.”

“I told you I’m not lying.”

I shut her up by leaning down and kissing her hard. At first she’s thrown off, but it doesn’t take long before I can feel her give in to me, then I feel her teeth bite into my lip, hard. I pull away and see blood on her mouth. I lick my lip, tasting the copper flavor.

“You want to know how I know you’re lying, Red?” She doesn’t say anything. I lean back into her and whisper, “One, you can’t lie to save your life. Two, since the minute I found out who you were, I have had eyes on you every second of every day. Unless Kyle fucked you as well as I did, that baby in you is mine.” My hand slips to her stomach, and I rub. I’m already falling for our child. “And Red, I keep what is mine.”

I straighten and pull her out of the bathroom. When I see Cherry, she is smiling from ear to ear. She says, “Took you long enough.” Then she hands me a napkin. “You have a little blood.” She points. “Right there, it’s the red hair. She will never be boring. That, I wager, you’ll enjoy.”

We start walking out, with me still dragging Murphy along. Cherry’s right, I love everything about her, and I don’t ever see her getting boring. My son and I will be two lucky men.

With dragging a reluctant Murphy out of the airport and shoving her into my vehicle, I tell my men to follow us home. On the drive, Cherry asks where I’m taking them. I tell her home to my mother’s house. “Zander, I don’t think that is a good idea. I don’t think your mother would be too happy to see me.”

“Why? You two are going to have to see each other eventually, now that you will be sharing a grandson.”

She laughs, but Murphy says, “Son, figures you would automatically presume it’s a boy.”

I don’t answer her. I don’t even look at her. I need to calm myself down before I try.

“Cherry, why are you worried about seeing my mom? I thought you two were friendly long ago?”

“We were, but things happen, Zander.”

That’s all she says, leaving me to wonder what happened.

The rest of the ride is silent until we drive onto our property. They both start getting antsy. I see the looks of fear on their faces. I open the door for Cherry first; she exits the vehicle, staring at the house. Then I open Murphy’s door, except she doesn’t get out. I am at my limit with her, so I grab her arm and pull her out. Dragging her, like a reluctant child, we enter the house. Everyone is sitting in the living room, obviously been waiting for our arrival.

Mom walks towards us. She looks at Murphy, then her attention goes to Cherry. They stare at each other until Theo comes over. He hugs Cherry first and says, “Cherry, it’s so lovely to see you again. Please come in, Katie, tell Cherry she’s welcome.”

My mom looks at Theo like she wants to kill him. Then she turns back to Cherry. “Welcome to our home, it’s been a long time.” She then turns and walks into the dining room. “I figured everyone would want lunch. Jeffery will be serving in a moment, please sit.” Mom’s very composed but very on edge.

The whole family gathers in the dining room. I force Murphy to sit her ass down on a chair, then conversation starts off well. Everyone seems to be getting along, except my mother, Cherry, and Murphy are all silent until Murphy stands and asks directions to the bathroom. Mom points, directing her, and then Murphy runs. I get up, following her, but she slams the door in my face. I hear her vomiting, so I open the door, bend down, and hold her long hair away from her face. When she’s finished, she sits back on the floor and pushes my hands away.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.” I hand her a wet, cool towel. She passes it on her neck and face. She then tries to stand. I give her my hand to help her up, but she slaps it away. “I can do it on my own.”

I let her, she stands and then swishes water in her mouth and then walks out, leaving me standing in the bathroom.

When I return to the table, she has just sat down. My mother tells her, “I had Jeffery bring you some lemons and peppermint tea. It helps with the symptoms.”

Murphy looks down at the lemons and asks, “What do I do with the lemons?”

Mom smiles and tells her, “You can smell them, and then you should suck on them. It really helps. I had really bad morning sickness for all my boys. One of my old maids at the time taught me a few tricks, she helped me when I was pregnant with Gabriel. In fact, she helped me with all of them but then sadly passed away not long after Liam was born.”

Murphy takes the lemons and starts sniffing them, then as instructed she sucks them. Lunch resumes, and Murphy starts to drink her tea.

Now that the pregnancy has been mentioned and ice is broken, Fallon starts asking how she’s been feeling. She starts giving her pregnancy advice, and I feel like I’ve already been left out of so much. I don’t even know how far along she is until Fallon asks. Then they talk doctors. Mom tells her, “You can use Dr. Paul Martin he’s a family friend, I have seen him for many years and he delivered Gavin.” Murphy looks towards her mother before accepting.

The conversation is going well until Mom asks, “So, where would you like the wedding to be? We need to rush because of the pregnancy. I’m sure you want to be able to still fit into a beautiful wedding dress.”

Murphy laughs and says, “What wedding? We are not getting married. I will agree, this baby might be Zander’s, but that’s it. We’re not getting married, and if I stay, our deal is off.”

I have had about enough I drop my spoon into my bowl hard, making a loud sound gaining everyone’s attention. “We sure in the hell are getting married. That is my baby, and the mother of my child will be married to me.”

She starts to argue but stops suddenly when my mother stands. “Murphy, I would like to see you in my office, just you.”

Mom walks away without saying anything else, and everyone is silent. Cherry looks over to Murphy and says, “Go, it’ll be all right.”

I stand to follow, but Theo stops me. “You best stay here.”

What does Mom plan to do? I can’t just sit here, so I leave the table and go to the living room.

Eventually, everyone follows, and then we hear raised voices.