The next week drags. In fact, time seems to halt completely as we wait for our upcoming appointment with the hematologist. Violet runs intermittent fevers, but never complains. Ignorance is bliss. Andi and I do our best to act as though everything is perfectly normal.

I say, “Violet, let’s watch Frozen,” one evening. Even though she’ll fall asleep long before it’s over, her grin of excitement is worth the thirty minutes she’ll see. She claps her hands and says, “Owaf.” Olaf is her favorite.

She snuggles into the curve of my body as the movie begins. Andi’s watching us instead of the TV. Her eyes droop along with the rest of her body. She’s already weary from all the stress. I can’t begin to think of the weeks ahead.

But the words of my coach come back to me and I refuse to let this unknown opponent let defeat coat me in fear.

“Hey, you over there.” Andi’s focus sharpens on me. “We’re Team Wilde, remember?”

Andi says, “Team Wilde.”

Violet glances at us. “Teem Wilde.”

That gets a chuckle out of Andi. “You got it, firecracker.”

“Not a firecracker. I snowman,” Violet insists.

I rumble with laughter. “You can be whoever you want. But I’m calling you my snow cone.”

“What a snow cone?” Violet asks, her tiny brows drawn together in curiosity.

I ruffle her curls and answer, “It’s like an ice cream cone, only made with snow.”

Her mouth twists up as though she just swallowed a lemon. “Icky, Dada. I wanna be ice cream cone.”

“Okay.” With a peck to the tip of her nose, I say, “Then you’re my ice cream cone.”

That satisfies her and she switches her gaze back to the movie.

Not much after that, her head droops and she’s sound asleep. I carry her to bed, tucking her in, and stand there staring at this beautiful child. There is no way in fucking hell anything serious is wrong. Only a bump in the road, and they’ll patch her up and send her on the way.

Andi stands in the doorway observing. When I turn, she backs out of the room.

“She’s good. You’ll see.” I’m not sure if I say that for her benefit or mine.

A couple of days later, Max calls.

“Chase, I’ve gotten word from the PI we hired to tail Lucia. In the past several weeks, she hasn’t made any visits to an obstetrician, and as far as we can tell, isn’t planning on it. They’ve gotten a list of her phone records going back several months and she hasn’t made any calls to any doctors at all. I think she’s scamming you.”

This isn’t a surprise. I say, “Just as I suspected.”

Max isn’t finished. “That’s not all. She’s going out and partying. We have pictures of her at clubs, drinking and dancing. If she’s pregnant, she shouldn’t be smoking either. But she is. I have the evidence. Also, she sure is thin for being pregnant. Not that every woman shows, but by my calculations, the last time you two were together was at least six months ago, so that would put her at least that far along.”

“Yeah. I’m almost positive she’s not pregnant. What do you recommend?”

“I think we should confront her, and I say we because you don’t need to go in without a witness. I’ll go with you when you show her the pictures and phone records. Then you tell her to leave you alone. If she persists, you end the rent on her lavish apartment. That should take care of things. If it doesn’t, we move in with a restraining order to get her to stop stalking you.”

After a moment of thought, I say, “I agree. With everything going on here, I don’t need her around to add to the stress level for Andi. “When can we do this?”

I can hear Max shuffling some papers. Then he says, “Is tomorrow okay? I know it’s Saturday, but if you can call her and ask to see her, we can get this over with.”

“Sure. I want to check with Andi first. I promised to keep her in the loop.”

Max and I end our call and I immediately find Andi to explain everything to her.

Andi pulls in a long breath. “Wow, I can’t believe she lied about something like that. Actually, I take that back. Am I being selfish that I’m actually relieved? I can only hope she doesn’t continue to just show up.”

“Believe me, I’m just happy to have the truth. And don’t worry about her. You have the extra security too. Max and I are planning to go over to her place tomorrow and confront her about this. I hope that doesn’t bother you.”

“No. You should go and get it over with.”

Leaning into the woman I love with all my heart, I wrap my arm around her and hug her. Then I find her lips, pressing mine to hers. “Thank you for being so patient with me.”

Now I have to call that lunatic. Fortunately, she answers and agrees to see me the next day, so I call Max to let him know.

Then I look at Andi. “I’m relieved too. But more importantly, I’m in love with you. I hope you realize that.”

Though I’d said it the night before, she looks speechless. I slide my arm around her. “Team Wilde, right?”

“Yes. Team Wilde.”

I remember the words of wisdom my coach shared with me.

“My coach told me something the other day, and you need to hear this. The fear of the unknown is what kills athletes. They let it fuck with their heads. We’re not going to let fear fuck with ours when it comes to dealing with whatever is going on with Violet. We’re going to face it head-on with two feet planted firmly on the ground, and fight it with everything we’ve got. You got that? Because you and me … we are a team.”

She stands on her tiptoes and winds her arms around my neck. “Thank you, Chase. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Then she plants her lips on mine. When she pulls away, I lighten the mood and slap her on the ass.

“Okay, tiger, you can talk to me like a player, but none of that locker room stuff.”

“Hmm. And here all this time I thought you liked an ass slap here and there.”

We’re interrupted by a two-year-old as she halfway runs into us, yelling, “Hungy, Mama.”

The following morning, Max and I show up at Lucia’s. Her eyes betray her shock when she opens the door to see the two of us standing there.

“Max. I didn’t know you’d be coming too.”

That’s obvious. She’s wearing a silk nightgown you can see her nipples through. Evidently, she had different ideas about this meeting.

Max, God love him, doesn’t break stride. He walks in and briskly says, “Buongiorno, Lucia.” He doesn’t stop until he gets to her table in the kitchen, which can be seen from the entryway.

I follow, keeping an eye on her and hiding my grin. She’s in for a shock.

She’s my problem. I figure I’ll start this painful conversation. “Lucia, we came here to discuss the issue of your pregnancy.”

Her hands immediately fly to her belly, which is a mistake, because that silk gown only emphasizes how flat it is.

“Oh, yes, Chase, I’ve been meaning to tell you when my next appointment is.”

Max doesn’t wait for me to comment. He gets right to it. “Stop with the lies, Lucia. There is no appointment because there is no baby.” He commences to pull everything out of his folder that he carried in. First, he pulls out the phone records, then the pictures. “I believe if you were pregnant, one of these calls would’ve been made to an obstetrician, which they weren’t. Also, these are pictures of you. You can see the dates on them. You’re smoking and drinking. It doesn’t look like the behavior of a pregnant woman.” Finally, he pulls out a pregnancy test and hands it to her. “Here, go take this now to prove you’re pregnant.”

She starts bawling her eyes out and begging me to come back.

“Stop it, Lucia. I’m not coming back now, or ever. If you don’t stop with this ridiculous behavior, I’ll get a restraining order on you. This is the last time I want to deal with you.”

Max pulls out a piece of paper. It states that Lucia admits she’s not pregnant. Technically, it’s not a legal document, but at least it’s her admission she’s not pregnant. She signs it along with the two of us. Then we leave.

“You think that’ll work?”

“She’s not pregnant. She can’t create a baby out of thin air. She has no legal binding on you.”

Shaking my head, I say, “That’s not what I meant. I was thinking more on the stalking level.”

Max pats my shoulder. “That’s what the added security is for. Now go home and be with your family.”

When I walk in the door, my smile fades. One look at Andi and my gut twists. She doesn’t even have to tell me. I know my little one has another fever and I want to punch my hand through a wall. Instead, I take Andi’s hand firmly and say, “Team Wilde, remember?”