Ro stared at the floor, thoughts chaotic and approaching the thousand miles per hour mark. She forced herself to form words into a coherent sentence. “I … I’m. Shit.” She rubbed her face. “Does it matter that I don’t know whose baby it is?” she asked.
Zach maneuvered her backward, until she could feel the mattress against the backs of her knees. He gently pressed her shoulders until she sat. Both men crouched in front of her, and Graham spoke first. “This baby is ours. All of ours. Doesn’t matter at all whether I’m the father or Zach is the father. This baby is ours.”
“Do you care whose baby it is?” Zach asked.
“No,” Ro whispered. “But I don’t want either of you to be disappointed in eight months when this baby doesn’t look like you.”
Graham’s lips quirked into a smile as he smoothed her hair away from her face. “If the baby comes out looking like Zach, I’ll be sure to knock you up the next time.”
Ro could feel her eyes go big and her mouth drop open. “You’re going to want more?”
“Is that a problem?”
“I … hell. Let’s just make sure this one comes out okay first.”
Graham handed her another test. “Go make sure, babe.”
Ro took it, and then looked at them both carefully. “What if it’s negative?”
“Then you take another?”
“No. I mean, what if I’m not pregnant?”
“Doesn’t matter one goddamn bit. You’re ours, too.”
Ro stood, kissed Zach, and then Graham, and went to take the second test.
The plus sign was still there.
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.”