Page 73 of With Spite

I called my brothers and sister in a group FaceTime call.

I called Harvey last, just to make sure he knew.

He had.

He’d also been sworn to secrecy.

Once I was done making the calls, I had Bernice stay upstairs to cue up our show and stepped down into the warehouse where I’d caught Katana stacking sacks of feed.

“Should you be lifting that?”

Katana froze.

“Why do you ask?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at me.

“One, because you’re three months pregnant.”

She fisted her hands on her hips and turned around to glare. “Who told you?”

“The question is, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I need to tell the dad first,” she grumbled. “I just…I’ve had a lot going on.”

She had.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the cancer?”

She scrubbed at her face.

“Because I felt stupid,” she admitted. “I missed my yearly appointment this year. I had other things on my mind. And the one time I miss it and don’t go…I end up missing the fact that I have cancer.”

“Busy with the baby’s father?” I wondered.

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Do you want me to tell him?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m going to do it. Eventually.”

“Eventually before you die?” I asked. “Because that’s what happens if you don’t get chemo.”

She looked down at her shoes. “I’m thinking about it.”

“Think about this,” I suggested. “If you get the chemo, your baby for sure lives. If you don’t, and you die before the baby is able to live without you, what about the baby’s father? He’ll lose both of you.”

“The baby’s father won’t care about me.” She paused. “I’m not even sure he’ll care about the baby.”

My brow lifted. “And you think you know what he’ll think based on…what?”

“Based on the evolution of man,” she grumbled. “But I’m going to tell him.”

Before I could ask her any more questions, the door from The Mercantile to the warehouse pushed open and Thumper came through.

He was holding a box full of something and walking toward me, his eyes on the box.

He was digging through it, his brows furrowed and stopped when he realized he wasn’t alone in the warehouse.

He blinked at the two of us.