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As she turns her back to head to the parking lot, I catch her arm and pull her back into me again. Pushing her toque up on her forehead, I breathe out, trying to keep myself calm. “You don’t have to fight battles alone anymore, Kate.”

“I can handle it.”

“Is it work?”

She shakes her head. “Really, it’s nothing.”

“Is it really ‘nothing,’ or are you choosing not to tell me because you’re worried whoever it is, I’ll tear them limb from limb when I eventually find out who’s giving my wife shit?”

She brings a gloved palm to my cheek. “You can’t protect me from everything and everyone all the time. Just let me work through this.”

The hairs on the back of my neck bristle. “You’re so fucking stubborn, you know that?”

“What was it I said all that time ago? Ah, that’s right! It takes one to know one.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Let me take you out tonight. We can stop at our favorite Italian place on the way home.”

She sighs and checks her watch. “It’s past seven, and I’m so tired, baby. Rain check?”

Buttoning up her jacket, which only just fits over her bump, I try to push past the fact that she won’t tell me, and neither would she appreciate me going through her phone. “Okay. I’ll make your favorite. Ratatouille.”

She smiles up at me and then plants a kiss on my lips. “The best.”

CHAPTER FORTY

JENSEN

Kate’s phone sits on her nightstand as I sit beside her and read my latest birthing book. This one is okay, but the previous read definitely offered more.

I look at her phone again. I know I shouldn’t; it’s her privacy I’d be invading, but Ineedto know who’s been bothering her. My wife is tough and doesn’t need me to fight her battles. But that doesn’t mean I can keep away. Ican’tkeep away.

As she sleeps peacefully beside me, I try to keep my busy mind from wandering, trying to work out who is trying to hurt the woman I love. The woman who’s saved me in ways she doesn’t even know. I no longer wake up in cold sweats, nor do I toss and turn in the night, trying to fight back nightmares of rejection.

She’s cured that. She’s cured me.

I’m ten seconds away from reaching for her cell when mine starts buzzing on the side, and I snatch it up before it wakes Kate.

Easton

Are you around for a call?

He never texts or calls me.

Fuck.

Hitting dial, I throw on a pair of sweats and stride through to the kitchen. Pacing the floor, I wait for the international dial tone, and Easton picks up on the second ring.

“Jensen?”

“Yeah, all okay?” I get straight to the point.

“Is Kate okay?” he asks in a concerned tone.

“She’s been…off. Why? What the fu?—”

“Violet and Henry have been sending her shit again, you know, since the wedding a few days ago. I just got off the phone with Mom, and she sounded livid that they hadn’t been invited to the wedding.” He laughs darkly. “Even though they said they wanted nothing to do with you both, they still expect an RSVP to decline.” He draws in a deep breath. “They cut her out the will and told her she isn’t welcome back at their house ever again.”

Silence.