Phone calls and video chats could only do so much when you needed a hug.
Speaking of, she could sure use one of those. Thankfully, she realized with a slow blink, she was only about twenty miles away from Hot Rods. The past several hours had flown by as she reflected on her fears, the blossoming joy and hope that she was almost afraid to embrace, and the anticipation of letting Mike in on her secret.
Kate turned into the parking lot beside the Hot Rods garage. She turned off the car, then sat there, staring through the trees at the clearing that hadn’t been there last time she’d visited. The land had already been leveled and the outline of a multistory structure rose up from the forest.
Wow, that was going to be a hell of an upgrade for the Hot Rods gang.
No wonder Joe was freaking out about getting it right. This was an even bigger opportunity for him than she’d fully realized.
Hopefully she’d done the right thing by coming there and interrupting. The familiar whir of power tools from both the garage beside her and the site out back calmed her. But she obviously sat there a little too long. Someone must have noticed, because a familiar form materialized on the path out of the woods.
Despite the mottled shade falling on him, she knew it was Mike right away. His determined, long-legged strides, the way he whipped his hardhat off and stowed it under his arm, and his favorite red work shirt tucked into sexy-as-hell ripped jeans—yep, she would recognize her husband anywhere.
“Kate?” Mike shouted as he raced toward her car. She hadn’t even climbed out or stretched her legs when he came bounding to meet her. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah.” She smiled. He steadied her as she unfolded herself, then stood and held her arms out for the reassuring embrace she so desperately needed right then. “Things are…great, actually. I mean, I think they are.”
But would he agree?
“Where are Abby and Landry?” Mike asked, peering into the empty backseat of the car. “Did you bring them too?”
“No. Dave and Kayla have them at the resort. They’re making an adventure out of this week, staying in that tree house cabin you guys built at Bare Natural after being inspired by Kason’s place last year.” Kate smiled, remembering how excited the kids had been about the sudden turn of events. Hell, the way their eyes had lit up, she and Mike should have taken them out there sooner for a family getaway. It was probably the only thing that could have gotten Abby to forgive her for not bringing her to see Nathan sooner than the weekend, when they were all set to meet up again. “I thought it would be better if I came alone.”
“Why?” Mike drew her close. “Not that I’m not excited to see you. I’m thrilled. I just figured if you decided to join me, you’d have the kids with you. It must have been impossible to keep Abby from visiting Nathan. Unless this isn’t just about missing me or wanting to visit with Morgan and Joe a little longer this week…is it?”
“Those are great things, too. They are. But they’re not why I came.” Kate swallowed hard, trying to figure out some magazine-worthy way to divulge her motivation for the trip. But that took planning and effort and damn she was tired…and nervous.
“What’s wrong?” Mike held her shoulders and extended his arms so he could peer into her eyes.
“Nothing, I promise. Do you need to go back up to the site? Maybe we can talk about this later, in private?” Kate lifted her chin as more people began to stream out of the woods, from the Hot Rods garage, and from the adorable cabin where Joe’s uncle Tom lived. Pretty soon they were going to be swarmed by well-meaning friends.
“Joe can handle that stuff.” Mike waved her off. “Whether he doubts it or not, he has things under control. And I don’t care who hears our dirty laundry. If something’s messed up, tell me so I can fix it.”
If he only knew that he’d already taken care of her a little too well.
“Well, look who’s here!” Uncle Tom boomed as he and his wife, Ms. Brown—who would always be Ms. Brown to them all despite having married Tom—joined them. His son, Eli, ambled out onto the blacktop, wiping grease on a rag tucked into the waistband of his jumpsuit. Alanso and Sally were, as usual, close behind him.
“Kate!” Ms. Brown reached her first, enveloping her in a warm hug that brought tears to Kate’s eyes. Yup, pregnancy hormones…check! “This is a lovely surprise. Did Mike know you were coming?”
“Ummm, nope.” Kate bit her lower lip and tried not to wring her hands.
“So what’s the special occasion?” Tom asked as he piled on to Ms. Brown, enveloping them both in his strong, reassuring hold. Kate could have stayed there forever. She understood why Joe was drawn to this place and these people and the possibility of a true family, even if it wasn’t exactly the one he’d been born into. Tom and Ms. Brown had become parental figures for them all. She squeezed them back, and if they noticed her trembling in their grasp, they didn’t rat her out and only held her tighter.
“That’s a very good question.” Mike swept his gaze over Kate from her eyes to the tips of her sneakers as if he could find a clue written on her somewhere.
Kate almost seized the chance then, but before she could, not only Eli, Alanso, and Sally appeared, but also Joe, then Sabra and Holden chasing their twin sons, who were shouting, “Is Landry here? Can he play with us?”
Soon Kate was taking turns hugging what seemed like a million people, and yet she felt guilty because her husband was staring at her in concern, trying to wait for her to finish greeting them all, though he wasn’t exactly the patient-type.
“Shouldn’t you be a bit happier to see your wife, buddy?” Roman teased with a light elbow to Mike’s ribs. “If Carver drove five hundred miles to see me, I’d be a bit more excited. Especially since she left the kids at home, you know what I mean?”
“Shit, sorry. I’m thrilled to see you,” Mike promised her, then frowned before addressing Roman. “I’m still trying to pry whatever my wife came here to tell me out of her.”
“Oh shit, we’re interrupting.” Carver, Roman’s husband, grabbed his arm and tugged, walking a few steps backward toward the garage.
“No, no. It’s okay.” Kate blinked. But was it? Suddenly it seemed like she’d made a terrible decision. What if Mike didn’t want the baby? What if she embarrassed him by dropping this bomb in front of all the people they cared about? It got harder to breathe.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, stepping closer and extending his hand toward her.
“Yeah,” she replied reflexively. Except she wasn’t.
Surrounded by so many people—their warmth and the pressure of their attention on her—she overheated. The world tipped and Kate’s eyes blurred. She probably should have drunk some more water on the drive, but she hadn’t wanted to stop to pee too often and delay getting there until after dark. If it hadn’t been for her husband, she might have crashed to the ground.
But he proved again that he would never let her fall. She sagged, ending up plastered against his chest.
The crowd around them went silent, pretty much a miracle.
She drew several deep breaths until the world stopped turning too fast and she could find her footing again.