But I was no coward. I’d been hurt worse as a SEAL.
Well, that had been flesh wounds. This? It hurt in ways I wasn’t sure would heal if she kicked me to the curb. “About you running. From us.”
Quincy’s breath caught, and she stopped walking to face me. Her expression held regret. Angst. Trepidation. “Kennedy…”
I squeezed her hand. “Do you know what theI’m right dancelooks like?” I teased. “It’s like this.” I dropped her hand to do a couple of slow body waves that made me probably look like a male stripper.
Quincy laughed. She drew in a long breath and exhaled.
“Kennedy, I’m pregnant.”
The smile fell away from my face. I stared at her.
My mind went completely blank. Like I understood she’d spoken words, but they didn’t compute.
Then it all came crowding in. Quincy was having a baby. That was why she was leaving. That was why she’d been crabby and tired and sick. That was–
Holy shit, she was havingmybaby.
I didn’t know why it took me a moment longer to comprehend that part.
I frowned. “And you were going to leave without telling me?” That felt even worse than her running from our relationship. She was running from our family. That baby was mine, too.
She licked her lips, which looked too dry. Her eyes filled with tears again, and I wanted to punch myself in the face. “I know you don’t want kids. I didn’t want to saddle you–”
“Saddle me?” I snapped. “What kind of asshole do you think I am? First, you don’t think I’m capable of a relationship, now you don’t think I can be a decent father?”
Her eyes rounded, and she held out her hands. “Whoa, whoa. No. That’s not it. Not at all. I’m not the jerk here. I just didn’t want you to resent me. Or feel trapped. You made it very clear you didn’t want marriage and kids.” Her beautiful eyes filled with tears again, and I finally yanked my head out of my ass.
Oh.
“Shit.” I started to reach for her, to fold her into my arms and apologize. To fix this rift between us and reassure her that with her, I’d throw away all my previous notions about family.
But that was the moment Hayes came sprinting up the path, yelling Quincy’s name.
We both whirled. “What is it?” she asked.
“Search and Rescue called. They’ve got some hikers injured up in the national forest. A trail was washed out, and they fell going around it. That’s all they told me, but they want to know if you can fly them out there. You can get them much closer and will cut off some time.”
Quincy and I looked at each other for a moment, both of us opening our mouths, but not making sounds.
“You should go,” I managed to say because it was the right thing. It would be just like the training exercise the week before. It wasn’t like she was headed to war. She might be pregnant, but she wasn’t having the baby anytime soon.
We could talk when she got back. It would give me time to formulate my thoughts and not come off as a dick because the woman was having my fucking baby. A baby!
“Right.” She bobbed her head and then ducked it, following Hayes down the mountain.
I walked beside her, reciting a million promises to her in my head, dying for the moment I could get her alone again.
Taft and Ford were waiting at the helipad along with two Search and Rescue team members who seemed familiar with Quincy. They briefed us quickly on the situation, that they’d be dropped off in a clearing they found on the topo map near where the hikers were supposed to be and would hike in from there.
“I’ll go with you,” I suggested when she started to climb in.
“No, they may need all the seats on the way back. I’ll be on comms,” she said. Her gaze met mine and held.
“Be careful,” I said as the door closed.
Quincy rolled her eyes. Of course, she would hate that. She wasn’t the type who ever wanted to be babied.