“I’m glad you finally told me what it was that had broken your heart. I knew there was something, but you never talked about it. You’re like a sister to me, Natalie. I’m happy I could be here for you.” Then she put her hand on her belly and rubbed, and Natalie noticed something she hadn’t before.
“Are you . . . Are you pregnant again?”
Kat smiled, nodding. “Thirteen weeks. I haven’t said anything. With Tessa having problems, it doesn’t seem right.”
“Did you plan to have another baby so soon?”
Alissa was only nine months old.
“Gabe and I agreed to go the first ten years of our marriage without using contraception.”
“No contraception at all? You could end up with . . .tenkids.”
“Big families are common among traditional Navajo.” Kat smiled, clearly amused by Natalie’s surprise. “My grandmother gave birth to twelve children. My mother had eleven. I look at Alissa, and I see both Gabe and myself in her. It’s hard to explain, but it feels to me that Gabe and I are truly joined together in her. How could I not want to have lots of children with him when I love him so much?”
“That’s a beautiful way of looking at it, though I don’t know that I would want to have ten babies even if . . .” And then she remembered.
The condom.
She’d completely forgotten about that the moment the Shadow Wolves had arrived. What if she got pregnant as a result? She started doing mental math, trying to figure out where she was in her cycle.
“What is it? Is something wrong?”
“No. I . . . Well, it’s just that—”
There was another knock at the door.
Kat stood, tossing the tissue in the trash. “It’s probably Gabe. I told him to come get me when Alissa woke up. She wakes up to nurse at night.”
Remembering what she was wearing, Natalie walked to the door and opened it discreetly so that only her head was showing. But it wasn’t Gabe who’d knocked.
It was Zach.
Clean-shaven, his hair still wet, he leaned against the doorjamb wearing a pair of jeans and a black shirt with its sleeves rolled up. He looked in, saw Kat. “Oh. You’ve got company. I don’t want to bother you. I can come back.”
He turned to go.
“No, no, it’s fine. I was just leaving.” Kat held out her hand. “I’m Kat James, Gabe’s wife.Ahéhee’. Thank you for helping Natalie get home to us. You were the answer to many prayers.”
Zach took her hand, looking almost embarrassed by her praise. “Yeah, well, I guess I was in the wrong place at the right time. Thanks for decoding that message. Was it difficult?”
“It was harder than I thought it would be, but I was happy to help. It made me feel like I was doing something. Good night, Natalie. I’m so grateful you’re safe.” Then Kat gave Natalie another hug and disappeared down the hallway.
His gaze met Natalie’s. “Can I come in?”
ZACH COULD SEE she’d been crying. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Liar.
“I’m sorry I slapped you.”
“I probably deserved it.” He ran a thumb down one tearstained cheek, his gaze taking in every feature on her sweet face. She looked up at him, both longing and fear in her eyes. The longing he understood. But the fear?
I’m so afraid I’ll never see you again after tonight. Don’t you dare leave without saying good-bye, Zach McBride.
He’d come to say good-bye—and to give her his contact information at the El Paso Intelligence Center so she could reach him if it turned out he’d gotten her pregnant. But now that he was here, now that he was with her, the words wouldn’t come.