Page 71 of With Spite

“What if I guess?” I asked. “Will you confirm?”

“Yes,” he replied, sounding relieved.

Whatever was wrong with Katana had him worried, and keeping that worry bottled up inside was probably killing him.

“Cancer,” I guessed, going for the obvious one.

Beau blew out a long breath before saying, “Yes.”

My head hung even lower as I breathed, “Fuck.”

I knew it.

For years, it was always one of those things that was at the back of your mind. Our family had a rather aggressive breast cancer gene running through it. Every single female on my dad’s side had been affected by it.

My grandmother and aunt had died from it. Meanwhile, Heidi and Katana had yearly screenings for it.

Katana, however, had always said that she wouldn’t go through treatment for it if it was ever found out that she had it.

“And let me guess,” I said. “She said that she wouldn’t go through treatment.”

“You got it.” He sounded wrecked. “But there’s more.”

“Not sure how this could get any worse.”

“Katana is three months pregnant.”

“Fuck.”

“I went with her to her first doctor’s appointment with the oncologist,” he said. “That’s when she found out that she was also pregnant.”

“What the fuck?” I closed my eyes.

Bernice’s warm weight pushed into my side and her arms came around my arm, pressing me tight against her breast as she rested her head against my shoulder.

“As for whose kid it is, I don’t know. But she moved back to Sawtooth, so it has to be someone here.”

“The only people here that she would even consider are Dixie Wardens.”

“I know,” he said.

“I’ll find out who it is,” I said. “But this pregnancy could work to our advantage. When Aunt Lou was pregnant with Colder, she went through treatment after the first trimester, I think. She’ll want this baby to live, which means she’ll have to go through treatment at least until she has him or her.”

“I think she’s trying to pretend that it’ll all go away,” Beau said softly. “I was hoping y’all would call. None of my pleading is working on her.”

“I’ll call everyone,” I said. “We’ll work on her.” I hesitated. “You notice her around anyone at any of the parties lately?”

“Couple of people,” he said. “Thumper. And we know she wouldn’t go there. Bells, but that was also with Heidi around, so that’s probably a no-go. Then a couple of prospects. But she doesn’t trust easy, and she wouldn’t date them without them being fully patched in.”

“So we have no idea,” I surmised.

“None.”

We hung up, and my eyes lifted to stare at the food that Katana had delivered.

“What’s her deal with dating guys?” Bernice asked, not picking her head up from my shoulder.

Her touch felt like a calm sea in the middle of a raging storm.