No time to waste, Molly thought as she twitched, finally giving in to her urge to wriggle around. “I’m so sorry,” she said, ducking her head in pretend bashfulness. “We haven’t told many people yet, but you’ve been so kind…” She shot a look at John, who smiled at her even as he silently asked what she was about to do. This part hadn’t exactly been ironed out before they’d knocked on Mother Tick’s door. “We’re expecting our first.”

Pressing her hand to her belly, low down where period cramps were centered every month, Molly let her smile stretch, trying to show all of the sappiness and none of the horror that came with the idea of being pregnant. “Unfortunately, this little bean is parked directly on my bladder. Would you mind if I used your bathroom?” When Mother Tick hesitated, Molly bit her lower lip, trying her best to look both embarrassed and in urgent need of the facilities.

“Very well,” Mother Tick finally huffed, waving at the dim archway that led away from the front door. “Second door on your left.”

“Thank you,” Molly gushed, slipping her hand out of John’s and instantly feeling the loss.

“Do you need any help, sweetness?” John asked her, and she barely kept herself from throwing him an eye-rolling Why would I need help to pee? look, giving him a gritted-teeth smile over her shoulder instead.

“I’ll be fine, dumpling.” She turned toward Mother Tick, whose eyes had narrowed again at his offer, and gave a small, isn’t-he-sweet laugh. “Overprotective first-time daddy,” she said in a stage whisper before throwing John a kiss. The dork actually pretended to catch it and pressed it to his heart, which was both ridiculous and, at the same time, gave her a warm feeling in her chest.

She hurried toward the hallway before John could do anything else. The bathroom door was open, so Molly turned on both the light and the exhaust fan, the latter to hopefully hide any noises that she should be making. The door locked with a simple push button on the knob, so she engaged it before pulling the door closed while she was still in the hallway.

Not wanting to waste any time—since who knew what John was saying in the living room—Molly slipped deeper into the dark house. Although she knew from what Mother Tick had said that the room Sonny was staying in was upstairs, she pulled a small flashlight out of her pants pocket and peeked into the next room, which looked like a rarely used study. Once she saw no one was inside, she moved to the next doorway.

She hated to waste her limited time checking rooms, but Molly didn’t want to be ambushed from behind. Her hope of simply grabbing Sonny and calling in a sheriff’s department pickup had died the night before, when he’d blown a hole in a bathroom wall to escape from them. This would most likely be messy, but she was determined that this one bail jumper would not stand in the way of her keeping her family’s home.