Rather than ask him about it, she pulled away. “No, silly. Preacher picked this room for the nursery.”

Her bump was a lot more pronounced now, and there was no mistaking she was very much pregnant. She’d also noticed as her bump grew, so too did Bishop’s distance between them. He’d stopped trying to make out with her, and also, he liked to keep as far from her as possible. The most she got was a one-armed hug.

She didn’t question his repulsion for being near her. Clearly, he was having a hard time dealing with her pregnant state.

In the beginning, being alone with her secret, she had felt like it was almost unbearable to handle. The morning sickness had arrived, no period, and she’d been terrified. Now though, she felt her baby moving and it was the most amazing feeling in the world, and no matter what Bishop, her mother, or even Bear said, she was going to handle this head-on. She looked forward to being a mother.

“Right, the nursery.”

“Don’t you like it?”

“I don’t really give a fuck about it, to be honest.”

“Right, to care, you’d have to be involved.”

“Fuck, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. It really is.”

“This is not how I saw this. I mean, if that kid was mine, maybe things would be different. Maybe I’d be feeling differently.”

“But it’s not, and you don’t.” She put a hand on her stomach. “I know this is hard for you, but I was really hoping you’d see things a bit differently.”

“I’ve tried, okay? I know you’re happy about this, but I’m not. You’ve been able to work through your problems, but you’re eighteen. You shouldn’t have to be dealing with a baby.”

“A lot of women deal with a baby at my age, Bishop. This isn’t some … big deal. Not really.”

“You were drugged, knocked out. My dad, he came in and he…”

“I know. I was there, remember? This is not all news for me.”

“Why aren’t you upset about this? Why aren’t you freaking out or going to see some fucking shrink who can help you deal with the problems?”

“You think I don’t have problems? You think there are times that I don’t wonder about what happened? If there’s anything I could have done to change it? I do all the freaking time, but I’m going to be a mother soon, Bishop. I can’t allow myself to give in, to stop fighting. Preacher was a victim in this as well.”

Bishop snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“He was. He was drunk. You cannot tell me that you haven’t done some stupid things when you’ve been intoxicated, because I know for a fact you have. You can’t even deny it, so don’t even start to.”