“You’ll forgive me if I don’t thank you.” She moved toward the driver’s door, and her throat tightened with regret as she passed him. “Goodbye, Jack.”
Miranda couldn’t get out of that parking lot fast enough. If Alex weren’t in jail, she’d track him down and choke the truth out of him. By the time she turned onto the street, tears streamed down her cheeks. Anger and hurt seethed inside her. She slammed her hand against the steering wheel. “Fucking bastards.”
She didn’t know where she was going, she just drove, turning on random streets until she calmed down enough to think.
But it was two hours later when she finally pulled up behind her trailer. Lights were on all around the property, everyone going about business as usual. But Miranda’s world had fallen completely apart.
She glanced at her face in the rearview mirror and groaned. Fuck it, she would just tell everyone she had the flu and stay in bed until she got her shit together.
As soon as she got out of the truck, she heard retching. And it was coming from her trailer. She hurried up the stairs and found Gypsy bent over the toilet.
Her own troubles faded. Miranda dropped to her knees beside her sister and pulled her hair back from her face. “I was just thinking I had the flu. How long have you been sick?”
Instead of answering, Gypsy heaved again. Miranda winced at the painful sound. After a few minutes of relief, Gypsy reached up and flushed the toilet. Miranda moved out of the bathroom to give her sister room to rinse her mouth and splash water on her face. Gypsy turned and dropped to a seat on the edge of the tub, head in her hands.
“You poor thing.” Somehow it felt good to have someone else to worry about. The flu was something she could deal with. Something she could do something about. Miranda reached out and tested the heat of Gypsy’s forehead against the back of her hand, then pressed it against her neck. “No fever. How long have you been feeling sick?”
Gypsy exhaled heavily. “A fucking month.”
All the little signs of Gypsy feeling less than stellar flooded back to her. She dropped to a crouch in front of Gypsy, one hand on her knee. “Why? What’s wrong? Have you seen a doctor? Are you sick? Like with something other than the flu?”
“Yeah.” Gypsy lifted her head and looked at Miranda with utter misery and defeat. “I’m pregnant.”
Shock and confusion battled and closed Miranda’s throat. She managed a strangled “What?”
Gypsy groaned and rubbed her face with both hands.
Miranda pushed to her feet and stepped back. “Are you fucking joking? Because that’s not the least bit funny.”
Gypsy dropped her hands and shook her head. “Not joking.” She looked up at Miranda, her eyes dull. “I’m about ten weeks.”
Miranda’s head went light. She swayed and steadied herself with a hand on the doorjamb. "What the fuck? How long have you known?”
“Since I started throwing up a month ago.”
“You’ve known you were pregnant for a month? And I’m finding out about this now?”
Gypsy didn’t react to Miranda’s frustration. She braced her hands on the tub’s edge, steadying herself. “I haven’t seen or talked to you in so long, I didn’t want to just spring it on you. I wanted to, you know, see how things went between us before I told you.”
Miranda’s exhausted mind and raw emotions winged to the extremes. “That’s why you came. There was no nightclub raid. No stalker. No apartment fire. You came here because you’re pregnant.”
When Gypsy didn’t deny it, Miranda walked out of the bathroom. She pressed a palm agains
t her throbbing head and paced the small space. She couldn’t get her thoughts straight. Her head felt like it was going to explode.
Gypsy finally made her way into the living room and dropped onto the sofa. “I’m sorry, Miranda. I was going to tell you. I was just waiting for the right time.”
Miranda spun on her. “Who’s the father?”
“I don’t know. It was just a one-night thing.”
“No way, Gypsy. There is no way in hell I’m taking on this responsibility. I’m not your mother or your caretaker or your fucking backstop. I’m not taking care of you, and I’m sure as shit not taking care of a baby.”
“I don’t expect that.”
“Then what do you expect?” she yelled. “Why in the hell did you come here?”
Gypsy’s mouth opened, moved with silent words before she finally said, “I wanted to be with family.”