Redeeming (Red Lips & White Lies Book 2)

Can someone please explain pink camo to me?

Are we worried about blending in with flamingos?

—Caitlin’s Secret Thoughts

“I’m allowed off the couch, Callen,” I whine to my worrywart baby-daddy.

Yeah. That nickname is sticking. It’s more fun than fiancé.

“It’s a headache.”

He comes back in with a bottle of water and two Tylenol. “Just humor me and take it easy, please. You’re thirty-six weeks pregnant, Caitlin. Your head has been bothering you for two days.”

“It went away and came back. It’s not like it was two days straight, and it’s not like I don’t usually feel like shit in the middle of April in Kroydon Hills. The cherry trees are blooming everywhere. My allergies are always insane this time of year.” I do take the Tylenol though. I’m swollen, fat, uncomfortable, and now I can add congestion and a serious headache to my list of complaints.

Callen grabs my favorite chunky, cable-knit red throw off the back of the couch and tucks it in around me. “Please just humor me, Caitie, and lie down.” He waits until I do it, then squats down in front of me and hands me the remote. “Take a nap or binge some Netflix.”

Cupcake lifts her head up from behind my legs, and Callen immediately scratches behind her ears before she lays back down. I’m pretty sure she’s got him trained—not the other way around.

“Just take it easy, baby. You’re growing a human in there. It’s okay to take a day off work. Everly told me she’s been trying to get you to take time off, but you refused.”

“Of course I refused. What am I going to do? Sit around here and watch cooking shows all day?” When he opens his mouth to comment, I cock my eyebrow, daring him to be stupid enough to do it. “Besides, I love what I do.”

The doorbell rings, and Callen runs his fingers through my hair and kisses my temple.

Maybe taking it easy won’t be that bad if I get to do it all day with him.

I hear muffled voices as I close my eyes.

“Caitlin . . .”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Today? When I feel like shit. Today is when he shows up at my house?

I open my eyes to find my dad standing next to Callen, who doesn’t look happy. “Up to you, baby. If you don’t feel up to it⁠—”

“I’m fine.” I glare at my dad. “He can stay.”

He’s here. I might as well hear him out.

Lord knows, I’ve been waiting for him to show up for months.

Callen nods, then looks between us. “I’m going to give you guys some space. I’ll be down the hall if you need anything. Just holler.”

“Thanks,” I whisper and will my body to comply as I roll to a sitting position.

I miss having a waist.

“Hi, Daddy.” Cupcake doesn’t move from the couch, and I’d laugh if I had the energy. My protective little bulldog. “Sit down. It hurts to bend my neck back far enough to look at you.”

“You feeling okay, Caitie? Mom said you had your checkup this week and everything was looking great.”

He takes a seat across from me, and I all but growl.

That little traitor has been feeding him information.

“Don’t be mad. Of course she was going to tell me what was happening. You’re my daughter, and that’s my granddaughter. I love you. Did you think I wouldn’t want to know?” My father has a level of cocky confidence that comes with the position he holds. You don’t get the kind of power he has without earning that confidence the hard way, and right now, I find it frustrating.

“Why couldn’t you have asked me yourself?” I refuse to cry. Not in front of him. Not about this. “If you wanted to know so badly, why didn’t you ask me?”

I rub my forehead, wishing away this headache.

It doesn’t work.

Damn it.

“I’m sorry. Did you call me back and I missed it, principessa?”

“Did you apologize and I missed it, Daddy?”

He didn’t raise me to take any shit. From anyone.

“I don’t apologize when I wasn’t wrong. And I wasn’t wrong. I did what I had to do to protect you,” he argues calmly.

“Protect me from what?” I glare as the throb in my head intensifies.

“Caitlin, when have I ever shared my business with you? I don’t discuss it with your mother, and she’s my equal, not my child. I’ve spent your life keeping you out of my business. Keeping you safe. That’s not going to change now. It’s not going to ever change. I don’t know why you’d think it would.”

‘Are you really going to stand there and not even tell me if the threat is gone?’ I yell, so unbelievably frustrated.

‘Threats against you and my family will never be gone, principessa. They will always be there. There will always be something. But you are safe, and that needs to be enough, for now.’

I feel my blood pulsing in my ears as I dig deep and try to control my anger. “You don’t get to make decisions about my life without talking to me about them. Especially when you can’t even tell me why. Callen is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and you tried to ruin it.”

“I tried to save you,” he argues back. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, Caitlin. I’m your father. It’s my job and my right.”

“Stop trying to save me. Stop interfering. Just be my father,” I yell and grab my head as my vision gets blurry, and the room spins. “Daddy. Get Callen.”

Shit.

Callen runs in a minute later and gathers my face in his hands. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“Something isn’t right,” I cry, and he picks me up. “What are you doing?”

“Getting you in the car. I’ll call Kenzie and see if we’re going to her or the hospital. You don’t complain, Cait, and you’re scaring me.”

Yeah . . . I’m scaring me too.

Callen

I stand in the hospital room, my back against the wall, out of the way, while they hook up monitors to Caitlin after Kenzie has checked her over.

“I don’t understand, Kenz,” I whisper as Cait asks the nurse something about the monitor. “She was fine at your office.”

Kenzie slips on her professional face, and I want to scream at her. “Preeclampsia is like that, Callen. She could have a textbook pregnancy, which Caitlin had, and it can still happen. We’re giving her a shot of corticosteroids today to help the baby’s lungs develop and will try to hold off delivery as long as possible.”

I fist my hair and stare at my entire world in one bed.

This isn’t fucking happening.

“How long do we need to hold out?”

“Ideally, I’d like to give the steroids at least seven days. But that may not be possible. The good news is she’s thirty-six weeks.” Kenzie leans back against the wall next to me and presses her shoulder to mine. “Even though it may not technically be full-term, I deliver babies every day at thirty-six weeks who are completely healthy with beautifully developed lungs. I know I’m not going to be able to calm your racing nerves, but I swear to you, we’re doing everything we can to get Caitlin and your daughter through her delivery as safely as possible.”

“I need them to be okay, Kenz. Promise me they’ll be okay,” I plead.

And I know her answer before she ever says it.

She can’t make that promise—because there’s no way for her to guarantee it.

“Hey, man,” I look up in the dark room and find Maddox leaning against the wall. “Sorry. I didn’t want to wake you, but Mom said I needed to bring you something to eat.”

I look at the bag in his hand and shake my head. “I’m good, man. Thanks.”

“Callen, brother. You haven’t left her side in two days. You’ve made sure she eats and drinks and sleeps. Who’s doing that for you?”

I sit up in the pleather chair that doubles as a bed and face him. “I’m good. Both our moms have been here around the clock. Both dads too.”

Sam hasn’t seen her.

He hasn’t wanted to upset Cait.

I’m pretty sure he feels responsible for this, even though it’s no one’s fault.

I don’t bother telling Maddox I wish they’d all back off. Cait’s scared and uncomfortable and hates having people fussing over her.

“Yeah. They’re here. But you’re surviving on coffee and sheer willpower.” He lifts the bag again. “It’s Nonna’s chicken parm. She knows it’s your favorite. Fucking eat it, so I can tell her I did my good deed,” he whisper-yells at me, and I shake my head.

“You, I’m not scared of, asshole. But Nonna . . . I think Nonna may have buried a body or two,” I tease, but I might actually be right. Either way, I take the bag and inhale the heavenly scent. “Will you thank her for me?”

“Yeah, man. I gotcha. How’s she doing?” Caitlin doesn’t want siblings and friends in here, and I agreed. She’s supposed to be taking it as easy as possible. Our shit show families won’t help with that.

“She’s so fucking brave, Madman. I swear if she can will our baby girl into a healthy existence, she’s going to do it. I’m in awe of her strength.”

Maddox’s chest vibrates with a silent laugh. “Maybe one day it will be normal to hear you talk about Caitie like that, but right now, it still freaks me out a bit.”

“Better get over that shit quick. Soon, you’re going to be Uncle Maddox. That’s going to trip you out worse,” I warn him.

“Man . . . You’re gonna have a kid, and she’s going to be my niece. Fuck . . .”

“Yeah . . . She’s going to have us both wrapped around her little finger too. You know that, right?” I smile, so ready to meet my daughter.

“Yeah. Just like her mother always did,” Maddox agrees, and I smile as I look at a sleeping Caitlin.

“Yeah. Just like that.”