“Sweetheart, I don’t think it would be very good for the baby if I lost my mind while pregnant.” She kissed her slightly befuddled lover soundly on the mouth. “Which is exactly what would happen if we stopped making love. Don’t worry, this is just with the doctor ordered.”

“Oh, good,” Reese murmured as she wrapped her arms around her lover and closed her eyes.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Reese was awakened what seemed like five minutes later by an insistent pounding on their front door. Jed, fast asleep at the foot of their bed, snored peacefully. She rolled over and peered at the bedside clock. 5:43 a.m.

“Holy hell,” she muttered under her breath, trying to ease out of bed without awakening Tory.

“Reese?” Tory mumbled as she stretched out her hand and found the vacant space where Reese had just been. Instantly alert, she sat up on, holding the sheet against her body with one arm. “Honey, what is it?”

“Don’t know.” Reese hastily pulled on a pair of jeans and searched a nearby chair for a T-shirt. As she pulled one over her head, she added, “I’ll go check. You don’t need to get up, love.”

Turning on lights as she passed through the living room, Reese reached the front door and looked through the beveled glass window to the front deck. There was just enough light to make out the features of the two people peering back at her. She pulled the door open hastily. “Mom? Jean?”

Kate Mahoney and her lover, Jean Purdy, swept past Reese and into the living room. Kate made a bee-line for Tory, who was just coming down the stairs from the second floor wearing one of Reese’s uniform shirts and a baggy pair of sweatpants.

“Is everything okay?” Tory asked worriedly. She stopped on the bottom step and reached for the banister, trying to ignore a faint wave of nausea. Oh, no. Not yet.

“Is it true?” Kate demanded excitedly.

“Uh…” Reese muttered as she followed the procession toward her startled lover. “It’s not even six o’clock in the morning, Mom.”

Never taking her eyes off Tory, Kate replied dismissively, “I wanted to catch you before you went to work. You’re always up this early.”

“It’s Sunday,” Reese pointed out, although no one seemed to be listening.

“Honey,” Jean, a compact, middle-aged woman with kindly eyes, said soothingly as she stepped up behind the tall, blue-eyed woman who bore a striking resemblance to Reese. “They just woke up. Maybe we should come back later.”

“Well? Are we going to be grandmothers?” Kate demanded of Tory.

Reese made a choking sound as Tory’s face broke into a wide smile.

“News certainly does travel quickly.” Tory, feeling steadier now, walked toward Kate. “And the answer is, yes, you most definitely are.”

Amidst a rush of happy exclamations, Kate threw her arms around Tory, and Jean hugged Reese.

“How did you find out so soon?” Reese asked, grinning now as she extricated her lover from her mother’s embrace. “I didn’t even know until last night.”

“Darling, when someone gets on their knees in the middle of a restaurant in Provincetown, people notice. Especially when it’s a couple like you two, and especially when we’ve all been waiting for the happy news.”

“I should have known,” Reese grumbled, wondering if it had been the waitress or one of the diners who had spread the word. “Once Gladys finds out, she’ll probably put out a state wide bulletin.”

Tory slipped her arm around Reese’s waist and snuggled close to her. “I told you there would be no keeping it a secret, honey.”

Reese kissed the top of Tory’s head while her mother and Jean beamed. “Do you two want breakfast?”

“I’ve got an even better idea,” Kate said as she took Jean’s hand. “You two go back to bed, and we’ll bring you breakfast.”

Reese paled. Everyone is insane. Is this normal?

Tory laughed. “That’s not necessary. But thank…”

“Of course it’s not necessary,” Jean said quietly. “But you’ve made us so very happy, and now that we’re here, it would make us even happier to do something for you.”

“And then you can tell us just how you managed it!” Kate said with a glint in her eye.

“Mom,” Reese said warningly.

Kate kissed her daughter swiftly on the cheek. “Never mind, Reese. I don’t really want to know all the details.”

“Don’t tease her before coffee, Kate, please,” Tory said with a laugh. She tugged Reese toward the stairs. “Come on, honey. They just made us an offer we can’t refuse. Let’s go back to bed.”

Recognizing when she’d been outmaneuvered, Reese shrugged and followed Tory back up stairs. “Sorry about that,” she whispered when they were back in bed. She propped her back against the pillows and drew Tory down against her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“I don’t mind,” Tory murmured, resting her cheek against Reese’s chest as she thread one arm around her waist. “It was pretty endearing.”

“I never realized my mother was so anxious for grandchildren.” Reese rubbed her cheek against the top of Tory’s head, breathing in the sweet, distinctive scent that always made her feel at home. “God, you feel good.”

“Mmm, so do you.” Tory felt the first stirring of desire, and then swiftly reminded herself that her in-laws were downstairs. “I hate to say this, but it will be nice to have babysitters in the immediate area.”

Reese laughed, running her hand gently up and down Tory’s back. “Now there’s an advantage I hadn’t considered. I guess I can forgive them for dragging us out of bed.”

“Honey,” Tory said contemplatively. “What are you going to tell your father?” As she expected, her lover stiffened. Tory ran her palm softly back and forth over Reese’s chest. “I’m not rushing you, sweetheart. It’s completely up to you.”

“The General has managed to deal with the fact that I’m a lesbian by ignoring it,” Reese said quietly. “I’ve let him, because my relationship with him has always been more military than familial. I guess I’ve probably let him, too, because I haven’t wanted to be coerced into resigning my commission.”

“I know how much the Corps means to you.” Tory took a deep breath. “Is the baby going to be a problem?”

“No, never,” Reese said quickly, tightening her arms around Tory. “I only meant that if I force him to acknowledge our relationship, he might invoke regulations.”

“The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ thing?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, honey,” Tory said worriedly. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Reese put two fingers beneath Tory’s chin and gently tilted her face until their eyes met. “You’ve made me happier than I ever imagined I could be. Now, with the baby coming, life is even more wonderful. You and this child are the only things that matter to me.”

“But the Mari…“

“I gave most of my life to the Marines. Now I’m just yours.”

Tory shifted until she was lying in Reese’s arms, facing her. She brought her mouth close to Reese’s, holding her gaze. “I love you.”

As often happened when the depth of their love, at once comforting and wild, rose up to confront them, the rest of the world receded. Reese was about to kiss her when a knock sounded on the door. One of them groaned.

“I was just getting started,” Reese whispered.

“Mmm. So was I.” Tory kissed her quickly, then rolled away. “Look out when you get home tonight, Sheriff.”

Laughing, Reese took her hand. “Come on in, Grandmoms.”

CHAPTER NINE

April, Barnstable, Massachusetts

It was after 9:00 p.m. on Friday night, and the parking lot that separated the administrative buildings from the training facility at the Sheriff’s department main headquarters was almost empty. Reese parked her Blazer around the side of the gymnasium, then exited the vehicle and walked to the building’s side entrance. She walked down the deserted hallway to the last door on the right.

There was only one other person in a room the size of a basketball court.

“Hi, Bri.”

Brianna turned away from the hanging bag that she had been lightly punching to loosen up her arms. None of her relief at seeing Reese showed in her face. “Hey.”

“How are things going?” Reese asked as she began to change into her gi.

Bri looked away. Even though she’d seen Reese without clothes in the gym before, she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the faint stir of arousal the sight of the well-built body produced. It was probably normal, but she didn’t really have any way of knowing. There’d only ever been Carre in her life. Carre. Jesus, I miss you.

“I miss you, Bri.”

Carre’s voice was small and sad. Bri’s heart ached from hearing the hurt and knowing she had put it there.

“I know, babe. Me, too.” Her own voice was thick in her throat. She slid down the wall beneath the pay phone in an out of the way corner of the building that housed the classrooms, her stomach in knots. She’d had to call, even though she only had five minutes between classes. She was just so lonely. “How’s school?”

“Okay. The same…you know.”

“Your painting going okay?” Bri asked, wondering when it had gotten so hard to talk to the woman who had been her lover and best friend for four years.

“Uh huh.”

“Have you heard anything about the scholarship?”

“Not yet.” Caroline voice trailed off, then came back strong. “So, are you working hard?”

“Yeah. I’m taking some classes with the night school group. That way I can meet my minimal hours requirement faster.”

“Can you come home this weekend?” The hopeful note in Caroline’s voice was obvious.

Home.

Bri said softly, “I can’t, babe. I signed up for weapons training on Saturday mornings.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorr…“

“No,” Caroline said hastily. “That’s okay. I knew you’d be busy.”