“Is Aunt Mel having a boy or a girl?”
Tanner glanced in his rearview mirror and spotted those little eyes on him. “We’re not sure yet. But as soon as we know, I’ll tell you.”
“I want a baby boy cousin. Boys are more fun than girls.”
Poor kid. Before Livie came around, Piper had only been around men. They’d had to clean up their language real quick when the toddler started dropping F-bombs. The guys realized raising a kid wasn’t going to be as simple as they’d thought.
“You know, you’ll kind of be like a big sister,” Tanner told her. Her brows raised, her eyes widened, and she let out another one of those squeals.
“You know what would be really cool?” she asked. “If you could tell Mom and Dad to have a baby. Then I could be a big sister for real.”
Yeah, that was not an area he was going to venture into with his cousin and Livie. Tanner pulled into the Scoops parking lot just as his cell went off in his pocket.
“Give me one second, Piper.”
When he eyed the screen, he was surprised to see a message from Jade.
Delete this after you read it, but Neville just called Melanie. Thought you should know.
Rage bubbled within him. He sent a quick reply of thanks and deleted the message. What the hell did her ex want? And why was Jade telling him? If he knew Melanie like he thought, she probably brushed aside the call like it was no big deal. But this definitely was a big deal.
“You okay, Uncle Tanner?”
He pulled himself from the anger boiling inside him and nodded. “I’m good. Are you ready for a scoop of double chocolate chunk?”
“I want two scoops,” she stated.
Tanner eyed her in the mirror. “If I give you two scoops then you won’t eat your dinner.”
“This is my dinner.”
With a shrug, he smiled. “Fine by me. Let’s go.”
Tanner kept the call in the back of his mind. He hoped Melanie opened up to him about it because there was no way for him to ask without giving up Jade. But Jade must be concerned or she wouldn’t have just texted him like that.
First things first, he had to get ice cream and get Piper back to his place so they could start sanding and painting the rocker. Later tonight, he would focus on Melanie. Because nothing was going to threaten his family. He didn’t care how powerful Neville Prescott was. Tanner was more powerful in ways Neville couldn’t imagine.
When it came to protecting Mel and the baby, Tanner had no limits.
Chapter Fourteen
I am currently under construction. Thank you for
your patience.
—Mel’s Motivational Blog
“Whatever that smell is, make it stop.”
Jade tapped the wooden spoon on the side of the pot and turned to face Melanie. “You’re not looking too good.”
Holding her hand over her nose, Melanie took a seat on the bar stool. “I was feeling a little nauseated, but now that smell is about to put me over the edge.”
“I thought pregnant women were only sick in the morning.”
“Technically I haven’t been sick, but apparently my little one didn’t get the memo on the time of day to make me queasy.”
Jade crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the