“He shouldn’t have to do everything, though. I’m sure he’s going to get tired of always having to do everything for me.”

If he isn’t already, Raina thought. Considering how distant he’d been lately, it seemed their honeymoon period was already over.

“All I know is that my son had a shadow over him for much of this past year. Until he married you. He was always making jokes so everyone else thought he was fine, but a mother doesn’t miss these things. You’ll see once yours arrives.”

She rubbed Raina’s belly. Raina warmed from the inside out. She had never been the touchy-feely type, but it was very easy to make an exception for her mother-in-law. Julia had a way about her that put everyone at ease.

“I know your own mother is gone and I’m so sorry, sweetheart. But I hope you know you can come to me with any questions you have or if you just need to talk. I wasn’t blessed with daughters, but I feel like the good Lord is making up for it now by bringing you two sweet girls into my sons’ lives. I’ve met their girlfriends before, of course, and I’m sure they were nice enough girls. But Lord love them, some of them didn’t have the brains God gave a turnip. My sons need strong women they can really talk to. Women who can be true partners.”

“I’m sure I’m not what you wanted in your daughter-in-law,” Raina said softly.

“I wanted him to have a wife who makes him happy. Look at him.” Julia gestured with her chin to where Nick was holding Jase in his lap and feeding him cookies. He was talking to Jackson and gesturing with his hands emphatically. He looked up and met Raina’s eyes. She smiled and he smiled back. It transformed his whole face.

"I’ve never seen my Nicky so happy,” Julia commented.

Raina could only hope he was really as happy as he looked.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THERE WERE FEW things Nick enjoyed more than taking his motorcycle out for a ride. The wind in his hair, the zing of adrenaline as he took a tight curve. It was one of the only times he could let go of his worries and just fly.

There were several back roads that connected most of the older farms in New Haven. There wasn’t much traffic, so he could ride for an hour easily just circling around his parents’ property and then looping around their neighbor’s spread and back again.

It was almost as good as sex.

Well, not quite.

He finally pulled up to Raina’s house. Her garage had three bays. One held her Audi sedan and the other held a black SUV that looked bulletproof. The third had been empty since he’d moved in.

He cut the engine on his bike and rolled it into the third bay. Just as he was fastening his helmet to the back, he looked up to see Raina standing in the doorway.

Things were still tense between them. He’d had to work longer hours lately and even though he tried to bring work home, it wasn’t enough. It was far too easy to get wrapped up in Raina when he was here. He often forgot to look at the files he brought home or he only completed about half of what he would have gotten done if he’d been in the office.

“You bought a motorcycle?” Raina stood in the doorway leading from the garage to the house. She wore her favorite faded purple pajamas and a pair of fuzzy pink slippers. He could see the lines of exhaustion bracketing her eyes and mouth. It must have been another bad day. She’d been nauseated more and more lately. And extremely cranky. Not that he couldn’t understand why.

Nick took off his helmet and tucked it under his arm. “No, I already had it. I drove over to my condo today and picked it up. I haven’t taken it out in a while and today was great weather for a ride.”

Raina didn’t move, just stood in the same spot, staring at the bike. He had a feeling she wasn’t admiring it for its racing lines.

“I’m guessing you’re not a fan of motorcycles.”

“I’m definitely not a fan.” She glared at the bike as if it had personally offended her. “Those things are dangerous.”

Nick sighed. “Cars are dangerous. So are airplanes. But we use those regularly. Come here, let me show you some of the safety features.”

Raina just stared at him. “So that’s it? You’re just going to ride it anyway?”

“Well, I doubt I’ll be riding much now. It’s almost winter.”

She closed her eyes slowly, as if counting to ten. “I’m not talking about this season, Nick. I mean in the future. You plan on riding this deathtrap in the future? Even after the baby is born?”

“Of course I’m going to keep riding. I’m supposed to stop riding just because you don’t like motorcycles?”

Nick was beyond caring about whether this was just her pregnancy hormones. He’d been busting his ass for weeks to show her that he was taking his impending fatherhood seriously. He’d read that massive book about pregnancy, he’d signed them up for Lamaze classes at the hospital, and he’d spent an entire weekend putting together the jigsaw-puzzle pieces masquerading as a crib.

None of that had seemed to get her attention. But him taking out his motorcycle for the first time in months was worth notice. Enough for her to decide he was unfit to be a father, apparently.

“I’ve been riding for years, Raina. I’m careful and I’ve never been in an accident,” he assured her.

“You know what, never mind. I don’t know why I’m surprised. I’ve seen the signs these past few weeks. You’ve been distracted and distant. Staying out later and later. I should have known you’d need to seek out some excitement at some point.” She looked down at the bike. Her anger seemed to have evaporated.