Page 4 of His Treasured Mate

“What the feck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means get your ass home and she will talk to you about it. And if she doesn't, I'll be on the next flight out of here to wring her neck.”

“That bad?”

“Of course it's not bad. Just go home already.”

“I'm nearly halfway there already.”

I turned back to my own phone to see Elise hadn't disconnected me. She was already in the car and driving home too.

“Hey, Lily,” Patrick said.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For bullying her into talking about whatever the feck is bothering her and getting her to come out of hiding it.”

“You don't have to thank me for that. She's my sister. I love her and worry about her too.”

“Pretty sure I may be prematurely gray after these last few months. I really try to give her the space she needs, but it's still hard when I know she's keeping things from me.”

“Premature? Really, Patrick?”

He cursed under his breath, but I knew he still loved me and had zero doubts about how much he loved my sister. No sane person would have let her go this long without talking about it, yet Patrick was a bit of a saint when it came to things like this. He always seemed to know exactly what she needed and was willing to give her the moon if it meant keeping her happy, even if it sometimes left him in the dark.

I said goodbye to Patrick as he confirmed he was home, but Elise still hadn't disconnected our video call, so I got a front seat to it all. Maybe I should have ended it and given them some privacy, but that was not about to happen.

“Cam, baby, go get me some popcorn,” I said after muting the call.

“Seriously?” she rolled her seven-year-old eyes at me. “What's going on?”

“Aunt Elise is pregnant and she's about to tell Uncle Patrick.”

Cammie squealed. “Really?”

“Really. Now grab the popcorn. They forgot I was watching.”

She ran down the hall and returned with a big bag from the pantry. I'd been craving the stuff this whole pregnancy, so Thomas was keeping stock of bags and bags of it for me.

“Did I just hear you say Elise is pregnant?” my mate asked.

“Yup.”

“How the hell did that happen?”

“Paris. She forgot her birth control pills or something like that.”

“But Paris was months ago.”

“Thirteen weeks.”

“And Patrick doesn't know yet?”

“Nope.”