Page 184 of The Woman By the Lake

He turned and was mildly surprised it wasn’t Nadia standing on the front deck, waiting for him.

It was his mom.

He walked to her.

“They’re doing the dishes,” she informed him when he hit the deck in front of her.

“Going in to help,” he replied.

She didn’t move out of his way.

“What takes you away from your family?” she asked.

He talked to his mother. He didn’t go into detail, especially about all that had been going down. But she lived in Misted Pines, so what he left out, she could ferret out, and she was a mom, so she always did.

“Either Angelica is in a snit, or she just called to tell me she’s not fighting my petition for full custody. She doubled down with the same thing for Storm. So we’re getting our lawyers on that before she changes her mind.”

His mom’s shoulders slumped with relief.

He wasn’t certain he should do what he was going to do this early.

But he did it.

“Gonna make at least one blonde baby girl with Nadia, and she won’t carry this baggage.”

His mom’s eyes lit, she pulled him into a tight, but brief hug, slapped him on the back once, then let him go and went inside.

So yeah.

It was good he did it.

Riggs followed her in.

“Dad.”

Riggs opened his eyes to a moonlit room and his woman tucked in front of him in a spoon.

His shoulder moved and his son called in an urgent, but quiet, “Dad!”

He shot to sitting and turned to see Ledger by the side of the bed, reaching toward him.

Gia, who slept in Ledger’s room at their order and her preference, was standing at attention beside him.

“Outside,” Ledger said.

“What, buddy?”

“Come.”

“Riggs?” Nadia asked sleepily.

He was out of bed, pleased when he had not been earlier when one of her stipulations to staying with them, especially considering shit was going down in the middle of the night, was, after they fucked, they put pajamas on just in case something happened.

Something like whatever this was.

He followed Ledger to the window, Gia dogging their heels, and he pointed to the west side of the lake.

“Look,” Ledger said.

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