Free Her Brother's Keeper - eARC by Mike Kupari Page A

to have a baby.”
    Marcus couldn’t suppress the wide grin that appeared on his face. He crossed the room in a hurry, sat on the bed, and hugged his wife tightly. “Baby, that’s great! Have you told Annie yet? Holy hell, I thought the doctor said you couldn’t have any more kids!”
    “He said I probably couldn’t get pregnant again,” Ellie corrected. “There was always a chance. I just gave up.”
    Both Marcus and Eleanor had wanted another child. Living so far removed from civilization, they worried about Annie growing up hardly ever seeing other kids in person. Marcus wouldn’t admit it, but he’d really been hoping for a son. He never dared mention it for fear of hurting his wife’s feelings. After all, it wasn’t her fault.
    “Why are you crying, baby?” he asked, holding his wife. “This is a good thing, right?”
    Ellie nodded shakily. “I’m happy…I just…I just…Marcus, now I’m going to need to take it easy. I can’t go out on weeks-long prospecting expeditions in the Outback. I can’t be around the chemicals, confined spaces, the noise from blasting and machinery.” She was right. Frontier mining with a small crew was no job for a pregnant woman. It was hard, occasionally dangerous work, even with modern equipment. Ellie was a conscientious enough woman that she’d be unwilling to risk anything happening. They’d tried to have a second child once, years before, and it had resulted in a miscarriage. Ellie had been devastated, and had fallen into depression for weeks. That’s when the doctor had explained to her that she likely wouldn’t be able to get pregnant again. Even with the miracles of Space Age medicine, some things were just out of human hands.
    Marcus could see the concern on his wife’s face. She was afraid it was happen again. He couldn’t bear the thought of going through that kind of heartache again. He held her tightly and tried to sound comforting. “It’s going to be okay, baby. We’ll get you regular checkups, and you can stay home. I’ll pick up more assignments if I have to.”
    “But what about our loans? Marcus, we can’t afford to lose the money I take in.”
    “Relax, okay? We’re not going to lose all of it. We’ll just have to forget about Jerome Mountain until later. We have savings.”
    “That’s for Annie’s education!” Ellie protested, “and our retirement. I don’t want to be out there digging up rocks when I’m old and gray.”
    Marcus smiled at her. “Number one, that’s bullshit. What else are you going to do, sit on the porch and knit? You’d go crazy staying at home, even if you were a hundred years old. You’ll be out there in the desert until the day you croak. Number two, don’t stress over it. I know how you get about money, but there’s nothing for it right now. Let’s just be thankful we have the savings to be able to get by with the cut in income. Even if we’re just scraping by, it’s only temporary, and we’ll get through it. We got through everything else. This is no different. Okay?”
    Ellie nodded, giving Marcus a faint smile. He leaned over, kissed her passionately, and put his hand on her belly.
    “We’re having a baby!” he said, grinning like a fool. He grabbed his handheld and sent Annie a message, telling her to come into their room.
    A few moments later, their daughter appeared in their doorway looking confused. “Am I in trouble? What’s going on? Mom, why were you crying?”
    Ellie smiled at her daughter. “I’m pregnant. We’re having a baby.”
    Annie’s eyes lit up, her hands moved to her mouth, and she all but squealed, jumping up and down. She ran across the room, sat next to her mom, and hugged her tightly, almost in tears.
    Marcus had rarely been so happy as he was just then. In the back of his mind, though, there was concern. He was going to have to raise another child to adulthood. He and his wife couldn’t be gone as much as they often were. Annie was old enough to look after