“I used to want to,” she said, looking close to tears, “but that’s not why I was gone.”

“Oh?” I said. “Where did you go?”

“I was visiting my momma in prison.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t expected that.

“I don’t like drivin’ that far, so I caught a ride with Dickie to Chattanooga. He arranged for his friend to give me a ride to Nashville.”

“Why on earth didn’t you tell Max and Ruth that?” I asked. “I’m sure they would have understood.”

“The less people know, the better,” she said.

“But you’re telling me.”

She turned to look at me with her wide, innocent eyes. “Because I can tell you’re different.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I’d take it. “Why don’t you want it to get out?”

She pressed her lips together.

“What’s your mother in prison for?” I asked, knowing full well, but I didn’t want her to think I’d been gossiping about her. Besides, part of me was still hoping Jerry might have gotten it wrong.

“For murderin’ my daddy,” she said blankly. “He was drownin’ me in the creek and my momma stopped him.”

I let out an appalled gasp. A genuine one. Even though I’d anticipated her answer, it was horrifying to hear her state the facts so matter-of-factly. “How old were you?”

“Eight. My momma got fifteen years, and she’s about to get out due to good behavior. She says she’s comin’ for me once she gets out and we’re goin’ to Cali-fornia.”

I smiled at the way she pronounced the state. “I hear it’s sunny there.”

But I also remembered what she’d said to the patrons—that she planned on staying for good this time. Had that just been talk? Or did part of her think her mother’s plan would never come to fruition?

“And warm,” she said. “I don’t want my baby sleepin’ in that drafty shack.”

Baby?

I nearly let out a gasp as my gaze dropped to her stomach and then lifted to her face. Was that why Todd Bingham had been watching her all night? Was he the baby’s father?

Horror filled her eyes, and she turned to me, grabbing my arm in desperation. “Please don’t tell anyone. Momma says I have to keep it a secret.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” I assured her. “But why won’t you tell Ruth and Max? I’m sure they’d help you.”

She shook her head. “Momma says not to trust them. Not to trust anyone until she gets home.”

Did her mother know much about them? If she’d gone to prison soon after the incident, Max and Ruth would have been in their teens. Maybe she’d just told Lula not to trust people in general. “They’re gonna find out once you start showing,” I said, then realized this was why she’d worn a baggy shirt. “How far along are you?”

“I dunno,” she admitted. “Momma thinks the baby’s comin’ February or March.”

A quick calculation put her at five or six months pregnant. “Have you been to a doctor, Lula?”

She shook her head.

“Lula, honey, you have to go get checked out. You need to make sure your baby is safe and healthy.”

“Momma said she’ll be home before I have the baby and she’ll help me. Just like the midwife helped her have me.”

I had no intention of letting her go her entire pregnancy without visiting a doctor, but I’d press the issue later.

“Who took care of you after your momma was arrested?”

“I lived with my aunt—my momma’s sister—but she died when I was sixteen. My daddy’s family didn’t want to have anything to do with me. So then it was just me, and I moved back out to the shack.”

“Do you live alone?”

She turned to me with suspicious eyes. “Yeah. But I’ve got a shotgun that belonged to my daddy. My aunt took it and anything of worth after Momma was arrested. Good thing too, since people took a bunch of our stuff.”

Had people scavenged her house? I decided to try approaching the topic I was really interested in, especially now that I knew her news. “Why was Bingham watching you all night?”

She sat perfectly still.

“Look,” I said. “I know Todd Bingham scares half the town, but he doesn’t scare me.”

“He should,” she said, barely above a whisper. “He kills people. Or makes them disappear. Same difference.”

I knew that to be true from firsthand experience. “I know, but Bingham’s a bully. And the best way to deal with a bully is to stand up to them.”

“Is that what you were doin’ tonight?” she asked.

“That’s exactly what I was doin’,” I said. “Until Max went and screwed it all up.”

“He was just lookin’ out for you,” she said. “He likes you.”

“He likes all of us,” I said. “And he wants us to be safe, which is why he jumped in, even though I had it covered.”

“Are you really datin’ Wyatt Drummond?” she asked, changing topics, although I was pretty sure it wasn’t intentional.

“Yeah,” I said reluctantly. I had a lot to consider regarding my relationship with Wyatt.

“Do you know he hasn’t had a single girlfriend since he came back from prison?”

“So I’ve heard.”

“I’d never seen him in the bar before,” she mused. “Everybody says he and Max are fightin’, and I ain’t never seen ’em together, so it must be true.”

“Do you know what they’re fighting about?” I asked, feeling horrible for pumping her for information. She was so naive, it felt plain wrong. It was an indication of how desperate I’d become.

“Something to do with their daddy is all I ever heard.” She pointed to a county road coming up. “Turn left up here.”

I slowed down to make the turn. The snow had started sticking to the road, and I had no intention of crashing into a tree.

Once I’d safely made the turn, she said, “Go about two miles and then turn left again. I’ll tell you when we’re close.”

“Okay.”

“Is Wyatt a good kisser?” she asked, and I damn near ran off the road.

“What?”

“He’s got really great lips…not too thin and not too full. I’d never seen him up close until tonight. He’s good at just about everything he does, so it stands to reason that he’s a good kisser. So is he?”

“Yeah,” I conceded. “He’s a great kisser.”

“And how is he in bed?”

I was grateful it was dark enough to hide the blush that was burning my cheeks. “Lula! I’m not gonna answer that.”

“Oh, come on,” she teased. “I’m not as innocent as I look.”

“I would guess not considering you’re having a baby, but I’m still not going to tell you. Some things are private.” And then there was the fact I hadn’t slept with Wyatt yet. The next time I slept with a man, I needed to be sure I could trust him with my heart and my life, and while he’d proven the latter, he had yet to prove the former. “Time to change the topic.”