All of the dates were spotty and ran together. I’d been so stress filled that I’d forgotten to get my shot renewed.
it was possible. I was having a baby.
It didn't take away any of the shock from the situation. Pregnant? How in the hell was I going to be able to handle it?
"I take it this baby wasn't planned?" Dr. Foster asked. She had been my doctor since I was a small child and before that her father was my doctor. Family practice.
I shook my head, "please don't tell my mom," I said.
"I would never do that. Doctor patient confidentiality, my dear." She'd always been so kind to me, and even now she wasn't looking at me with judgment.
"What happens now?" I asked. What did I do next?
"Well, you aren't far enough along yet for the first prenatal visit. I'd estimate you at five weeks.”
I nodded.
“Now, if you don’t want to keep it, we’ll set up an appointment for that as well,” she said. She was being delicate. But I didn’t need to think about it.
“A first appointment sounds good,” I said. I knew I had options, but I wanted this baby. In my gut I was sure of it. No matter how hard it was going to be.
We like to do them at eight weeks. I'll set one up for you, though."
I nodded so much I felt like a damn bobble head, my body numbed, all I could do was nod as she continued, giving me a sample box of prenatal vitamins, discussing the importance of taking them. She also handed me a small pamphlet about the first trimester.
But I couldn't take any of it in. I Just nodded and kept quiet the whole time. I felt like I'd been removed from my body. Like this couldn't be happening. It couldn't be real.
"Are you going to tell the father?' she asked.
"What?" I said, it brought me out of my stupor.
"The father? Are you going to tell him? If not, I'd recommend telling someone. It's nice to have someone there with you for the ultrasounds and the checkups. Going it alone is hard.” She said. Never once did I feel judged. Everyone woman should have a doctor like mine.
I hadn't even thought about the father. How could I tell him? What would I say to him?
Wyatt wanted ten dates in exchange for fifty-thousand dollars, but I didn't think he wanted a baby as a bonus gift.
What was I going to do?
“You’re still here?” I asked as I walked into my office, two coffees in hand.
One for me and one for the man sitting in my chair. At my desk. My father had holed up here in Laurel, and I had a feeling he wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
It made me anxious in all the wrong ways. I still had a few things to coordinate for tomorrow night. Still had some finishing touches to put on. And a full load of paperwork to go through. I didn’t need him poking his nose in and meddling.
“Yeah, I don’t know that I’m going anywhere anytime soon,” he answered.
“I thought you had to meet someone in the Caribbean?” I asked. I’d long since forgotten her name.
“It can wait. Especially with this place on such shaky ground,” he said. “I mean, you aren’t using any of my business contacts, you’ve been going through all the ‘proper’ channels, and now I find out that you aren’t evicting farmer’s who can’t pay their rent?” he asked.
“I speak to them on a case by case basis, Dad. I’m not about to evict Michael Madden. He's been working hard for us but has hospital bills that are sucking up all of his income.” I knew the case he was referring to, and I wasn’t about to back down from it. I’d been to the house several times to discuss a payment plan with him and the hospital. I’d even negotiated for him. His wife had breast cancer and his insurance only covered so much.
I wasn’t about to let a man like him go out in the cold. He’d already sold us his house trying to get free of medical debts and then she relapsed.
I wasn’t about to take away the home he needed for his children.
“When did you stop caring about the town you grew up in or were you always this way?” I asked my father. It was like he didn’t even see the people who lived here. It was like they were nothing but numbers to him.
He’d spent too many years in Denver and then Washington to feel connected to this place the way I was. I lived here; I went to school here. Hell, I’d been a freshman on the high school football team when Michael was the star running back. He was a senior, and a great player. He could’ve been an asshole to me like a lot of the other guys were. The ones that said I only made varsity because of my father.
But he wasn’t. He told me I had real talent. He didn’t put me down when I was young and vulnerable. And now that he was vulnerable I wasn’t going to take advantage of that.