Chapter 19
I’m kind of a lady, but definitely more of a weirdo.
—Text from Ellodie to Quaid
ELLODIE
I decided to tell my dad first.
Mostly because I knew my mom would freak out, and she’d need his support when she found out.
I checked the clock and wondered if he was still in the field or not.
Most likely, he was.
But his Bluetooth was connected to the tractor, and there was no doubt in my mind he was listening to his audiobooks while he did what he had to do for the day.
But the question was, would he answer me?
Me:
Dad
I waited ten minutes for him to answer, then texted again.
Me:
Dad, I really need to talk to you.
Another ten minutes went by, and I texted again.
Me:
Dad! This is really important!
I sighed and went back to work, typing up reports on the patients I’d seen today.
I was on the third one when I decided to just say fuck it and text him for real.
Me:
Dad, I’m pregnant.
Still no answer.
ThoughI knew he’d seen them all.
Again, his fancy ass tractor had a Bluetooth that read him off everything, text or calendar notifications included.
I’d been in that tractor enough to know that they did.
Likely, he was ignoring them because he’d rather listen to his audiobooks than answer my texts.
But this was important.
Me:
I just ordered you donuts. I even have someone sending them to the field you’re on.
He answered ten seconds later.
Dad:
There better be donuts, or I’m disowning you.
I snorted, then got into my phone and ordered him some donuts. But not before having a note added that said: You’re going to be a grandpa. Congrats!
He sent me a selfie of himself eating the donuts while giving a thumb up.
That was my dad.
The life of the party.
The next call went to my mom, who sounded harried when she answered.
“Sorry, baby, but I’m scrambling to get Daddy some food. I forgot to go to the store yesterday, and I’m trying to decide, will he kill me less if I give him a turkey sandwich? Or should I go with Ramen?” she word-vomited the moment she answered.
I pinched my eyebrows together.
Some things would never change.
And my mom’s scatterbrained self was something she’d battled with for her entire life.
“Don’t worry about getting him any food,” I said. “I just sent him donuts and milk. He’s happy.”
She paused. “Why did you do that?”
I only did that on special occasions, and she knew it.
“Well,” I hesitated, then blurted out, “I’m pregnant.”
She squealed.
It was the sound of an excited pig at dinner time.
“You’re pregnant?” she cried out.
I smiled. “I’m pregnant.”
“When do you go to the doctor? How did you find out? How far along are you?” she questioned rapidly, knowing I wouldn’t keep the secret for longer than necessary. i.e., a half a day.
“Today, we go to the doctor,” I answered. “Quaid is meeting me there.”
She squealed.
Then sobered.
“So, you’re getting married?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Actually, that hasn’t been discussed yet. It’s too soon.”
“It’s too soon to be throwing a baby into the mix, too…” she trailed off, letting her worry for me hang in the air between us.
I sighed. “I know. I’m just… There’s a lot going on.”
“That serial killer?” she asked. “Have you heard anything? Did that girl come up with anything more than last time we talked?”
I’d told my parents all about the serial killer, and originally why Quaid had asked me to move in with him. I’d told them about the Carter family. I’d told them about my struggles with never having free time.
Mom had listened.
Dad had told me not to be a little bitch and deal with it.
I’d dealt with it, but I might’ve been a bitch still.
“Her name is Sage,” I said. “I don’t know if I told you that last time we talked. Atlas is pretty much shacked up with her right now because everyone’s worried that the serial killer is going to come back.”
“They’re calling him TheJolieButcher.”
I grimaced.
“I don’t understand,” I admitted. “I mean, I don’t really look like her.”
AngelinaJolie was gorgeous. Meanwhile, I was short and round.
And going to get rounder…
“You have her lips and her hair,” Mom said. “Then again, I guess you could say that I have the lips and hair, and you have my lips and hair.” She paused. “Holy shit, I can’t believe you’re pregnant. This is a dream come true.”
I groaned.
My mom was always under the opinion that I’d never have kids, because I was a ‘perpetual student.’
In reality, life wasn’t as easy as just having kids like my parents’ generation got to do.
You had to establish a life plan, essentially. At least, if you wanted to provide your child with a good life, that was.
“Anyway,” I said as I glanced at the clock and realized how close I was to needing to leave. “I’m being picked up in three minutes. I’ll have to call you back after I’m done to let you know how the appointment went.”
My mom squealed one more time, then said goodbye.
I was snatching my sweatshirt—it might have been July in Texas, but the air conditioners worked well—when the doorbell rang, indicating my CarterSecurity guy was here.
I looked through the peephole to spot Quincy and Hollis.
“Who is it?” I asked, knowing it was them.
Hollis flipped off the peep hole, then smiled when I opened the door with a laugh.
“We have an appointment, too,” she said as she took me in. “Our kids are going to grow up together!”
I stepped out into the Texas heat and groaned, already feeling a dampness to my brow.
“Now we need all the other brothers to get on board,” I teased.
Quincy snorted and fell into step beside us.
I climbed into Quincy’s bright blue, fancy smancy truck, and received a growl from him before he said, “I was going to get that for you.”
“But you got the door for your wife, and she’s all that matters,” I pointed out.
“I get the door for both of you,” he grumbled. “You just have to let me get her in first.”
Hollis snickered as Quincy rounded the hood of his truck. “They all get so bent out of shape when you do it yourself. You should see Germaine. He gets downright surly.”
“What about my dad?” Quincy asked as he hopped into the truck with an ease that said he was much more adept than we were.
“I said that your dad gets butt hurt when we get in without waiting,” Hollis said. “So, are you thinking one baby or two?”
I choked. “It better be only one.”
“Do you see the amount of natural twins—and one set of triplets—that Germaine and Garnett have? That’s not normal,” Hollis disagreed with me.
“Well,” I hesitated. “Let’s pray that it’s only one then.”
JesusChrist, just the thought of having two…
“So, any more leads?” Quincy asked me.
“I assume you know quite a bit more than I do, Quincy,” I pointed out. “Quaid shares with me, but he also shields me.”
“Do you blame him?” he asked. “But also, I bet he shares way more with you than he’s supposed to.”
That made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
“Sage is doing better. She still has no memory of anything that happened beyond the eye color of the man who took her,” I explained. “That’s all Quaid’s shared with me.”
“Let’s talk about how Atlas is glued to her side and living with her,” Hollis suggested, practically bouncing in her seat.
“Atlas doesn’t want us talking about that—or her,” I pointed out. “But from what I gather, he has a thing for her. She’s too scared and anxiety-filled to notice, though.”
I didn’t blame her.
But it made me feel bad for Atlas, who was around her and watching her struggle.
That was the worst way to experience life, if you asked me. Feeling helpless was an awful feeling.
“Ladies, you have arrived,” Quincy said. “And your second escort awaits.”
I looked over to see Quaid standing at the entrance, once again decked out in his DPD finery, with his arms crossed and his aviator sunglasses covering his eyes.
He looked intimidating as hell.
And delicious.
Definitely delicious.
“He looks like he’s in a bad mood,” Hollis said as she waited for Quincy to round the hood of the car.
I hopped out without getting the door opened for me, eliciting a growl from Quincy.
“I said I’d get it!” Quincy complained.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said as I waited patiently. “Let’s go, let’s go!”
“Keep your pants on,” Hollis groaned. “I’m not as fast as I once was.”
We walked relatively quickly to the entrance, and though I kept my eyes on everyone and everything, I didn’t see anything.
Quaid moved upon my arrival. Wrapping his arm around me, he dropped his mouth to my ear and said, “Ready for this?”
“Ready as I guess I can be,” I admitted.
“So,” Hollis said quietly as we got onto the elevator, “how does it feel to get your actual medication today?”
I burst out laughing.
And poor Quaid’s cheeks went pink. “My ankle feels great.”
I peed in a cup.
I got my weight—which was higher than I expected.
I got naked.
ThenQuaid and I sat in the freezing ass cold room for what felt like forever but was really like fifteen minutes.
“You know,” Quaid grumbled as he got up and moved to me. “If they were going to make you wait naked, they could’ve at least given you a blanket.”
He wrapped his arms around me, and I groaned at the heat of his body.
“It’s freezing in here,” I agreed. “AndI don’t understand why they would do this when they damn well know that we only have this stupid little paper gown to cover up with.”
Just as I said that the door opened, and a haggard looking redhead filed in, pushing a computer on wheels.
“I’m so, so sorry.” She winced at the sight of us. “I know it’s freezing in here. There’s something wrong with the air. That’s what took so long. I was meeting with the air conditioner guy.”
Quaid didn’t let me go completely, but he did move to the side of the exam table to give me an unobstructed view of the woman who would be up close and personal with my vagina for the next nine months.
“Anyway, I read your chart before I came in,” she looked at Quaid. “Luckily, birth control isn’t toxic for men.”
Quaid’s cheeks again went pink. “I can’t say it was my finest moment.”
The redhead, Dr. Herreros, grinned, then turned to me. She studied my face, took in my appearance, and then said, “You look well. Good news.”
I beamed.
“Let’s give that baby a look,” she said. “Lean back, spread your legs, and get them up in those little stirrups right…” she paused as she hefted the metal contraption into place, “here.”
I did, then scooted all the way down until my butt was hanging over the edge, just like every woman in the world knew how to do.
And before I knew it, things were being shoved up inside of me, and Quaid was looking on as if he’d never seen a thing in the entire world so interesting as a wand being stuck up my hoo-ha by another woman.
“Ahh,” the doctor said. “Here she is.”
“She?” I squeaked.
“Well, generic she,” she said. “It’s still quite a bit early to tell. I’d say you’re about…” She tilted her head. “Whew, for a second there I thought I saw two. But this one’s just moving around like crazy. I’d say you’re about seven weeks.”
Seven weeks.
Nothing in the grand scheme of things.
But still.
I was pregnant.
Whoa.
It was real now.
“What am I looking at, Dr. Herreros?” Quaid asked.
Dr. Herreros leaned forward and pointed at the screen. Head. Body. Legs. Arms.” She showed Quaid, as patient as could be.
I swallowed hard at the look on Quaid’s face.
Awe.
Excitement.
Fear.
All of it, rolled into one perfectly masculine, incredibly handsome face.
As if he felt my eyes, he turned and caught me staring.
His eyes warmed, and he said, “Okay, baby?”
WasI okay?
I decided, right then, that I would be. As long as he was always at my side.
“I love you, Quaid.”
His eyes widened, his breath caught, and then a smile overtook his face as he replied, “I’ve been waiting for you to say that for what feels like forever. I love you, too.”