Chapter 22 #3
We walked into Lina’s home, and Callie and Lina were sitting on the couch watching a movie.
The aroma of Italian food hit us as soon as we walked in.
My mouth watered. Then I thought of the last time I had lasagna.
My stomach grumbled, and not in a good way.
Annabelle. I hadn't seen her since that night she said too much. I often wondered if things would have gone differently if she’d been there that night.
I could still be pregnant. I’d be in my third trimester now.
His movements would have been bigger and more frequent.
What if I hadn’t told Quinn about what she said?
“Hey Zay!” Callie and Lina said at the same time.
“And yet nothing for me,” Quinn said.
“Hey, my darling Quinn,” Lina said.
“Oh, hi, my favorite Titi,” he said.
She laughed, and then we all joined in laughing.
“Lasagna will be done soon. We were just watching a movie,” Lina said.
“Oh… lasagna,” Quinn said, then he dropped his head.
“What’s wrong with lasagna? I thought it was one of your favorites?” Callie asked.
“It is…” he said, then turned his head toward me.
“Do you not like lasagna, Zalayuh?” Lina asked.
“Actually, it’s one of my favorite dinners… but he’s probably worried because back home I was drugged with lasagna one night,” I said.
“Fucking Ravik,” Callie muttered.
“Would you like something else, sweetheart?” Lina asked.
“No, absolutely not. I almost drooled when I walked in,” I said.
“Titi does make a mean lasagna,” Callie said.
“While we’re waiting, we can go to the office and do a visit,” Lina said.
“Sure, let’s get that over with,” I said.
“Alright, you two hang out here,” Lina said.
She stood up and started walking into the kitchen.
She looked behind her and nodded at me to follow her.
She walked through a door, and we walked into a garage—no, a garage converted into an office.
I looked around, taking it all in. My eyes stopped at the rocking chair that sat next to the bed.
It was the one that had been in the cabin.
I stared at it longer. There was an L engraved into the back of the chair.
I hadn’t realized it was a letter before, barely wanting to look at it.
“Lie on the bed there,” Lina said.
“Yes, mam’,” I said to her.
I removed my shoes at the door, as she did. Then walked over to the bed and laid down. She grabbed her blood pressure cuff and slid it up my arm.
“How have you been feeling?” she asked.
“Honestly, back to normal,” I told her.
“That’s good. Has the bleeding stopped?”
“Yep, a couple weeks ago.”
“That’s great,” she said. She placed the bell of her stethoscope on my elbow and then inflated the cuff. She watched the gauge as she pumped and then slowly released it. “Perfect, one-o-seven over seventy-one.”
I only knew it was good from reading about blood pressure in those books, but it had been a while, so I couldn’t quite remember what the ranges were.
“When you arrived here almost six weeks ago, your blood pressure was eighties over fifties… and your pulse was racing,” she said.
“Oh.. I don’t know what that means,” I said.
“It means you were going into shock… you were in really bad shape, Zalayuh,” she said.
“I remember feeling like I was dying,” I said.
“You kind of were… but you’re doing wonderful now,” she said. “How have your emotions been?”
“I think really well, actually. Lucy really has helped when I felt down. Having the pendant also really helps me,” I said.
“Did Dr. Arthur bring up birth control?” she asked.
I averted my eyes from her. God, this was such an uncomfortable conversation.
“Yeah… a little… with Quinnlyn in the room,” I said.
“I’m sure that was awkward for both of you.”
“Most certainly.”
“Well, now he’s not here…”
“I don’t plan to… ya know… have sex,” I said.
“Yeah… we usually don’t, but somehow you got yourself in this mess because of no birth control,” she said.
“True…”
“Even if you’re not planning to right now, things change, and if you’re doing something like the pill, it could take seven days to be effective,” she said.
“How does it work?” I asked.
“How does what work? The pill?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Well, you take it every day, at the same time. Once you’re in the last week, you get a refill,” she said.
“I guess I can do that,” I said.
“Alright, let me grab you a bag,” she said.
“And I just carry it around?” I asked.
“Yep… well, I’m gonna gift you a little purse, that makes it a little more discreet. I also have put some feminine stuff in there for you, too,” she said.
She finished checking me over. She told me I was clear to do anything and everything.
She dragged every out when she said it, surely hinting at sex.
I took a breath in and pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth, not wanting to blush.
We walked back through the kitchen and into the living room, where Quinn and Callie were chatting.
“Oooohhhh, she gave you the birth control bag!” Callie squealed.
I instantly felt the heat rush up my neck and into my cheeks.
“Calliope Lenora Faherty!” Lina scolded her.
“Oh, Titi, it’s just us here,” she said.
“Yes, but you didn’t have to bring any attention to it. Just because we talked about sex and periods with you children, doesn’t mean her parents did,” Lina said.
“They most certainly did not,” I said.
Quinn hadn’t said much, just stared at me. I tried to read him, but I wasn’t sure if he was annoyed, confused, or mad.