Jailbird (25 page)

“No, it’s cool. I have a friend here. Mrs.
O’Donnell is a better teacher than you anyway.”

“I guess three or four years was too much to
ask for,” I muttered. She was staying so easily because of a
boy.

“Huh?”

“Never mind. I’ll leave tomorrow, then. You
have my number; call whenever you want.”

“I will. Try to remember to answer it,
though.”

“I’ll do my best.”

We ate the rest of our ice cream in silence.
I was kind of sad. It hadn’t taken long to get used to the company.
As instrumental as Charlie had been in my healing process,
Gabrielle had brought her own measure of sunlight into my world.
The baby in my stomach fluttered with appreciation. It seemed to
like ice cream, too.

No matter how scary a boogey-man Daniel
Winslow might be, I definitely had something worth fighting him
for.

It was that knowledge that got me out the
door at nine the next morning. The car ride was lonely, but short
compared to some of the treks I’d made lately. And it was kind of
nice to be alone for a change.

Conrad swept me into a big hug the moment I
got out of the car. While I was grateful for his effusive greeting,
the baby seemed to take exception to being squished and there was a
flurry of movement in my stomach.

“How are you feeling?” Conrad set me down
gingerly, looking me over to be sure I was still in one piece.

“Pretty well, actually. I love having a car.
Thank you again. How are you?”

“Good, good,” he didn’t seem too inclined to
expound on that. “So, where are we headed?”

“I just have an address,” I handed him the
receipt I’d written the address on, with some directions scratched
out below.

“I think I know where this is,” he nodded.
“Come on, we’ll take your car. She’ll recognize mine.”

“You’re kind of hard to miss, doesn’t matter
what car we take.”

“But I figure by the time she sees me, it’ll
be too late for her to do anything about it.”

“You really don’t trust her?”

“I don’t know,” he shook his head. “I can’t
seem to put two thoughts together around that woman.”

“Because you like her.”

“Shut up.”

“Just for that, you can buy me lunch on the
way.”

“I only brought a fifty. That might not be
enough.”

“I don’t eat that much,” I shoved him.

“Sure you don’t.”

“Whatever. Now I’m ordering a milkshake,
too.”

“Are you having a baby or a tapeworm?”

“Shut up or I’ll tell Rachel you like
her.”

“I don’t like Rachel.”

“Oh, I’m sorry… I meant that you love her,” I
couldn’t help it. He was really fun to antagonize.

“You are such a brat.”

“Not my fault Daddy liked me better.”

“Oh look, Jack-in-the-Box,” Conrad turned on
his blinker. I got the distinct impression he was happy to have a
way to shut me up.

“Oh look, we aren’t the only ones who decided
to stop for lunch beforehand,” I pointed out the rental car three
spaces down. “I wonder who that pretty brunette is in the front
seat. She’s getting out. I bet if we hurry, we can sit
together.”

“Neena,” he growled a warning that I totally
ignored. I hopped out of the car pretty quickly despite my added
bulk.

“Rachel, how the heck are you?” I waved a
greeting and absolutely beamed at her. She was cute as ever, even
if she looked nothing like the polished creature I was used to
seeing on the television screen. She wore jeans and a sweater. Her
golden-brown hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and covered
by a Tennessee Titans cap. Without the makeup, I could see the
smattering of freckles that peppered her nose. The casual-wear made
her seem somehow more real.

“Okay,” she answered a little hesitantly, her
eyes fastened on the man unfurling himself from the low-slung El
Camino. “I didn’t realize you were bringing Conrad.”

“I hope it’s not a problem. When he heard I
was meeting you, he insisted on coming along. I think he’ll take
any chance he can get to see you, truth be told.”

“Thanks for that,” he grumbled behind me.
“Really.”

“Come on, sunshine. Rachel will never ask us
to eat lunch with her if you’re going to be this crabby.”

“No, of course you should eat lunch with me,”
she seemed as flustered as he claimed to be. I smiled. Even if I
didn’t know what the rest of the afternoon held—lunch looked to be
fun.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Of all the reasons Rachel Cooper could have
asked me to meet her in Baton Rouge, I wasn’t prepared for the true
one. I’d imagined a meeting with deep-throat, a trap that led me
straight back to Dixon, or even some girl-bonding event like
shopping.

I hadn’t considered a doctor’s appointment.
But as we stood in the parking lot of the family medical center,
Rachel explained that she’d made a few phone calls and a friend of
a friend of a friend promised to give me a discreet, off-the-books
medical exam.

“Why are you doing this?” I was completely
humbled by the act of kindness.

“Conrad said you couldn’t go to the doctor
because of me,” her voice seemed somehow small in that moment. “I
couldn’t look myself in the mirror with that one on my head.”

“You were just doing your job,” I wanted very
badly to reassure her. “This isn’t your fault.”

“Just say thank you and go inside,” Conrad’s
voice seemed strained. I laid a hand on his arm and looked up at
him. I could see that he was struggling to process this. It took
away a major reason for keeping Rachel at arm’s length. Now he’d
have to look elsewhere for excuses to hide behind.

“Will you at least go into the waiting room
with me?”

“You should come. I bet you’ll get to hear
the baby’s heartbeat,” Rachel motioned for him to join us.

“Charlie should be here.”

“Just be glad I’m seeing a doctor,” I sighed
and grabbed him by the hand. “I bet if Charlie has his way, we’ll
have lots of babies together and he can hear their heartbeat. Come
on.”

Now that I was here, I was excited. Feeling
the baby move had given me some reassurance that the little tyke
was okay, but it would be good to hear that from someone who was
trained to know what they were talking about.

“If anyone asks, your name is Gloria
Whittle,” Rachel handed me a wallet—apparently one that could prove
I was Gloria Whittle. I wondered idly how she and Conrad came up
with documentation so easily. Maybe it had to do with having
interns at one’s disposal. No, that wasn’t true. Conrad didn’t have
interns. But he did have trainees….

“Hey Gloria,” Conrad nudged me when I didn’t
react to the name. “I think Rachel is waiting for you to follow her
to the front desk.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled and followed her as told.
I was really just along for the ride. Rachel did all of the
talking. I just initialed a few places and signed—very
carefully—the name I was supposed to. Rachel assured me on the way
back to the waiting room that everything we’d just done was for
show so the front office staff didn’t ask questions. The chart
would disappear after we were gone.

“Gloria Whittle?” a nurse popped her head
into the waiting room and called. She looked around the room and
called again when there was no answer. Conrad nudged my side and I
stood with a start.

“Sorry. I must have dozed off.”

“No problem, honey. Just follow me. Does your
husband want to come back when it’s time to listen to the baby’s
heartbeat?”

“Brother, and yes, he does,” I answered for
Conrad. “My husband is away on business.”

“Okay.”

I couldn’t tell if her tone meant she didn’t
believe me or didn’t care. I’m not sure why I felt the need to
assure her I had a husband. Maybe it was to remind myself; it had
been so long since I’d seen him.

She took my weight, which made me immediately
regret the large chocolate shake. Then she led me to a room,
rattling off instructions all the while. Then I was alone with a
paper dress and instructions to flip the black switch by the light
when I was ready for the doctor.

Doctor’s offices everywhere seem to hold the
same universal power over me. Whether I’m waiting two minutes or an
hour, it feels like an eternity when I’m sitting in a cold room
wearing a paper gown and feeling fat.

Thankfully, the doctor didn’t make me wait an
hour. Not terribly long after I’d sat down to wait, she poked her
head in and smiled at me.

“You must be Gloria. I’m Doctor Hoffner. It’s
good to meet you.”

She was pretty and young and not what I
pictured in a doctor at all. But as she instructed me to lie back
and began to measure my belly, she chatted easily and I realized
that I trusted her completely. After the examination, she reassured
me with another smile that everything seemed just fine.

“I’ll just go get your husband so we can
finish up here,” she said and was gone.

“My brother,” I corrected. She was already
gone, but at least I’d cleared up any confusion the door might have
had.

“So is this your first child?” she seemed to
be mid-conversation as she reentered the room after a brief
knock.

“Our first child together. We each have one
child from… before,” the voice that answered made my heart
constrict. I felt like someone was standing on my chest all of a
sudden, and I might have let out an odd, garbled choke. I couldn’t
seem to get a good breath.

“Boys or girls?” Dr. Hoffner asked
conversationally.

“Girls,” Charlie answered her as he entered
the room. His eyes locked with mine and he smiled. It was a
lopsided grin that told me he was incredibly proud of pulling off
this surprise.

“So are you hoping for a boy?”

“As long as the baby’s healthy, I couldn’t
care less,” Charlie’s hand found mine. He managed to be polite, but
I knew he was as eager as I to reconnect.

“I want a boy,” I managed to string together
a whole sentence, although my voice was a little thick. “The world
needs more men like my husband.”

The doctor smiled, but it was the look on
Charlie’s face that made me blink back tears. My throat already
felt like it had a golf ball wedged in it. The look of total
adoration in his eyes was about to send me over the edge.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. The
doctor was moving about the room, but I wasn’t paying attention to
her. I was busy drinking in his every feature. Maybe if I imprinted
him firmly enough in my memory, it would feel more like he was with
me when he went away again. I didn’t want to think about him going
away, though, so I refocused my thoughts.

A lock of hair had fallen out of place and it
made me deliriously happy to see it. Imagining sinking my fingers
into his hair—that was a good way to redirect my thoughts.

“Do you want to know the sex?”

“Hmmm?” Had she read my mind?

“Do you want to know if the baby is a boy or
a girl?” she repeated patiently.

“I would,” Charlie gave his vote, a smile
tugging the corner of his lips. He knew what I’d been thinking.

I nodded. I didn’t trust myself to sound
intelligent at this point. While I’d been gazing dreamily at
Charlie, the doctor had moved a machine closer to the bed. Now I
watched her as she scooted the paper so she had access to my
stomach and squirted startlingly cold gel on it.

“I thought we were just going to listen to
the heartbeat.”

“Why listen when you can watch, too? Look…
there’s your baby.”

Our eyes locked on the screen, a look of awe
on our faces. Sure enough, there was a little humanoid sucking its
thumb on the screen. She took measurements while we stared at the
image. Had it really been so long since we stood on Anjelita’s back
porch arguing about whether or not this was a good thing?

“Ten fingers, ten toes and one boy,” the
doctor informed us. The tears did come then. I couldn’t help it.
Charlie kissed me sloppily on the forehead. He laughed, he cried. I
did a lot of both as well. He never let go of my hand. My eyes
never left the screen. I couldn’t wait to meet him for real.

“Is he healthy? Is everything like it should
be?” Charlie asked.

“Yes. He’s very healthy,” she assured us.
“His measurements put you due on July 10.”

“My parents will be back by then,” Charlie
seemed happy about that, but I groaned.

“Great. I get to meet your parents as I’m
giving birth.”

“My parents are in West Africa doing some
mission work,” he explained to the doctor at her confused look.

“Sure, tell the doctor after fifteen minutes,
but leave your wife in the dark for six weeks.”

“It never came up.”

“Would you like some pictures?” Dr. Hoffner
interjected.

“We’d love pictures,” our attention turned
back to the baby.

Charlie stroked my hair and I contented
myself to watch the baby’s heart beat, to watch him kick and squirm
while the doctor printed snapshots. And before I was ready, she was
shutting off the machine and wiping my belly clean. Of course,
anytime between now and July 10 would be too soon for me.

“You can get dressed now,” she informed me.
“And rest assured that you’re doing a good job. The baby is
healthy; your weight is fine; everyone looks good.”

“Thank you so much,” I wished there were more
I could do. Words seemed to be so shallow.

“Yes, thank you… more than we could ever
say,” Charlie shook her hand, breaking contact with mine for the
first time.

“It was my pleasure,” she assured us and was
gone.

Charlie didn’t waste any time. He placed his
hands on either side of my face and kissed me properly the second
we were alone. I think I might have actually whimpered a little. It
was a bit embarrassing how quickly I went from feeling motherly to
an entirely different emotion.

“You’d better get dressed,” his voice was
jagged by the time he turned me loose. “Or no one else is going to
get this room for a while.”