Forever Girl (6 page)

“When will it be available?” I ask after I do the walk through.

“It’s available now.” He says to my astonishment.

“What’s the catch?” I ask him.

“My wife and I haven’t been able to keep a renter in the place. We’ve been renting to friends and family members and they wouldn’t actually pay rent.”

“I didn’t have a car would you mind giving me a ride to the bank.” I ask him sheepishly.

“Sure I can give you a ride to the bank. Are you going into College?” He says with a laugh.

“I’m a senior in High School and I just found out I’m pregnant. I’ve been working since I was fifteen years old and I’ve saved every penny. If you give me a chance I’ll pay my rent every month and you won’t have a problem with me as a tenant I promise.”

“Sometimes people just need a break. I think you’re just that person. I’ll rent the place to you. You have to pay the first month’s rent and but no deposit.”

“Can I have that ride to the bank please?” I ask after I give him a hug.

“Sure thing darlin.” He chuckles and pats my back.

“Do you happen to know of anyone wanting to sell a reliable car?” I ask on the way to the bank.

“As a matter of fact darlin I do. I have a mechanic friend that fixes cars and he just bought a car and fixed it up and wants to sell it.”

I ask how much and he tells me that he’ll call the guy while I’m in the bank and find out for me. When I get back into the truck Brian tells me his guy will sell the car for two thousand dollars.

“Do you mind waiting a few more minutes while I go back into the bank?” I ask sheepishly.

“I don’t mind.” He says with a small laugh.

As he gives another small laugh. I have a little more than $10,000 in my savings account that Ali knows nothing about. She’s always thought I worked part time and blew my money on junk. She’d be pissed if she knew I had that much money in the bank. I walk back in a withdraw another $2300 so I can get plates for the car tomorrow. I walk out knowing that I’ll still have a little more than $7000 in the bank. I’ll be careful and tuck away all the money I can while I’m pregnant.

    Brian takes me to purchase and pick up the car. I leave there to go to Ali’s house to get the few things I have there that I want to take with me. I’m just going to grab my clothes, my toiletries and a few things I don’t want to leave there. If I tried to take anything else, it would be a fight with her and that’s something I don’t want to do. I arrive at her house and thank goodness she’s not home. I run in and get what I’m taking and leave her a note that says I’m moving out and I’ll stop by at some point. I don’t really think that she’ll care if I stop by or not. I stop by the grocery store and pick up a few things that I’ll need for the next couple of days. Then I make my way to my new home. I walk into the house and I’m so giddy I could scream. I do a little dance and start putting my groceries away. It’s 6 pm so I decide I need to go to the second hand store on New Circle Rd. I also make a note to myself to go to the Dollar Store to pick up some odds and ins. I end up finding some excellent deals. By the time I get home I’ll have a couch, love seat, coffee table, end tables, queen size bed, and a small pub table delivered. I’m excited that I found all off this for less than $400. I also picked up towels, wash clothes, comforter set, pillows, dishes, silverware, cups, glasses, pots, and pans at the dollar store. I did not realize all the things that I would need to set up a home. At this point I don’t even care. I’m happy to start living my life on my own. I wish I knew how to get a hold of Dean to let him know I’m pregnant. He doesn’t have a Facebook neither does Nic. The cell numbers for them aren’t working either. I tried at least once a day for the last month. There’s not much more I can do to try and find them. I’ll have to do this on my own. I will because I have two little people that remind me that there’s more important thing in the world that matter.

    I’ve been working and saving all of my money since renting the Townhouse. I had to spend some money on getting the twins’ room together. Buying two of everything is crazy expensive but they’re worth it. I found out a couple of months ago that I’m having a boy and a girl. Jess and I painted their room a neutral color but I’ve bought blue and pink for them separately. I stopped a couple months back at Ali’s and as soon as she found out I was pregnant she called me a whore and a slut.

“You’ll never come back to my house. I won’t help you raise your little bastards.” She says to me with venom.

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

I walked out of her house giving her my middle finger. I got into my car and drove away. I Graduate in May but I finished school in December which was a blessing. I’m still debating if I’ll walk in with the Graduation Class or just ask for my Diploma to be sent to me. I have less than two weeks before I’m off on Maternity Leave. I’ve got more important things to worry myself with like saving all I can right now. I’m almost 35 weeks now and I’m ready to have my babies here. I have an Appointment with Dr. Stone in an hour. Which is a good thing because my back’s been aching for the past couple of hours. I get to the Dr. Snow’s early and I register with the receptionist. I get a really intense pain radiating from my back and I have liquid running down my leg. I look down and back at the receptionist. The receptionist looks at me and gets up from her seat and comes hurrying out from behind her work station. She helps get me into the back where she can get the nurse and Doctor. Dr. Snow rushes in followed by the nurse and they help me get out of my wet pants and onto the exam table.

“I need to call an ambulance to transport you to the hospital Lyric. You’re already dilated to 6 centimeters.” Doc says to me.

I guess means the babies are on their way.

“I’ll be riding to the hospital with you in case I need to deliver in the ambulance.”

I’m grateful for that small miracle because I’m fucking scared right now. I call Jess before the Ambulance gets here.

“Jess, I’m getting ready to leave for the hospital. Will you come pick my car up and take to my house please.”

“Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll also call work and let them know that your Maternity Leave starts today. I’ll see me soon and I can’t wait to see the twins.” Jess says.

I hang up on her because I’m in so much pain that the phone drops from my hand. I hold my breath trying to keep myself from screaming.

“You have to do your breathing Lyric. When the next contraction hits I’ll do the breathing technic with you.”

Doc says to me when she sees that I’m holding my breath. I get to the hospital with no time to spare.

    As the Medics are wheeling me into the emergency room I feel like I’m getting ready to have one of them.

“I can feel one of the heads trying to coming out.” I yell to whoever will listen.

The gurney stops and she’s at the end of the gurney pulling the blanket up to see what’s going on down there. She shouts to someone to bring her gloves and a gown stat. I’m in too much pain to care that everyone and their mother can see my business as I feel the urge to push.

“Don’t push yet. I need to get gloves on. You need to start your breathing technic.” Doc says and I just want to tell her to fuck off.

I feel like punching her in the face, but I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to because the pain is so intense. I feel like I’m being ripped apart from the inside out. I vow to myself right then; that I’ll never have another child. I don’t know how people can do this multiple times.

“The next time you feel like you need to push you can.” Doc finally tells me.

As soon as those words leave her mouth I feel the urge.

“I need to push right now.”

I feel a person on each side of me grabbing my legs and raising them toward my chest as she tells me to go ahead and push. The pain is immense and then there’s so much pressure. I feel like I’m not going to be able to do this and then I feel the head come through.

“Stop pushing Lyric.” She tells me.

She does something down there but I’m not sure what though.

“You can push again.”

I feel the baby’s shoulders come out and then the rest of the body comes out. I wait for a minute listening for the baby to start crying. When it does start crying I feel this emotion of love wash over me that I’ve never felt before.

“Say hello to your little girl.” The nurse says as she brings the baby to me.

I have tears running down my face when another contraction hits and I know I’m going to have to do it again. Everyone gets into position again for my little boy.

“When you feel the urge to push again you can.” She says to me again.

My son makes his appearance seven minutes after his sister. Both babies are fitted with bracelets and so am I. That way when they’re taken upstairs the nurses will know who children’s parents are. It’s a new Security Measure and I like the idea of not having to worry about my babies being switched. I’m cleaned up and taken upstairs shortly after them. I’m in my room when I decide I need a shower. I get under the spray of the shower head and start washing my stomach. It feels so weird not having them in there anymore and my stomach it feels like jello. I think to myself I wish they could live in my body forever so that I can protect them from the world. Then I think about being able to hold them and give them cuddles and kisses and I’m going to love being able to see my feet again. I get out of the shower and make my way to the bed just as Jess is coming in the door with stuffed Teddy Bears and flowers for me.

“Thank you Jess.” I say to her.

I call the nurse to bring my babies into the room for their feedings. Jess is a life saver as she’s going to stay with me for a couple of weeks to help me with the babies. I don’t know what I ‘m going to do when she moves to Colorado in a few months. She tells me all the time that I can go with her. I also know she needs this fresh start and I need to go to college in the fall. I’m not one for all the cold and snow that Colorado has in the winter either. I tell her we will keep in touch and we can Skype all the time and when the twins get older we can come out there on vacation. I also remind her that she can always come back here and visit as much as she wants.

Chapter 7

Lyric

Now

   I tell Nic about being pregnant and the last five years with my babies. We laugh and we cry. I show her pictures of the twins in the album I made for myself. I’ve made separate albums for the two of them. I show her both so she can see them from birth to their last birthday.

“I’ve always showed them pictures of you a Dean. I told them that he had to go away on a special trip. I didn’t know what else to say to them. I didn’t want them to think that their daddy didn’t want or love them. So I lied to them about where he was and what he was doing.” I tell her as I’m looking down at my hands.

“He’s going to fall in love with them.” She says with a small smile on her face.

My heart does that strange flutter thing when I ask her the questions I’ve been wondering all day and if I’m being truthful I’ve been wondering about for years.

“Have you called and told him yet?”

“No I wanted to come talk to you before I did that.” Is her response.

Chapter 8

Delia/Nic

Now

“I don’t know what happened back then. One night I came home and he was pissed.” I tell Lyric.

He said that he had to leave town. He wouldn’t tell me exactly. All he would say is that he had to leave or he would be going to prison and you would be shipped to a youth center. He didn’t like the position he or you were in. I told him I’d go with him. He told me I should just transfer back home and it shouldn’t be a problem since school had not even started yet. I asked him where he was going to go. He told me he was going to Harlan and it was a couple hours South of Lexington. He said he wasn’t going to give up his dream of Geological/ Coal Mining Engineering Degree just because he had to give you up. We ended up leaving a couple of days later while you were at work. I hugged him crying and he was trying hard not to let me see his emotions. I could tell that whatever was going on was breaking his heart. I asked if we should say bye to you? He said no that it was going to be better this way. That you would forget about us and graduate and move away and have a better life. Lyric looks at me with a stunned expression.

“What was he talking about? Prison for him and a youth home for me.” She asks dumbfounded.

“I don’t have the whole story. Considering you have his twins. I would say Ali probably found out and threatened him.” I say to her.