Lies Beneath the Surface (Buried Secrets #2) (38 page)

To be honest, I’m so used to being terrified of a man, it feels nice to have someone who wants to protect me. I don’t even understand the draw Luke has to me, but it’s obviously there for the both of us.

My nerves are frayed, completely tattered from being holed up in the house for mo
re than a month. Colton has taken me out to dinner a few times. I’ve been to my doctor appointments and I walk over to Emma’s when I get really bored.

Once I was released from the hospital Colton re
fused to let me return to work. The baby was completely fine after the accident,
or so we’ll call it
, but anxiety seems to keep getting the best of me. Dr. Staton thought it would be best just to let me enjoy the remainder of my pregnancy at home. Colton has been the acting CEO of Simon Energy since I was forced to take early maternity leave. I told him he could bring paperwork home that I could complete from the bed and he simply laughed in my face. Even asking him how things are at the mines is pointless. He’s so worried about causing more stress and sending me into pre-term labor that he has me stressed from trying to avoid stress…yeah, figure that one out, will ya? Just stumped the hell outta myself- THAT’S how STRESSED I am.

I’ve spe
nt my bed rest/imprisonment reading, playing board games with the kids and cleaning. Savannah and I have fiercely scrubbed every single corner of this house, so much to the fact that Colton swears the scent of Lysol will be forever seared into his senses. Ha ha. It started around two AM one morning. I was having terrible Braxton Hicks and thought I’d feel better if I moved around a little, so I started to clean. Twelve hours later the house was sparkly clean and I finally passed out on the couch. A few days later when Savannah brought the kids over to play she found me standing on the counter top scrubbing the top of the kitchen cabinets.

“Oh my God, what the H
ELL are you doing?” She screams walking into the kitchen.

“Cleaning.” I say boringly. “It’s filthy up here…I can’t have any dirt in the house
when my little monkey comes home.”

“Carly, dirt grows everywhere. Sweets, you can’t stand on the damn counter top and clean the tops of the cabinets. Hell, you can’t worry about all the tiny places
you’ll find dirt or you’ll work Colton’s ass off all weekend long moving the fridge, washer, dryer and all the furniture.”

Yeah, he’s still pissed at her over that. The following Saturday instead of getting to go fishing with Luke, we had a huge cleaning party instead. Walls were scrubbed,
furniture was rearranged, carpets were shampooed and the ceramic tiles were waxed. All while I sat comfortably in Colton’s fluffy leather recliner, munching on popcorn and bunch-a-crunch, barkin’ out orders at Savannah, Luke and Colton.

These four walls are closing in on me and I really just want to get out of the hous
e and breathe in some fresh air. Wait? I don’t think that’s possible in coal polluted Williamstown.

Anyways, I’m off to see Kaylee and Dr. Staton today for some adult interaction and I’ll gladly welcome the heavy sulfur scented air as I drive through town with the windows down. The heat in
late summer is blistering and I’m dying to quench up the sun. Today is my final appointment before the baby, hopefully. Colton asked Savannah to drive me to the doctor since he’s working so fiercely to keep Simon Energy running smoothly and will be taking a week off once the baby is born. It’s nice having Savannah so much closer now that she lives at Daddy’s house. The kids have spent the most of summer together and family cookouts are almost a nightly thing.

Gathering my purse, keys and phone, we lock up the house and head out for our little adventure. How sad is that? A trip to the OB/GYN has now been upgraded to an adventure. Holy shit if this is anything what parenthood will b
e like, please God save me now!

The ride to Dr. Staton’s office is
much quieter than the last. The kids were so rambunctious. Hoping to settle them down, Savannah turned on
Frozen
. So we had three seven year olds loudly singing along with Olaf about summer, one proud mom who thinks their earsplitting shrills are just adorable and one pregnant bitch on the edge of a psychotic break. Yippee, happy times. Lucky for me and my nerves they are all in school today.

“Ooooh, sweeeeets!!!!” Kaylee calls holding the door open. My God even her enthusiasm
annoys me. I glower at her as I squeeze my belly past her. “Damn, who pissed in your Crunch Berries?”

“Crunch berries? Really, Kaylee?”

“Hey, I don’t like Cheerios. Pissy woman. What’s eatin’ ya?” Kaylee asks, making quick work as she checks my vitals and marks my chart.

“
I’m tired, bed rest is agonizing and every little damn thing is under my skin. I’ve cleaned the house so much that Colton gags over the smell of Lysol. I’m annoying myself.” I grit my teeth, forcing myself to smile.

“Oh
stop your whining, you big baby. If you think it’s bad now, just wait until the baby is born. You’ll wish you’d slept more now when that little bundle of joy is screaming for a tit at three AM.” She laughs leading me to an exam room. “You know the drill. Dr. Staton will be by in just a few minutes. Kick back and relax a bit.”

Sliding my yoga pants off,
I hop up on the table, and cover myself with the thin paper sheet, then piddle with my phone while I wait impatiently for Dr. Staton. Twenty minutes later she and Kaylee enter the room. “Good morning, Carly. I hear someone’s a grumpy butt today.” She giggles, glancing over my chart. Snapping gloves over her hands she begins the exam, measuring my belly and listening to the little monkey’s heartbeat on the Doppler. “Thirty nine weeks! You’re little monkey could come any day now really. Are you excited?” She asks trying to distract me from the discomfort of the vaginal exam.

“
Excited, nervous, scared. I’m just an emotional, flaming hot mess.” I shrug.

“It’s to be expected.” She says as Kaylee helps me raise up. “Well, everything looks great. You’re cervix is closed, the baby’s heart beat is
strong. Try to stay off your feet and,”

“Keep your ass off the counter tops!” Kaylee rudely interrupts her, busting out into laughter.

Dr. Staton snickers, glowering at Kaylee, “Yes, dear. No climbing, please. We’ll see you in a week unless your little monkey decides to grace us with her presence before then.”

“Oh, Dr. Staton.
” I ask quickly, catching her just as she’s about to leave the room. “Since I’m already out on yard time is it okay if I do some last minute shopping today? Colton seems to think by bed rest I need to stay locked up inside the house and I am positively going stir crazy. Seriously, the man is lucky to still be alive.”

“
Sure, just take it easy.”

I sigh in relief. I have no last minute shopping to do, I just want to be outta the damn house. Getting dressed, I quickly check out with the receptionist before meeting
Savannah in the waiting room. “Let’s go have lunch, and maybe do some shopping.”

Savannah crinkles her nose up
and says, “I think I better take you home. Colton doesn’t want you moving around too much.”

“Oh the hell with him. I’ve already cleared it with Dr. Staton. Let’s go, I’m starving.”
She sighs, rolling her eyes as she follows me down the hallway to the elevator.

“Where
are we grabbin’ lunch from?”

I bite down on my lip and think before answering,
“We have a few hours before we have to pick the kids up, so let’s stop by the mall first then we can go to the Village Diner for lunch. I’d love to have some peanut butter waffles and peanut butter fudge cheesecake.” My mouth waters instantly.

“Ugh, Carly. Colton is still mad at me over the whole cleaning debacle. I’ll for sure be on his shit list after today.”
She says pulling out of the parking lot.

After three hours of shopping, we finally make it to the Village Diner for lunch. Colton is pissed in the wind that I’ve been waddling my fat ass through the mall all day, but I feel really good and they
say walking helps push ya into labor, right? And God knows how happy I’ll be to finally push this little monkey out.

“Are you and the kids still planning to come over tomor
row?”

“Yeah, we’ll be there.
I meant to get him a gift while were at the mall, but someone refused to leave
Babies ‘R’ Us
long enough to shop anywhere else.” She shoots me a cocky glare.

“Savannah, honey, don’t worry about a present. He’ll just be happy to have all of his family together on his birthday.
Luke is gonna pick up the cake.”

“I’ll find the time to grab him a little something.”
She shrugs.

We eat with
non-stop laughter. I haven’t seen Savannah smile this much in months and it warms my heart to see that she’s finally finding herself. We pick the kids up from school, and take them for ice cream before Savannah drops me and Heidi Jo off at home.

“Momma, your belly sure is big now. You sure that little baby’s gonna come out?”
She asks as we cook supper.

“Yep, sweets. She’ll come out when she’s ready.”
Thanks for reminding me how fat I am.

“Well,
I wish she’d hurry. It feels like its takin’ forever. I wanna be a big sister already.”

“Are you excited about Daddy’s birthday cookout tomorrow night?”

“Yep. I even made him a birthday card.”

“And you’re sure you’ve kept it a secret?”

“Yep.” She says as she mimics zipping her lips and locking them up tight with her imaginary key.

Colton gets in from work
just as I’m finishing up supper. He stalks off to the shower first as usual, but I can tell that he’s pissed over something. Turning the burners to simmer, I set the table and wait for him. Twenty minutes later, he struts through the house with loose fitting basketball shorts hanging from his hips and a cut off t-shirt. He kisses Heidi Jo on top of the head and sits down at the table for dinner.

“What’d Dr. Staton say today?” He asks piling food on his plate.

“Everything’s fine. Just playing the waiting game.” I shrug.

“Have fun with Savannah today?”

“Is that what you’re mad over? I didn’t spend the day barefoot and pregnant, pickin’ weeds out of the flower beds; I actually got out of the house and interacted with people?” I immediately bite down on my lip, because I know I’ve said the wrong thing. Colton hasn’t been holding me hostage or anything, he’s just been so worried about me and the baby since the accident that he’s been highly over protective. I know that, I truly do, but staying home every day is enough to drive a person crazy. He shoots daggers across the table at me, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. But you know how stressful it’s been being home so much. I’m used to working. I can’t help that. I can only clean so much.”

“Darlin’, I wasn’t upset that you were out today. Sure, I worry ‘
bout ya, but Dr. Staton knows what’s best for ya. I just had a rough day at work.” He says shakin’ his head.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothin’ for you to worry with. It’s all under control.” And just like that he drops the topic like it never mattered anyway.

After s
upper, Colton vanishes for a while and I’m sure he’s just over at his parents’ house. Heidi Jo works on her homework while I clean the kitchen. My stomach tightens and I pull in a deep breath trying to ride the wave of the Braxton Hicks contraction. They have been getting slightly worse, but Kaylee said that was to be expected, that it’s just my body’s way of preparing for labor. When the pain ceases I finish up the kitchen and help Heidi Jo get ready for bed. When Colton comes home an hour later, I’m in the baby’s room packing an overnight bag and diaper bag.

“Darlin’, ya alright?” He asks leaning against the door jamb.

I glance over my shoulder, sitting criss cross apple sauce in the floor and smile. “Just peachy, baby. I’m thirty nine weeks, figure it’s time to face reality. This baby’s gotta make its way out sooner rather than later.”

“Well, when you’re done, come out and sit on the porch swing with me, it’s a beautiful night.”

“ ‘Kay, baby. I’ll be right out.” I take one last look through the bags, double checking my memory for everything that I’ll need at the hospital. If I leave something behind, it’s no worries because Colton can always come get it, but I like to be prepared. Pushing up from the floor, another Braxton Hicks crawls through my muscles and my knees shake as the pain surges through me. Damn, two in less than an hour.