Surrogate (19 page)

     "You're right," Robbie agreed, watching Carrie, who sat at a table surrounded by the women. "It is a miracle--one I'm profoundly grateful for. I can't imagine where my life would be without her." 

     Since Shoshan had told him the truth, he forced himself not to think about the future.  He wasn't sure he wanted to know what was going to happen after the baby was born--and he was going to have to face figuring out how long Shoshan would be here.

     The two men lapsed into silence, watching as the women busied themselves with games.  Although Shoshan had been nervous about playing her part in all this, she seemed to fit in well enough.  Still, even as she tried to play the games, he saw that Dallas wasn't the only one watching.  A few of the younger women bent together and whispered among themselves while gazing in Shoshan's direction.  At the sight, Robbie clenched his teeth, unsettled.  He didn't have to hear their conversations to know what was being said, and he wished he could just leave the wreck behind them.  Hadn't he lost enough?  If someone discovered the truth about Shoshan, he might lose the baby, too.

     Robbie shifted nervously and waited.  The games seemed to drag on forever, and while both Shoshan and Beth looked at him from time to time, none of the others seemed to take notice of him.

     It wasn't until Beth got up to serve the cake that Robbie even moved.  He took one last look at Dallas and got to his feet.  Many of the women stared at him as he headed for the table, where Beth was getting ready to cut the cake.  As he passed Shoshan, she grabbed his hand and stood to join him.  Robbie thought about telling her to sit, but he realized she probably didn't feel comfortable in the midst of all these strangers, so he paused as she caught up with him. 

     For just a second the magnitude of what was happening hit him, taking his breath away.  Carrie had been looking forward to this shower forever.  She'd always wanted to be a mother.  Now she was never going to get that chance.

     Shoshan must have noticed his expression as she gently squeezed his hand, drawing him back to the room and the shower.  Even though he didn't say anything, he gave an almost imperceptible nod to show he was okay.  He had no choice.

     Together, they walked to the table where Shoshan stood beside Beth.

     "Is there anything I can do?" Shoshan brushed the hair from her eyes just to give her hands something to do.  She glanced nervously around the room.

     Beth shook her head and picked up a knife to cut the cake.  "Nope, I have it under control.  You should be sitting and enjoying yourself."

     "I'm just tired of sitting, that's all." Shoshan reached for the table to get the stack of paper plates.  In that moment, as Beth lowered the knife toward the cake, the blade scored her arm, cutting the skin.

     Shoshan inhaled sharply, and as Robbie stared at her face, a strange thing happened: her skin became translucent, and if that had been the case, Robbie would have seen her bones, yet what flashed into view was not bone nor was it human.  Instead, it was a glowing brilliance as though she were made of poured sunlight with bones in a sort of humanesque shape but not completely.

     Robbie cringed, praying he was seeing things, and her face suddenly turned back to Carrie's, halfway confirming that perhaps he had been imagining what just happened--that was until he looked out at the ocean of faces.  Most of them were staring openly, their mouths gaping.  In horror, he realized that they, too, had seen the crack in Shoshan's veneer, which wasn't bad enough.  Then he saw Dallas's face.  Everyone else was shocked.  Dallas leaned forward, his expression something akin to a hunter with his sights set on a deer.

     Except now his sights were set on Shoshan, and he'd seen proof Carrie wasn't Carrie anymore.

     "Carrie, I'm sorry.  You're bleeding."

     Beth's frantic tone forced Robbie's attention back to Carrie, and sure enough, as he looked at her forearm, there was a nasty gash there, big enough so it wasn't likely to heal on its own.

     "Crap."  The sight of the blood prompted Robbie to grab a handful of napkins to try and staunch the bleeding.  The way the blood quickly saturated the napkins confirmed they needed to go for stitches.

     All the other women were scrambling to their feet, and Robbie could tell by their dazed expressions they had probably written off what they'd seen as a trick their eyes had played.  They knew it couldn't have been real.

     He knew otherwise.  He needed to get her out of there, and the bleeding provided the perfect excuse.  Gritting his teeth, Robbie pulled out his keys.

     "I should get her to the hospital." He looked at Beth.    "She's going to need stitches."

     Beth was still staring at the blood seeping through the napkins.  "I am so sorry." Her face was white, so pale Robbie thought she might pass out.  Had she seen the shift in Carrie, too?

     "It's okay.  You didn't mean to." Robbie turned his attention to Shoshan.  "Keep pressure on your arm.  Let's get you out of here."

     Fighting to keep his composure, Robbie led her to the door, his arm wrapped lightly around her.  As they headed for the exit, he glanced in Dallas's direction and found the man staring back.  He and Robbie maintained eye contact, then he felt Shoshan draw closer, her eyes peering at him, the only person she seemed to see in the entire room.  That's what made him finally him start moving again.

     Neither of them said anything until they reached the truck. Once Robbie had safety tucked Shoshan into the passenger side, he strode to the driver’s side and got in.  As he backed out, he asked, "How's your arm?"

     "It hurts."

     "I imagine it does.  What happened back there?"

     Shoshan peered at him, puzzled.  "What do you mean?"

     As Robbie started to pull forward, his foot stuttered away from the gas.  He hadn't even considered that Shoshan hadn't realized the glitch in her disguise.

     "When the knife cut you, it's like the image of my wife disappeared.  For a couple of seconds, I think your true form came shining through, and I don't know how many people saw it."

     Shoshan's shoulders sank.  "I'm sorry.  I must've lost control when I felt the blade.  It won't happen again."

     Robbie turned onto Main Street and kept quiet.  There would be nothing good that came from telling her the damage might already have been done, not when she was trying so hard to help.  It was ironic, really--an alien who didn't even know humans had existed until the wreck was doing more to help him than most other humans would have.  In some ways, she was better than  humans because, at least, she had no ulterior motive, something he still wasn't used to.

     "You know, I could try healing myself; that way you wouldn't need to take me to the hospital."

     "No!" Robbie snapped, holding his hand up as though he were going to physically have to stop her.  She jumped, and Robbie immediately felt bad.

     "I'm just trying to help," she whispered, looking down.

     "I know," Robbie said, suddenly gripping the wheel with both hands as Dallas Stanton's hungry, leering expression  jumped suddenly into his thoughts.  "But I don't know how many people saw the same thing I did, and that glitch in your appearance, coupled with all the rumors about the wreck, might cause problems.  You have no idea how suspicious people can be."

     Shoshan leaned back in the seat.  "I don't understand."

     "Of course you don't." Robbie had to hit the brakes as a car stopped in front of him suddenly.  "Humans aren't like you, Shoshan.  They tend to hurt things or people they don't understand, no matter how good or pure those people are.  Considering how many people saw you cut your arm, if you suddenly show up all better, it'll only add to the gossip--something we don't need."

     Shoshan stared ahead, but Robbie had the feeling it wasn't at the car in front of them.  No, Shoshan's thoughts were churning a mile a minute.

     "What would happen if others knew the truth?" she asked quietly, chewing her bottom lip.

     "I don't know." It was a lie.  Robbie knew it, and he half-suspected she knew it, too, yet neither of them said anything more as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

Chapter Thirteen

     Even hours after the baby shower, Dallas Stanton hadn't been able to get the image of Carrie Williams morphing into something inhuman out of his mind.  Some people in Kilbrough might have claimed it was a drinking problem, but nobody in this sleepy little town knew he used to be a lush.  He'd left that part of his life behind when he'd moved here, and he'd worked so hard to make this fresh start with Mary, who knew about his drinking but had stayed with him because she was his sister and didn’t want to see him alone.

     He was still sitting in his recliner as the television blared some show about freshwater fishing.  A glass of iced tea sat on the table beside him, sweat pouring down the sides of it.  In other words, there were enough distractions to take his mind off the shower, but he kept thinking about it, anyway.

     Mary slipped into the room carrying a plate with two ham sandwiches.   She handed it to Dallas.

     "I thought you might be hungry."

     "Thanks." Dallas took the plate and set it beside the glass.  Yeah, maybe he was hungry, but he couldn't seem to motivate himself to eat.

     Frowning, Mary looked from Dallas to the plate, then walked to the ceiling fan, pulled the chain a couple of times, and sank into the sofa, one hand picking up the pink blanket she'd started crocheting last month, nearly half finished.

     "That was quite a shower," she mused as her fingers picked up the hook and began to work.

     "Yeah, I guess." He leaned forward in his chair and feigned an interest in the show.  That was the only way he was going to get Mary to drop the conversation, which is what he wanted until he could get his mind wrapped around what was happening.

     Unless it hadn't been real and he'd been seeing things.  Could that be possible?

     Dallas glanced up at Mary, frowning.  There was one way to find out.  "Hey, Mary, did you happen to see anything strange at the shower?"

     Mary's fingers fumbled slightly, causing her to complete the wrong stitch.  With a sigh, she unraveled it.  "Not unless you count Beth accidentally gouging Carrie's arm.  Now
that
was weird." The movements in her fingers sped up considerably but it seemed she wasn’t saying everything she was thinking.  Then again, he knew how easily his sister would probably have dismissed what she'd seen unless he pressed her.  Then she might admit she'd seen it, too.

     "Yeah, but did you see the way she looked when the knife cut her?" He stared at her pointedly, hoping for a more emotional reaction.

     Mary shrugged.  "She was kind of pale, and I don't blame her.  It's probably going to take twenty stitches to close that wound."

     "Besides that," Dallas snapped. "Did you see anything weird?"

     Mary looked up long enough to give him a hard look.  "No, that was it.  I didn't see anything else."

     As she spoke, Dallas scrutinized her expression, looking for signs she might've been lying to him because she didn't want to start a fight, but to his surprise he didn't find any.  Somehow Mary had missed it all completely, and she continued to naively believe the creature which had presented itself had been Carrie.  Hell, it wouldn't surprise him if all the women present at that shower had done the same thing, but Dallas knew better. 

* * *

     After leaving the hospital, Robbie had planned to just drive home, hoping he and Shoshan could keep a low enough profile so perhaps others, like Dallas, might forget what they'd had seen in time.

     "You feeling okay?" Robbie asked as he backed out of the  parking space.  In his peripheral vision, he saw Shoshan's fingers settled lightly on the bandage covering the wound.

     "The arm hurts a little," she admitted, staring out the window.  As she rested back against the seat, Robbie stared at the long line of her throat.  Perhaps he shouldn't have watched her.  She wasn't really his wife, but some part of Carrie was in there, and that's what he told himself he was reaching for.  Besides, Shoshan had admitted Carrie was in here as well, and no matter what Robbie told himself, he wanted to see Carrie.  He would always want to see Carrie, and this was as close as he was ever going to get.

     Both of them lapsed into silence, and the way Shoshan sat, Robbie wondered if perhaps she might have drifted to sleep.  She was still, her breathing peaceful.

     Robbie was driving through a neighborhood as he headed toward the highway that would take them home when Shoshan abruptly sat up, her back and shoulders rigid. 

     "Stop the truck, please."

     Her words tumbled out in a frantic rush that alarmed Robbie.  Was there something wrong?  Had she gone into labor?  He instinctively jerked the wheel to the side to pull the truck to the curb as he pressed the brake.

     "What?  Are you in pain--or maybe labor?" Immediately, he began looking her over.

     "No, I'm fine." She still didn't look at him but instead at the duck pond, where a lot of kids were playing.  "I want to go there."  Her tone was lilting, almost childlike, and Robbie immediately found himself drawn to the park as well, at least until his thoughts drifted back to what had just happened a few hours ago.