by J B Heller
Lucy turned to me, “So, Taylor, I assume you’ve done a pregnancy test?” I nodded. “Good. Do you know when your last period was?” she asked. I sat there with a blank expression on my face. I had worked all this out earlier in the day but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember it now.
“Start of June,” Nate answered for me.
I glanced at him with shifty eyes, how did he know that?
“You all get your rags at the same time,” he shrugged answering my unasked question.
Lucy laughed again and typed it into the computer in front of her, then pulled a round chart out of her drawer.
“Unless you know the date you fell pregnant on, I can work it out roughly with this little chart,” she said and began swivelling a smaller circle on top of the larger base one. When she was happy with its position she announced, “You should be due around the 19th of February. That puts you at approx.,” she glanced down at the chart again, “six weeks, three days pregnant.”
Nate pulled me from my chair onto his lap and kissed me full on the lips—he even slid his tongue in—in front of the doctor. I was horrified but my body would not be denied and I melted into him.
When Nate finally let up on his sensual assault I was gasping for air. Dr Lucy obviously found us hilarious because she was laughing so hard I thought she might fall out of her chair.
She took another minute to calm herself. “I’m sorry, that was very unprofessional but I find you two so refreshing. It’s beautiful to see how in love you two are.”
Did she just say the “L” word? Is that really what this was? I knew we had the physical attraction needed to keep us together for a long time to come, but did we love each other on a deeper level? My feelings for Nate had multiplied since becoming a couple, I craved his company at night when he would go back to his house, I missed him when he went to run errands, and I utterly enjoyed his company, even when he wasn’t naked…
“Taylor?” I heard my name being called.
I shook myself from my inner musings, “Huh?”
“Lucy asked if we’d like to see our little girl?” Nate said gently.
I swallowed and nodded my head slowly but surely.
“A girl you say, have you done any of the old wives’ tale gender tests?” Dr Lucy inquired.
“No, I just know,” Nate told her matter-of-factly.
She smiled at him and turned on her ultrasound machine that was sitting next to a hospital style bed in the small room attached to her office. “You can bring in a chair, Nate. Taylor, I’ll just need you to pop up here and pull your top up a little, you’ll also need to move your skirt down a fair bit as bub is still sitting quite low.”
Bub, my baby, no, I looked at Nate, our baby. A tear slid from the corner of my eye and I quickly wiped it away before anyone saw, then I undid the zip on my skirt and slid it down my hips to the floor. It was high waisted so it was more comfortable to just remove it altogether rather than keeping it around my legs.
“Nice knickers,” Dr Lucy commented.
I looked down to see I was in a scarlet red, lacy pair. I smiled, at least they weren’t granny undies, not that I owned any of those. Yuck.
When I was positioned on the table, with Nate at my side clutching my hand in his, Dr Lucy squeezed a glob of freezing cold blue gel on my lower belly. “Ready?” she asked then spread the gel with the ultrasound thingy.
She clicked a few buttons on the machine, then twisted a dial. The small room filled with the sound of a steady echoing throb. I listened, waiting for her to say something and when I looked at Nate, he was also looking at her expectantly too.
“That, my dear, is your little one’s heartbeat,” she said.
I listened with a new set of ears now. Tears were streaming down my cheeks in a torrent of salt water; I thought I’d have run out by now.
Nate squeezed my hand. “Our baby,” he said with awe in his voice.
She turned the screen to face us, and my heart stopped beating. My eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing. I swiped at them with the back of my hands, trying to clear my vision so I could see the beautiful little nugget floating around in my belly.
My eyes went glassy at the sight of my baby on the screen in front of me. I didn’t realise she would be this far developed already, I could clearly make out her arms and legs, as well as an oversized head. I knew that was normal for a foetus to have a big head, I had read that much in the book I’d picked up in the waiting room.
I swear I felt my heart double in size just to make room for her.
“I’ll print off some screen shots for you to keep, shall I?” Dr Lucy asked.
“Yes, please,” I answered since Tay had apparently left her ability to speak back in the waiting area. She’d barely uttered a word since we’d walked into the actual doctor’s office, not even when Lucy asked about the date of conception, which we knew for sure was one of two days.
But I knew she was just taking it all in, that this was really happening and we really had made a little teeny tiny person. I wanted to wrap her up in cotton wool for the next eight months just so I could be sure that both my girls were safe and taken care of.
Lucy passed me the pictures and I slipped them into my pocket without taking my eyes off the preciousness on the screen.
I bent down to kiss Tay, she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me so tight I nearly lost all the air in my lungs. She sobbed into my shoulder and I held her until she was ready to let me go.
I pushed her fringe out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. “You okay, Sugar?”
She nodded frantically. “I’m perfect.”
We made our next appointment with the doctor and went around to the pathology lab to get the blood tests Tay needed then went back to the Den.
It was Thursday night and everyone was working late, except us. Piper knew we had our appointment today and made us promise to come back in when we were done to tell them all about it.
As soon as we walked in the door, all eyes were on us. I smiled and pulled the pictures out of my pocket and handed them to Mish. He looked at them, one by one, then looked back to me. “Sorry, man, but that’s one ugly baby,” he laughed as he handed the photos to an impatient Piper.
As soon as the photos were safely in her hands, I punched Mish in the shoulder. “Prick, that’s my princess you’re talking about.”
He held up his hands, “You know I was just playin’.” I did, but still, nobody calls my princess ugly.
Pixie was still with her client, one of her regulars— Barb I think her name was. I walked over and put my hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if I just borrow Pix for a moment?” I asked.
The older lady with bright blue hair smiled up at me through the mirror, “Oh of course not, honey, and congratulations on your baby. Taylor is such a lovely girl, I’m sure that baby will be gorgeous.”
“Thanks, I think so too,” I said as I moved my hand from her to Pixie and guided her away from her station and the eyes of everyone else in the room.
As soon as we were far enough away I said what I’d been wondering for a while now, but had kept my mouth shut about since she hadn’t said anything, “Are you pregnant, Pix?”
Her green eyes popped out of her head and she quickly glanced down to her stomach. Her hand was placed protectively over it and I knew without her having to answer me that I was right. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
She sighed, “Because we didn’t want to tell anyone until I was 12 weeks and by that time,” she shrugged, “you and Tay started trying and I didn’t want to steal your thunder.” Her eyes welled up.
I wrapped her in my arms and kissed the top of her orange hair. “We wouldn’t have been mad, you know,” I told her. “Congratulations, baby girl.”
She sniffled in my arms, and I knew the hormones were messing with her as much as they messed with Tay because Pixie did not cry, ever. Not that I’d seen anyway.
Tay came over to us
then and put her hand on Pixie’s shoulder and Pix went into Tay’s waiting arms. They held each other in silence for a minute then Tay moved back and looked at Pixie with wide eyes. “Your stomach just nudged me,” she said.
Pixie chewed on her bottom lip nervously. “Umm, yeah it did. I’m almost twenty weeks.”
Tay started bawling and pulled Pixie back into her arms. They cried together and talked about dates and cravings and shit I really didn’t want to hear about, but I stayed put and listened since it involved my princesses.
Turned out Jake and Pix would be expecting a little boy in four short months.
The girls all gushed over the baby pictures that we had with us and Pixie pulled out her 3D scan photos that she had in her bag and showed them off too.
I was relieved when Jake and Rhett walked in ten minutes later, bringing a whole lot of testosterone with them. All these weepy women were making me feel like I was drowning in estrogen.
They had another guy with them that I hadn’t met before, until Rhett introduced him. “This is my cousin Taj. He just moved here to help out at the shop. He’ll be around from now on so make him feel welcome, yeah.”
I nodded, “No worries.” I held my hand out to Taj. “Nice to meet you, man, welcome to the extended family.” He shook my hand in return and looked around the room.
“What’s with the waterworks?” he asked nobody in particular.
I answered, “Tay and I are pregnant, just had our first scan this arv and Pix finally fessed up that this horndog here knocked her up friggin months ago, and kept it a secret.” I nodded in Jake’s direction.
Jake held his palms up in defence, “Not my idea brother. You know women and their whacked out ideas. There was no reasoning with her. So I let her do it her way. Happy wife, happy life, brother, you’ll learn that all too soon.”
I furrowed my brows, “Who said anything about wife? Tay’s my baby mumma, we’ll get to the wife part later, much, much later.”
He laughed and broke away from our small group and went over to his wife. He took her in his arms and rested his hands on her slightly protruding stomach that none of us had noticed since she always wore loose, flowy, fairy kind of get-ups.
I only had my suspicions because she had cut back her hours and had been calling in sick occasionally. I put two and two together when I walked into the staff bathroom and found her throwing her guts up. She claimed it was a tummy bug, but I didn’t buy it.
I didn’t say anything to anyone because I figured she was keeping it to herself for a reason, what I didn’t realise was that we were her reason. I felt like shit when I thought about it. She had to keep her happiness to herself and it wasn’t right.
Tempi appeared in my personal space with a shoulder bump to mine. “Shouldn’t you be smiling or singing or some mushy shit right now?” she asked with an out of place smile on her face.
It was enough to pull me out of the downward spiral my mood was taking. My smile matched hers, “Yeah, somethin’ like that. Aren’t you supposed to be sitting in the corner of a darkened room?” I nudged her shoulder the way she had mine.
“Oh you got jokes, huh.” She laughed, actually laughed.
“I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh, like ever, Tempi, it suits you.”
She rolled her eyes, “It’s something I’ve been working on.”
I hadn’t noticed Taj was still standing there with us until he spoke, “Well you nailed it.”
Tempi’s eyes widened, “Oh… umm…” she looked at me, panic written all over her face.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulder protectively. “Temp, this is Piper and Rhett’s cousin, Taj. He’s just moved here.” I shifted my eyes from hers to Taj, he seemed to notice that she was unsettled by his attention to her.
“Taj, this here is our little Tempest,” I introduced them.
I couldn’t believe Pix was pregnant and hadn’t said anything. I felt like such a bitch, it was me who stole her thunder. We hugged it out and she assured me that she didn’t mind keeping it a secret for so long, although it was getting harder to do so since her belly popped out.
Piper was pissed though. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me Pixie! How could you keep this from me? You’re the sister I never had and you kept something this huge to yourself. I wouldn’t have said anything, you know I’m not a gossipy bitch.”
Pixie wrapped Piper in her little arms and they too hugged it out. Then Pix rushed back over to her client who was still waiting for her to rinse her hair.
The next day we went to see Trisha so we could tell her we were in fact pregnant and show her the pictures of her grandchild.
“Morning, Ma, we’ve got something for you,” Nate said as we walked in to her room.
For the first time since I’d met her, she wasn’t in her bed but sitting in an armchair by the window. Nate looked around the room slightly panicked until he found her.
Confusion covered his face. “What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting.”
Trisha smiled at him and it was beautiful, her smile lit up the entire room. “I’m fine, honey, come sit with me. I have something I want to tell you.”
Nate dragged two chairs over to her spot by the window and we sat down with her. “What’s going on, Ma?”
“You first, what have you got for me?” she demanded.
I pulled the small package out of my bag and handed it to her, we’d had one of the pictures framed for her. She ripped open the wrapping like an excited child.
When she saw the picture, tears welled in her eyes and she lunged for Nate, holding him tightly. “Whoa, Ma, be careful! You’ll hurt yourself.” He helped her back into her armchair then sat back in his own seat.
“I’m fine honey, really. I’m just so happy for you two. How far along are you?” she asked, clutching the frame to her chest.
I answered, “Not quite seven weeks. Still early days, but we’re really excited. We wanted to share it with you as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, darlin’, I love it.” She adjusted herself in her seat, got comfortable then cleared her throat. “I’ve got something I wanted to tell you but I waited until I could feel the results for myself. I’m trying an alternative treatment and it seems to be working. I’ve got energy for the first time in months. I have a great feeling about this, honey. I go back to the doctor for testing next month to see if the cancer has shrunk or stopped growing or anything really.”
Nate was crying, big, fat tears rolled down over his strong cheekbones. “I thought you refused the treatment the doctors offered, I don’t understand, Ma.”
“It’s not the treatment the doctors offered, it’s an alternative medicine, honey. I’ve been taking a series of cannabis oil injections. When I told your Aunts about you two trying for a baby and how desperately I wanted to be there for it, Annett suggested this treatment. Apparently it’s something she had been looking into for a while now. It’s very controversial but all the studies that have been conducted so far are showing great success.”
“That’s amazing, Trisha! I wish something like this had been available when my father was sick. I’m so happy for you,” I gushed as the waterworks flowed.
We sat in a small cluster by the window crying, crying for joy, excitement, fear, and most importantly, hope. While Trisha was still obviously weak, her cheeks had a touch of colour in them and her eyes were bright with life.
Nate was cautious about the treatment at first, but Trisha spent the next hour or so explaining the process and answering all his questions. The more she told him, the bigger his smile grew.
Before we left, Nate got her settled back in bed and put her soaps on for her. She was smiling from ear to ear.
I was so completely happy. I’d never been this content before. I had the guy, the bun in the oven, the most amazing friends and Nate’s mum had hope. There was nothing more could I ask for.
I could never have predicted the turn my life would take when I asked Nate to
be my donor. It was by far and away the best decision I’d ever made. I knew our future held bright beautiful things and I couldn’t wait for it to unfold.
THE END
UNEDITED EXCERPT FROM VIPERS DEN PART FOUR TEMPI & TAJ.
*Subject to change.
TEMPI
Turned upside down. That’s what just happened to my life. His eyes locked on mine and they saw too much. I latched on to Nate like he was a life raft, he seemed to realise I needed his support and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. The longer I stood there under his knowing gaze the further into myself I shrunk. Then Nate introduced us,
“Temp, this is Piper and Rhett’s cousin, Taj. He’s just moved here” Nate said, then turned his gaze to Taj, “Taj, this here is our little Tempest.”
Taj smiled at me, and my breath caught in my chest. I didn’t smile back, I just gave a slight nod of my head in acknowledgment and said my goodbyes to Nate then took off.
My heart was still pounding out of my chest when I got home. I’d never reacted to a guy like that before. I knew nothing about him, other than his connection to Piper and Rhett. Did I want to know him? The only men I had any kind of relationship with were Nate, Mish and Rhett. I was gradually getting to know Jake, if Pix could trust him, then I knew I could too.
I made myself a hot chocolate and curled up on the couch under my warm purple blanket. This is my sanctuary, no man has ever stepped foot past the threshold of my home. And I was content to keep it that way.
Mase, my Great Dane came and laid his big fat head on my lap, looking up at me with love in his beautiful blue eyes. “Hey baby. You miss me today?” I spoke to him softly while I scratched behind his ears. He nuzzled further into my lap, a contented sigh leaving him.
Okay, so one male came into my house, but he didn’t count. Mase was my friend, my companion and my protector. He made me feel safe and loved.
I sipped at my drink and continued scratching Mase behind the ears while I thought about my awkward encounter this evening. I always trusted my gut instinct with men, and my first thought when I saw Taj was, Holy-Shit-He’s-Hot. The next thought was, pain. He carried pain in his eyes, but tried to hide it with his easy going posture and carefree smile. But I saw it.