The Key Club

by Victoria Calaway

  The technician smiled. “Sure can. It’s a boy.” She pointed out his tiny genitals. The tears escaped. “A son,” she said incredulously. “He’s beautiful.”

  “Do you have a name yet?”

  Lina smiled. “Ryan.”

  “That’s a cute name.” She wiped the gel from her stomach and allowed her to fix her clothes.

  “Congratulations!” She gave Lina several pictures from the ultrasound to take home. “Thanks.” Lina looked at the pictures, realizing what a miracle she had growing inside her.

  Sitting on the couch, Lina marveled at the ultrasound photos, searching each one for any details she could find. A tender smile touched her face, and when the baby moved, she put her hand on her stomach, and her smile widened.

  “It might be just you and me, but we’ll be fine. I promise,” she said to her baby. “I love you, and I’ll be the best mom you could ever want.” A knock sounded on her door, which surprised her, since she never had company. Lina lay the photos on the coffee table and went to the door.

  To her shocked surprise, Ryan Silver stood on the other side. In a split second, she noticed how pale and haggard he looked, as if he might fall over at any given second.

  Lina stepped back, opening the door wider, and Ryan entered, walking slowly.

  “We need to talk,” he said, his breathing seeming difficult.

  “Are you all right?” His appearance worried her.

  “I’m recovering, I guess.” He eased himself to the sofa, then let out a breath of relief.

  Lina hurried over and sat beside him, studying his face. “What happened?”

  “I got shot in a narcotics raid.”

  Her hands went to her face, which paled significantly. “Oh, my God! Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I was in a coma. Nobody knew anything about you. I told my brother, but I didn’t give your name or anything. I wanted to see if it worked out. I had to have two surgeries. The first one was to put my guts back together after getting them ripped apart by an automatic machine gun, and that meant wearing a colonoscopy bag until they healed. Once that happened, I had to have surgery again to put everything back together and get rid of the bag. They did that last week. I’m just now getting on my feet again. I had to stay at my brother’s until I could take care of myself.” He looked at her. “Why did you move? You packed up and left, Lina. Didn’t you realize something was wrong when you didn’t hear from me?”

  Hot tears filled her eyes. “I thought you didn’t want me. I wasn’t going to force you to. I moved because I didn’t want to risk seeing you with someone else, or seeing you going into one of the key parties.”

  He put his hand on her hair. “Lina, didn’t you realize how I felt after the weekend at the beach?”

  Lina shook her head. “I don’t know until I’m told. Nobody’s ever loved me, Ryan, so I don’t know what that’s like. I only know how I feel, what’s in my heart, because everyone else’s has been dark and cold.”

  “Mine isn’t.”

  She looked at him then. “Why are you here? I told you, I don’t expect anything.” “I’m here because I want to marry you.”

  Lina shook her head. “I don’t want you to be obligated just because of the baby.”

  “Look at me, Lina.” When she lifted her head, he told her, “It’s not like that. I wouldn’t want that, either. I love you, Lina. I have from the moment I set eyes on you. When you drew those keys out of that bowl, I knew I was yours from then on, not a one night stand. I adore you. I love making love with you, the way you respond, the way you love me in return. Don’t tell me you don’t love me, because I know you do. I see it every time you look at me. You loved me when you gave yourself to me. You couldn’t have otherwise.”

  Lina lowered her head, unable to look at him. “I don’t know what love is.”

  “Yes, baby girl, you do. You just never had anybody who wanted it, or would give it back. Now you do. I love you with all my heart, and I want you to love me with all of yours.”

  Lina lifted the pictures from the ultrasound. “I got these today. Would you like to see them?”

  “Of course!” He put an arm about her and pulled her close, then with his free hand, he took the pictures. “I’m not sure what I’m looking at.”

  “Your son.”

  Ryan’s head jerked up, then his lips curved into a beaming smile. He hugged her to him and kissed her several times over her face. “Thank you.”

  “For?”

  “Not getting rid of it. I was scared that when I found you, that you might not carry it. It’s hard, and I wasn’t sure…”

  “Ryan,” she cut him off. “I would never do that. I am so in love with this baby, you wouldn’t believe. It never crossed my mind not to want it.”

  “What about me?” he asked, searching her eyes. “Can you still love me, want me as much as you do the baby? I was going to ask you to marry me that same week after we got back from the beach. I wanted to buy a ring first, then we went on that raid, so I never did get the chance to see you.” He reached into his pocket and brought out a black velvet jeweler’s box. He turned it so that she could see inside when he opened it.

  Nestled inside was a solitaire engagement ring, not too extravagant, yet not too small. Lina’s hand went to her throat. “It’s beautiful!”

  “Not as beautiful as you.” He took it from the box, took her hand, and slipped it on her finger. “Marry me, Lina. I love you.”

  Lina looked at him for a long moment, then realized he meant it. She saw it in his expression, in his eyes, the same look she had seen before but couldn’t identify until now.

  She put her hand to his cheek. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  He kissed her for a long, intoxicating moment, then broke the kiss to look at her. “Tell me you love me. I need to hear you say it.”

  “I love you, Ryan Silver, with all my heart. I’ll try very hard to make you happy, to never disappoint you as a wife and mother, and I’ll try to be all that you could ever need and want.”

  “You already are.” He kissed her again, then told her, “I still have a few weeks to recuperate, so if you’re ok with that, we could go ahead and get married.”

  Lina smiled. “Of course. Whenever you wish.” She then took his hand and put it on her slightly rounded stomach. The baby moved against his palm, making Ryan laugh.

  “To think, it all started with a key party neither of us wanted to go to,” he remarked.

  Lina smiled. “Best party I ever went to!”