Wedding Rings and Baby Things

by Teresa Southwick

  “You didn’t think I looked like this for nothing, did you?”

  “No, but—I guess one picture is worth a thousand words. Wow!”

  Stephanie moved the probe, and when she did, there was a click as she took a picture of the baby’s position. She explained that the fetus was normal in size for the number of weeks of gestation. Heart looked fine, internal organs in an appropriate stage of development, hands and feet as they should be.

  She looked at several more views, then glanced at Kelly and Mike. “Would you like to know the sex of your baby?”

  “No.” Mike said.

  “Yes,” Kelly answered at the same time. She shrugged. “I’d like to know whether to buy blue or pink.”

  Mike squeezed her hand that he still held in his. “It’s your ball game.”

  Kelly looked at the other woman. “We’d like to know the baby’s sex.”

  “You understand this isn’t one hundred percent accurate. And the position of the infant isn’t ideal for prediction. Don’t hold me to this—”

  “I understand. Your best guess. Boy or girl?” Kelly held her breath.

  “Boy.”

  Kelly’s heart jumped. A boy. She wasn’t even sure why, but that was exactly what she’d hoped to hear. She looked at Mike for a reaction. He frowned for a second, then met her gaze.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “No.” He slowly shook his head.

  “What is it? I know you, Cameron. There’s something going on. Spill it.”

  One dark eyebrow lifted, and he smiled a little sheepishly. “I sort of wanted to see a little girl who looked just like you.”

  Kelly’s eyes filled with tears. “That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

  “I’m not trying to be sweet. I only do that when you compare yourself to a covered wagon.” He rubbed his thumb across her knuckles.

  Stephanie smiled indulgently. “If I were you, I’d keep him around.”

  Kelly didn’t answer. She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t keep him. If she did, she would lose the best part of what they had together. Friendship.

  A lump formed in her throat. She hadn’t counted on these feelings when she’d proposed to Mike. She sighed. At least something was going right, since they’d had no further word from Doug. She put. a protective hand on her abdomen. Maybe he had decided “it” wasn’t worth the aggravation. She fervently hoped so. She would never let him near this child.

  If all went well, when her little boy made his entrance into the world, his mother and his “Uncle Mike” would quietly separate. There would be no emotional trauma to the baby, who would be too young to know what was happening. She could preserve the good thing she and Mike had going. It would all go according to plan.

  “Just four more weeks,” she whispered.

  Mike drove down Lyons Avenue and turned the Bronco right onto Peachland Drive. He glanced at Kelly sitting beside him. She stared out the window at the passing scenery. How could she be so calm? She was carrying a tiny human being inside her. What an enormous responsibility.

  “Is the air-conditioning too cold?” he asked, adjusting the control down.

  “No, it’s fine.”

  “Do you feel all right? You look tired.”

  She shrugged. “No more than usual.”

  “The doctor said the baby’s fully formed now and will just put on weight during the last weeks. Are you eating enough?”

  She glanced ruefully at her abdomen then back at him. “Yeah. I think so.”

  “But the doctor said—”

  “Mike, what’s wrong with you? The doctor and the ultrasound tech said the baby is fine. Why are we playing twenty questions about my health?”

  He shook his head, thinking. How could he put into words what he was feeling? “I guess it just hit me.”

  She smiled softly. “That there’s really a baby in here knocking on the walls to get out?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But you’ve felt him move. That was real.”

  “Those little ripples were—”

  “You call those little ripples?” She stared at him in mock outrage. “When this character decides to flex his muscles, it feels more like a 6.0 on the Richter scale.”

  “That’s good. Right? Means he’s strong and healthy?”

  She folded her hands over her belly and studied him, a little surprised. “This is a Mike Cameron I’ve never seen before. Who’d have thought an ultrasound would be a religious experience for you?”

  “Go ahead. Make fun. But this is the first time I’ve ever been through anything like that. And it was pretty—” He searched for the right word, and the only one he could come up with was “Awesome.”

  She shifted in her seat, adjusting her shoulder belt more comfortably. “You know I love to tease you every chance I get, but I can’t do it this time. I felt the same way the first time I saw the baby.”

  “He was real to you from the first, though. Wasn’t he?”

  “Yes. How did you know?”

  “Because there was another alternative that would have been a hell of a lot easier for you. You didn’t have to have him.”

  Her expression turned serious. “You’re wrong about that. I did have to. For me it was the only choice.”

  He drove up the driveway and stopped in front of the house. When he turned off the ignition, he slanted his upper body toward her. “You’re quite a woman, Kel.”

  “No, I’m not—”

  “Just sit tight and let me pay you a compliment. I admire the hell out of you. I got a sneak peek at what you’re in for. That baby is going to be a big job. Feedings, changing diapers, trying to figure out what he needs because he can’t tell you. You were going to do that by yourself—”

  “I still am.”

  “But I’m—”

  “You’re my friend. The best I’ve ever had. To keep it that way, I’m moving out the beginning of September, just before school starts. I still plan to raise the baby alone.”

  Mike gripped the steering wheel, not quite sure what he was feeling, although anger was right there at the top of his list. She did nothing more than remind him of their original agreement. It had been his idea.

  But something had shifted for him today. He wasn’t so sure he wanted to let that bargain stand. He almost blurted it out, but the wary expression on her face stopped him. She didn’t want to hear; he didn’t want to upset her.

  He took a deep breath, putting aside what he’d been about to say. “You won’t mind some company from time to time, will you?”

  “Of course not. I’m sure little Sam will look forward to lots of visits with you.”

  “You’re naming him Sam?”

  She nodded. “It’s a strong name. And I want him to be strong like his Uncle Mike.”

  He blinked, wondering where that had come from. She was really keeping arm’s distance from him. What was this “Uncle Mike” baloney?

  As she struggled to remove her seat belt, he reached over and released it. Now wasn’t the time to confront her about this. He had seen for himself how intimately her welfare and the baby’s were connected. He wouldn’t do anything to chance harming either of them. He would keep his cool and wait for a good time. But whenever or wherever that would be, one thing he knew for sure…

  A showdown was coming.

  Kelly stared at the small trivia game card in her hand and silently read the science question. It was an easy one and would give Mike the last little pie-shaped piece to fill in his wheel. Again. He was far too insufferable when he won. She would go to almost any lengths to keep that from happening.

  She looked at him without blinking. “What’s the atomic weight of Denver?”

  His eyebrows drew together in a puzzled frown. Then he noticed the grin she couldn’t hide and pointed an accusing finger at her. “You made that up.”

  She held up her hand and put the other palm over her heart. “As God is my witness…”

  “St
uff a sock in it, Kel. Let me see that card.”

  She put it behind her back. “You’ll look at the answer.”

  “The answer is not in question here. The question is in question.”

  “Why?” she innocently asked.

  “It’s a stupid question. If it was on the up-and-up, you’d hand over that card.”

  “Aren’t you getting tired of this game?” she asked. “We’ve been at it for hours.”

  Since right after dinner. Mike had come home from summer football practice, showered and helped her with dinner and the dishes. She’d suggested the game. It was scraping the bottom of the excuse barrel, looking for ways to take her far-too-active imagination off Mike.

  He sat on the floor across from her with the oak coffee table and game board between them. His grin was enough to make her pulse do the Charleston. She figured asking him to put a paper bag over his head would generate a conversation that she didn’t want to have, so she discarded the idea.

  The problem with this trivia contest was that it was a classic example of why she and Mike were such close friends. He was good at answering science, geography and sports questions. Kelly knew history, literature and entertainment stuff. They demolished the competition when they played partners. If it was just the two of them, the game dragged on forever. Kelly had the uncomfortable feeling that they were two halves of the same wheel, and she needed Mike to keep her rolling.

  She couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t been her friend. If everything went as she hoped, that wouldn’t change.

  The doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” Kelly said, standing and stretching with the game card still in her hand. “I need to move around.”

  She seized the opportunity to postpone asking Mike Who invented the railroad sleeping car in 1859? What kind of a science question was that? Any idiot could figure out that it was Mr. Pullman. Mike wouldn’t know the “George M.” part, so she might be able to get him on a technicality. After she got rid of whoever was at the front door.

  “Don’t you want to leave that here?” he asked, pointing to the question card in her hand.

  “Not on your life, Cameron. You cheat.”

  “Me? The question you just gave me is as phony as a three-dollar bill. You’ve got a nerve—”

  Ignoring his good-natured tirade, she walked to the front of the house. The entryway wood was cool against her bare feet. Through the glass in the door, she could see the silhouette of a woman.

  Kelly opened the door. “Yes?”

  The attractive blonde in jeans held a manila envelope in her hands. “Are you Kelly Walker Cameron?”

  “That’s right.”

  “This is for you. Will you please sign for it?”

  Kelly took the packet and put her signature on the attached slip, which the woman promptly removed. “Have a nice day, Mrs. Cameron.”

  “Thank you.” What in the world could this be? she wondered.

  Kelly shut the door and turned the envelope over. In the upper left hand corner was the return address. The names Burns, Banks, Boyle and Smith, Attorneys at Law, caused a knot to tighten in her chest. She ripped open the flap, pulled out the pristine white papers, then read the top left corner.

  Doug had made good on his threat.

  “Kelly? Who’s at the door?” Mike called from the other room.

  She couldn’t answer. Fear and rage lumped in her throat closing it off.

  “Kelly?”

  The next moment Mike was beside her. “What is it, Kel? You’re white as a sheet.”

  When she held out the papers to him, her hand was shaking.

  Mike read through them quickly. “He’s suing you for custody of the baby?”

  “Damn him. He won’t get away with this. I’ll fight him with everything I’ve got” She looked at Mike. “What have I got?”

  “I told you what the lawyer said. His advice then was to do nothing. Wait and see. He figured Hammond was bluffing.”

  “He figured wrong,” Kelly said, slanting a glance at the papers still in his hand. “Now I need to do something—and fast.”

  Her stomach started churning, and she was afraid she might lose her lunch, something she hadn’t done since the beginning of her pregnancy. Now that she was nearing the end of it, she couldn’t bear the idea that she might lose custody of her baby. The thought of a jerk like Doug raising him was intolerable.

  An intense pain tightened across her abdomen. Kelly gasped and doubled over.

  “What’s wrong, Kel?” Mike asked sharply. He put his arm around her.

  She sucked air in through her teeth. “I—I don’t know.”

  “Is the baby coming?”

  “Too early,” she said on a gasp of breath.

  “Can you walk?”

  The pain lessened and she straightened. “Yes.”

  He guided her to the family room and sat her down on the sofa. Then he fluffed the pillow behind her back and gently lifted her ankles, swiveling her so that her legs were up and she lay semi-reclined. He pushed the game board out of the way and sat on the table beside her, his face creased with worry.

  Her abdomen tightened again and she gritted her teeth. “Here comes another one.”

  “Are these contractions? Should we start timing them, like they said in Lamaze class? What can I do?” he asked, a desperate note in his voice.

  For the second time in the last ten minutes, Kelly was afraid for her baby.

  It was too early.

  She knew he was fully developed, but his little body needed the next few weeks to mature so he would have an easier time of it when he came into the world.

  Before she could control it, tears filled her eyes until everything in front of her wavered, as if she was looking through a rain-slicked window. She blinked hard. “If something happens to the baby—” Her voice cracked and she stopped.

  “He’ll be fine, Kelly.” Mike lifted her hand and placed it between his own. “Take deep breaths,” he said.

  “What if this is labor? What if Sam comes too early? What if there’s something wrong—”

  “It’s not labor,” he said firmly. “It’s stress. Damn that two-bit shyster—” He clamped his mouth shut, and it was several moments before he spoke again. “Nothing’s going to happen, because you’re going to calm down.”

  “How can I? Doug is planning to take my baby. I don’t know how to stop him.”

  “Let me handle that weasel. You just think about yourself and the baby. I plan to beat him at his own game—”

  “It’s a lawsuit, Mike. That is his game.” Although panic was very close to the surface, it had been a few minutes since the last pain. She was feeling a little better. Maybe Mike was right and this was just a reaction to the shock of learning that Doug was serious. If anyone had told her that the lesser of two evils would be facing off with Doug Hammond for her baby’s custody, she wouldn’t have believed it.

  “Lawsuits are filed all the time. This one isn’t worm the time and energy it would take to blow it to hell,” Mike said. “You’re working yourself up over a piece of paper.”

  “If I thought for one minute that he sincerely cared, it wouldn’t be so bad. But he’s only interested in being a father if it will further his career. What will happen to Sam if Doug wins?”

  Another sharp pain gripped her, and she squeezed Mike’s fingers.

  “Another one?” he asked, tightening his hold on her hand.

  She nodded. “It’s not as bad, though.”

  “Kelly, you’ve got to relax.”

  “I can’t. Not until I know Doug won’t get his hands on my baby.”

  “Trust me, Kel. I’m telling you he will never take this child from you.”

  “How can you know that?”

  “Because I’ll handle Doug.” His voice was hard as granite.

  Kelly saw the fierce expression in his dark eyes, and it frightened her. Not because she knew him and how much he wanted to use the Neanderthal approach. What scared her more was how mu
ch she wished she could let him take over and deal with Doug. But if she did, they would cross the line into territory that might alter their friendship. She didn’t think she could get through this without Mike. Not just because he was her friend, but because she needed a man, or more specifically a husband. She had to look more stable if they went to court in a custody battle.

  She felt guilty for using Mike, then reminded herself that the marriage idea had been his in the first place. But that didn’t give him the right to take over.

  She pulled her hands from his grasp. “If you’ll give me the number of your attorney, I’ll call him and take care of this.”

  Mike shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

  “Why?”

  This was not the way their friendship had always worked. He was trying to shut her out.

  “You’re in no shape to call him. You’re too emotional.”

  So, things between them were already changing. Friends talked to each other and faced problems together.

  Some choice. She could take full responsibility of the situation, walk out on their agreement and risk losing her baby. Or let Mike run the show and lose the best friend she’d ever had.

  Maybe there was one other thing she could do. If Mike called her bluff, she knew she would have to eat crow and stay with him for her baby’s sake. But it was worth a try.

  She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the couch. “Then our agreement is over, Mike.”

  Chapter Six

  Mike stared at her for a second. “Why?”

  She met his gaze squarely. “We agreed to marry for a lot of reasons. The most important was to present a united front should Doug make good on his threat. He’s done that, but you’re welshing on your promise.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “Excuse me, but the word united implies more than one person. It’s damn hard to unite by yourself. And that’s what you’re doing by leaving me out of the legal part of this.”

  “I’m trying to protect you, Kelly.”

  “I don’t need you to do that. I took care of myself before we got married—”