Exposed: An Anthology

by Brooke Cumberland

  “I’ll leave you to it,” she says and then she is gone. I throw back the pills with a mouthful of water and then look back at Jackson. He looks so worried. Deep frown lines mar his perfectly tanned face and his eyes are taut with concern.

  “When I left the Airport I walked outside and my ex was there. We had words and he hit me.

  “What the fuck?!” Jackson shouts.

  “Shh, you’ll get into trouble,” I chastise. “I managed to slap his face and knee him in the balls before I fainted. The doctor wants to keep me just in case I sustained a concussion when I fainted – apparently I hit the ground pretty hard and I have a contusion on the back of my head,” I explain.

  Jackson paces back and forth as I tell him the entire story including my statement to the police and what the doctors have said.

  “Christ. I’m going to kill that prick,” he seethes when I finish.

  “It’s okay, baby. He’ll get what he deserves. I hope his fellow inmates fuck him in the ass with the rough end of a pineapple,” I tell him.

  “You called him a Cock-goblin fuck nozzle?” He tries not to smile, but his eyes are twinkling.

  “Yeah,” I admit.

  “God, Ace, he could have hurt you so much worse.”

  Sadness suddenly hits me and I feel my eyes prick with tears. I hate that Matt hurt me but I hate it worse that his actions have caused Jackson to worry. I feel the tears fill my eyes and then overflow, running unchecked down my cheeks.

  “Hey. Hey, baby, don’t cry. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay, darlin’.” Jackson’s warm arms wrap around me and enclose me in a warm, safe cocoon, which only causes my tears to fall harder and accompanying them are loud, body-wracking sobs.

  “I’m s-s-sorry. I-it’s delayed r-r-reaction,” I sob.

  “Darlin’, you don’t ever have to say you’re sorry for cryin’. Not to me.” He places tender kisses over my hair as he continues to rock me and say soothing words until eventually I fall into an exhausted sleep.

  ***

  The next morning, I wake early and find Jackson asleep on the chair beside my bed, snoring lightly. I hate Matt even more for making Jackson sleep in a fucking chair. He shouldn’t have to sleep in chair, by a hospital bed, ever. Unless of course his partner (me hopefully) were having a baby (hopefully me, but not for a while) and in that case he’d better not be sleeping – he could just be resting or something. Shit. That reminds me. I still don’t have my period. I mentally calculate the days it’s been since I last had a period.

  Shit. Fuck. Shit.

  I was due for my period on Saturday. Three days ago. Crap. How could I forgotten? Oh no. What if I am pregnant and the baby got hurt yesterday. I need to ask a nurse what to do.

  I slide out of bed as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake Jackson, and plod down the hospital corridor to the Nurses’ Station.

  “Can I help you, Miss?”

  “Oh, I’m Eden Cross from room thirty-one. I just have a question.”

  “Sure, love. What can I help you with?”

  “Um, well, my period is late and I’m unsure if I’m pregnant or not but I’m worried that if I am, then the baby may have been hurt yesterday – if there is a baby, I mean,” I rush out.

  “Well, babies are pretty resilient so if you are pregnant it’s unlikely the injuries you sustained yesterday would have hurt the baby in anyway. Now, we’ll just do a simple urine test-,”

  “Edie,” Jackson calls as he comes hobbling as fast as he can out of my room. He’s still favoring that ankle. “Oh, Ace. You scared the shit out of me,” he lets his breath go in a relived whoosh.

  “Everything is fine. I’ll be back in a second,” I say, hoping he’ll turn around and go back to the room. No such luck. He stops when he gets to me and slides an arm around my waist.

  The nurse looks between us a few times and I silently plead with her. Please don’t say anything. He doesn’t know and I don’t want to alarm him.

  “Well, love, if you just take this container and ring your buzzer when you’re done, we’ll know one way or the other.”

  “Know what?” Jackson pipes up

  “Oh, just, it’s nothing,” I try for flippant, hoping he won’t push it.

  “What testing, Ace? Is she okay?” He turns to the nurse when I don’t answer.

  “She’s fine, sir.”

  “Maybe we should talk in private.” I give Jackson a pointed look.

  “I’ll give you a minute, and then I’ll come and see you.” The nurse walks back to her desk and busies herself. I lead Jackson back to my room.

  I decide to just get it all out in one go. No use beating around the bush, right?

  “I need to have a pregnancy test,” I blurt.

  Jackson looks at me for a good while. I think he’s stunned. Of course, he has every right to be.

  “Did he rape you, Edie?” Jackson looks horrified and his breath is coming out in short pants.

  “No. Oh god, no. Jackson.” Oh god, I can’t believe he thought I’d been raped.

  “I don’t understand,” he shakes his head as his sits down on the edge of the bed.

  “Well, a couple of weeks ago we had sex and usually you pull out but you didn’t and now, well, now my period is late and I just wanted to know one way or the other.” I explain. Then I add very quickly, “I want you to know that I am not trying to trap you or anything but if it comes back that I am pregnant, I want to have the baby. I’ll understand if you don’t want to be a part of it, I mean, we’ve only known each other a short time and-,”

  “Ace,”

  “-I can only imagine what you must be thinking-,”

  “Darlin’,”

  “And of course, what your family will think. The whole town will think I’m some sort of gold digging whore out to get a piece of the property but you need-,”

  “Ace, darlin’,”

  “To know that if you don’t want to be a part of this, then you don’t have to be. I don’t want money or anything from you, but I’d love you to be a part of the baby’s life. Oh god, we don’t even know if there even is a baby.”

  “Eden, Jesus woman. Calm ya farm and listen to me.”

  “Okay,” I say sounding resigned. I swallow hard as tears prick my eyes. I know what’s coming. He doesn’t want any part of this. I mean, why would he? He just got shot of Dannika and her shit and now here he is putting up with more shit.

  “Look at me,” he orders softly.

  “No,” I whisper in a thick voice. I don’t want to look at him as he delivers the blow that could quiet possibly destroy me.

  “Look at me, Ace,” he repeats, tilting my chin up. “I remember the night – you got me so worked up, I lost myself inside you. I wasn’t worried about it though because I assumed you were on the pill.”

  “I went off the pill while I was travelling,” I say meekly.

  “Darlin’, it doesn’t matter. I knew from the minute I saw you that you were it for me. We don’t even know for sure if you’re pregnant, but you gotta know, Ace, I’d be stoked if you had my baby inside you.”

  My eyes widen, “Really?” I breathe.

  “Yeah, darlin’. Really. And as for that shit about people calling you a gold digger, they’d want to pull their fuckin’ heads in or I’ll be seeing to it. The town loves you, Ace. They won’t be saying anything but good things if you got my baby in there,” he gently touches his hand to my stomach.

  “Okay,” I say quietly.

  “Right. So go fill that cup up.”

  I go into the small bathroom attached to my room and do my business. Then I walk out and join him on the bed. He presses the buzzer to alert the Nurses’ Station and we wait. Not long after the nurse comes in and takes my sample. She dips an innocent looking white stick into my pee and pulls it out again. I wring my hands in my lap while we wait. Jackson sits next to me looking the epitome of cool, calm and collected.

  After what seems like an age the Nurse looks over at us, “The test has come back
negative, but I would like to take some bloods just to be certain.”

  “So I’m not pregnant?” I enquire.

  “We can’t be certain until we take blood and get the results back. Sometimes the urine tests show up a false negative, just like they can also show a false positive, which is why we like to take blood – it’s more accurate. I’ll go and get the supplies.”

  “Uh, just quickly, how long does it take for the results of the blood work to come back?”

  “It should be back this afternoon, if not it’ll be tomorrow morning,” she replies before walking out.

  I sit alone in my thoughts and wait for the nurse to return. Jackson and I haven’t been together very long and I’m worried that if I am pregnant, the pressure of having a baby will tear us apart. I always planned on being a parent; it was something I always wanted and had forever factored into my life plans. However, the timing isn’t perfect. We should be getting to know each other. I mean, what I know of Jackson so far, I like. A lot. Except the fact that he snores, but even that’s kind of cute. I don’t even know what his favorite food is.

  “What’s your favorite meal?” I blurt out.

  “What?” A short burst of laughter escapes his lips with the word.

  “I was just thinking, we don’t know a lot about each other and there’s a slim chance I could be pregnant so I think we should do an intense getting to know each other session. Starting with your favorite meal – so what is it?” My voice is thick with a mixture of nervousness, urgency and impatience.

  “Calm ya farm, darlin’. We don’t even know for sure if you are pregnant and whether you are or you aren’t, we still got our whole lives to learn shit about each other. Just relax. Everything is going to be alright, you’ll see.” He soothes me with his words and pulls me to his side, rubbing his rough, calloused hand up and down my arm.

  The nurse comes back, takes my blood and then hands me my discharge forms. I’m free to go. I just want to go home, have a nice hot shower and curl up in bed. I’m still in my clothes from yesterday because I didn’t want to ask Jackson to go back in to my cottage to get me supplies.

  “We’ll go to your place and get you some clothes and then head back to mine, Ace. My bed’s comfier than yours.” Jackson says as we drive toward Pine Creek.

  “’Kay,” I mumble, sleepily.

  “I didn’t even think to get you supplies yesterday, darlin’. I’m sorry. I was so worried ‘bout getting to you, I didn’t think,” he says. Then he stuns me by hitting the steering wheel out of frustration.

  “Hey, it’s okay. I can go a night without a shower, honey. It’s no biggie.” I rub his arm and can’t help but notice how the muscles are accentuated by his tensing.

  “I just can’t fucking believe that prick. I should have never let you go by yourself. He would have been too fucking gutless to approach you if I was there.”

  “Honey, you can’t blame yourself, it’s okay. Matt did what he did and it’s done. I’m fine and he’s in jail. It’s not your fault – it’s Matt’s fault. He owns all the blame, don’t you let him off easy by shouldering some of it for him.”

  “I don’t like seein’ you hurt, Edie. It affects me deep down in my gut.” He looks me in the eyes as he speaks and I can tell the words have come straight from his heart. I give him a small smile of reassurance.

  ***

  “Oh, luv! What happened to you?” I was hoping to avoid seeing anyone when we pulled up out the back of the pub, but as luck would have it, Doreen was cleaning the pool and because it’s right near my cottage she spots us as soon as we pull in.

  “Oh, it’s nothing. Just a little trouble with my ex. It’s been taken care of,” I tried to blow her off. I just want a bloody shower and some sleep.

  “Sure don’t look like a little trouble to me, Edie. Have you reported him?”

  “It’s all sorted, Dory. Now, my woman needs to get some supplies and then she needs to rest so I’m gonna take her to do that. She won’t be fit for workin’ for a few days, that be alright with you?” Jackson’s tone is firm.

  A wide grin spreads across Doreen’s face as she looks at Jackson. She looks to me and says, “Take all the time you need, love.” Then she turns to Jackson and says, “Never thought I’d see the day. Happy for you, boy.” Then she turns without another word and walks back to the pool. I’m too exhausted to even think, so I just walk to my cottage and begin to throw things in my bag on autopilot.

  “Darlin’, you just go and sit down. I’ll get you some gear.” Jackson pulls me into a hug and I melt against him. He just calms me in a way I can’t explain. I can’t deny it either. Kissing my forehead, he releases me and I collapse on the lounge while he packs a bag for me.

  ***

  My phone ringing wakes me. Yesterday after Jackson packed my bags he drove us to his place and after I’d had a long, hot, relaxing bath we snuggled on the lounge watching movies until I fell into an exhausted sleep in his arms. Sometime during the night he must have moved me to the bed because that’s where I am now

  “Hello,” I croak. Noticing a cup of water beside the bed, I take a quick sip and then repeat my greeting.

  “Hello, would Miss Eden Cross be available?” A man’s voice asks.

  “Speaking.”

  “Good morning Miss Cross, Doctor Tobin from Darwin Memorial Hospital calling. I have the results of the blood work you had done yesterday.”

  “Oh, okay,” I say hesitantly.

  “Congratulations, Miss Cross, you’re pregnant,” he announces.

  “Um, wow.” I fall silent because I don’t know what else to say or what to do. I thought it was negative. The test yesterday said negative.

  “From your reaction, Miss Cross, I take it this pregnancy wasn’t planned?”

  “Ah, no not really,”

  “Well, there are many options that we can discuss,”

  “Options?”

  “Yes, because you are only early into your pregnancy abortion is still an option, otherwise there is adoption.”

  “Oh no! I could never consider abortion. I will be keeping the baby – it’s just this positive result after yesterday’s negative result has shocked me. I don’t want to get too excited or anything just in case this is a false result as well,” I hastily explain.

  “I can assure you that the blood test is one hundred per cent accurate. The reason for false positive, or as in your case false negative, results in the urine testing is based on the levels of the pregnancy hormones in your body. The levels of hCG increase rapidly in pregnancy and the first morning sample has the highest level of concentration, so for early detection we recommend using that however it simply could be that the level of hCG in the sample you provided was too low for the test to detect.”

  “That makes sense, and the sample I provided wasn’t the first morning urine.”

  “Now, I would like you to make an appointment for a scan so we can ascertain how far along the pregnancy is, and if you’d like me to be your Obstetrician during the pregnancy, we’ll need to make you an appointment to see me.”

  “That sounds perfect to me – I’m relatively new to the area so that saves me researching if you’re an obstetrician.”

  “Currently, the machine we use for ultrasounds is having repairs but we are expecting it to return next week sometime so if it suits you I’d like to make you an appointment for the week after that – so that will be two weeks from Friday. Does ten am suit you?”

  “Yes, that sounds good.”

  “Right. Now I will transfer you to my receptionist who will take your details and make you an obstetrics appointment, if you’d like to let her know the time and date of the scan she can make your appointment after that; save you an extra trip. Thank you, Miss Cross and have a great day.”

  “Thanks Doctor Tobin.”

  The doctor transfers me to his receptionist and after giving her all my personal details she makes an appointment for noon on the day of my scan. Even as butterflies nervously flutte
r in my tummy, I’m starting to feel excited.

  Jackson must be out working because I can’t find him anywhere in the house. I plod into the kitchen and turn the kettle on to boil and see a note on the counter:

  Babe,

  Gone to check how the boys are going with the harvest. Won’t be long.

  Jack xo

  So that’s where he is. They must have gotten the machine fixed; otherwise he’d be out doing that instead. I hear the kettle click off so I turn to pour the boiling water into my cup and the front door bursts open. I spin around in shock and immediately a grin spreads over my face.

  “Ace A-C-E,” Oscar shouts.

  “Hey Oscar.” He comes running towards me so I crouch down to his level. He surprises me but ramming straight into me and hugging me tight. “Sore,” he frowns as his finger traces the bruising on my face. “Ace sore,” he murmurs repeatedly. Tears prick my eyes at his sweet gesture and I swallow to keep them at bay. I don’t want to upset him more by crying.

  “Oscar, what did I tell you about knocking,” Jeremy chastises.

  “It’s alright. How’re you doing, Jeremy?”

  “Good thanks, Edie. How are you?”

  “Great,” I smile. I’m not going to tell anyone about the pregnancy just yet (except Jackson, of course, and Jules). I want to have the scan and make sure everything is okay before I go shouting it from the roof tops. And isn’t there a danger period or something – three months? Maybe that’s an old wives tales. I’ll have to visit the library and stock up on pregnancy books.

  Oscar runs off down the hall in the direction of the study and Jeremy shakes his head.

  “I wish I had his energy,” I say.

  “Don’t we all,” Jeremy laughs, “Jack told me what happened with your ex,” he sobers.

  “It’s nothing, really. It hurts like a bitch but it could have been worse,” I say and then immediately touch my hand to my belly. What if he had kicked me in the stomach? What if, instead of falling backwards when I fainted, I had fallen forwards?