by Pamela Bauer
“There’s always the possibility of war somewhere and, unfortunately, those are the areas that need the medical relief.”
She frowned. “I thought you said you wanted to vaccinate children in the impoverished regions.”
“I do, but if doctors are needed in more urgent situations…”
“How long will you be gone?”
“Six months to a year.”
“Ohmigosh, you’re kidding!” She stared at him as if in shock.
He smiled, wanting to erase the worry from her face. “From the way you’re looking at me, I could almost believe that you’re going to be sorry to see me go.”
“Of course I am. I don’t want you to go if you’re going into a war zone.” This time there was no mistaking the distress in her voice.
She’d never been one to hide her emotions and it was obvious she was upset. He wanted to think it was because she cared about him. But he also knew she had a soft heart and there was a good chance she would have the same reaction to hearing that any one of her friends was about to embark on a difficult assignment.
She shuddered and said, “Can we talk about something else?”
“Sure.” It was too beautiful a night to talk about anything she found upsetting. “Is it my imagination or do the stars look brighter than usual tonight?”
She propped her chin on her hand and stared up at the night sky. “There are a lot of them tonight, but it’s hard to see them with so many lights in the city. It’s one of the first things I noticed when I moved here. Back home if you were to sit out on a night like this you’d see gazillions of tiny white dots in the sky. Here you only see the bigger stars.”
“That’s one of the advantages of small-town living. Better stargazing,” he noted.
She chuckled. “Probably the only advantage, but don’t say that in front of my mom.”
“She likes it in Fergus Falls?”
“She’d like nothing better than for me to return.”
“You don’t think that’ll ever happen?”
She shrugged. “I suppose it could, but St. Paul feels more like home to me now. There’s just so much more to do here. One of the reasons I left Fergus Falls was because I was bored.”
She needed excitement in her life. He’d known that about her from the day they met. She was like a sponge, ready to soak up as many things as she possibly could. Maybe that’s what attracted him initially. She was so very different from him.
She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Are you there? Why do you always do that?”
“Do what?” he asked.
“Disappear inside your head. Why don’t you just tell me what’s on your mind?”
“You really want to know?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Before he could do just that, a tall figure came out of the shadows calling her name.
She jumped to her feet. “Roy! What are you doing here?”
“You need to ask me that?” he answered her question with a question as he stood directly in front of her. “I’ve talked to your mother.”
Krystal’s eyes widened. She looked from Roy to Garret and then back to Roy. Then she grabbed Roy by the hand. “Come with me,” she ordered, pulling him into the house.
Garret felt as if someone had just thrown a blanket over the stars. He wanted to follow them inside and say, “Are you nuts? Have you forgotten what this guy did to you?” But he knew he couldn’t. Because the only thing worse than seeing her drag Roy into the house would be if he were to follow them and she’d tell him to leave.
Ever since the night of the hospital ball he’d wanted to believe that she was finished with Roy Stanton. Now he could see that he hadn’t been wrong to believe that she’d only slept with him because she’d been so distraught over Roy cheating on her.
Suddenly the corned beef sandwich tasted awful. He jammed what was left of it into the bag and tossed it in the garbage on the way to his car.
CHAPTER FOUR
KRYSTAL’S HEART BEAT so fast she could feel it in her throat. Why would Roy come to see her unless he knew about the baby?
I’ll be there to help you. Her mother’s words echoed in her ears. Was this her idea of help? Calling Roy on her behalf? She realized that, like everyone else, her mother had assumed he was the father of her baby. She should have expected it. There’d been no opportunity for Krystal to tell her he wasn’t.
As she dragged Roy down the hallway past the kitchen, he called out, “Hi, Mrs. Graham. How’s it going?”
Her mother glanced up from the sink and smiled, looking quite pleased with herself. “Oh, hello, Roy. It’s nice to see you.”
It’s nice to see you? Krystal almost laughed out loud. If only her mother knew the absurdity of the situation.
“Would you like some cake and coffee?” her mother asked.
Krystal thought that it was a good thing she didn’t have a sharp object in her hand, because she might have used it on her mother. She wondered if anyone had used gestational insanity as a defense for assault.
“Roy and I are going for a walk,” she announced, realizing it was the only thing she could do with him. She couldn’t risk anyone overhearing what he might say to her and she certainly didn’t want him in her room. She didn’t want him anywhere near 14 Valentine Place tonight.
She dragged him through the hallway and out the private entrance to the backyard. As she looked toward the patio, she noticed that Garret was gone. A glance at the driveway told her his car was missing, too.
It was just as well. His absence meant one less stress factor.
“You know I really don’t feel like going for a walk,” Roy said as she pulled him toward the sidewalk. “I came over to talk to you, not walk.”
“Well, in order to do one, you have to do the other,” she snapped at him.
“Fine, but could we at least slow down? This isn’t a race, is it?”
Until he called attention to her gait, she hadn’t realized she was practically running. She slowed, hoping the flow of adrenaline would ease as well.
“So are you going to talk to me or aren’t you?” he asked irritably when silence stretched between them.
“Not in the middle of the street I’m not. We’re going to the park.” She really didn’t want to take him there, because it held too many memories from their past—of romantic strolls on moonlit nights and promises made beneath the stars. None of that mattered at the moment. Tonight it was just a place where they could talk in private. Fortunately it wasn’t far away.
“All right, we’re here. Let’s get this over with,” he said as soon as they reached the tennis courts at the end of the park.
They could have sat down on any of the vacant benches, but Krystal’s emotions wouldn’t allow her to sit. She folded her arms across her chest and faced him.
“I don’t know why you came over, Roy, but you shouldn’t have. I have nothing to say to you and I made it perfectly clear that there is no way in hell there will ever be anything between us again.” Her heart still raced and she struggled to control the trembling that had started the moment she’d seen him in the backyard.
“I came because I don’t need your mother calling me and giving me crap.” He pointed his finger at her for emphasis, which only fueled the anger she’d been trying to keep at bay. Seeing him again brought back the memory of the night she’d entered his apartment and found him with a naked woman.
“And what crap would that be?” she demanded, refusing to be intimidated by him.
“Don’t play games with me.” Again he used his finger for emphasis. “I know what you’re trying to pull on me and it’s not going to work.”
“I’m not trying to pull anything. Look, I don’t know what my mother said to you, but I told you the last time I saw you, that all I want is for you to be out of my life. I meant it then and I mean it now,” she said firmly.
“Are you pregnant?” He looked repulsed by the possibility.
“That’s none of your bu
siness.”
“It is when your mother calls me and tries to guilt me into doing the right thing,” he replied angrily. His eyes narrowed. “You are pregnant, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Gone was the charm he’d always managed to fall back on whenever he found himself in a tight spot. There was nothing even remotely attractive about him at this moment. He used an expletive and kicked the ground with his shoe, sending a divot of grass sailing in the air.
“There’s no way I’m being a father to a kid that isn’t mine,” he yelled at her.
“Good, because you are the last man on this earth that I would want to be a father to my baby. I’m going home.” She started to walk away, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“So who is the father? Is it somebody I know?”
Suddenly she knew the true reason he’d come to see her. He wasn’t upset that her mother thought she was pregnant with his child. What really bothered him was the knowledge that she had had sex with another man.
“You have no right to ask that.” She jerked away from his touch and again started walking toward home, but he stepped in front of her.
“I think I have every right. We were supposed to be getting married…or have you forgotten?”
“You’re the one with the short memory,” she shot back at him. “You had trouble remembering to be faithful to me, your girlfriend.”
“I wasn’t cheating on you. I was having sex. There’s a difference. And I wouldn’t have had to go elsewhere to get it if you wouldn’t have got it into your head that we should wait to have sex again until after we were married.”
She was getting sick of him thrusting his finger in her face as if she deserved to be scolded. Her own hand shot up and she pointed right back at him.
“Just stop! You have no right to blame me for your inability to keep your pants zipped. The only thing I’m guilty of is being stupid enough to think you were a man who deserved a second chance.” She pushed him out of the way, determined he wasn’t going to stop her progress.
He didn’t try. She knew he was behind her as she made her way back to 14 Valentine Place. She could hear his footsteps. Just before she reached the house, he caught up with her.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d tell your mother I’m not the one who knocked you up.” His tone remained hostile.
“I will. I’m sorry she called you,” she told him, which was the truth. She still couldn’t believe her mother had done such a thing.
He nodded, then walked over to his car and drove away. She didn’t bother watching the taillights disappear down the street, but went inside where she found her mother in the kitchen with Leonie, finishing the last of the dishes.
“Is everything okay?” It was Leonie who asked the question.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” she lied, forcing a smile to her face.
“Your mom said Roy was here.”
She nodded. “Yes, but he shouldn’t have come here. It was all a big mistake.” She looked at her mother as she spoke the words.
Her mother shifted uneasily and said, “I should probably get going. It’s a long drive home.”
“You’re going to stay overnight, aren’t you?” Leonie asked. “You shouldn’t be driving that distance at this late hour.”
Her mother glanced at the clock. “I didn’t realize it was so late. Maybe I should stay…if it’s all right with you?” She looked at Krystal, her brows raised in appeal.
“Or you could use the spare bedroom on this floor,” Leonie offered.
As much as Krystal would have liked to have had her room to herself, she didn’t trust her mother out of her sight, not after what she’d done. “You can sleep on my futon, Mom.”
“Why don’t the two of you go upstairs?” Leonie suggested. “I can finish down here.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Krystal asked, not wanting to leave her landlady with the remainder of the cleanup.
Leonie gave her a gentle shove toward the door. “Not at all. You go have some quiet time with your mom.”
Krystal knew that once they were back in her room their time would be anything but quiet. She thanked her landlady and took her mother upstairs, where she confronted her about the phone call to Roy as soon as she’d closed the door.
“Do you know how awful that was for me tonight?” she said, facing her mother with her hands on her hips.
“I’m sorry it didn’t go well with Roy,” Linda said.
“Did you think it would?” Krystal asked in disbelief. “Why did you call him?”
“Because I know how bullheaded you can be and I thought that if I gave you a little shove in the right direction, the two of you could patch things up and get on with the important things in life.”
“Important things like marriage you mean.” She made a sound of frustration. “You had no right to butt into my life like that.”
“I’m concerned about my grandchild.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to call up my old boyfriend and tell him I’m pregnant!” She was too angry to stand still so she went over to the closet to get linens for the futon and began making up the bed.
“I was only trying to help.” Her mother moved to the opposite side of the mattress to help her. “I know you and Roy have had your differences, but I thought…”
“Differences?” Krystal interrupted her. “He’s immature, irresponsible and incapable of being faithful.”
“Well, it would have been nice if you would have thought about that before you slept with him,” she said, shaking out the top sheet.
“I didn’t sleep with him,” she blurted out.
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s not the father of my baby.”
The revelation stilled her mother’s actions and took the color out of her cheeks. Krystal continued to make up the bed, tucking the corner under the mattress. When she straightened, her mother hadn’t moved.
When she finally found her voice, she said, “Well, if he isn’t the father, who is?”
“Just a guy I know,” Krystal said, returning to the closet for a pillow.
“Just a guy you know?” her mother repeated in disbelief. “You do something as intimate as make a baby with a man and you call him just a guy?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Then why don’t you tell me what it is? How long have you been dating this man?”
“We’re not dating.”
She grimaced. “Oh, please don’t tell me he was a one-night stand. I didn’t raise you to be that kind of girl.”
“I’m not that kind of girl.” Her voice rose with the denial. “I may date a lot of guys but I don’t sleep around, Mom. I never have and I never will.”
“He’s not married, is he?”
“No.”
“Thank goodness for that. Then there’s still hope.”
“Hope for what? That he’ll want to marry me?”
“I don’t think you realize how hard it is to find a husband when you’re a single woman with a child.”
Krystal knew it would be a waste of time to try to tell her she wasn’t looking for one. “Mom, don’t you think we’ve done enough arguing about this for one night?”
Her mother wasn’t about to let the subject drop, however. “I just don’t understand you. I did my best to teach you and Carly to be smart when it came to men. I don’t know how many times I told you that if a man truly loves you, he puts a ring on your finger.”
Krystal could have told her it was at least a thousand times. It was always the same broken record when it came to the lesson about love.
“You’re young, you’re beautiful…. I don’t understand why you have such trouble finding a decent guy,” her mother said in consternation.
“Trust me, Mom, they’re not easy to find,” she said on a note of resignation.
“Your sister didn’t have any trouble finding one and she didn’t have to leave Fergus Falls to do it.”
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nbsp; She should have known that sooner or later Carly’s name would be mentioned. Her sister had fulfilled their mother’s dream—met a nice boy, married well and had a family. Now she had the big fancy house in Fergus Falls, in-laws who were well-known around town and the ideal life as far as her mother was concerned. Krystal, on the other hand, had done exactly what her mother had told her not to do—she’d followed in her mother’s footsteps instead of learning from her mistakes.
She knew it was a good thing that someone knocked on her door, because in her current state she was dangerously close to saying something she’d regret. When she opened the door, she found Dena, still wearing the paper veil they’d made for her to wear at the shower.
“I know it’s late, but I wanted to tell you thank you again for the best bridal shower a girl could have.” She gave her an exuberant hug.
“You’re so very welcome,” Krystal responded.
“Is everything okay?”
She nodded but had to bite on her lip to choke back the emotions threatening to spill forth in the form of tears.
“I could use some girl talk. How about you?”
It was late and Krystal was tired, but she needed to talk to someone who wasn’t going to judge her about her pregnancy. “I’d like that.”
“Your room or mine?”
“Yours. Mom’s staying the night and I think she wants to go to bed.”
She nodded in understanding. “Should I make tea?”
“Not for me.” She stuck her head back into her apartment to tell her mother she’d be over at Dena’s, then pulled the door shut and gave Dena’s arm a squeeze saying, “Thank you for rescuing me. I so need to talk to someone other than my mom.”
“Things aren’t going well?” she asked as she led her to her room.
“I love my mother, but I wish she wouldn’t have chosen today as the day she was going to fix what was wrong in my life,” she said, sinking down on to the love seat. She curled her feet up underneath and faced Dena, who sat down beside her.
“Oh-oh, it was that bad, was it?”
“It was worse.” She stretched her arms up over her head and rotated her neck, hoping to ease the stiffness tension had created.