by Jill Cooper
“Everything’s going to get harder now, so we have to be careful.” Sally opened a door and Wendy saw a dim lit room with an ultrasound machine and various medical equipment. Like they were expecting to come here.
Sally helped her in bed and then covered her up with a light blanket. “Sleep now. Tomorrow things won’t seem so bad.”
Wendy watched her go and listened to the door latch. Then she closed her eyes, begged that sleep would take her, and that her words would be true.
It wouldn’t bring her Dad back, though.
She slept, but not soundly. Every so often her dreams were interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Underneath her door’s threshold, the light was disrupted now and then by the shadow of a man’s leg. Someone was keeping watch.
I’m in danger. Wendy thought, and her belly tightened.
Marshall Xavier Roberts, better known to his enemies simply as Crane, walked with purpose down the hall. Just outside Wendy’s bedroom, Jack paced, looking anxious. His eyes were glazed over, drunk, and in his hand was a switchblade. He licked his lips before placing his hand on the doorknob and turned.
This wasn’t going to happen on his watch. Marshall snatched him by the throat and threw Jack against the wall. Old portraits rattled and a vase of plastic flowers shattered onto the rug. “You better be rethinking that. No one bothers the girl, you got me?”
Jack squirmed and gagged for air when Marshall applied more pressure to his windpipe. He was a sniveling coward, just the type Marshall hated. Maybe he was a lot of things, like a robber and a murderer, but he never raped a child and he didn’t intend to sit by and watch.“You so much as make her nervous and I’ll gut you and stick you in the icebox out back. No one will find you until next summer. Hear me?”
The fear in Jack’s eyes was all Marshall needed to see. He let the boy go, but walloped him one between the eyes, just to send the message home.
Jack yelped, holding his nose with both hands. “What’d you do that for?”
“To make sure we’re clear,” Marshall rumbled. “Girl’s under a lot of pressure. We need to make sure she’s calm for now. Understand? Keep your distance and hands off. One look, Jack. One!”
Jack glanced at Marshall over his shoulder, fuming with rage, but he was small and Marshall was lethal. He headed into the bedroom across the hall and bolted his door shut.
Pleased, Marshall made rounds upstairs to make sure all the rooms were secure before heading downstairs. There was a common area just off the main office where he found his girl, “Sally.” Most of the time she went by the name Marie, but hated to break character so that’s what he called her. She sat in a pair of short shorts, head no longer covered with the blond wig she wore around the girl. Her short brown hair was tousled as she sat on her heels and took a long draw from her cigarette. They way she bounced told Marshall that she was agitated.
He didn’t really blame her. He was calm, but he had assassinated senators and top businessmen. He was used to the pressure, relished it. The girl was young, hot, and eager for money. Didn’t take more to convince her what needed to be done, that he could give her the world. It was still debatable if he would, but for now she was an ally. And a good toy to keep around.
He grabbed her hair to pull back her head and roughly kissed her neck. “You need to unwind, arling.”
“Not tonight.” She grimaced and shrugged him off.
“It’s the only thing I can think of when I can see your tits through your shirt.” He knelt down on the sofa beside her and cupped her breasts in both hands, yanking on the nipples to elongate them. Kissing her bare shoulders, Marshall felt her relax as she snuffed out her cigarette. Sally always meant yes when she said no. She was the best type of woman to keep around and it was best to keep her distracted.
“What about the boy?” she murmured.
“He won’t make a peep. Not until morning. Any doubts he’s had about us, well, let’s just say I convinced him everything will be fine. Tomorrow he’ll be down for breakfast, he’ll soothe Wendy’s fears, and keep her calm ‘til she has that thing.”
Sally turned on her knees to face him and Marshall suspected that getting lucky that night was out of the picture. “If she has it. The blood pressure meds ain’t working anymore. She’s swelling up. I think she might be developing hypertension or worse. Pre-C.” She fumbled with her pack of smokes.
“Well, you’re the nurse, fix it.”
“Nothing can fix that. Only thing is to have the baby. Barely eight months along. Not sure it’d survive. At least out of the hospital.”
Marshall wiped his mouth. “For a human, but what about a glistening? I thought you were some sort of expert.”
“I delivered lots of babies in New Haven 52, sure, but they weren’t half-breeds like this. Most glistening babies are born in the eighth month, but it’s not full glistening. It might not have a fighting chance.”
“Then there goes all our money.” He was thoughtful. “Tell me what you need and I’ll get it.”
Sally lit her cigarette. “Saline, steroids for Wendy. In case we need to deliver early, we’re gonna need to beef up that kid’s lungs, but without an incubator—”
“Then we’ll get it. Draw up a list and we’ll get it.”
“It’s not going to be that easy.”
“Hey, I never said it would, but if we can get the kid out and keep it alive long enough to sell it, we’ll be rolling in millions. We got a long list of people interested. Some high up in government. They’ll pay well.” He brushed her hair off the nape of her neck.
Sally closed her eyes and sighed. “How well?”
“Enough so we won’t need to take another job ever. Then I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. Tropical. Maybe even buy you our own island.”
Sally eyes lit up in the way a little girl’s would when she saw her first doll. She was gorgeous and the thought of money excited her to the point where her cheeks flushed and her breasts perked up. Money was a great equalizer when it came to mood and libido. Marshall wanted her right then, so he took her. Fast and hard.
****
Morning came quick for Wendy Reynolds. Once she stopped waking up from noise outside her room, she fell into a deep sleep. Then she blinked and it was morning, with sunlight streaming into her small room. There was no sourness to her stomach, or bile rising in her throat. She just snapped awake, feeling refreshed and happy. Then the memories about the day before, about her parents, rushed back to her.
Wendy wanted to cry. She might have, had Jake not been sleeping beside her. Her heart skipped a beat and she stroked his cheek. His right eye was bruised. That was new. She wondered what had put it there. What happened to him since they parted last?
When his eyes opened, they were bright. Jake smiled. “I was afraid I’d never see you again.”
Wendy couldn’t help a few tears then. They embraced gently, but urgently. “Me too. I never want to part like that again. Promise?”
“Of course I do. But Thomas was just doing what was best for us. To keep you and the baby safe. Me too. We need to respect what he says.”
“That’s the first time you’ve said that.” Wendy rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to roll away and pout.
“Well before yesterday, it didn’t seem too serious. I didn’t know—didn’t know people would react like that. And I want our peanut to be safe.” He rested his hand on Wendy’s large bulging stomach. He leaned down and kissed it.
Wendy wanted that too. She knew things were bad, worse, than she thought they were, but she hated to be told what to do. “I guess Rebecca sent him for our security for some reason. I guess we do need to trust him.”
Jake grinned. “That’s my girl.”
“What happened to your eye?”
“My eye?” He echoed and touched it. “Oh, nothing. Just a little accident. I was getting some supplies. It was wet out and I slipped.”
“Onto your eye?” Wendy asked with raised eyebrows.
“When did you g
et so suspicious?” Jake asked but was still cheerful. There wasn’t a hint of duplicity to his voice.
“After everything, who can blame me?”
“Well, how about we go downstairs and I’ll make you an omelet? With buttered toast.”
“Yum, sounds good to me.” When Jake offered Wendy help getting out of bed, she took it.
“And maybe, maybe once the baby’s born. I don’t know, how would you feel about going to look at rings?”
“Rings?” Wendy felt like she might float away.
“Well sure, for our wedding. People who have babies are married. And I want to be with you forever, Wendy. I think for that we need rings.”
She squealed like a little girl, unable to hide her excitement. Jake held her hair back, studying her face. Wendy knew she was puffy under the eyes and her jaw wasn’t as defined as it used to be, but when he looked at her like that, Wendy felt like the prettiest girl in the world. “I think I love you, Jake Monroe.”
“I’ll take care of you forever. Whatever happens next,” he promised. “Go get dressed and I’ll meet you downstairs with everything you need for the day.”
Something about him seemed different, but Wendy couldn’t put her finger on it. She paused at the bathroom door. “Where is it we’ll go, after here?”
Jake shrugged. “I’m not sure. Thomas will know. He always has a plan.”
Wendy thought Jake found him as creepy as she did, but now he seemed docile as a puppy. “You sure you’re feeling like yourself?”
“Oh sure. Spot on.” Jake grinned.
You couldn’t fake a smile like that, Wendy thought, and her nervous feelings subsided. She turned into the bathroom with duffel bag in hand. She decided on a quick shower.
While steam filled the tub, Wendy undressed and left her dirty clothes in a pile on the floor. Her reflection certainly had seen better days. With the dark circles under her eyes and the size of her popped belly, she felt like a freak experiment gone wrong. Part of her couldn’t wait for this to be over, to have the baby, but another part was so frightened of the idea of giving birth, of raising a child, that she wanted to stay pregnant forever.
“You are just a host of contradictions,” Wendy said to herself.
She enjoyed the hot water pelting against the sore spots of her neck and lower back. A moan of pleasure escaped her lips. She had been cooped up for so long in the car and nothing had ever felt as good as this. Wendy turned the water up as hot as she could stand, until it felt like the flesh might melt right off her. After her hair was drenched, she poured in her shampoo and scrubbed it hard. As she turned with her hands in her head, she could see through the foggy glass that someone was watching her. He had a wide stance, but Wendy couldn’t make out who it was.
“I’ll be right out,” she called in a jittery voice, but the figure didn’t move.
With suds running into her face, Wendy cautiously slid the door open and saw it was Jack, the cousin she met from the night before. He was standing with his mouth agape, a hand down his pants. His arm pulsed up and down with fervor, and he grunted as they made eye contact.
Wendy was horrified. Too sickened to move and her heart leaped wildly so that it echoed in her ears.
“Want me to come in there?” he slurred. “And you can finish what you started, baby. What do you say? Make ol’ Jack come so hard, it’ll rip you right in two.”
Wendy’s vision split so there were two bathrooms, and two Jacks. They came back together in a clap, causing her eyes to roll back into her head. She fell, her body seizing violently as her head smashed into the tile basin.
Barely able to open her eyes, for Wendy the room spun. She was back in bed and in a loose t-shirt, pulled up to expose her belly. It seemed to glisten in the darkness. Sally was there with her, prepping an ultrasound machine for a reading.
“Am I losing the baby?” Wendy asked. She could see two IVs hooked up to her arm and she couldn’t feel the baby move.
“Not if I can help it, hon.” Sally said. “Thomas is grabbing an incubator, just in case. I’d feel better if we could keep the baby in you for a few more weeks, minimum. Glistenings have a different gestation period than we do, but I’d feel better with a little more time.”
“I feel really hot. Uncomfortable.” Wendy shifted in the bed.
“Your fever’s back. Won’t go down.” Sally sat beside her for a moment. “Your blood pressure is dangerously high. Protein has been in your urine for the past few days. Most likely you have pre-eclampsia.”
Everything she said scared Wendy. “Can you fix it? Give me a pill?”
“Only one option. Give birth and then it goes away. So, I have you on steroids to help the baby’s lungs mature as much as possible. We can give it as much time as we can. Or we can induce you now, and pray for the best.”
Wendy took a shaky breath. “But the baby...?”
“Might not make it.”
She blinked back tears. Then everything she had gone through, would be for nothing? Her dad, her mom... “He’s important. He can change the world. I have to give him a chance, don’t I?”
Sally looked at her shoes. “If that’s your decision.”
“Can we go to the hospital?” Wendy asked.
“We can’t. If we do that, the people who killed your parents will find us. They’ll kill the baby, all of us, if we’re not careful.”
“Is Rebecca coming? For the birth. I thought she’d be here by now.” She thought of Rebecca and the words they shared at the compound. Now they felt hollow and false.
“She’ll try. I’ve updated her on where we are. That’s your decision, then? To give birth here?”
“I don’t see another choice.” Wendy said, as if she had resigned herself to her fate.
“We’ll do our best to make you comfortable and I’ll keep a close eye on your vitals. If it gets too dangerous, we’re not going to have a choice but to induce you.”
“Will I die?” Wendy asked. She wished Jake was in the room.
“Let’s just...hope for the best. All right?” Sally placed the ultrasound scanner against Wendy’s extended flesh. A few moments later, the baby’s strong heartbeat echoed through the room. “His vitals are nice and strong.” Her voice had hope.
Wendy felt some too as she gazed at the monitor and her fingertips extended towards it. “His head is down.”
“Yes,” Sally agreed, “won’t be too much longer now.” She turned the machine off. “I’ll go make you some lunch. Bed rest from now on.”
Wendy nodded her thanks and watched her go. As the door latched shut, Wendy buried her face in her pillow and cried.
Marshall’s fist collided with Jack’s head.
The base of Jack’s skull crunched into the marble counters at the front desk. He didn’t fall down because Marshall had a fistful of his shirt. His face was a river of blood; his eyes, two lost pebbles; his shattered teeth were shards of rubble.
“Stay away from the girl. Stay away from the girl, is that too much to fucking ask?” Marshall asked, throwing Jack down onto the bearskin rug and forced his knee into the other man’s back.
He was right at glistening boy’s feet, but Jake barely looked up. He couldn’t because Marshall Crane told him not to. Jake couldn’t do anything unless Marshall gave him orders. That was clear. It had been ingrained in him for over five hours, the same as his life had been in New Haven 56.
But now, he missed home. The world was too big and it was dark and scary. The only thing he liked about being on the outside was Wendy and cheeseburgers. He could have as many burgers as he wished and no one was around to tell him to stop.
But Jake missed the small town and the malt shops and his friends. He loved Wendy; sometimes when he was with her he could barely think of anything else but touching her. But Jake didn’t want to have a baby. He really didn’t, but what could he do? He got her pregnant and when you did that, it was like his mom always taught him. A man stands by his woman. A man loves his family. Babies were famil
y, and that was that.
Tit for tat.
Babies were warm; they were the future. If Wendy had his, that meant she was his future. She would be a Monroe. So when Wendy sneaked word to Rebecca while visiting her dad at the Outpost, it made sense to Jake that he would go with her. You couldn’t be a family if you weren’t together. Kids needed a father. He had read about it in psychology class. Once you are a family, once you have kids, you don’t come apart. The nuclear unit was more important than anything, almost more than the air he breathed. So Jake went.
He missed football, cheerleaders and sports. He missed home, Marie, and Harvey. Most of all, Jake wished his dad were around. This was more responsibility than he wanted. Jake had been happy living in Summerset, working for the Millers. But now he was stuck with a bunch of people he considered loonies. And Wendy? Well, from how everyone was talking about her, it sounded like she might die.
Jake blinked his eyes when the gunshot went into Jack’s head.
But at least he didn’t look up.
“Grab his ankles and help me.” Marshall ordered.
Jake did, without a second thought. They walked out into the back off the deck and through a cluster of trees. The twisted path led them to a small lake where Marshall weighted Jack’s body with stones and tossed him in. His eyes were gleaming with rage.
“Remember, it’s your job to keep Wendy calm. You keep her calm, no matter what happens. You understand me? Answer me, for fuck’s sake.”
Jake nodded. “I’ll always keep her calm.”
“Good, now get back in that damn house and be useful. Clean up the blood.”
“Do you know where the sponges are?” Jake asked.
Marshall rolled his eyes. “How about you start checking in the kitchen?”
It sounded like a good idea to him, so Jake was silent when he returned to the cabin. He knew where the kitchen was. It was where Wendy’s toast still waited to be buttered. The chair was overturned where Marshall had sat up quickly when Jack announced that Wendy had some sort of medical problem. It worried Jake, of course it did, but he had to remain calm. He had to help Wendy.