Highway Don't Care (Freebirds) (22 page)

  “He’s going to fucking kill me.  I did everything
right, Cheyenne!”  I wailed.

  I really was wailing.  My emotions were all over the
place, and without Gabe here with me I felt oddly empty and alone. 
Cheyenne and Payton were doing their best to be here with me, but they did have
work to do and couldn’t stay here with me every minute. 

  “Alright, chick.  Got a few more rounds to do. 
See you in a few.”  Payton said as she flounced out of the room ponytail
bobbing behind her.

  “You have the weirdest friends.”  I hiccoughed.

  “Yes, I do.  Gotta go too.  I’ll be back in
thirty.  I’m gonna ask if they’ll do an ultrasound on you.”  Cheyenne
said.

  She gave me a slobbery kiss on the forehead, patted my
ass, turned the lights out, and left the room.

  I was plunged into darkness, and then my head started
spinning.  I’d gone through a lot in the past four months.  My mind
was whirling.  How would I pay for an apartment if I didn’t have a
job?  How would I pay for a baby?  Would Gabe even be there?  I
knew he loved me, but he had a lot going on too.  He already had one kid
that he was worrying about, and I’d just added another in the span of a
week!  The rhythmic ‘lubb dubb’ of the baby’s heartbeat calmed me enough
for a fitful doze.  I was still crying, and would wake myself up choking
on snot and the likes, but still managed somehow.

  “Are you in pain, baby?”  Gabe whispered into my
ear.

  I came out of my doze to find myself on my side, my back
to the door.  Gabe was at my back leaning over my body wiping my tears
with the back of his hand.  I could smell him.  It was a mixture of
Irish Springs soap and a faint hint of burnt oil.  Didn’t matter how many times
he washed his hands or his clothes, he always smelled like he came from a
garage.  Which he did.

  “No.  They gave me some good shit.”  I said
into the darkness while cringing away from his touch a bit.

  I didn’t really want him to touch me.  Made me want
things I wasn’t sure he wanted to give at that moment in time.

  He felt my withdrawal and got up to come to the other
side of the bed so he could see my face.

  “What is it?  Is it the baby?” 

  “Do you care?”

  “What the fuck kind of question is that?  Of course,
I care.  How could you ask me that?”  He whispered heatedly.

  “You didn’t seem too excited when I told you.  You
freakin left me here by myself.  I’m scared shitless here.  You
haven’t said one single word to me since we left the college.”

  “Ember, I was pissed.  Not about the baby.  Not
at you.  In fact, pissed isn’t even the word here.  More like
irate.  How would you feel if your fiancé was held at knifepoint, and to
top it off that she was pregnant?”

  “Well I don’t lean towards that side of the fence.  So
if my fiancé was pregnant it would be a miracle.” 

  “Ember.”  He growled.

  “Okay, I’ll give you that.  But why were you gone so
long?”

  “I was questioning the girl that Jack shot.  She was
lucky.  Only skimmed her face.”

  “What’d you get out of her?”

  “She was high on the painkillers too.  What I got
was there was some tension in this branch of the gang.  Some of the main
people don’t agree with what the gang leader is doing to you.”  He said
while running one long finger along the belts at my stomach.

  “That good?”

  “Could be, we’ll see.”  He said as he bent his head
and kissed my cheek.

  The sound of a large thump on the other side of the door
had Gabe tensing in wariness.  He didn’t need to worry though because
Cheyenne’s clipped, “Motherfucker” soon followed the thump. 

  I let out a watery laugh when I heard that.  Even
her being at work couldn’t curb her mouth.

  Standing and walking to the door Gabe opened it for
Cheyenne.

  “Thanks.”  She said as she pushed the ultrasound
machine in.

  “What’s going on?”  Gabe asked her.

  “We get to look at the baby!”  Cheyenne squealed
while jumping up and down clapping her hands.

  Gabe watched her as if she was on crack. 

  “If it’s a girl, you have to name her Cheyenne.” 
Cheyenne said.

  “Fuck that.  You wouldn’t name either one of your
girls after me!  What makes you think we’ll name mine after you?”

  “Ember’s a weirdo name.  I didn’t want to stick my
kid with a weirdo name.”

  “Ember is not a weirdo name!  What the heck is
Cheyenne?  That’s like white-trash redneck.”

  “Take it back.”  Cheyenne fumed.

  “You first.”

  “Seriously?  Would you two shut the fuck up?” 
James said as he, Sam, Max, Jack, Elliott and Blaine walked into the room.

  “Make me.”  Cheyenne and I said at the same time.

  “What are y’all, two?”  Max asked.

  “Do you still keep those porn magazines in your
bathroom?”  I asked Max sweetly.

  His faced reddened and I burst out laughing.

  “You do!”  I squealed.

  “I do not.  I was fifteen!  Tell me what
fifteen year old boy didn’t have a fuckin’ porn magazine.”

  I looked at Gabe who was wearing a sheepish
expression.  I laughed and then groaned when my side pinched.

  “Where did you keep yours?”  Blaine asked Elliott.

  “Mattress.”  He answered.

  “What about you?”  Cheyenne asked Sam.

  “My car.”

  “Wow.  Y’all are a bunch of pervs.”  Cheyenne
exclaimed.

  “Hello, group.  I’m Dr. Robinson.  If everyone
but the father and the bed ridden would give us a moment, please.” 

  Everyone filed out of the room leaving only Gabe and I
alone.  Dr.  Robinson walked to the side of the ultrasound machine
and turned it on, and then turned to me.  Gabe made his way back to my
side and regarded the doctor.

  “You’ve had an exciting day, haven’t you Ember?” 
Dr. Robinson asked me.

  “You could say that.”  I answered dryly.

  “I’m assuming you’ve not had a chance to tell this young
man over here what we discussed earlier, correct?”  Dr. Robinson queried.

  “Not yet.  I wanted to do it face to face, and we
haven’t had that chance yet.”

  “Okay, I’ll lay it all out again.”  He said and then
turned his attention to Gabe.  “We discussed today about the risks of an
IUD pregnancy.  We have two options here.  We can leave the IUD in,
or we can remove it.  If Ms. Tremaine is at 12 weeks or less this is the
better option.  Once the IUD is removed it will have the same risks as a
normal pregnancy.”

  “What’s the other option?”  Gabe asked.

  “If Ms. Tremaine is over 12 weeks she can have it removed
or she can leave it in.  The results are both a 50% rate of
miscarriage.  This is also if the IUD is still in the correct
position.  We had an appointment for tomorrow morning, but since we are
all here I would like to go ahead and take a look around.”  Dr. Robinson
explained.

  Heart in my throat I glanced at Gabe’s face.  It was
completely blank and I couldn’t read anything off his facial expressions as to
what he was feeling.

  Nodding my consent, he got started.

    “What we are looking for is gestation
first.  Then we will look for IUD placement.”

  The doctor squirted a clear lube on my stomach that was
colder than a witch’s tit.  He rubbed it in with the alien probe and our
little alien face lit up the screen.  He did some clicking with the mouse
and moved the wand again.

  “Looks to be about sixteen weeks.  Due date should
be around February 7
^th
.”

  A small inhalation from Gabe had me looking his way with
raised brows.

  “That was my mom’s birthday.” 

  “Alright, the IUD doesn’t even look like it’s there
anymore.  At least it’s not in the correct place.  My guess would be
that it is somewhere in the uterus, most likely behind the baby since we can’t
see it.  It’s also possible that it isn’t there at all anymore.  When
was the last time you felt the strings?”

  My face flamed.  To feel the strings you had to
stick your finger’s up your vagina.  The last time I had my finger up my
vagina was months ago, before Gabe and I were officially seeing each
other.  I’d also been getting off to thoughts of Gabe, but now that I
think about it, I didn’t feel them then either.

  “Uhh, well I haven’t felt them in a while.”  I
stuttered out.

  “I haven’t noticed them either.  So it’s been four
months at least.”  Gabe said with a shit-eating grin on his face.

  Dr. Robinson laughed quietly under his breath.

  “We’ll monitor you once a week.  I still want you to
come in tomorrow, and then every other Tuesday until you deliver.  We’ll
probably move you up to twice a week once you get closer.  Any other
questions?”  Dr. Robinson asked.

  “No.”  I said quietly.

  I wasn’t sure what to feel.  I couldn’t get too
excited, what if I lost the baby?

  Seeming to read my thoughts Gabe asked, “What’s the
likelihood of this pregnancy going all the way?”

  “There’s no way to tell.  This could be just a
perfectly normal pregnancy.  If the IUD is still in there, I have hopes
that it will just float around on the outside of the amniotic sac.  As I
said, it’s also possible that the IUD fell out and you never noticed it was
gone.  This is one of those wait and see type things.  I have no
guarantees right now.”

  “Is it too early to tell the sex?”  I asked him.

  “This isn’t normally my forte, but I will definitely give
it the try.  The ultrasound techs have taken over this job for me and it’s
been many years since I have had to do it.  Let’s see.”  He said as
he moved the wand around.  “This is a leg.  This is a foot. 
This right here is a penis.  Nope, no mistaking that one, he just let it
all hang out there.”

  Everyone chuckled at the lack of modesty of our little
guy.  Like father like son.

  “Here are a few pictures.  Careful of that side
there.  I’ll get the nurses to bring your discharge papers.  See you
in the AM.”  Dr. Robinson as he walked briskly out the door.

  “I’m scared.”  I whispered.

  “I know baby, me too.”

  “Who wants hotdogs?”  Cheyenne said as she burst
into the room.

  “You interrupted my moment.  I was about to get
hospital sex.”  I whined.

  “Don’t lie.  Gabe would never let you do
that.”  Cheyenne argued.

  “How do you know?  Do you have superpowers
now?”  I asked her.

  “Gabe’s a good guy.  He would never do it anywhere
where it was possibly to get caught.”  Cheyenne said confidently.

  At that, I laughed my ass off.  Of course, he
wouldn’t.

  “Hello, all.  Ember dear, this is your discharge
papers.  Come in if you experience any bleeding or contractions. 
Your follow up appointment is tomorrow at 9:30 A.M.  Sign here.” 
Nurse Wilma said.

  I didn’t know if she was actually named Wilma.  She
did however resemble Wilma off The Flintstone’s.

  Just like that, I was released from the hospital. 
Gabe helped me downstairs with an arm around my waist.  I felt like I’d
been run over by a Mack Truck.  I ached in places I didn’t even know had
muscles.

  “I want to go to Cancun Dave’s.”  I said to the
group.

  Everyone groaned, but we loaded up into Sam’s suburban
and James’s truck and headed over.

  Cancun Dave’s was one of those restaurants that you
either loved or hated.  My mother used to describe it as a hole in the
wall mom and pop place.  It used to be located right beside its current
location, but it burned to the ground from an unexplained kitchen fire. 
Then they bought the old pawnshop next store and converted it.  They’d
plowed down the old one and now used it for extra parking. 

  I was devastated when I found out it burnt down.  I
spent months in a state of depression because I couldn’t get my queso fix like
I was used to every Thursday.  However, it was back now and better than
ever.  The whole place was done up in Retro 50s. 

  Entering in through the main door (There were two, one
was to the bar, the other was to the main restaurant) I walked up to the host
and said, “Nine please.”

  The young teenybopper’s eyes widened when she got a
gander at the sexy man flesh at my back.  Then again, who wouldn’t? 
They were all over six feet, scary, muscled, and menacing.  None of them
looked to be in the mood to go out to eat, but they would for the poor girl
that was held hostage.

  I was practically bouncing on my feet I was so excited to
eat here, but as I rounded the corner, I stopped dead at what I saw in front of
me.

  “Motherfucker.”  I said under my breath.

  “What?”  Cheyenne asked.