A Life Unplanned (6 page)

Chapter 7 - Pretend

For once, I wasn't woken by Tyler, but by the smell of breakfast. I made my way downstairs to the kitchen and found Trent holding Tyler in his arms. Tyler was dressed to go fishing, wearing his little lifejacket and helping Trent make toast. Trent had him put the bread in and push the button down. But when they popped up, Trent would take them out, warning Tyler they were hot and showed him his red fingertips, and even went so far as to kiss his own fingers, like he had hurt them. Tyler looked concerned, and I wondered if I should have been upset that Trent was butting in and teaching my kid something, but when I reached for the bread, Tyler shouted, "Momma, HOT!"

"Those ones on top are probably still hot. Do you want to grab the jam?"

I grabbed the jam from the fridge and then watched in horror, as Tyler grabbed the butter knife, ready to jam up his bread. We would end up scrubbing the kitchen all day if he had his way.

"Give it to mommy."

"Mine," he held the butter knife against his chest, ready to fight for his chance to spread jam.

Trent put him in his booster at the table and then pulled out another butter knife. He started spreading the jam without saying a word. Tyler looked over at Trent confused, unsure how he'd ended up with a butter knife, but no jam on it.

"Have a seat," he said, as he put together a couple of plates. He cut a toasted jam sandwich into four pieces and brought it over to Tyler. He sat next to him. "Are you gonna cut it smaller?" he asked him. He held his knife over the pieces, showing Tyler how to cut them smaller. "Like this, buddy." Tyler got the idea, and he went to town, chopping the crap out of his toast. At least it was a minimal mess. Once Tyler was done chopping, he got to eating and finished off his whole sandwich.

I heard the stomping of feet coming from the back of the house. "Is Tyler, the fisherman, ready to go in the boat?" my father called.

Tyler jumped up, standing in his booster, and Trent was able to move much faster than I was to steady him. "Yeah, I’d say he's ready," Trent laughed it off and helped Tyler down. Roger pulled a cooler out of the fridge and waved to us. "We'll be back for dinner, or hopefully, with dinner."

Once the back door shut, I turned to Trent. "So, where did our mothers get off to?"

"I have no idea, but it couldn't have been good. My mom usually cooks big breakfasts, but she just 'didn't have the time' to do it this morning. They're definitely up to something."

I rode in Trent's car to the clinic, which was actually attached to a little hospital. That explained how they could call him in so fast from his clinic. He held the door for me and led me to a back room. He flipped on a machine, but didn't bother with the lights. "So, you know the drill, right?"

I nodded yes, scooting up on the bed and tucked my pants under my belly and pulled my shirt up over it as well.

The look on his face was confusing. He looked in awe and in pain at the same time. He gave me a gentle smile, as he readied the machine. "Alright, this'll be a little cold."

"It usually is."

"Have you had several ultrasounds?" He sounded worried.

"No, but Dr. Harding uses some gel when he checks for the heartbeat."

"Dr. Mathias Harding?" Trent sounded worried. I nodded yes, wondering how he knew my doctor. "Is he in a co-op of doctors now? Do you see several other doctors as well?"

"No, just him."

Trent looked nervous, like he was trying to debate between telling me something and keeping his mouth shut.

"Is everything alright?" I was beginning to worry. It wasn't a good sign, when one doctor wasn't happy about you seeing another.

He looked like he was about to explode and not in a good way. "Let's just take a look at our baby girl." I could tell he was trying to pull his thoughts together.

When her heartbeat filled the room, his smile was huge. I thought he was just going to look at her for fun, but he seemed to be doing a thorough exam, even going as far as to measure her organs. "Did Dr. Harding do your ultrasound or a technician?"

"He did," I answered honestly, and Trent seemed to examine the screen even more thoroughly. I could see the stress and worry in his face. He seemed to be taking several images and double-checking everything. "Is everything alright?" I asked worried.

"It looks like it. Who recommended him to you?"

"No one, I just saw he was covered by my insurance and located close to work."

"You work with a pediatrician, does she know him?"

"I don't know, I didn't tell her I was seeing him."

"You didn't ask anyone about him?" he nearly shouted.

"I didn't see any complaints about him online."

He shook his head, laughing blackly. "Of course not."

"Trent, what's going on?"

He looked at me nervously. "I know you don't like me or trust me, but please, just listen to me this one time and change doctors. I can give you a list of great doctors, just don't see Mathias anymore."

"You know Dr. Harding personally?" I asked.

He nodded yes. "Please, I'll bet if you asked the doctor you work for, she'd agree with me. Just please, consider changing doctors. Hell, I'll pay for the cost of an out-of-network doctor if you want. Just please, don't see him anymore. I don't want him delivering our baby."

Again, I didn't snap at him for calling Katie our baby; instead of saying she was just mine. He looked really upset about it, and I was getting worried. "Is she alright? Does everything look like it should?" I asked, as I tried to see the ultrasound pictures.

"It looks good so far. I'm going to pull these up in my office and look at them closer to make sure I didn't miss anything." He put his hand on one side of my stomach and held the wand in the other, shifting my belly to get her to move and kick him. He smiled down at her, and before I could stop him, he was kissing my belly. My eyes widened, and I gasped in shock. He looked up at me wide-eyed, like he couldn't believe he had just done that.

"Do you kiss all of your patient's bellies?" I asked letting him know I wasn't pissed at his little slipup.

"No, just the belly with my baby in it."

I raised a challenging eyebrow at him, and he smiled. "I swear yours is the only pregnant belly I've ever kissed."

We heard a knocking on the office door, and Trent poked his head out of the room. "Go ahead and get dressed. I'll pull up the images as soon as I've taken care of this."

I stepped out of the exam room and saw him talking to a pregnant woman and another holding a baby. Trent took the baby from the lady and cuddled it. He was so enamored with the baby, that he didn't see the way they were gawking at him. I remembered that from college. I came down the hall, but they were too focused on him, and he was too focused on the baby for them to notice me.

As I walked closer, I heard Trent talking. "So, Sandy, how is Tim adjusting to fatherhood?"

The woman had the audacity to lean to the side to check out his butt. "Oh, my husband is doing fine, so fine," she answered, but it was obvious she wasn't referencing her husband's state of mind.

"That's good, being a daddy is the greatest thing in the world."

"That's so true, Dr. Carrington," the pregnant woman stated rubbing her belly. "Having a father around is so important to a child." She stepped a little closer. "I can see you'd make such a wonderful father. You really should see about settling down…Trent."

He looked up a little rattled and stepped back, clearing his throat. "Please, call me Dr. Carrington while I'm in the office, Tammy."

"But it's after hours." She stepped closer, and he shifted the baby between them.

"Even still, we're in the office," he motioned to the desk to make his point. "So, Sandy, is all going well? I see her jaundice cleared up nicely."

"Yes, you're so good with her."

"Actually, it's Dr. Walters who takes over after I catch. He's the person who confirmed and treated her jaundice."

"Still, you were the one to point it out first."

She reached out to take the baby from him and blatantly ran her hand down his chest. Once the baby was back in her arms, he took three large steps back. "I have a patient waiting. Was there something you needed?"

"Tammy was having contractions," Sandy motioned to the other woman.

"Yes, Trent, I was hoping you could do that pressure point thing. You know that always works like a charm," she purred, disregarding his request to be addressed as Dr. Carrington.

He reached up, scratching the back of his neck. "I don't have a nurse on hand to help with it."

"Oh, I'll help," Sandy offered, and Trent looked at her with his mouth hanging open, his eyes darting to her face and then the baby in her arms.

"Where did you say Tim was?" he glanced to the door, looking panicked.

"You know, it's time for me to feed the baby." She started undoing the buttons on her shirt.

"She's not fussing, I'm sure she's fine. Like I said, I have a patient."

"How about we wait for you in exam room one?"

"You know, I think it'd be best if I just scheduled you on a regular day. I was worried that their might've been something wrong with the baby, but if you're just having minor contractions…"

"Look at you, being such a sweetheart on your day off. Do you want to be a daddy, Trent? You can be my baby's daddy," the slutty pregnant woman tried to sound sultry and began moving in on him.

Trent was floundering so badly, even I felt sorry for him. I decided to have mercy on him and rescue him from the slut sisters. His discomfort proved this kind of behavior was not something he encouraged. The poor man looked like he was about to run away screaming.

"I thought you'd narrowed down the father of your baby to two men," he said, while his eyes darted around, searching for an escape.

"Oh, I have, but neither are good enough to be a daddy." Pity she didn't think of that beforehand, but then who was I to talk.

"Yes, well, I'm more of a one-woman man myself."

"Oh, I know," she moved closer, and he stepped back again. "I could be a one-man woman for you."

"That's very kind of you, but I'm not really available right now."

"Not available?" Sandy didn't believe him one bit, but I had a feeling he wasn't seeing anyone because of me. "We don't ever see you with anyone, honey. This town is small, you know. You can't fool us."

It was time for me to cut in. "That's because I don't live here, and he's actually my baby daddy. I'm sure you've noticed he's been spending a lot of time in Waco lately, seeing as how you're up on all the small-town doings." I slipped under Trent's arm, and his jaw nearly hit the floor, but he played along, wrapping his arm around me and resting his free hand on my belly. I did my best to ignore how good it felt to be in his arms.

"Who are you?" the tramps snapped in unison.

"Clara Sharp, mother to Trent's children."

"Children?"

I pulled a couple of pictures of Tyler up on my phone. "Yes, doesn't our boy look just like his daddy?"

It was true; I had seen the baby pictures of Trent. I understood why Maylene was so adamant that Tyler was Trent's.

"You have a kid?" the women stepped back, shocked.

When he registered their retreat, he decided to go for it. "Yes, and this is my daughter, Katie. We were just playing with the ultrasound machine."

"You have a kid?" the pregnant tramp said again, still stuck on that fact and was looking at me in disgust.

"Yes, he does, and it looks like you'll have one soon as well."

She scoffed then gripped her belly, bending over. "GODDAMN IT!"

"Contraction? Did it radiate from the back, or was it just a tightening of your belly?" Trent was Dr. Carrington instantly, and I missed his arms more than I'd like to admit. I really needed to stay out of them if I was going to keep my head straight.

"She's had a few of them. When your mom saw her have one at the boutique, she told us you were here, and that we should get her checked out."

Well, that explained their sudden unwanted appearance.

Trent had her sit in a chair at the nurse's station. He took her blood pressure and pulled out a baby heart monitor. "Let's take a minute to see if little Michael is just acting up, or if he's in trouble." He looked up at Sandy, "When was her last contraction?"

"She was having one when I knocked on the door."

He nodded and glanced at the clock. "Your belly is staying pretty tight. I think it might be prudent for you to head in to the hospital. I'll walk you through and let them know what I think is going on." We followed him through a back hallway that opened right into what looked like the maternity ward.

"Dr. Carrington," a nurse jumped up, looking at the trail of women behind him. "Is everything alright?"

"I'd like Ms. Purtly to get monitored for a while. She's having some strong contractions. I don't think they're regular, but I want to make sure the baby isn't in any distress. Go ahead and start an I-V as well. I want her hydrated, to be sure that's not what's causing it."