Deadly Expectations (20 page)

We were in and out in less than twenty minutes.
 
Getting married didn’t feel sudden or reckless at all.
 
It was the right thing to do for so many reasons.
 
I sat in the middle seat with my head on Paul’s shoulder holding his hand and tried to count them in the truck on the way to dinner but I kept coming up with more … or maybe counting the same ones twice.

Ray and Denis were just sitting down in the hotel restaurant when we pulled in.
 
Paul ran in and got our key.
 
I could see Denis point out his ring then they both stood and shook his hand.
 
Paul pointed to the truck and then gestured for them to stay put.

“They don’t miss much, Mrs. Richards,” he said when he helped me down from the truck.
 
We had driven around to our room.

“Good for them, Mr. Richards,” I replied.

We got all my clothes and our luggage from the back of the truck and took them up to our room.
 
Paul threw everything in the door and picked me up to carry me in.
 
We were both laughing.
 
It seemed an odd tradition for a hotel room.
 
Then he kicked the door shut with his foot and carried me straight to the bed.

We made it back downstairs before Ray and Denis left.

“Creedy!”
 
Denis said much too loudly when we got to the table and got up and hugged me.
 
Ray did too only he didn’t haul me up off my feet.

“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Denis wanted to know as we were sitting down.
 
“Now I’ll have to sneak him out for his stag later.”

I squeezed Paul’s hand under the table.
 
“I didn’t think a stag would be quite your style Denis … or Paul’s for that matter.
 
You’re all such gentlemen around me.”

I glanced at Paul.
 
His mouth was entertaining a little grin.
 
Ray elbowed Denis and shook his head at him.
 
No
.
 
But Denis started in anyway.

“Nobody ever told you about us out on leave?
 
The Captain was the worst of us … I could keep you up all night without telling you the same story twice … there was this time he found these two girls at the casino—.”
 

The waitress interrupted with four menus, not two.

“We were waiting for you,” Ray explained.
 
I was glad the restaurant wasn’t well lit.
 
My cheeks darkened a bit.

Denis ordered another pitcher of beer even though he and Ray still had a half pitcher on the table and refilled Ray’s and his own glass and poured for Paul.

“So, you said two girls Denis?” I asked.
 
I squeezed Paul’s hand under the table again.

“Oh yeah,” Denis said after he swallowed.
 
I’d caught him with his glass at his lips.
 
Ray elbowed him again.
 
“Next thing we know the three of them had disappeared … by the time we found them he had them both in the back of the truck—.”

“Wait a sec,” I interrupted him.
 
“How many did you get?”

“What?”

“Did you pick anyone up that night?” I asked him.
 
Paul was trying to hide his grin, Ray wasn’t.

“Well, no,” Denis admitted.
 
“But we could have found the truck in the parking lot with our eyes closed they were making so much noise—.”

“Sorry Denis.
 
I’m a little confused,” I interrupted again.
 
“Instead of taking the opportunity to learn from your Captain’s shining example you decided to go find him instead?”

“Well, yes … but—.”

I put a puzzled expression on my face.
 
“Wouldn’t it have been more fun to take someone out to the truck yourself?”

Denis frowned.
 
“It’s still a good story.”

“I’m sure it is … but maybe you should save it for another time.”

Ray and Paul were both laughing at him.
 
Denis shrugged and went back to his beer.

“Never seen him shut down so fast before,” Paul whispered to me.
 
“Thank you.”

“Two?” I whispered back.

Paul turned his attention to Ray and changed the subject.

Chapter 20

Denis was in rough shape at breakfast the next day.
 
Ray didn’t look so bad but he didn’t look so good either.
 
Paul had sent them out ‘on him’ after dinner to keep them out of the adjoining room for a while.
 
Unfortunately by the time Ray dragged Denis in we had the door between the rooms open and the noise woke us up.
 
Ray was telling Denis that maybe if he hadn’t had so much to drink at the pool table then maybe all his money wouldn’t have wound up in Ray’s pocket.

Paul and Ray had no trouble getting breakfast down while Denis stuck to drinking black coffee with his eyes closed and Ray said I had to skip breakfast.

“Empty stomach for an ultrasound?”
I asked him.

“Well, no … I was able to arrange a few more things after lunch yesterday,” Ray said.

I frowned at my untouched cutlery.
 
“I’d rather have breakfast.”

“Could be worse,” Paul said.
 
“You could feel like Denis.”

Denis stomach made a nasty sound.
 
“‘scuse me,” he said and hurried off to the bathroom.

“I’m not riding with him,” I said.

Paul shook his head.
 
“We’ll leave him here with a truck.”

“We need to get going anyway,” Ray said.
 
“I have to redo all the paperwork now you’re on Paul’s medical with a different last name.”

I didn’t feel bad for Ray at all.
 
He wasn’t the one who was going to be run through tests all morning.
 
The only one I was interested in was the ultrasound anyway.
 
I knew that he and Paul were humouring me that the baby was a girl and I wanted to put them in their place about it.

At the hospital I waited almost an hour for them to even get started while Ray cleaned up the paperwork and another two after that spent in one waiting room after another before I saw him again.
 
He had two glasses of water for me.

“Down the hatch,” he said.
 
“And you can’t use the bathroom until after the ultrasound.”

“I don’t think the vampires are done with me yet,” I whispered to him.
 
They had given me a bottle of disgusting orange pop to drink and had been sticking me every half hour since.
 
“When is it?”

“About an hour and the vampires are almost done.”

“How’s Paul doing?” I asked.

“Bored.
 
He’s asleep downstairs.”

“Lucky,” I said.
 
“Thanks for coming to find me.
 
I haven’t been in a place like this since my mother got sick.”

“You’re doing fine, Kiddo,” he put his hand on my arm.
 
“We’ll go get lunch soon, okay?
 
I have to wake Paul up and get him back to sleep in another waiting room,” he winked and disappeared out the door.

The nurse came to poke me one more time and then I still had to wait almost half an hour for Ray.
 
By then my eyes were floating and I was too uncomfortable to sit.

“Ready?” he asked.

“I think we need to hurry,” I muttered.
 
I was already starting to feel cold sweat coming through my pores.

Ray laughed.
 
“All ready for you, come on.
 
Paul’s waiting.”

After three long hallways and two elevator trips we found Paul.
 
He looked as relieved to see me as I felt uncomfortable.
 
As he hugged me I wiggled my toes in my shoes to distract myself.
 
He noticed my fidgeting.

“You okay?” he asked.

I rubbed my arm where the nurses had kept taking blood.
 
“The getting pregnant part was a lot more fun,” I whispered to him.
 
He smiled and kissed the top of my head.

“Dr. Jackson, Mrs. Richards … come on in now,” someone called us.
 
I took Paul’s hand and we all piled into the little room.

“I’m going to get all my pictures then show you around,” she explained.
 
Ray stood beside her and watched but she kept the display pointed away from us.
 
I reached for Paul’s hand and kissed it then he kissed mine.
 
The pictures seemed to take forever.
 
I thought the full bladder was unbearable enough before she started pressing on it so I tried to relax and concentrated on just getting through the next few minutes.

“Alright, ready for the tour,” she said as she turned the screen to us.
 
Now I had to crane my neck around to see it.
 
I held on tighter to Paul’s hand.
 
Moving had broken my concentration and I had to focus on my breathing again to push away the discomfort.

She showed us her profile first.
 
“Looks like mom’s nose,” she said.
 
Then she showed us her hands and feet and her heart.
 
Those were obvious.
 
She also pointed out her kidneys and other things that I couldn’t really make out.

Then she asked “do you want to know what it is?”

“A girl,” I answered right away.

I heard Paul chuckle quietly.
 
“We haven’t had a girl born in my family as long as anyone can remember.”

Then I noticed the little smirk on Ray’s face.

“Better go buy some pink paint, Dad,” she said.
 
“I’ll print you a picture to take home.”

Paul’s amazed laughter filled the little room.

Chapter 21

Our fourth night in
Reno
I dreamed of Alina.
 
Everything had been peaceful at the compound while we were away so we were heading back in the morning.

I was dead on the ground at Damian’s feet watching helplessly as hers kicked; her shoes
fell
landing in my blood.
 
She was strong and kicked hard.
 
What little air she could get whistled through her tightening windpipe.
 
One of her heels was bloody from banging against something sharp behind her.

Damian’s heavy breathing started to win.
 
After another minute I couldn’t hear her anymore.
 
Blood ran down her legs and mixed with mine.
 
Her feet kicked more and more slowly.
 
Eventually one was limp.
 
She pulled the toes back on the other.
 
Her bloody foot trembled briefly.
 
Then again, and was still.
 
The weight of her body in the little blue dress falling on me startled me awake.