Family Affair (2 page)

"Not really. I mean, you sit on the exam table, spread your legs, scoot down like they tell you and relax like they tell you, which is virtually impossible, and the doctor sticks something cold up there. The nurse did wish me good luck, but I just thought she hoped that I didn't have cervical cancer." Gitana frowned.

Chase took a deep breath. "It's a horrid mistake. What, one Ortega is as good as another? Oh, it's just another Hispanic woman with long dark hair—you all look alike. That's racist. Someone should have checked."

"I know. They were busy that day and they made a mistake."

"A major fuck-up is more like it." She looked over at Gitana who appeared more miserable than Chase felt. "It's all right. We'll get through it. We always do." She took Gitana's face in her hands and kissed her softly.

Chase got up to go. She needed to go to the writing studio and think. She did her best thinking there, like Winnie the Pooh, who sat on a log and thought, usually about honey.

Gitana pleaded, "Don't go."

She gave her that look which would make Chase chew off her own arm if Gitana asked her to. She sat down and tried to look cheerful. Gitana wrapped her arms around Chase's neck and then kissed it. Chase's nether regions did a loop-de-loop and thoughts of Gitana's warm body reminded her of the four days of deprivation. She kissed her, their tongues getting reacquainted.

Gitana kissed her harder. She pushed Chase down on the couch and reached for her. She pulled off Chase's T-shirt and ran her hand up her stomach, sending shivers across her body. Gitana reached under her sports bra and caressed her nipple, taking it in her mouth and running her tongue around it. She undid her shorts, slipping her hand under Chase's underwear.

"I missed this," she said, pushing her fingers inside Chase who wrapped her legs around her and moaned.

"Me too." She struggled with Gitana's jeans. Gitana helped her with her free hand until Chase found what she was looking for. They moved against one another with the precision of years of practice. Chase came first and Ghana followed up momentarily. Chase liked that. It made her feel like they were in sync.

They lay there for a moment in a tangle of clothes. "Want to take a nap?" Chase asked.

"I'd love to. I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Me either. If you're not there to steal all the covers I don't feel right." She got up and took Gitana's hand helping her up.

"I don't steal the covers. You throw them off when you're hot and then roll on top of them."

"And then you steal them," Chase said, as they climbed the stairs.

"I'm going to get a video camera installed in our room."

"I didn't know you were that kinky," Chase said, raising an eyebrow.

"Not for that! I only wanted one so I can prove my point."

Chase pulled back the covers. She watched as Gitana took off her T-shirt. She'd never tire of her body, her round firm breasts, her curvy hips and her flat smooth stomach.

"What?"

"I love you," Chase said.

Gitana pushed her back on the bed and then climbed on top of her.

"More?"

When Chase awoke, pink and yellow covered the mountains outside the bedroom window. Twilight had set in and she knew they'd had a good long nap. She rolled over. Gitana was on her side and she was crying. "What's wrong?"

Gitana turned to face her. "I don't want to kill the baby."

Chase wiped away her tears. "Oh, that." She hadn't given it much thought. She was still basking in their reuniting—the other problem had taken a back seat. "Well, we don't have to go that route, exacdy," she said, although she couldn't think of another route. She didn't like the idea of Gitana being some sort of baby-maker that turned her baby over to someone else after it was born. It didn't seem the correct choice for them.

Gitana started to cry again. Between sobs, and she said, "I know this isn't what you wanted, but he or she is here now, with us."

Chase rolled on her back and studied the ceiling. The bedroom windows were pumped full of setting sun. She would suck at parenting. What if it was a boy—how was she going to teach him to pee? Did boys inherently know how to hold it? This was big—far bigger than she'd ever be ready for. Of course, everything they'd done so far was a risky adventure that always panned out in the end. Why not this?

Gitana sniffled. "Chase?"

"I'll have to take parenting classes because I'm not going to be good at it."

"No, you won't. You can do anything you set your mind to." Gitana wiped away her tears and suddenly looked resolute.

This made Chase apprehensive. Gitana had sallied forth and it was her duty to follow. She gathered up her limited things-I'm-good-at-resources and said, "Can I pick out the clothes and read to him or her?" Aside from writing, those were the only two things that came to mind. She loved to shop and loved to read. This kid would have everything, including a well-stocked library, but not be spoiled. She didn't know how she'd work that one out, but she was certain there must be a way.

"Anything you want." Gitana kissed her.

Chase rummaged around for her own clothes. "My mother will be ecstatic." She found Gitana's underwear and one sock.

"I hadn't thought of that."

Chase heard trepidation in her tone, but then anything to do with Stella gave trepidation. "Do you think the dogs have figured out they're no longer grounded?"

"I'm certain Annie can count." Gitana handed Chase her bra which was under her pillow for some reason.

"I can just see her, one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand."

Gitana hugged her. "I love you."

"You're not so bad yourself."

"Chase!"

"I love you, too." Chase knew that this might turn out to be the best decision of her life or at least she hoped so. She wasn't necessarily a believer in happy endings. Perhaps it was all those Brothers Grimm fairy tales her mother had read her as a child. Stella had odd child-rearing methods.

Chapter Two

"How the hell did that happen?" Lacey screamed into her cell phone.

"Clerical error," Chase replied, as she flipped through the Lands' End catalog for kids.

"I thought it was a biological thing."

"They got her mixed up with another woman." Chase earmarked the page with the cute flannel baby outfit. Yellow would be good—a nice gender-neutral color.

"Like when the surgeon cuts off the wrong leg?"

"Something like that." That cutting off the leg thing certainly stuck in everyone's head, Chase mused.

"Can I decorate the baby's room?" Lacey asked. There was a gasp. "Next week she'll be two months along. We better get going."

"I think seven months will give us enough time." Interior design was one thing Lacey was good at. She'd done wonders with the furniture purchases and placement in the unusual floor plan of Chase and Gitana's house. Classified as passive solar, the house was a long rectangle with large windows along the entire front of the house which made furniture placement a difficulty, but the house was energy efficient and that made Chase feel very hip and green. Chase closed the catalog and spun around in her chair to look at her early blooming flowers in the jewel garden. The daffodils and crocus were beginning to flower, dotting the garden with bursts of yellow and white.

"When you coming to town?" Lacey inquired.

"Tomorrow. I have to go to the shrink."

This didn't appear to faze Lacey which Chase thought was good. Not everyone handled having a crazy person for their best friend. Chase could have been going to the dentist not the Behavioral Science building.

"Call me when you're done and we'll go shopping. I'll work out a color scheme. Have you told Stella yet?" Lacey asked, effortlessly switching gears.

"No, but I will." She was going to try for that night, but wanted to see if Gitana was up for it and didn't want to commit if she bailed. Potentially unpleasant activities could, in all good conscience, be put off. She did it with Ariana, her editor, all the time so what was the difference.

"I wish I could be there."

Chase heard pining in her voice. "I'd invite you, but this is a private family moment and I don't know how Stella is going to take it."

"I know." There was a heavy sigh.

Chase felt bad. “I’ll give you all the details."

"Swear?"

"Girl Scout's honor." Chase held up two fingers.

"You got thrown out for being a belligerent anarchist."

"I know, but I was a kid then. As an adult, I make oaths with complete sincerity."

"Right. Well, I'm off to Jazzercise."

"Have you seen Jasmine at class lately?" Chase inquired as Jasmine had missed their last meeting.

Jasmine Carter was in Chase's writing group. She compulsively exercised and wrote thrillers, but her protagonists always ended up in the gym and the story got stuck there.

"No, her husband is keeping close tabs on her. Her shrink advised cutting down on her exercise classes because she's excessive. She says she's concentrating more on her writing."

"We'll find out next group meeting." Which, come to think of it was her turn to host. This meant she'd have to shovel out the writing studio and soon.

Chase clicked off and got back to work. To keep on schedule, she had to write fifteen pages a day. She turned to her notebook and began scribbling, letting her imaginary world take-over. It was more comforting than the real world. In her world, she controlled everything.

Gitana was home from work. The dogs dashed out the broken screen doggy door and were across the front yard before Chase had shut her notebook, got up and stretched. If anyone thought the writing life was glamorous they were sadly misinformed. Sitting was difficult for the hyperactive. Her back hurt, her fingers cramped up and her mind was tired from creating an entire universe in her cerebral cortex.

From the front yard, she heard Gitana cooing and fawning over the dogs. Chase imagined Gitana as a mother. She'd make a great mother, a perfect mix of love and discipline. She herself was the one who needed serious reconstruction. One of her writing manuals purported that any subject could be mastered by spending sixty days in a decent library. Was the same possible with parenting?

Chase made her way down to the sunroom and kissed Gitana.