by E. C. Hier
He signed up for another season of contracting and couldn’t wait to go back even though the accommodation was hit and miss and the work was hard with few breaks in between. The money had made a difference for his mother and he had plans to help Chloe escape from her life in a thankless job and the constant pressure of looking after her brothers. He had kept his savings a secret because he wanted to surprise her with the ticket and a place to stay.
When he left, he handed her his phone because hers had been dropped down the toilet again by the youngest of their brothers and she’d been without one for weeks. She deserved something after giving so much of herself up including her dreams. She had been the only one who wanted him to leave, and he understood why. She didn’t want him stuck with their parents pushing for him to settle down and start a family; she wanted him to be free.
Jerry had stayed behind with his wife, the one season had been enough for her and now they had enough money for the baby that was due in a few weeks. Callum was quiet as always and Kieran didn’t want to start a conversation in the minibus when the flight would be long enough to know every detail of the other man’s trip home. When they got on the plane, however, Callum turned away and went straight to sleep leaving Kieran to watch the movie by himself.
When Kieran placed his feet on American soil, he couldn’t believe the feeling of homecoming he’d felt. He hadn’t felt that when he’d gone back to Ireland and he hadn’t been expecting it on the tarmac in Washington. He was closer to Olivia than he had been for months but he was pretty sure that she had no desire to see him now.
The new contract was for almost three months, long enough to settle into the boarding house and get to know the surrounding city. His room was clean and newly redecorated and the bathroom was everything you would hope it would be.
Callum might be miserable and quiet but Kieran had decided to embrace life in the United States because he was pretty sure he wasn’t going back home, or at least, not for a long time. The first thing he needed to do before starting work the next morning was purchase a phone and text his sister to let her know he arrived safely.
If he wasn’t planning on going back to Ireland for the foreseeable future, he needed to consider putting down some kind of roots and although his work was somewhat nomadic, he could definitely take out a phone contract.
He was also toying with the idea of sending a text to Olivia just to find out how she was but when he had the phone charged and in his hand, his courage failed him.
He wasn’t going to send money back to his mother; if he was to start a new life, he would need every penny of it, especially if he was going to take care of Chloe too. He chose an identical phone to what he’d left with Chloe and sent her a text to let him know his new number.
He spent the next few weeks working long hours and fighting for use of the television in the communal lounge. Life was simple, boring, and lonely in a crowd full of men who felt pretty much the same as he did. There were only so many card games and episodes of Prison Break he could take. He was pleased when Chloe’s name flashed up on his phone and he dashed to his room for the privacy it offered.
“Hello my idiot brother,” she said.
“Nice greeting, what have I done to deserve that?”
“What? Apart from ignoring Mum’s calls, you mean?” she said. “Seriously, I don’t care but she’s giving me an earache. Oh, and someone called you and said it was urgent; it’s about a job.”
“Who called?”
“I didn’t ask but you should call right away,” she said.
She told him about the tote bags she’d been making and selling online and he took down the link to it along with the phone number of the person with the job. His heart jumped a little when he realized it was a Boston code but he had applied for a lot of jobs in that area so he should have expected one of them to return his calls. He promised to look at Chloe’s new venture and said his goodbyes. He was just relieved she hadn’t passed the phone to his mother.
He didn’t want to call so late in the day so he programmed the number into his phone and went back to the lounge, grabbing one of the beers from a bag in the corner. He didn’t often drink, but he wanted to relieve the boredom of being in the company of the same men and Callum hadn’t cheered up since his arrival in the states. He’d tried to pry it out of him but whatever was worrying him wasn’t about to be shared. He settled into a chair and watched another episode of Prison Break.
****
The day had started out bright and it had given him a good feeling but when he telephoned the number he’d been given, all he got was a generic answer phone message. He left a message in the morning and by the time clouds had formed at the end of the day he had tried calling four times. He’d only left one message because he didn’t want to appear too eager but they kept weird business hours.
It wasn’t until he’d just finished eating that evening that the call was returned. He jumped up and ran to his room answering just before the caller gave up. His voice was breathless from running up a flight of stairs but when the woman’s voice came through, he nearly dropped the phone. It had been weeks, months even since he’d heard her voice but he hadn’t forgotten it. Her smooth voice made his breath catch in his throat and his heart race hard in his chest.
“Are you there?” she asked.
“I’m here,” he replied feeling more emotional than he had for a long time.
“I wouldn’t be calling but it was an emergency,” she said. “I spoke to your sister and she wouldn’t give me your new number but when you left a message earlier I realized that she hadn’t told you it was me.”
“No, she said it was about a job,” he said scratching his head.
“Like I said, I’m sorry I wouldn’t have called,” she said.
“I’m glad you called,” he said quickly.
“You might not be in a minute,” Olivia replied.
“I’ve missed you so much,” he said as his mouth began to fill the void between them as if he could bring them closer.
“I’m pregnant,” she said which shut him up.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
“That time you came into my office, locked the door and left me a little present in my uterus,” she said. “Well that present is quite big now, and I thought you should know.”
“Holy shit!”
“Anyway, I should leave you to digest it and if you want to become a little more involved, you know where I am,” she said with no emotion in her voice whatsoever.
The line went dead but Kieran held the phone to his ear for several minutes after. He remembered that time, and he had thought about their lack of condoms for about twenty seconds after. She was carrying his child. He did a quick count on his hands and came up with two different dates. He didn’t know anything about pregnancy and he’d suddenly lost the ability to count or think. Kieran dropped the phone and sat down. He needed to go to her straight away but what about his contract?
Kieran raced down the stairs taking three at a time and smacked heavily into the wall at the bottom. He burst through the door in the lounge startling everyone out of their beer and boredom fog. He managed to loop his foot in the beer bag and went sprawling on the floor. Rolling over he looked up at Callum who was the only one who wasn’t laughing hysterically at him.
“She’s pregnant,” he said.
“Easy there,” Callum said. “You bumped your head on the coffee table and you're leaking out of your noggin.”
“Olivia is pregnant,” he said again and a stupid grin spread across his face along with a little water from his eyes.
“Okay, shows over guys. Help me get him to his room,” Callum said.
Chapter 13 - Olivia
When Olivia put the phone down, she felt numb; she also felt hungry which was something she was starting to get used to. She filled a glass with cold water and sipped it until her senses started to return. His voice had been hard enough to take on the answerphone and she’d listened to it severa
l times over just to acclimatize her ears but hearing him tickle her ear with his magic accent had almost undone her. Why did she still feel like that after he dumped her weeks ago?
She wondered whether he would phone her straight back but the phone just sat there innocuous in its mocking. She finally felt able to move around and she went to the kitchen to make her favorite sandwich, or more to the point, her baby’s favorite sandwich. Cheese, ham, and coleslaw on seedy bread. She could hardly wait to eat it, her stomach was rumbling.
Her tiny waist had filled out and had now lost its waist-shape. The bump that had rounded just about every part of her body, including her once small, neat bottom was taking over her entire body including her mind. She didn’t even know if Kieran would find her attractive anymore, not that it mattered.
When the phone stayed silent, she pulled out the small but really expensive pot of ice cream she’d bought and switched the television on. The baby would have to get used to her love of movie heroes and he or she may as well start his or her education straight away. She snuggled into the sofa with everything she needed to hand and waited for Thor to begin. Not all movie superheroes were equal; Thor, AKA Chris Hemsworth, was a cut above the rest.
Olivia didn’t know when she had fallen asleep but the soft chirp of her phone startled her. Chris Hemsworth was still parading around her wide screen with his hammer but the glow on her phone was strangely more appealing. She grabbed it and saw the message icon flashing. Her heart did a little skip as she unlocked it and saw that it was Kieran’s new number. Olivia closed her eyes and counted to four which was all she could do because prolonging it was not bringing her any relief patience or serenity.
Kieran: [I can’t wait]
Olivia stared at the screen for several more seconds. What did he mean? He can’t wait to see the baby, he can’t wait to hear about it, he can’t wait to see her? She didn’t want to text him back, but she was desperate to know what he meant unless he was being sarcastic; she couldn’t understand how that worked either. She didn’t know if it was her baby-brain, the fact that he was male, or just Irish that left her confused.
Olivia: [What?]
The phone remained annoyingly silent, and she stared at it until the credits rolled on the film that she’d barely watched. She slowly got to her feet and stretched, dumped the empty ice cream tub in the bin, and went to bed. She’d done her bit. She had told him that he was going to be a father and he had responded with a text that was both cryptic and positive. She didn’t know what to make of it but it didn’t matter. What mattered was the not so little person who had just woken up and was now doing somersaults inside her.
****
Olivia had finally learned how to spend her days off. She shopped for baby things; she went to appointments at the clinic, and she tried out the many sandwich shops in her area.
She knew that if she bought any more baby things she’d have to move to a larger apartment, and that wasn’t such a bad thought. She had started looking at the property sections of the papers when she was visiting sandwich shops and the idea had gone from a seed to a likely plan.
Her apartment was in an up-and-coming area and as a result, the price wasn’t too shabby but buying something bigger in the area was out of the question. If she didn’t mind living in the next district, she could just about afford a house. It would be a small one but with one adult and a baby, who wouldn’t take up more space than her favorite cushion for the first year? She reckoned it would be okay. She had arranged a viewing that she nearly canceled three times but now she was walking past open spaces and smaller buildings she was glad she had kept the appointment.
Having not needed a park for years she hadn’t really taken much notice but now she’d walked past three parks she was impressed with the soft play areas, sandboxes, and safety swings. A child couldn’t hurt themselves if they tried, and the thought warmed her as she remembered falling off the roundabout when she was six years old. The scar on her elbow had all but disappeared but she still remembered feeling like the ground had eaten her alive. She’d given her mother a fright as she turned around to see blood soaking her yellow dress.
When she rounded the corner the house came into view and the smart realtor was standing by the side of the road to keep away from the rambling rose that had crept over the sidewalk. She wondered why the neighbors hadn’t trimmed the offending bushes but the blooms that were more impressive than a neatly trimmed garden were something to see.
“Mrs. Carlton,” the realtor said holding out his hand.
“Miss,” Olivia corrected him.
His gaze slid from her face to her big belly and Olivia supposed she should get used to looks like that but it grated all the same. She followed him through the garden, ducking to avoid the thorns that seemed desperate to cover the pathway.
The house had country charm with a small porch and pale blue clapboard. It needed repairs, but she’d already asked about a discount on the phone and the realtor had wanted a quick sale before the house fell into even more disrepair.
“It needs some work, but it has more charm than anything else in the neighborhood,” he said stepping over the mail onto dusty hardwood floors.
“It certainly does,” she replied, and he looked at her to check if it was sarcasm.
There were three bedrooms, two reception rooms, a large kitchen and utility room and a good family bathroom which looked original rather than the newer plastic versions.
She didn’t know if it was her emotional baby-brain or the fact that she’d always longed for a house of her own but the little cottage was perfect. She could see how much she would need to spend on repairs and how much time it would take to do them but she could also see the simple rustic charm that oozed from every original feature.
“I’ll take it,” she said with a smile knowing she could negotiate back in the office but she needed to make the house hers.
“That’s great,” the realtor said grinning.
Her phone buzzed from in her pocket and she set her purse down on the counter to pull it out. Kieran’s name flashed across the screen and her heart did a little leap. She wanted to take the call but not in front of the realtor who looked like he wanted to know the gory details of her unwedded situation.
“Can I take this privately?”
“I’ll wait by the car for you,” he replied and let himself out.
“Hello,” she said into the phone.
“I’m here, where are you?” Kieran’s voice sounded stressed.
“I’m not home,” she replied confused.
“You’re not at the shop either,” he said his accent thick and strong.
“I’m viewing a house,” she said.
“A house?”
“I’m selling the apartment,” she said running her hands along the ceramic sink and enjoying the feel of it.
“I need to see you,” he said breathing out heavily.
“You can buy me lunch,” she said.
She told him where to meet her and what time then hung up. He was here. She was going to see him after all that time. She didn’t know if she wanted to be angry with him or glad that he had taken time out to visit her.
He didn’t know what he wanted from her and she most definitely didn’t know what she wanted from him. Olivia didn’t feel so ready to see him suddenly and that came as a shock. He still had that power over her because, for the most part, she wanted him back in her arms.
Chapter 14 - Kieran
After Callum had cleaned his head and talked some sense into him he’d let the other man talk to their supervisor while he packed his bags. He’d waited until he was seated on the train before sending a text to Olivia to let her know he was coming but she didn’t seem to be on the same wavelength as he was.
The journey took hours and traveling through the night meant that there was nothing to see but his own reflection in the window. He’d tried to sleep but in the end, he’d spent his time and his internet allowance on everything to do with pregnan
cy and babies.
Kieran had grown up in a house full of children and he could change a nappy and speed dress twins like the rest of his family but he’d never really taken much notice of his mother’s constant pregnancies. To him, especially as a child, she was just fat and tired. He didn’t remember visits to the clinic and at the time of each birth he and all the others had been collected by aunts and whisked away hearing not so much as a moan.
He found himself increasingly excited by the thought of Olivia’s tiny frame and slim body filling out with his child inside her. Kieran didn’t know if she would let him within ten feet of her now but he would do whatever he had to and gain her trust.
He had released her at the time because he didn’t know if he’d ever be around to see her but now thinking back on his last text all those months ago he wasn’t sure if it had been out of kindness or fear of failure. And as for sending a text, his sister had already taken chunks out of him for that. He was an idiot, but he was also the baby’s father and that had to mean something.
When the train finally rushed into the station, he didn’t waste time phoning her. He took a cab to her apartment and after knocking three times he sprinted the distance to the shop only to be glared at by Louise and the new guy who was disturbingly attractive. Before he could analyze Olivia’s choice of man-candy for the shop Louise had taken him into the office, the same office where he’d done the act that caused her to contact him once more.
On the wall, he was greeted by a ferocious blond Viking wearing nothing but mud and sex appeal. What Olivia had ever seen in him he had no idea but before he could measure himself against the intimidating poster Louise turned to face him.
