Justified Deception (Prequel: Dancing Moon Ranch Series)
Page 20
When she reentered the conference room, she sat at the table while avoiding Jack's stare by focusing on the attorney, who was saying to Sam, "Under Oregon Artificial Insemination Law, a man married to an artificially inseminated woman is the legal father, so the child your wife is carrying is your legal child."
"And the child Mrs. Templeton's carrying," Jack asked. "Who's that child's legal father?"
"It can be difficult for a sperm donor to establish paternity if the mother doesn't want him involved, since being a donor usually implies the man giving up all rights," the attorney replied. "But if you want to claim paternal rights, you should submit a Notice of Intent to Claim Paternity with your district court, which demonstrates your willingness to be involved with your child, then file a Notification of Filing a Petition of Filiation. Filing documents establishes you as the father, if the mother doesn't contest it, which will pave the way for visitation and custody. Child support will also be determined."
Grace caught Jack's eye long enough to realized that filing the papers the attorney mentioned was exactly what he intended to do. Which meant, she'd be forced to get an attorney to contest it. She also realized she had absolutely no claim on Marc's child, who was conceived with sperm that belonged to her alone. But Marc had turned in only one sample, so now she would never be able to conceive his child...
Her attention was diverted when the attorney offered the envelopes around the table. There would be a check inside, like Jack predicted. How much would the loss of Marc's child be worth? And how much was the life of Sam and Susan's child worth? And Jack? He'd given up all rights to Susan and Sam. But now he was prepared to fight in court for the right to intercede in raising her child, and make her life miserable...
Holding that thought, Grace opened the envelope and stared at a check for fifty-thousand dollars. At first she was tempted to take the check and walk out. But when Sam slapped his check on the table in front of the attorney, and Jack tore his up and tossed the pieces in the air, she reconsidered. The fact was, four people had been thrown into an impossible situation created by human error, and no amount of money could fix it...
And then the sharpest pain Grace could imagine gripped low in her belly...
Jack eyed her with concern. "You okay?"
Unable to reply, with a pain unlike any she'd ever had gripping her belly, Grace nodded. When the pain subsided, she stood, grabbed her handbag, dragged her quilted down jacket from the back of the chair and left the room. Although she was unsteady on her feet, she was determined to drive herself home on snow-covered roads, call Dorrie at the birthing center, and crawl into bed. She had no idea what caused the pain, other than she was in shock over the situation. Feeling lightheaded as she walked through the waiting room, she dropped her jacket on a chair and sat down, then closed her eyes and waited for the room to settle...
"What's going on?"
She didn't have to open her eyes to know who that was. "Nothing. I'm just a little dizzy," she said, continuing to sit with her eyes closed.
"Where are you going?" Jack asked.
"Home," Grace replied. "Now will you please just leave me alone."
"How did you get here?"
"I drove!" Grace snapped, wishing the man would go away.
"You can't drive if you're dizzy," Jack said. "I can drive you to your house and my brother can pick me up there."
Another pain started. Grace gripped her belly, clamped her jaws, took several deep breaths, and waited for the pain to pass. Knowing there was no way she could drive on snowy roads, and anxious to get out of this place and crawl into bed, she eyed the man closely. He had an honest face, and he had donated sperm to save his critically-ill nephew. And his brother and sister-in-law seemed to be decent people.
Feeling another pain coming, she clenched her teeth and waited until it passed, then said, "I suppose that would be okay." She rummaged in her hand bag for the keys and gave them to Jack, who shoved them into the pocket of his sheepskin parka and left the room to tell his brother what was going on. When he returned, he offered Grace a arm, which she accepted, and when she was steady on her feet, he grabbed her jacket and helped her into it, then walked with her out into the cold. Snow had started falling heavily while they were in the clinic, and she was relieved she wouldn't have to drive.
"Where's your car?" Jack asked.
"There," Grace replied, pointing to her VW Bug, just outside the clinic.
After helping Grace into the passenger seat, Jack folded his large frame behind the wheel, then adjusted the driver's seat as far back as it could go, and said, "Where to?"
Grace couldn't answer because another pain had started, nor could she stop the grimace, or the need to clutch her belly.
"We need to get you to the hospital," Jack said.
"No, just drive me home so I can get in bed. Ohhh... umm." She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and held it as the pain peaked. When it began to subside, she said, "Turn right out of the parking lot and I'll direct you to my house."
Jack shoved the key in the ignition, started the car, and turned left.
"Where are you going?" Grace asked. "My house is the other way."
"But the hospital's this way."
"I'm not going to have this baby in a hospital," Grace said. "I'm having him at home."
"Not if you're having him right now," Jack replied. He geared down, made a sharp turn, and shot forward, veering around a car as he headed toward the on-ramp to the freeway.
Grace gritted her teeth, not from the pain, but from the stubbornness of a man she hadn't known existed two hours before, and who was now the father of her child. A man who seemed determined to be a part of her life, at least until Marc Jr. was eighteen...
It hit her then that she was not carrying Marc Jr. There was nothing of her husband in the child in her belly. And she knew nothing about the father of her child, other than he was the size of a mountain man, and his child was the size of a mountain man's son. Tears welled, and she turned her head away from Jack so he couldn't see.
"It's going to be okay," Jack said, and reached over to squeeze her hand.
Which shocked her so much Grace jerked her hand away, using the gesture as an excuse to mop her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "Pregnant women get emotional. And would you please drive a little slower. There's snow on the road."
"You have studded tires and I'm used to driving on snow," Jack said, while weaving around a car to get into the fast lane. "We need to get you to the hospital. How do you feel now?"
"I feel like screaming because you're so bullheaded," Grace said. "I asked you to slow down and you shot forward. I'm not in labor, I don't need to go to the hospital, and I want to go home and get in bed."
Jack pulled off at the next exit, cruised along the frontage road, and turned into the emergency access to Portland General Hospital, pulling to a halt at the entrance. A nurse came out with a wheelchair and opened the door. "Come on, honey," she said, seeing Grace's large belly. "We'll get you inside and have the doctor take a look." She poked her head in the car and said to Jack, "There's emergency parking to your left." The nurse helped Grace into the wheelchair and they headed through the automatic glass doors.
"He's not my husband," Grace explained as the nurse wheeled her into the curtained cubicle of an examination room.
"Is he the father of your child?" the nurse asked.
"Well yes..." Another sharp pain hit, this time stronger, longer.
"Let's get you into a hospital gown," the nurse said, helping Grace onto the exam table.
Grace didn't reply, because the pain had not let up. She started breathing the way she'd been taught in childbirth classes... In... and out... In... and out... In... and out...
"You okay?" the nurse asked. "You're breathing heavily."
"It's the way... we're taught... in childbirth... classes," Grace said, between breaths.
"Lemaze?"
"No... the... Bradley... Method." In... and out... In... and out...
"Yes, but in my case—" Grace stopped short as another sharp pain cut in. Between what she now realized were contractions, and while she continued breathing as instructed, the nurse managed to get a hospital gown around her, and left.
While she lay on the table waiting for the doctor, Grace realized that even though the child she was carrying was not Marc's child, he was still her little boy, a child who'd been growing inside her for seven and a half months, and who's heart was beating strongly, and little foot was pressed against her belly, and tiny thumb had been in his mouth when she saw the ultrasound. And now it made no difference who his father was. She wanted her little boy more than she'd wanted anything in her life. But if he came into the world now, he'd have to struggle for his life because it was too soon...
Someone knocked and peeked around the curtain. "I'm here to check you in." A woman with a clipboard stepped into the room. After asking the necessary questions, and having Grace sign several forms, the woman snapped a plastic bracelet around Grace's wrist, and said, "Just relax, Mrs. Templeton. The doctor will be in soon," then left the room.
Grace had just recovered from another sharp pain when a nurse, and a doctor with a thick white mustache and the face of a kindly grandfather, entered the room. The doctor gave Grace a look of calm reassurance, and said, "Well, Mrs. Templeton, it seems someone's trying to make an early entrance. Let's take a look." The doctor positioned his hands on her belly just as a pain started. "Early labor," he mused. "Not Braxton-Hicks." After palpating her stomach, he placed Grace's feet in the stirrups and draped a sheet over her.
He had just finished the pelvic exam and removed her feet from the stirrups when the nurse, who'd wheeled Grace into the hospital and helped her into her gown, entered the room and said, "Dr. Irwin, this is the baby's father. They've been attending birthing classes, the Bradley Method. He's very concerned."
"Come on in, young man," the doctor said.
Before Grace could protest, another pain hit hard...
And Jack walked into the room. "Is she in labor?" he asked the doctor.
"He's not my... " Grace was about to say husband, but the contraction grew in intensity and her words were cut off, replaced by a sharp groan accompanied by a grimace of pain. She started breathing in... and out... In... and out... In... and out...
Jack reached out and took her hand, and said, "Squeeze until the contraction passes." He looked at the doctor. "She's not going to deliver now is she?"
"We'll do our best to stop things," the doctor said. "The kind of contractions your wife is having are causing her cervix to open earlier than normal, which can result in a premature baby."
Grace waved her hand to tell the doctor she wasn't Jack's wife, but catching the glint of diamonds in her wedding rings, she decided it was pointless to go into a diatribe about artificial insemination and mislabeled vials and embarrass the doctor.
Jack's no different than the nurse or the doctor, she told herself, as she clutched Jack's hand while breathing in and out as the pain continued to hold. Strangers have been delivering babies for centuries... cab drivers, policemen, firemen...
Except this stranger was the father of her son, and his child could be minutes away from making his entry into the world...
"Her membranes are intact," the doctor said. "With rehydration there's a good chance the labor can be stopped, but she'll need complete bed rest, and she'll have to keep her legs elevated."
"What are you going to do to stop it?" Jack asked, clearly concerned.
"Start her on an I-V of magnesium sulfate," the doctor replied. "In many cases, rehydrating and keeping the mother on her side is enough to stop premature labor. She'll be here for a few hours. The longer the baby's in the womb, the less chance for the child to have brain and other neurological complications, as well as breathing problems. Your wife should stay on bed rest until the pregnancy progresses some... at least a couple of weeks."
"I can't just stay in bed—" Grace let out a long groan as another contraction started.
"Squeeze again honey, as hard as you want," Jack said.
As Grace gripped his hand, she looked up at Jack, whose face showed concern and compassion. And as bizarre as it was, now she wanted him to stay. The thought that somebody, other than herself, actually cared about the baby she was carrying had tears misting her eyes. Jack put his other hand on her forehead and held it there, and she gave him a wavering smile.
As the contraction began to subside, the doctor, who'd been waiting for it to pass, said to Jack, "You ever help deliver a baby before?"
Jack took so long to reply, Grace looked up at him, and when she did, she saw a look so intense, and distant, she wondered again if he'd faced some heartbreak, maybe been present when his brother's child was delivered and they learned things weren't right.
"No," Jack finally answered the doctor.
"Well, watching movies in childbirth class is one thing. Seeing your son come into the world and being the hands that cradle him when he leaves his mother's body will be an experience you'll never forget. That's what's so good about the Bradley Method. The fathers are a part of the entire process, including the delivery."
The doctor began palpating Grace's belly. "You two have a big boy on the way," he said. "If I hadn't seen the size of you," he addressed Jack, "I'd be concerned about diabetes. But your son's fine. Has a strong heartbeat. He'll be a ten pounder if he goes to term."
"Can she deliver a baby that size without a caesarian?" Jack asked.
"She'll have an episiotomy," the doctor said.
"I'm not having an episiotomy," Grace snapped.
"A clean cut's better than a tear," the doctor argued.
"I'm having my baby at home with a midwife."
"Who talked you into that?" the doctor asked. "You?" he said to Jack.
"Not me. I'm against it," Jack replied.
"You have no say in this," Grace called out.
"They get testy about this time," the doctor chided. "But since she intends to have the baby at home, if he decides to come in the next few days and the midwife's not there you'd better learn how to manage her perineum when the crown emerges or she'll tear so I'd better give you a little tutorial before that happens."
"No wait!" Grace yelped. "Ohhh... umm... " she moaned, as another contraction began. She started breathing rapidly in... and out... In... and out.... In... and out...
The nurse pried Grace's hand from Jack's and motioned for Jack to join the doctor.
CHAPTER 2
Grace was relieved when Jack left the room.
"He'll probably be okay during the delivery," the doctor said. "Men aren't cut from the same tough fabric as women. They get squeamish. But childbirth classes will help."
Grace was tempted to explain the situation but it seemed pointless now, so she said nothing.
After the doctor finished his examination, and Grace was laying on her side with a pillow behind her back and an I-V in her arm with the drip bag overhead, the nurse turned down the light and said, "You might as well take a nap, honey. This will take a few hours."
"Where is...?" Where is who? Jack wasn't her husband or her boyfriend. He was a man she'd only just met who was the father of her child through accidental sperm donation. That wasn't easy to explain...
"Your husband's in the maternity ward in the birthing center watching a film on natural childbirth," the nurse said, eliminating an awkward explanation. "The doctor suggested he watch it. He must be new to childbirth classes."
"He's only... just become interested," Grace said.
"Well, maybe all he needed was a little d
rama. You rest now. He'll be in later."
Grace tried not to think about all the ramifications of the sperm mix-up—telling Marc's parents that they'd never have a grandchild by Marc, and telling her parents, who'd been against the idea from the start, that the father of their grandchild was a cowboy she knew nothing about, and telling her sister, Justine, that the man who'd fathered her unborn nephew was off-limits to her because... She couldn't internalize why Jack was off limits to Justine, other than Justine always turned the head of any guy Grace ever attracted...
Several hours later, Grace stirred. She remembered being unhooked from the I-V a while back, but the nurse told her to rest, so she went back to sleep. Hearing the rustle of paper, she opened her eyes and saw Jack sitting on a chair, reading the newspaper.
"You're still here," she said. "Have you been here the whole time?"
Jack nodded. "I talked to the doctor and he said you could leave. He's already signed the release so we can check out whenever you're ready."
"I'm ready now," Grace said. "While I dress, maybe you could get me a wheel chair." She moved to a sitting position and dropped her legs over the side.
Jack stood looking at her stomach. After a moment, he said, "Can I listen to his heart?"
Grace was so shocked to hear him ask, she simply nodded.
Jack put his ear to her belly and listened through the fabric of her gown, and said, "I hear it. Ka thump...ka thump." When Jack looked at her, a slight sheen brightened his eyes, which caught her by surprise. To look at the man, she could imagine him wrestling a bull to the ground and branding him, or shouting orders to a bunch of ornery cowboys. Having an attachment to his unborn son didn't fit his outward appearance...