by Dahlia Rose
“You seem quiet tonight,” he commented.
“I know. It’s just been a long day,” Ivy said and sat down on the bed.
“Rafe, if you knew something, a secret, and you promised not to tell a certain person, can you somehow get around it by giving the information to someone else who could then pass it on to the person who was not supposed to know in the first place?”
Rafe chuckled and climbed into bed. He patted the space next to him, urging her to come closer. “Honey, I’m a bit confused. How about you explain?”
“I have a secret that I promised Marie I would not tell.” She snuggled into Rafe’s arms.
“That she and Brody have been sweating up the sheets? Honey, I already know that,” Rafe said.
She slapped him on the chest. “You didn’t tell me, you rat fink.”
“It’s the man code. You don’t tell your wife about your single friends’
love lives,” Rafe explained.
“Well, maybe I’ll keep my secret then,” Ivy said primly. She had an inkling something was going on. Marie looked a tad too pleased when Ivy had come back to work after her time off when Rafe was gone on mission.
Who knew all that time she and Brody were sleeping together?
“Does it help if I say that Brody is really into her, but Marie is the one who keeps pulling back?” Rafe said.
“Kind of, but there is something bigger in the picture now.” Ivy took a deep breath and let it out. “Marie is pregnant and she made me promise not to tell Brody,” Ivy explained. “But since I told you, you can tell Brody, and then at her first doctor appointment if he happens to show up…”
“I see where you’re going with this, you little minx. You’re using me as a messenger.” Rafe chuckled. “I love it. He is away at Pendleton for training for four weeks. I’ll call him and have a talk tomorrow.”
“Four weeks is perfect. They won’t be able to see a heartbeat till about ten weeks anyway, so it coincides with her first appointment. I knew you’d see it my way, darling Rafe,” Ivy replied, pleased with herself.
Marie wouldn’t be happy, but in the end she hoped her friend would understand. Brody had a right to know and if he stepped aside then he would have her wrath to deal with. Ivy would not allow her friend to be hurt.
“Baby, are you okay?” Rafe asked quietly, his fingers caressing the skin of her shoulder. “Marie being pregnant and all doesn’t mean that you won’t get pregnant, sweetheart.”
She looked up and kissed his chin. “I know that, and I am honestly happy for her. Yes, I am a little sad it’s not my news, but we’ll keep trying.”
Rafe rolled over and pinned her beneath his large body. “Let’s practice right now. This may be the perfect moment to make a baby with the woman I love.”
“That sounds great to me,” Ivy said with a sigh as he trailed kisses down her neck. “Absolutely perfect.”
“Say what now?” Brody felt like white noise started in his head. Rafe was on the phone giving him news he never expected to hear.
“Marie is pregnant. She didn’t want you to know, but Ivy told me and now I’m telling you,” Rafe repeated.
“Okay, um, why didn’t she want me to know?” Brody asked. He was trying his best to sound neutral, but inside he was literally jumping with excitement.
A baby. Marie is having my baby!
“Seems she thinks you’re a playboy and something about obligation and not wanting you to be with her because of a child,” Rafe answered.
“You have to admit, Brody, the party never stops when you’re around.”
“Didn’t you notice that when we left on mission for those three weeks I was not talking about parties?” Brody said. “We came back and I went straight to her place. I’m feeling her, man. She’s the one pushing me away.” He thought back to when they had about a week together before he left on mission and then he came back for another week or so then he left for Pendleton. “This must have happened that first time.”
“Weren’t thinking about protection, huh?” Rafe said. “It’s truly a blessing it’s Marie and not some other woman. Look what happened with Bonnie’s mother.”
Brody sighed. “Neither of us was thinking about protection. We went after each other like…never mind. The thing is, I’m happy about this. I should call her or I’ll try to leave jump school early.”
“No,” Rafe said. “You need this accreditation. Plus, Ivy tells me she won’t get a doctor’s appointment until she is around ten to twelve weeks.
You’ll be back home by then. Don’t call her and scare her off right now.
She just found out. We will keep you in the loop and tell you when the first appointment is scheduled. Both of you need a few weeks to wrap your minds around being a parent. I almost lost it when I found Bonnie on my doorstep.”
Rafe’s reasoning seemed on point, though everything in him was screaming to go to Marie. But God knows she looked like she was ready to rabbit if he did something as subtle as bring her flowers. If he just showed up or called with the news that he knew, she might skip town. He had to play it smooth and easy with her. He really liked her, couldn’t stop thinking about her. Whatever relationship she had been in in the past really screwed her over. That made him angry as hell, but Brody made a firm decision to breach those walls she’d built up long before he found out she was pregnant. A slow smile spread across his face. Oh, yeah, he was about to start a family.
“You’ve gone silent, Brody,” Rafe said. “What are you thinking?”
“That Ivy is right, Rafe. Please tell her to keep me in the loop,” Brody pleaded. These next weeks couldn’t go by fast enough in his opinion.
“She will. Focus on the training. We’ll be seeing you soon,” Rafe replied.
“Bye, dude, and thanks.” Brody hung up and the excited feeling in his stomach overtook him. He wanted to scream his impending fatherhood from the rooftops. Impulsively, he dialed a number familiar to him. As the phone rang, he hoped his mother answered and not his father. It amazed him how he could be so close to his mother and yet his father filled him with anger and revulsion. How did she stay married to that evil… He heard someone pick up and then her gentle voice came on the line.
“Hey, Mom, how are you?” he asked.
“Brody! It’s so good to hear from you.” Susan Gillis was a petite woman of sixty years. She made the best apple pie and cupcakes in Texas.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, Mom, I’m good. I’m at Pendleton and I’m here for four weeks jump training,” Brody explained.
“Oh, baby, be careful.” His mother’s voice held worry. “I should get your father—”
“No, Mom, don’t get him. We have nothing to say to each other. I am always careful, but I called you because I have some news.” Brody grinned. “I’m going to be a dad.”
His mother screamed. “Oh, honey, that’s wonderful.”
“Woman, what’s the screaming about?”
He heard his father’s voice and gritted his teeth in anger.
“Brody has made us grandparents,” his mother said with delight.
“Bout time he pass the line along,” his father said. Woodward Gillis was a pompous blowhard preacher with a racist streak a mile long. Brody remembered getting a beating all because he brought his black friend Avery home for a play date when he was ten. His mother, on the other hand, taught him to never see color, only people. His father tried to beat prejudice into him and he certainly didn’t win. His father picked up the second line in the house. “Tell me about my new daughter-in-law.” Brody rolled his eyes. “We’re not married and trust me, I wouldn’t be bringing her home to meet you. Mom can visit, but I want you nowhere near her or my unborn child. I think you leak evil from your pores.”
“Brody, don’t speak to your father like that,” his mother admonished.
“I’ll speak to his racist behind any way I want,” Brody said stubbornly.
“Get off the line, old man.”
“Th
is is my damn house and if you want to speak to your mother then you speak to me,” his father roared. That voice had long ago stopped scaring him. By the time he was fifteen he stood a foot taller than dear old dad and was built. His father had come at him one day and Brody pinned him to a wall. Needless to say, after that they stayed out of each other’s way until he left to join the Marines.
“Fine,” Brody said mildly. “Mom, Marie is the woman who is pregnant with my baby. She is beautiful and a nurse at Walter Reed Hospital.”
“She sounds lovely, dear.” His mother’s voice trembled and anger surged through him. His mother hated being caught in the middle of their feuds. “What does she look like?”
“Probably a blonde. He’s like his dad, has a soft spot for tiny blondes, just like me.” His father laughed raucously.
Brody wished he could reach through the phone and strangle the man.
“You should leave Mom then and go find one since Mom has brown hair.
Don’t worry, Mom, you can come live with me.”
“If you were closer, boy, I’d—” his father began angrily.
“You’d what, be scared? Oh, please, you stopped meaning anything to me long ago. If it weren’t for Mom I’d have no reason to call your house,” Brody retorted.
“Brody, tell me about Marie,” his mother interrupted gently. It was her way of telling him to focus on her and not on him.
“She’s great, Mom. She has golden brown eyes to match her chocolate brown skin and a really amazing smile,” Brody said. He heard a gasp and then the phone dropped.
“I can’t wait to meet her…”
“Hell no, woman, you are not allowed to leave this house to meet no ni…” his father roared.
“Say it, old man, finish the word and see how quickly I can find my way to freaking Springfield and kick your sorry racist ass.” Brody’s voice was deadly.
“You pollute my blood line and you dare threaten me.” His father’s voice was filled with rage. “You ain’t no son of mine. I would’ve ripped you from your momma’s belly if I knew what a disappointment you’d be.”
“Woodward!” his mother gasped.
“Don’t worry, Mom, it doesn’t hurt my feelings in the least,” Brody said gently. “Listen, Mom, I’ll keep you informed. You know how to reach me. The day you are ready to leave him, you come to me and live out here. You’ll like the seasons and how amazing it is at Christmas.”
“She ain’t ever leaving me, boy, so save your breath.” He heard the sneer in his father voice “Not for some idiot of a boy who don’t know how to keep his family’s blood pure.”
“You polluted it long ago,” Brody retorted.
“Your mother isn’t going anywhere, trust me.” His father laughed.
It was his mother’s words that stopped him cold. “Don’t be so sure, Woodward, don’t be so sure.” She spoke to Brody. “Honey, you go on now and enjoy your good news. Children are a blessing and I’m so happy for both you and Marie. I’ll talk to you soon. I love you.”
“Yes, Mom, and I love you too.”
Brody hung up the phone on his father’s stuttering anger. He would never hit or raise a hand to his mother. Brody had no worry of that. If he ever did, he had no doubt that his mom would go upside his father’s head with one of her best frying pans. He understood she still lived by the old fashioned way—you stay with the man you married—but he wished she would just pick up and leave that bastard and let him live in his own evil.
At least he knew his mother was truly happy for him, regardless of what his father thought. He focused on the task at hand and picked up his pack to head out for yet another day of training. He’d be home soon to Marie and that was all that mattered—her and the baby.
Chapter Three
“How’s your morning sickness?” Ivy asked.
“The question should be how is my morning, noon and night sickness.” Marie moaned in the passenger side of the car. It was her first appointment with her prenatal doctor and she was thankful Ivy offered to drive. Everything made her feel ill. Her favorite foods were done for. She was surviving on ginger ale and ramen noodles with hot sauce. The kid sure loved sandwiches that were comprised of mayo, tomato, vinegar, and salt and pepper. If she could hold the food in it was a good day, but still the nausea kept her off her feet most of the time.
“How about the lemon remedy?” Ivy asked.
Marie didn’t know which lemon remedy she was talking about, but she had tried them all—sucking on lemon candies, keeping a lemon handy to sniff when the nausea came on, putting fresh lemon slices in her drinking water, but they were all iffy at best.
Marie shrugged. “It’s hit or miss. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. The books say I should start feeling relief at about thirteen to fourteen weeks. When that happens, I’m doing cartwheels.” Ivy laughed. “How about we hold off on the acrobatics until after the peanut is born?”
Marie rubbed the lower part of her tummy and smiled. They’d taken up calling her unborn passenger peanut and, between the two of them, had been voraciously reading baby books. Who knew a rendezvous after Ivy’s wedding in September would lead to this? They had done the math.
Calculating from the date of conception and deducting two weeks for gestation she would be due near the end of June or early July. She decided on a midwife center instead of a traditional doctor’s office because she wanted a more home-like environment when she gave birth. There were doctors on staff, for epidurals and in cases of emergencies, but she was really happy with her decision and was anxiously looking forward to seeing her baby for the first time.
“Um, any word from Brody?” Ivy asked casually.
“Nope, not a word for four weeks. I think our happy bedmate days are over,” Marie said with as much nonchalance as she could muster. She wanted to pretend that it didn’t hurt, but at night when she was alone, oh, it did, and she cried. She had his cell number and almost called a few times, but each time she could never bring herself to hit send to connect the call. She didn’t want him to feel indebted to her.
Ivy maneuvered into the parking lot of the midwife center. “Well, maybe you should call him.”
“Ivy, we’ve already had that discussion,” Marie said firmly.
“Okay, okay,” Ivy said and turned off the SUV. “Let’s go in and see the peanut.”
Inside, Marie filled out all the forms and understood why people were so frustrated when any nurse at the hospital showed up with a clipboard.
There were so many papers to deal with and a lot of repetition, so Ivy helped fill some out as she was getting weighed and her blood pressure was being taken. She came back out to sit in the waiting room with Ivy and the other pregnant women. The center felt homey. There were wonderful vibrant colors and comfy chairs for the patients and even a kiddie center for women who had to bring small children. Ivy kept looking at the door and at her watch, and Marie furrowed her brow in curiosity.
“Ivy, what’s up? Do you have somewhere to be?” Marie asked.
Ivy looked at her with innocence written across her face. “No, why?”
“You keep looking at the door like…” Warning bells sounded in her head. Marie glared at Ivy. “You promised you wouldn’t tell him.”
“And I didn’t,” Ivy protested. The door swung open just then and Brody strode inside wearing his uniform. “I kept my promise, but Rafe told him.”
“All of you are rat finks,” Marie said angrily using her favorite term.
“Honey, don’t be mad. He’s been calling me every day to check on you.” Ivy took Marie’s hand. “Give him a chance.” Brody came forward and got down on his haunches in front of her.
“Naughty Marie, didn’t you think I’d want to be in your life, in the life of our child?”
She shrugged and looked away, trying to ignore the happiness that was bubbling up inside of her. “Who knows? A playboy like you doesn’t need a baby carrier strapped to the front of him while playing beer pong.”
&n
bsp; “That’s bullshit and you know it. I’ve been chasing you like a hound dog chasing a bone and you keep pushing me away,” Brody retorted. “You can’t push me out of this child’s life.”
“I don’t want him or her to not know a father, but I don’t want you feeling like you owe us anything either. I was in that bed enjoying what we did just as much as you and it’s half my responsibility,” Marie stated in a matter of fact way.
“So you want me to be a dad, but there is no chance for us?” Brody asked quietly. “I’d like there to be a Marie, Brody and Baby Makes Three, a family. Let’s start over and see where it goes, but for the record, you were never a booty call for me. I never thought that at any time. I’ll be there when you get a food craving at : a.m. I’ll make you tuna with extra pickles—”
“Tuna with extra pickles?” Marie asked.
“Yeah, one of my buddies in training said his wife loved them when she was pregnant, plus I’ve been reading books on being a dad and what to expect when you’re expecting. I fully intend to have sympathy pains when you’re in labor,” Brody announced.
Ivy started laughing and a woman close by said, “Aww,” completely moved by his gesture. Marie had to admit everything he was saying sounded good.
“Well, I do like tuna and pickles. In fact, that sounds good right about now,” she admitted.
“I’ll make you some tonight, and look what I have.” He pulled open the utility pocket on his brown digical uniform and brought two small bears out. One in pink and one in blue and each bear wore a tiny Marine hat with the Marine emblem on the front. “Either boy or girl, we’re covered.”
“Marie Watson, exam room three, please.” A nurse with a friendly smile stood by the open door to usher them in.
Marie held out her hand to Brody and then to Ivy. “Let’s go see our peanut.”
They waited outside while she changed into a gown and then came into the room while she was lying on the table.
Her midwife came into the room and introduced herself. “I’m Jenny Macey, and I will be taking this journey with you as the months go by. Is this the proud papa?”
