Family Doctor’s Baby

by Krista Lakes

  Mrs. Matthews focused the full weight of her glare on me. I swear her eyes went red and smoke came out of her ears. She was shorter than me, but at that moment she towered over me.

  “Get out,” she growled, marching over and grabbing the collar of my shirt. She was tiny, but strong as she managed to nearly drag me out of Jacob's kitchen.

  “Mom, what are you doing?” Jacob moved in front of her and blocked her path. “You don't talk to her like that.”

  “I'll talk to that whore any way I like,” she spat. She let go of my collar, pushing me away in the process before looking up at her son. “How could you do this, Jacob?”

  “Do what, Mom?” Jacob crossed his arms, the muscles standing out as he protected me from his mother.

  “Do this to Katie.” Mrs. Matthews shook her head in horror. “You're supposed to be getting engaged soon. What will poor Katie think?”

  “Katie and I aren't a couple,” Jacob told her. “We broke up.”

  “Because of her?” She made a face that made me feel like garbage.

  “No. Because Katie and I aren't right for each other. It's over. I can see anyone I want to see and I want to see Hannah.”

  Mrs. Matthews sighed. “You say that, but I see the way you and Katie are around each other. That's a partnership worth pursuing.” Her gaze came back to me and she twisted her mouth like she'd bitten into something bitter. “You sure jumped on the availability. He's barely been single for an hour. Learn that in the city?”

  “You don't talk that way to Hannah,” Jacob growled.

  “Jacob, you clearly aren't thinking clearly.” His mother smiled at him and patted his shoulder. “This is a fling. This doesn't mean anything.”

  “You're wrong.” His voice was solid and sure. It made my heart thrill to hear him defend me. “You need to get out of my house. Now. You don't talk to Hannah like that.”

  “Jacob-”

  “Get out of my house.” His tone was dangerous.

  She crossed her arms and her mouth tightened as she looked back and forth between Jacob and me.

  “Fine.” She huffed to the door. “This isn't over. I won't let you throw everything I worked so hard on away for a blow-job.”

  Jacob's mother slammed the door hard enough that the entire house shook. Silence filled the room. I could hear her car engine start and she pulled away, the gravel crunching in her tires.

  Jacob was at my side, his hands on my shoulders and his blue eyes searching my face.

  “Are you okay? I can't believe she said any of that,” he told me. He looked confident, but his hands were shaking. “None of that was okay.”

  “It's not your fault,” I told him, rising slowly to my feet. “I appreciate you defending me.”

  “I wanted to punch her,” he admitted.

  “Not a good thing to do to your mother,” I informed him. I was glad he managed to crack a small smile.

  “I'm sure this will blow over,” he said, but it was obvious he didn't believe it.

  “You know that's not going to happen, right?” I pulled my shorts back up. I didn't feel like a sex goddess anymore. “She's going straight to the Ladies with this. It's going to be all over town by morning.”

  My voice caught as I thought of what was going to happen.

  “I'm so sorry, Jacob.”

  “For what?” He wrapped his arms around me. “I'm as much in this as you are.”

  I shook my head. “You're the prodigal son returned. They are going to say that I lured you. That I tempted you down the wrong path. Two hundred years ago they'd have me hung as a witch.”

  “Hannah...”

  I wiped at my face. “I should go home. I'm not going to be good company tonight.”

  “Please don't go.” He looked at me with puppy-dog eyes. “I don't want you to leave. Stay. It's not like it can get worse, right?”

  I sighed. He was right. His mother had just caught me about to give him a blow-job. Thank heaven it was then and not ten seconds later. Just thinking about it made my skin crawl and my stomach sick.

  “I think I'm going to throw up.” Nausea suddenly hit me hard and fast. I ran for the bathroom and barely made it.

  I splashed some cool water on my face, but the queasiness remained. It had to be the stress and the worry. It had finally caught up with me. I was already imagining myself being kicked out of the grocery store, a scarlet letter emblazoned on my chest.

  “Here.” Jacob brought me a cool glass of water and a couple of Tums. I chewed on them gratefully and took a sip of water. “Come sit down.”

  I let him guide me to the couch and there he wrapped his arm around me. We watched TV and I tried not to look at my phone. I didn't want to know what was going to happen next.

  I snuggled into his arms, and surprisingly started to drift off to sleep. I'd been tired recently.

  “I love you,” I whispered, not even realizing the words came out of my mouth. I froze, suddenly very awake.

  He moved, pushing me up and putting his hands on either side of my face. I was sure he could feel the blush heating his palms. I bit my lip. I didn't mean to say it out loud, but it was still true. I loved him. I'd loved him since that science class in high school.

  He smiled, his eyes soft and sparkling. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

  “I love you,” he whispered back and my heart stopped beating.

  Jacob Matthews loved me. Me.

  “Really?” I asked, my heart still frozen.

  He nodded. “Yes.” He kissed me again, this time on the mouth. It was soft and tender. “Always.”

  I fell into him, burying myself into his shoulder as he held me tight.

  This was no longer the worst day of my life. Jacob loved me. It was now one of the best.

  Chapter 23

  My stomach still hadn't settled from the night before. I hoped it wasn't food poisoning.

  Jacob's phone went off and he groaned. We'd both fallen asleep on the couch watching TV and now the soft morning light filtered in. The “Are you still watching screen?” sat waiting for us to pick the next episode.

  Jacob groaned and reached for his phone. It took him two tries to swipe it.

  “I have to go into the office,” he said, reading the message. “Jackie Rhodes needs stitches.”

  “Do you need help?” I asked. I didn't really want to go in to the office. I wanted to just hide in Jacob's house or possibly my bathtub and just never come out. I wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of us being found out that way.

  “No. He's just busted his hand open on a piece of equipment again. It's the third time this year. He's got to get a guard or some gloves or something.” Jacob stretched his arms up over his head and made the early morning stretch noise. “Want me to pick up some breakfast on my way back?”

  I shook my head. The idea of breakfast didn't appeal to me.

  “I actually need to get some groceries and things,” I told him. “And there's some stuff I need to do around my house. Want to come by later?”

  He smiled and kissed my forehead as he stood up. “Always.”

  I watched as he walked up the stairs and listened as he clomped around. I was trying to muster up the energy and the courage to leave the couch.

  He came back down wearing scrubs. “I'll see you later, okay?”

  He kissed me once more before heading out the door to go stitch up Jackie.

  I sat listening to the clock in the hall tick away the minutes. Finally, I got up, grabbed my things and headed to the garage.

  My car started and I drove into town. It was a Sunday morning, and much of the town was either at church or getting ready for church. My mother was probably there, learning of my sins from the other church ladies.

  I swung my car by the grocery store and saw Abigail St. James in the parking lot. She saw me and her eyes narrowed. I saw the word, “slut” cross her lips before she dug in her bag for something to throw at me.

  News travels fast in a small town and gossi
p travels even faster. I didn't stop at the grocery store. I didn't want Abigail to key my car while I picked up eggs.

  Instead, I drove the thirty minutes to the next town where hopefully no one knew I was sleeping with the town doctor. Still, to be safe, I parked in the back where no one would notice my car. Unfortunately, that meant I would have to run farther if they came after me with pitchforks. I wasn't sure which was worse, but decided that pitchforks were slightly less likely.

  No one said anything as I walked into the store and grabbed a cart. I was safe for now.

  I wandered the aisles, ignoring the messages piling up from my mother, and buying anything I thought I would need for the next three weeks. There was a good chance I wouldn't be able to buy anything in town for the next few days and I didn't want to be unprepared.

  I bought eggs and milk. I bought bread and tortillas. I bought toothpaste and shampoo. And while I was in the bathroom section, I realized that I probably needed tampons.

  Except, I should have needed them last week.

  I stopped dead in the middle of the aisle and did the mental math sixteen times. I was late. I was usually a perfect twenty-eight day cycle with no irregularities. But, this month I was five days late.

  Slowly, my brain put the pieces together.

  I had sex with Jacob without a condom and now I was five days late.

  It wasn't just stress. I wasn't just late.

  I was pregnant.

  I wasn't sure if I should to laugh or cry. This was the worst timing in the entire world. I had dreamed of being pregnant, especially by Jacob, but in my mind there was always a ring involved.

  Instead, I was pregnant to a man that the whole town wanted to marry someone else. I was already the harlot that stole him away, and this would only make things worse. I was trapping him now. I could only imagine the conniption fit Mrs. Matthews would have if she found out.

  “Maybe you're just late,” I whispered to myself. “Maybe it's just stress.”

  Except I knew it wasn't. I had morning sickness. My breasts were tender. I was peeing like crazy. And I was tired.

  I went down an aisle and picked up a pregnancy test. I was just glad I wasn't in Riversville. The last thing my poor reputation needed was to be seen buying a pregnancy test.

  I didn't buy anything else and just hurried to check out. I did the self-checkout so that the cashier wouldn't see the test. It was probably paranoia, but I didn't want anyone in town to know that I even had an inkling that I was pregnant.

  I hauled everything out to the far end of the parking lot and put my groceries away. The test stayed in my purse.

  I did the speed limit home, not wanting to draw any attention to myself. I took the back roads. I took some of my sneaky paths so no one would see me.

  I managed to get home without anyone really seeing me. I put everything away and then slowly climbed the stairs and sat in the bathroom staring at the box.

  What if I was pregnant?

  What would I do? What would Jacob do? I wasn't sure how he was going to react. It was one thing to say you wanted kids, but a totally different thing to find out you had one.

  But we were going to be parents.

  Part of me was terrified. This wasn't what I had planned. This was a complete surprise.

  But another part of me was excited. Happy, even. I was pregnant.

  I was going to be a mother. It was all I'd wanted for a very long time and now I had it. Granted, it wasn't the way I wanted it, but I wasn't about to turn it down.

  I just had to make sure.

  So I peed on a stick and paced the bathroom floor for two minutes until two pink lines showed up.

  I was pregnant.

  And suddenly, things just got way more complicated.

  Chapter 24

  I stress baked the rest of the evening. Muffins, cookies, brownies, and I even attempted a double layer chocolate cake. It came out better than I expected and that made me feel a little bit better. I would have kept baking, but I ran out of flour and didn't have the guts to go into town and get more.

  Jacob got pulled to the hospital for a patient after stitching up Jackie and he wasn't able to get back. Jacob had privileges at the local hospitals so that he could treat the patients he knew in the hospital setting along with the doctors there. The privileges also allowed him to deliver the town's babies at the hospital as well.

  That night, his patient unfortunately took a turn for the worst, and Jacob didn't want to leave the hospital at all. I told him it was fine and that I would see him at the office in the morning.

  I held the phone in my hand a long time after he hung up.

  I had no idea how I was going to tell him I was pregnant, but I knew on the phone while one of his patients was dying was not the right time.

  It was late and I was out of flour. I took a bath and then laid in bed trying to sleep. Unfortunately, despite feeling exhausted, my mind was too busy to rest.

  My phone buzzed with messages from my mother. They were mostly things like: call me. What have you done? I raised you better than this.

  I didn't answer any of them. I did get one text from my father.

  * * *

  You doing okay, kiddo?

  * * *

  I felt pretty safe answering him.

  * * *

  I'm fine.

  * * *

  Okay. I love you.

  * * *

  His response made my heart hurt just a little bit less. At least there was one person in town that wasn't angry at me. My dad still loved me.

  It made me remember when I was in high school. I was sure that I looked ridiculous. I was chunky and my hair was awful. Throw in some bad skin, braces, and being too smart for my own good, I wasn't very popular. But, every morning, my dad told me I looked pretty. He'd always pick something, like the clips in my hair or my shirt, and give me one good compliment to take through the day.

  Some days, it was the only nice thing anyone said to me all day.

  Today's compliment was that he loved me. It made me feel as good as it did then.

  I dressed the next morning and made sure to take the time to do my hair and makeup nicely. If I was going to be crucified by the town, I could at least look nice while they did it. It gave me a sort or armor to know that if nothing else, I looked good.

  The parking lot was empty of cars other than Donna's truck. I had brought the muffins with me as a peace offer. Donna liked muffins and these were some of my best. I wasn't expecting her to forgive me, but I hoped it would at least make the day a little bit smoother.

  I took a deep breath and went inside.

  Donna sat at her desk with a scowl. She looked up as I entered and her eyes glowed red. I swallowed hard. I'd never seen her this angry.

  “I brought muffins,” I said with a smile, setting them up on the desk. “Chocolate chip.”

  Donna slowly reached for the muffins and then dumped them in the trash next to her. She then resumed typing something on the computer.

  I blinked back tears.

  “Okay. I'll be in my office,” I said quietly. She didn't even acknowledge that I'd said anything. She just kept typing away.

  I left the door to my office open as I started up the computer and went about making sure the exam rooms were stocked and ready for the day. It helped to be moving. I hoped that we would have one of our usual busy Mondays. If we were busy, I wouldn't have time to sit and reflect on the mess I was currently in.

  I was walking by the desk when Dr. Matthews walked in and greeted Donna. She didn't bother to even look up and acknowledge his presence. He frowned slightly.

  “Donna, are you okay?” he asked, coming up to the desk.

  He had dark circles under his eyes and wore pale green surgical scrubs with the hospital logo on the chest pocket. It looked like he had spent the entire night at the hospital before coming straight to the clinic. He carried an extra large thermos of coffee.

  “Fine.” She replied, still looking at her compu
ter.

  “Okay, then,” Dr. Matthews shrugged. “This is gonna be a fun day.”

  He came around the desk and smiled at me, his face loosing some of the exhaustion.

  “Good morning,” I greeted him. I wanted to give him a kiss, but that would be inappropriate. I could see Donna watching us for any impropriety from the corner of her eye. “How was your night?”

  “Hellish,” he said, taking a swig of coffee. “But, he's stable. They found the bleed and he's in the ICU, but he's going to be okay.”

  “Oh, that's good.” I felt a little relief. It would have been a really bad day otherwise.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “I got a few hours of sleep in the on-call room. And a spiffy new pair of scrubs.”

  He pointed to his new clothing.

  “Looks very nice,” I told him. Donna made a coughing noise.

  “I'm going to go check my email,” Jacob said, rolling his eyes at Donna. He gave me another smile before taking his coffee to his office.

  I finished my chores and checked my watch. It was well after nine in the morning, and I hadn't heard the door to the clinic chime other than Dr. Matthews coming in. I went out to find an empty waiting room. I checked my watch again just to make sure it wasn't broken. Usually, by nine we had three or four patients.

  I stood there, staring out at the empty room and frowning.

  “Donna, where are the patients?” I asked after a moment.

  She turned in her chair. “Everyone canceled.”

  I blinked twice. “What?”

  “No one wants to be treated by you or him,” she replied coldly. “I'm only here for the paycheck.”

  I looked out again at the empty room and my heart sank. This was not good for Jacob's contract with Dr. Taggert. This was not good for either of us.

  The phone rang and Donna picked it up.

  “Riversville Doctor Office,” she said, her voice warm and kind. It was a stark contrast to the cold tone she used with me. “Yes. Dr. Matthews is the only doctor in. Dr. Taggert will be in tomorrow. I'll make sure to book you with him.” She paused. “Yes, I'll make sure Hannah isn't the one to get you. I'll bring you to your room myself. Thanks for the appointment.”