“So….”
Lillian was rarely at a loss for words, yet now she fell silent as she checked Angeline’s throbbing pulse. Meeting the doctor’s gaze, Angeline jutted her chin forward in a quiet question. Turning her head to her chart, Lillian clicked her pen to attention and made a few quick notes. Angeline tried to steal a glimpse as she shifted to the edge of the exam table.
She felt fine now that she was back with Kane. A small part of her still worried when he took off to meet his crew. There had been a time when her natural curiosity prompted her to ask what those big, burly guys did to fill the space of their days. She was sure it involved murder and mayhem—you name it.
Danger wafted off of him like an intoxicating perfume, and Angeline would peel his jeans from his body and moan when he wrapped his legs around her thighs. Her questions had slacked off in light of Noel’s supreme violation, and she loathed the idea that he remained in the man’s orbit. Kane said that the club was something he couldn’t shake. Try as she might, Angeline felt her lips curl into a frown in the light of that particular statement, but when he sighed and held her, when his whisper penetrated her ear, he promised that he couldn’t shake her either.
It was good to hear. His hands on her body were even better, and when he caressed her belly and assured her that he’d always be there for them, it was more than a generous gesture. Angeline was starting to believe that his words were working a spell, making the baby his, theirs, causing her to think, “I’m safer… we’re safer with him. Happier, too.”
“So? What’s the verdict?” Angeline finally asked, unable to stand the silence for another second.
Setting the chart aside, Lillian pulled up a stool. As she sat, she took Angeline’s hands in hers.
“Looks like everything is going according to plan,” Lillian said with a kind smile. “I trust that you’re eating right. Taking your vitamins.”
“Yes, Mom,” Angeline said with a roll of her eyes. Right after it came out, she wondered how her mother would feel if she was alive to witness the miracle of life growing inside her. She imagined her happy.
Until her father put his two cents into the till.
“That’s good,” Lillian said. “Because you know… if you weren’t…”
Angeline bit down on her tongue. She knew all too well what could happen, what did happen, if protocol was not followed. Sometimes nothing, but in the wake of the risk, babies could emerge with what Lillian liked to call complications. Or not at all. If she was being honest with herself, Angeline always felt a wave of pity when the hopes of an expectant mother were dashed by the cold light of reality. However, there was always a disconnect. She could pack up at the end of the day, crack open a bottle of wine, and leave it all behind.
Her child, their child, had suddenly changed the rules.
“Then, how would that look for me?” Lillian asked. Confused, Angeline started to twist her head, and when Lillian laughed, a rare feat in and of itself, Angeline was not sure what to make of it until she squeezed her hand tighter. “You’re still on the payroll, Angeline,” Lillian continued. “And I expect you to be a model patient.”
Catching the gist of the joke, Angeline hung her head and joined in the laughter. “Yes, ma’am,” Angeline promised, as she held her palm in the air. “All orders understood and obeyed.”
“They better be,” Lillian said.
Patting her knee, Lillian left the room and gave Angeline the privacy to dress. Stripping the paper gown from her body, Angeline felt a sliver of cold air race up her spine, and she held herself close as she tried to back away from it. Kane’s arms would feel better, but she’d have them again soon enough. Pulling her arms through her sweater and cinching her jeans around her ever-expanding middle, Angeline stepped from the exam room.
Kane had asked about the appointment before taking off into the morning, and even though he tried to play it off like it was no big deal, Angeline had felt his fingers lingering around her palm, and she knew that he wanted to hear only good news when they reunited.
She was proud that she could give him that and more. She could give him her lips, her hands.
All of her heart.
Settling in the chair before Lillian’s desk, Angeline tapped her nails together as Lillian flipped through her planner and scheduled her next visit.
“Is the father going to make an appearance any time soon?” Lillian asked.
“I don’t know,” Angeline answered. “I mean, Kane’s totally on board. But the… mechanics might be too much for him.”
She stifled a laugh. He had gone to hell and back for her, and even though he kept it under wraps, she knew that his day-to-day invited all kinds of danger. However, watching Lillian measure her abdomen, followed by urine and BP readings, might make him woozy. “My sweet bad boy biker,” she thought.
“Kane?”
Angeline glanced up and nodded slowly. She expected, hoped that Lillian would simply shrug her shoulders and say that he better get ready for more than the sound of their baby’s heartbeat. Kane had to psych himself for eighteen years plus a million when their baby…
“I thought we covered this, Angeline,” Lillian said. “Kane is not this child’s father.”
Lillian’s words darted towards her like an arrow and stopped just short of her heart. Pushing back in her seat, Angeline’s mind forced the weapon away. “I say that he is,” she whispered. “And that’s all there is to it.”
Sighing, Lillian leaned back in her chair and ran her fingers through her cropped hair. “Not sure if it’s the right call,” Lillian said. “I mean—”
“I’m going.”
Nothing was going to spoil this, and Angeline hurried towards the door. There was still her father to deal with and—
“You know I’ve read up a bit on this Kane,” Lillian said, stopping her in her tracks. “And his… gang.”
She made it sound crude and vile, maybe it was. However, that didn’t change the fact that he was going to love their baby at any---
“You’re playing with fire here,” Lillian said. “Not saying it’s not all kinds of tempting. But…” Stepping from behind her desk, the doctor gripped Angeline’s arm and turned her in the doorway.
“Let me—”
“Listen,” Lillian cautioned. “These are dangerous guys. And you don’t… you can’t want you or the baby around any of—”
“That’s not your decision!” Angeline said. “It’s ours. And the baby is ours. I don’t want to hear anything else.”
Charging away from her, Lillian’s voice hit the back of her neck as she started to leave the office. “What about the truth, Angeline? What about that?”
They would make their own truth.