Page 6 of A Little Thankful

I actually liked my job where I helped with the mindset end of things. When I first took over Arty’s old position, it was in marketing, which wasn’t really my thing, but working with the speakers and the various venues had been a perfect fit. I liked being in the background… gathering the right motivational speakers, and making sure the venue supported them correctly and the various programs ran smoothly. These were all things I could do from home, with just a few traveling days per year which, in the last year and a half, had turned out to be a godsend, considering everything I’d gone through for my new baby daughter, Autumn.

Yes, I was a new mother.

No, my parents didn’t know. I’d kept her a secret.

No, I wasn’t married, mostly due to the complicated nature of the pregnancy itself.

I had absolutely no idea who was the baby daddy.

In truth, I had a general idea of who he could be, but as yet, there was no conclusive proof.

No DNA test.

And absolutely no way to sort any of it out, because none ofthem, the guys I’d had sex with, had used a condom.

Why?

Because my brainy specialist had told me when I was nineteen years old that the possibility of my having my ownchildren was next to impossible due to PGT, which seemed to run in my family.

The operative words here were “next to impossible” which I’d failed to hear. There was always a possibility, but I never took it seriously.

Until I got pregnant.

Of course, I should’ve known that there might, at some point, be a possibility because a doctor had told my mom the same thing, yet she got pregnant with me. Another astute doctor had said the same thing to my aunt, who now struggled with a teenaged demon child, who truly believed the world existed just for her.

Both my mom and my aunt had had a miscarriage, which I’d worried about, but when it didn’t happen, I was as surprised as any other woman who’d been diagnosed with this malady.

So, the complication in all of this was that I’d had sex with my three crushes all at the same time and we used absolutely no protection whatsoever.

Who does that?

Apparently, I do or did for those three days we were stuck in the cabin with one bed and only pie to eat, and wine to drink.

I blamed it on all on too much sugar. It made us do things we shouldn’t have.

Maybe that explained why my baby girl was such a little sweetheart? She rarely cried, and giggled at just about anything. Now, more than ever.

Once I learned there was another beating heart growing inside me, everything changed… for the better.

This was my miracle baby. Myimpossiblechild. And no matter which guy had impregnated me, whether he cared about her or not, whether he wanted to be part of her life or not, she deserved all the love and care I could give her, and that included my whole entire heart and soul.

I simply adored her.

I always knew my baby was a girl, from the moment I gazed down at that pee stick and saw that I was, in fact, pregnant. She instantly had all my love, and once love entered my heart, nothing was going to shake it free.

Abortion was never an option for me, and I hadn’t wanted my parents or the baby daddy trying to convince me otherwise. Not that I thought my parents would try to talk me out of it, not seriously, but I simply hadn’t wanted to take the chance. Parents were strange people. Just when you thought you had them figured out, they’d go and do something you never in a million years expected.

But now it was time… probably past time. My best kept secret was finally going to be outed!

I sucked in a deep breath, and slowly let it out as I passed “Just Desserts,” the bakery that Mace owned and operated. Possible baby daddy number one. He’d taken over the bakery from his grandfather just last year, and from what I could see through his front windows, it appeared that business was good. Of course, I always knew he’d succeed at the business from that fantastic double chocolate birthday cupcake he’d made me all those years ago.

And there he was, holding the front door open for two more customers.

Shit!

I tried to duck, but he gazed up for a moment and spotted me as I slowed to get a better look. I wondered if he actually recognized me, or if he let my glance slip by like so many other folks driving along Moon Street on this crisp November morning.

The town was decorated for the upcoming holiday. One thing about Cricket… they did their holidays one at a time. October was dedicated to Halloween festivities, while November was litup for Thanksgiving with all the fall colors still lingering on the trees, a planned turkey trot, and parade, and December would be an extravaganza of Christmas lights, decorated trees, twinkling boats on the river, a Santa on every corner, and ice skating in the park.

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