Page 40 of SEAL'S Baby Surprise
I don’t say anything, but I feel my cheeks grow hot.
“That’s what I thought,” she says. “No shame in it. He’s a handsome man, and a good one. But have you taken any thought to birth control?”
I think back to when my mother had “the talk” with me. By the end of it, I’d wanted to squirm, especially since I’d realized I learned more from books out of the library than I did from her. Where was Mrs. Hubbard when I’d had questions?
“We’ve been using condoms,” I say.
“Hmmm,” she says, thoughtfully. “You know those things are only so-so as birth control?”
I really don’t know. “Why?” I ask.
“Well,” she says, “First of all, you have to stop all the action and actually use one. Same thing goes for diaphragms. They don’t do any good in the headboard or drawer beside the bed.”
That makes me giggle, especially remembering how much I hate to “stop the action.”
“Then, sometimes they get pin holes. Or they can break. Or you can put them on too late, or in the wrong sort of way. No, no,” she says, “I don’t need details. But I volunteer at The City Clinic twice a week.”
“You do?” I ask, surprised. “Who watches the kids?”
“My husband, of course,” Mrs. Hubbard says. “He was a child psychologist until he retired, so we had no trouble at all gettinghim qualified. Or my daughter when she has time. But she’s a nurse at the clinic, so she has a hard time getting off.”
While I’m letting this information tumble around in my brain, Mrs. Hubbard takes out a business card and hands it to me.
“You should go over there and get some real birth control,” she says. “I love babies as much as the next person, or I wouldn’t be in this business, but life is best for everyone when they are expected and wanted. They do a bang-up job of helping out with education and prevention.”
I turned the card over in my fingers. It was an address and phone number for a local family care clinic. “I’ll think about it,” I say, remembering that I don’t have any money.
“You do that,” she says, Then, almost as if she has read my mind, “Don’t worry about whether you can afford it or not. They got a grant this last year to help people who don’t have an income. Now, we’d better get back out there before some of these lively little ones decide it’s time to get up — whether we are ready for them or not.”
19
AUSTIN
Julia is excitedabout having had Lee visit school. She has to tell me all about the book they read, the new kid whose mom looks like a dad, and the picture book that had words in it that she could read.
Lee is quiet and thoughtful. I wonder what Mrs. Hubbard had said to my mermaid, but figure that if she wants to tell me she will.
I also feel some type of way about our conversation earlier.
I hadn’t lied about needing to get some work done. Lee is making me happier than I have been in years, but she is a major distraction. It is hard to keep my mind on moving funds around and looking at investments when she is sitting in her chair with a sketch pad, or out on the sand doing stunts or meditating.
She likes to meditate standing on her head, which is pretty darned cute because it gives gravity a whole different way to work on a body. Especially when she does it in a bikini that is mostly not there.
While I am taking my lunch break, I spot something that would be fun for us all and might make up for the day spent apart.
Julia and Lee have had a big day, so I cook hamburgers, make salad, and declare that I’m bushed so everyone will go to bed without a fuss. Ark goes out on patrol at bedtime.
Now that he’s met the poodle baby at the Turners’, he likes going up that way to check on everyone. And he makes it a point to come back by and check on Pops, then he goes up and checks on the Hubbards and their neighbors.
He’s trained not to eat anything that doesn’t come from me, so I feel pretty safe relying on him as a neighborhood watch. If there’s anything I need to know, his bellow will rouse everyone.
After a peaceful night, I let Lee and Julia wake up naturally to sunrise, and the smell of brewing coffee and hot chocolate. I’m feeling good about the work I did yesterday, and I’m looking forward to the surprise I have planned.
While the two of them tuck into oatmeal stuffed with dried fruit and nuts, then topped up with turbinado sugar and oat milk, I say casually, “The farmer’s market is having a carnival and cook-off today.”
“Really, Daddy?” Julia asks, her eyes wide with excitement.
“I’ve never been to a carnival,” Lee says, looking almost as excited as Julia.
