Page 64 of SEAL'S Baby Surprise
“Why are you here?” she asks.
“I’m pregnant,” I say. “I’m not married, I don’t have a job, and I don’t know what to do or where to go.”
“You’re thinking to not be pregnant?”
I nod.
She sighs. “Sweetie, there’s only two ways not to be pregnant. One of them is quick, with chances for regret. The other is long, with some extra choices, and still chances for regret. There aren’t any miracle cures for about seven minutes of amazing experience. Or bad experience, as the case might be.”
“It isn’t like that,” I say. “I didn’t mean to get pregnant. I just wanted to know. And I love Austin. I love him awfully much, but he doesn’t need another kid to look after, he’s already got Julia, and Ark, and now me. He works from home all the time as it is. Me being pregnant will just add to his troubles.”
And I begin to cry in earnest. I had been so sure someone would be here to help me, someone who would know what I should do.
The receptionist expression softens. “Did you just use one of those over-the-counter testers?”
I nod, trying not to let my misery escape in a sob.
“You do know they aren’t always right.”
I nod again, then I say, “But I’ve been really tired, and food that I used to like makes me feel sick. I feel dizzy, and then everything comes back up. I think it might be right, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Did you talk to the father? Austin, did you say?” She doesn’t ask, but her face says that she wonders if he made the bruises on my face.
I shake my head to indicate no.
She sighs. “That’s going to be the first thing the counselor will ask you. It is your body, and you do have the right to say what happens to it, but the dad has a right to know. Especially if you love him and care about what he thinks.”
The tears are raining down my face now. “He’s a good dad. He had to work hard to get custody of Julia. He took me in when I didn’t have anywhere to go or anyone to turn to. I don’t want to mess up his life any more than I already have.”
I squat down on the sidewalk because I start to feel sick and dizzy. I put my head between my knees and sob. Ark cuddles up against me and tries to wash my face.
“Is that your dog?” the woman asks as I cling to Ark.
I shake my head. “Austin’s. He’s an emotional ESA. I shouldn’t have brought him, but Austin told him ‘guard’ and ‘protect’ so he wouldn’t stay behind.
The woman sighs. “There won’t be anyone here until tomorrow morning. But we do have an affiliated hostel right around the corner. I think they’ve still got a bed or two, and they do allow ESAs. Have you had anything to eat?”
I shake my head. It seems to be the only thing I’m good at. “I packed a lunch, but I think it got run over when we nearly got hit by a truck.”
“By a truck?” the woman stares at me. “Girl, were you riding on the highway?”
I nod, feeling miserable. As usual, I’ve messed everything up. There isn’t anything in the whole world that I can do right. “There was a guy at the service station where I hid from the cops after I nearly got run over,” I say. “He gave me a map and marked the best way to go.”
The woman sighs. “That would have been Albert. He called a while ago and told us to watch for a girl on a bike with a big dog. But we’d given up on you. Come on, then. There should still be some leftovers, and if not, I’ll get you something out of the vending machines. And food for your big guy, there, too.”
I follow her around the corner to a little red brick building. It has a tidy yard with trimmed hedges behind a chain-link fence. The woman stops at the gate and rings the bell.
“We have to lock up at night,” she says. “Didn’t used to have to, but we’ve had a lot of unauthorized people hanging around.”
“Like me?” I ask.
“No, sweetie,” she says, giving me a shoulder hug. “You’re confused and mixed up. No, I’m talking about the people who carry signs, yell slogans, and try to keep people from talking to us.”
“Why would they do that?” I ask. “I mean, aren’t you here to help people?”
“We are,” she says. “We want to be there for them, to be the shoulder they need, and to have the information necessary for good decisions, and medicine for them if they are sick or hurt. And you, dear girl, are in need of a shower, some food, and a bed — in that order. You’ll be amazed what it will do for your thinking.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. “That’s what Austin said when he found me on the beach. I was hoping the tide would wash me away. Only I didn’t understand tides, so it just ran away from me.”
