Released (Caged #3)(37)

“Fuck, Tria!” I cried as I grabbed her and pulled her against me. “Are you okay? Do we need to go to the hospital?”

“No, no,” Tria said. “I’m fine. I just—I can’t take any more of this. Yolanda, I need my stuff now, and then we’re leaving.”

I moved quickly and even enlisted Damon’s help so it could all be done in three trips instead of a half dozen. Yolanda continued to make remarks, but Tria must have tuned her out. I just wanted to get all this done as quickly as possible because our next stop was the clinic.

“You’re going to regret this,” Yolanda said as we walked out for the last time, “but you still have a place here when you figure that out.”

“Thank you,” Tria said curtly as she took my hand and started pulling me away.

Part of me felt like I ought to say something else to the only friend in my life for many, many years, but I just couldn’t find the right words.

Our last stop was the clinic at Hoffman College.

“You’re measuring at about eleven weeks,” the doctor said as she poked around. “Was your last period in March?”

I stood over in the corner and chewed on the edge of my thumb and waited for the other shoe to drop. Or get thrown at my head. Or just tie itself to the laces of my other shoe until I fell over and smashed my nose into the pavement.

Wait for the other shoe to drop.

What the f*ck did that mean, anyway?

“That’s about when I went on The Pill,” Tria said. “Um…they were just kind of spotty after that, but the nurse said that was normal.”

“It is, usually,” the doctor confirmed. “You were one of those that got the bad batch, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll give you some paperwork you can send in, if you like.” She dug around in a desk drawer before handing a form to Tria. “There are some people trying to organize a class action suit.”

“Okay,” Tria said. She looked at me with worried eyes, but I didn’t know what she was thinking. I couldn’t focus because the whole scene was horribly familiar. I’d been here and done all this before, just with a different doctor at a different clinic.

“Your due date will be in the middle of November.” The doctor checked a couple of charts. “November fifteenth, to be precise.”

“Is she okay?” I finally asked. “I mean, is everything all right with Tria? The baby…I mean…is everything all right?”

“Everything is just fine,” she said. She looked over to me with a slight smile. “Dad’s a little nervous, I take it?”

I clenched my hands into fists and held my breath but said nothing.

“I think he’d feel a little better with some reassurances,” Tria said.

“Miss Lynn is in excellent health,” the doctor said. “Her uterus feels right, and the baby is the proper size. I can’t tell a whole lot more without an ultrasound, but those can be expensive without insurance. The baby’s heartbeat is strong, though. Do you want to hear it?”

Before I could respond, the doctor took some little oval-shaped instrument and placed it against Tria’s stomach. A moment later, there was a quick thrumming sound coming out of it. It was a strange sound—not at all like I remembered my own heartbeat sounding when using a stethoscope. It was much faster and kind of sounded like it was coming from underwater.

I looked at Tria. She was staring down her body with her mouth open and a look of wonder on her face.

“It’s really there,” she whispered. Her head turned toward me, and the most beautiful smile covered her face. “It’s really there.”

I returned the smile as best I could though the tightness in my chest and overwhelming sense of dread destroyed any actual joy I may have otherwise felt.

I was never one to admit my feelings, but I was absolutely terrified.





Chapter 10—Face the Reality


True to his word, Michael put in a recommendation for me with the shift supervisor at the stone setting workshop, and I got the job without ever seeing Dad. His office was downtown, and he apparently hadn’t been at that particular workshop in over a year.

The work environment wasn’t bad, and I had my own workbench. I just introduced myself as Liam—avoiding the last name with those around me. No reason anyone but the boss needed to know, and I told him I wanted to be treated like everyone else. He seemed to get it.

The stones were crappy quality and would be sold to shops that didn’t bear the Teague Silver name on them. That was probably best, though—it had been a long time since I had done such delicate work, and there was one of those big whiteboards that kept score of people who broke stones.

I supposed anyone who broke too many would end up fired, but I didn’t do too badly.

Sitting at the bench, carving out silver in the right way to make a place for the stone was solitary and quiet work. It relaxed me, and I was surprised to find out on the very first day how much I remembered and how much I liked it.

My second day on the job was my first appointment with my therapist. It had taken about sixteen tries for me to actually pick up the phone, dial the number, and make the appointment. I could have taken the bus to get to the shrink’s office, but I was afraid I’d never make it, so I asked Damon to take me.