Katie shook Dusty out of a sound sleep. “Dusty, wake up.” He sat up quickly. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s time.”
“Time?” He was confused. It was pitch black. He was waking up enough to realize he wasn’t when he just was. Which Katie was this? A realization hit him as she placed his hand on her large, pregnant stomach.
“It’s time to go. I’ve been lying here watching the clock. They’re coming every seven minutes.”
“Shit! Seven minutes, Katie? Why didn’t you wake me sooner?” If there was one thing Dusty didn’t want to live again, it was this.
“They were kind of wonky for a while. They were twelve, then six, then fifteen. I didn’t think it was happening.”
He threw the sheets off and hit the floor, running to the dresser. Maybe if he moved faster this time, they’d make it to the hospital. She let out a loud moan, and he rushed to her side. “You okay?”
“That one friggin’ hurt!”
“Come on, babe. Let’s get you going.” She cried out again as he stood her up. “Jesus, Katie. I don’t know. Let me call an ambulance if you’re that bad.”
“No. I’m fine. What if it’s a false labor? I’m not going through the embarrassment. I’m not due for another nine days.”
“This has to be it with the way they’re hitting you. Let me call.”
“No! Please, Dusty.” She placed her hand on his face. “I want you to take me. I’m fine.”
“Okay. But will you please put a comfy maternity dress on this time?”
“This time? I like my jeans. They’re comfy and it has to be ten degrees outside.”
She let go of him and walked to the closet to pull her jeans on. He sighed and pulled a sweatshirt off his closet shelf. “I’m going to pull the car up. I’ll come back up and get you. I don’t want you taking the stairs on your own.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
When Dusty ran back up the stairs, she was waiting for him with her overnight bag. He took the bag then her arm and slowly walked down the stairs with her. A strong contraction hit as they were halfway down. Her nails dug into his arms as she let out a scream. Crap! It’s happening just as it did before.
“Babe. Please. Let me call an ambulance.”
“No, Dusty.” Tears began to stream from her face. He never could stand to see her cry. “Please, no. First babies take forever. I’m just some kind of weakling that can’t take the pain. What kind of mother will I be? What was I thinking? Maybe we shouldn’t do this.”
He couldn’t hold back his laugh. “It’s a little late for that, sweetness. This kid is coming out. He or she is excited to meet their beautiful mama.”
She sat down. “I can’t do this.”
“Babe, please. We don’t have time to mess around here.”
“Oh, so you sit with me for some Lamaze classes and now you’re a professional on childbirth?”
“Come on, Mommy. You can call me every name in the book, but I’d like to get going.”
“Kiss me.” He gave her a quick kiss and tried to stand her up. “No. Kiss me right.”
“Baby, come on.”
“Not until you kiss me. If I ever needed to get lost in you, Dusty, it’s right now. Please kiss me.”
He didn’t want to stall, but he knew there was no changing their history. He sat next to her on the stair and brought her to him, both hands holding her face. His gentle kiss quickly turned into one of entwined tongues that made him forget for a second what was going on.
When they finally broke apart she said, “You know, Dusty. If we have sex, maybe the kid will want to stay put for a while.”
“Nice try, cupcake. Let’s go.” He helped her to her feet and made it out the door and in the car without any more incidents.
“Are we in a storm watch?” she asked.
“I haven’t heard anything other than we’re getting eight to ten inches.” He grinned at her. “Of snow between now and noon.”
“I’m about to pass a watermelon from my crotch and you’re making sex jokes?”
“You just…never mind.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “Sorry, babe.”
She shook his hand free. “Both hands on the wheel, Dusty. This shit looks nasty.”
Oh, how he loved these hormone swings. Not. After they drove for a while, he realized the radio was off. What they both needed was a good distraction. “I’ll see what we can get on the radio for an update.” After a few channels, he caught one that said the winds were picking up and they were indeed in a weather advisory and unnecessary travel was discouraged. “I think we qualify as necessary travel. At least the plows have been out. The roads are fine.” Katie hadn’t said anything for a while. “Babe? You okay?”
She had both hands on the sides of her stomach and was panting in quick breaths. “Bad one?”
After a few more breaths she said, “They’re all bad.” She then let out a scream that made Dusty hit the brakes. The road was slick enough to send them sliding a little.
“Shit! What was that?”
“This kid isn’t waiting!” She screamed and threw herself back. She grunted hard through more breaths and reclined the seat back. “Oh God, Dusty. Do something! Make it stop!”
He flung his car door open and tried to stand. A curse escaped him after he got hung up on the seatbelt. You think I’d remember it this time! He ran around the front of the car. His feet slipped on the icy road but he caught himself on the hood before he fell.
“Dusty! Where are you?” Katie screamed.
He reached the door and flung it open. He saw her scrunch up and squint her eyes shut. She looked like she was bearing down. It was then that he remembered the jeans. Quickly leaning in, he grabbed hold of them and pulled them down to her knees. A scream came out of her that ripped him in two. He placed his hands down just in time to play the first game of catch with his daughter. Only her head was out and she wasn’t crying. Even though he had been through this before, he was scared at the silent infant. Katie’s water never even broke, but it wasn’t something he realized the first time. He had remembered an old Rescue 911 about a couple having a baby at home and it wasn’t crying either. The guy said, “I wanted my son to cry, so I knew I needed to make him mad.”
Dusty wanted to do the same. He’d taken his finger to the baby’s lips and flicked at them. A hangnail caught the water sack and broke it. He did the same again. Another scream escaped Katie as the rest of the baby’s body came rushing out.
He always remembered the way Katie sat up after that like nothing had happened. She reached for the baby and held her close. “Just what was your hurry, little one?” Dusty opened up the back door and removed Katie’s robe from her overnight bag. He came back beside her and quickly wrapped up the baby. “We gotta hit the road, babe.”
She couldn’t take her gaze away from the baby. “Umm hmm.”
Dusty hurried, but drove carefully, to the hospital. They were only another five minutes away. The scenario played in his head a few times over the years; he always wondered if he could have gotten there sooner by another route. The answer was no. He tried this time; they had only gotten a few blocks closer. Although he knew it would be a girl, in the past they hadn’t known until the doctor asked once they got there. In Dusty’s haste to get her covered and warm, they hadn’t even looked. He didn’t want to give it away and spoil the surprise for Katie.
Everything from here on out played like a movie for him. They insisted Dusty cut the cord and finish the job. They filled out the birth certificate with a “guesstimate” of time of birth and wrote “Daddy en route” as delivering physician.
“I want to name her Alyson, Dusty,” Katie said as she held the baby, still unable to take her eyes off her.
“I’d like that a lot. So will Alyson.”
Katie’s head dropped to her pillow and her eyes finally closed. “I’m so tired.”
“Can’t blame you for that.” Dusty turned off the light and crawled in bed with her, wrapping his arms for the first time,again, around both his girls. “If I live to be a hundred, I don’t ever want to hear you scream like that again.”
He pulled her close and gave a strong kiss to the back of her head.
He almost fell asleep but opened his eyes at a strange feeling. Startled by a body by the window, he tried to focus in the dark room and make out the silhouette. He swore it was Frank but after he blinked, the figure was gone. Dusty wrote it off as fatigue. The birth wasn’t any easier the second time around. He fell sound asleep in seconds.
Dusty awoke the next morning with his arm around Katie. They were no longer in the hospital room. He was back to where he’d left the night before. He again wanted to flip off someone who wasn’t there, but didn’t want to wake up Katie by screaming an obscenity.
After they were awake and dressed, he gave Katie a chance to back out of going to his parents’ house, but she seemed just as determined as he was to help Ronald’s wife and child.
The look on Katie’s face every time they pulled up to his house never ceased to amaze him. “I told you it was a little big, babycakes.”
“Like the Sears Tower is a little tall. I wish I’d dressed better.”
“Don’t be silly. You look fine. My parents are old money, but I would never rate them up there as snobby.”
“It feels funny having only had two dates with you and I’m meeting them already.”
“You don’t have good ‘meeting the parents’ experiences?”
“No experiences at all, really. The only parents I met were of kids that I’d dated in high school and that’s because I usually already knew them.”
Dusty pulled into the garage then turned to her. “You’ll be fine. Sit tight. I’ll get your door.” He hurried around and opened up the passenger door and offered her his hand. Accepting it and standing up, she stared into his eyes. “What?” he asked.
“I don’t know that anyone has ever done that for me before.”
“Well, if there wasn’t valet, I’d’ve done it at the restaurant.”
“You may be too good for me, Mr. Andrews.”
“Bullshit,” he said, followed with a kiss.
“Is that the new age way to show your affection?” A woman’s voice interrupted their kiss.
Dusty wrapped an arm around Katie and walked over to his mother.
“I forget about those ‘hawk-ears’ of yours.”
“I was in the kitchen with May and I saw the car go by. Hello,” she said as she extended her hand to Katie. “I’ll claim the rotten child. I’m Norma.”
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Katie.”
Norma gave Dusty a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for not bringing that horrible contraption and upsetting your father.”
“I gave it away to a kid that really needed it.” Dusty hoped admitting this now wouldn’t affect his turning in the Beemer and getting both him and Katie a car in a few weeks.
“Good for you. Come inside, you two.”
They walked to the kitchen where May was busy cooking. She greeted them both with warm hellos. “Dustin Charles. You don’t bring girls home.” She placed her hand on his forehead. “You feeling okay?”
He playfully smacked her hand away. “No one was worthy until now.” Dusty turned to Katie and saw her blush. “Do I smell cooking what I think that is?”
“Of course. You knew I was going to make roast beast when I heard you were coming home.”
Katie giggled. “Roast beast?”
“You never grow out of some sayings that the kids had,” May admitted.
“You’ve been with them a long time?”
“Since before he and his sister were born.”
“I don’t think I told you I have an older sister, Dana,” Dusty said. He was sure he only mentioned Alyson and didn’t want Katie to slip and say her name.
“I don’t think you have,” Katie said, following along.
“How long have you two been dating?” Norma asked.
Katie turned to Dusty. He answered for her. “Not long, but we just clicked. You just know with some people, you know?”
Norma and May both exchanged a look and grinned. May spoke up. “All of you get out of my kitchen. Go in the sitting room. I’ll be along in a second with some drinks and snacks.”
They settled in what Dusty called “The White Room” when he was growing up. He was rarely allowed in it. “So what did you need to see me about, Dusty?”
“It’s a very long story, but the Reader’s Digest version is that I know of a young mother with a real piece of work for a husband. He’s screwing half of Dinkytown and treats her like crap.”
“And you’re involved in this how?”
“I’m not really involved. I just see the guy come and go from a bar I’ve gone to a few times. I’ve seen him out back making out with someone, then he goes in and takes a call from his wife. When I saw Katie’s roommate Courtney with him, I was a little fed up. Katie and I went to go visit her.”
“And how did that go? Is that how you earned that butterfly band aid?”
“I was wondering how long it would be until you asked about that, but no.”
“So you’re stirring up trouble all over the place?”
“I didn’t ask for this either. I didn’t lay a hand on the guy. Can we get back to Gina?”
“Is that this young girl’s name?”
“Yeah.”
May walked in with teas and a tray of cheeses and crackers. “It’s an orange tea that Dusty likes. If you don’t like it, let me know,” she said to Katie.
“Thanks. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Oh, and May, nothing with cinnamon—ever. Okay?”
“Allergy, dear?”
“Dreadful,” Katie replied.
“I’ll remember that. Holler if you need anything else,” she said to everyone as she walked out.
“So then,” Norma started in again. “How did this Gina react to your news?”
“She already knew and was kind of upset at us for showing up.” Dusty said.
“She already knew about his infidelities?”
“You could say that. It was after we walked away that she came back out to us. She all but said he was beating and raping her.”
“She won’t go to the police?”
“She’s obviously scared to death of this Ronald.”
“That could be a big problem removing her. They have to want to leave, Dusty.”
“I know she’ll go. We have to do it when he’s not home and promise her she’ll stay hidden.”
“I know we have a room available at the shelter for her.”
“Will he be able to find here there?” Katie asked.
“No one but the employees and women staying there know the address. You can’t find it unless you’re given the address by one of the residents. I won’t feed you BS, kids. Women have been known to escape, just to go running back to the men they claim to be running from.”
“Escape? It is like a prison?” Dusty asked.
“Not at all. We have lock in rules and such for their own safety. That and a lot of the women in there are drug users and try to get out and get a fix. We have zero tolerance for drug use. Usually if we can keep them safe and clean for a couple of weeks, they have a good chance of turning around. There’s a great number of women we’ve helped introduce back into the work force. Your father helps, too. His company has set up daycares in a few office buildings that cater to hiring these women.”
Katie lit up, intrigued. “What kinds of jobs?”
“Everything, really. Of course, it’s a lot of secretarial work, but there are sales positions and even on-the-job training offered for places like our law firms.”
“Of course law firms,” Dusty said, rolling his eyes.
“Even that end is a tough job, kiddo. So… What exactly do you want me to do?”
“How does it work? You go pick these girls up?”
“If she’s willing to go, I can make the arrangements.”
“Why wouldn’t she?” Katie asked.
“Fear is the biggest factor. If she’s been with him for a long time, she’ll probably feel like that’s all she deserves. She could have been abused as a child as well. It’s a horrible cycle. If she won’t go, we’d need a reason to believe the child is being abused before we can forcibly take him or her.”
“She didn’t mention that,” Dusty said. “I didn’t notice any marks on the kid. I think she would have said something since we were reaching out. I’m sure he’s at work tomorrow at four for sure if not by ten. Can you go get her?”
Norma patted her son’s leg. “Let me go make a call.” She left the room.
Katie scooted closer to Dusty. “You really intrigue me, Dusty.”
Again he shrugged. “It’s just what’s right.”
“What if she won’t go?”
“I think she will. She came after us, didn’t she?”
“I hope so. For her and that baby’s sake. You going to go over tomorrow with them?”
“I think I’ll leave the professionals to their job. I just wanted to get the ball rolling.”
She gave him a kiss. “I’ve never met anyone like you. You come from all of this, yet you are the most unselfish person I’ve ever met.”
“Dana was spoiled enough for the two of us. I was just along for the ride. Speaking of ride.” He stood when his dad walked into the room. “What happened to the Aston Martin?”
“You should know better than to ask that. Who’s your friend?”
Dammit. His dad had never told him what happened to that damn car. “The love of my life, Katie.” Dusty walked back to her. She was already standing and fidgeting nervously again.
His dad shook her hand and offered a pleasant, “Nice to meet you. You in law school, too?”
“Veterinary medicine actually.”
“Nice match up. You may need a good lawyer in your field.”
“I’m not sure there’s animal malpractice.”
“You’d be surprised.” He walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink. “You want something stronger than May’s tea, Katie?”
“No, thank you. This is fine.”
“Son?”
“I really shouldn’t. We have to drive back tonight, Dad. We came to talk to Mom about something. May’s making a roast so we’re staying for supper, but then we have to split.”
“School all right?”
“Everything’s fine.” Dusty decided that conversation could wait a couple of weeks. He would have to keep an eye on that storm and be sure he and Katie came out again if he was still here. He wasn’t going to miss that night of sex for anything.