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“Dessie told me you didn’t like her, but I didn’t believe it.”
Mom shakes her head. “I’ve tried, Noah. I really have, but something about her rubs me the wrong way. She’s superficial. I’m not the only one who sees it. Both your grandmothers feel the same way.”
My jaw clenches. Wonderful. All the women in my life can’t stand the soon to be mother of my… “Wait, why do you think she’s not pregnant?”
“Because I’ve been there, Noah. Twice. There are signs and she doesn’t show any of them.”
“Everyone is different though, right?”
Mom nods but doesn’t say anything else as our food is brought to the table. I excuse myself and slip back onto my side, picking at my fries. Mom takes a few bites of her cheesesteak and puts it down. “Noah, I love you more than life. I’ve been trying to tell myself I need to get over these feelings I have for Dessie, but I can’t. Yes, everyone is different, but she shows very little signs of being pregnant. I’ve cooked garlic, onion, tomatoes – she’s helped and eaten everything. When I was pregnant with you and Paige, garlic upset my stomach. I find it strange that she seems to be okay with everything, that nothing seems to make her feel queasy or she has no pregnancy-related sickness of any kind.”
“Are you trying to make her sick?” I don’t want to believe my mother would do something like that, but I’m starting to second-guess how well I know her, and I never thought I’d think that of my mother.
“I would never. But your girlfriend has been in the hot tub, and I’m sorry, but anyone who is pregnant knows you can’t go in the hot tub.”
“Maybe she forgot.”
Mom nods and goes back to eating her food. The rest of lunch is done in silence, and so is the drive back to the house. She gets out of the car and instead of going to the front door, she runs down the back steps where my dad’s studio is.
I contemplate going in and asking Dessie but have a feeling each answer will be opposite of my mom’s and that’ll force me to pick. Instead, I head back into town and stop at Nick’s office. Inside, the receptionist he’s had for years smiles.
“Hi, Noah. Your dad is with a patient. I’ll let him know you’re here.”
“Actually, Jody. I’m here to see Aubrey.”
Jody smiles and presses the buzzer for the door. “You know where to find her.”
“Thank you.” I walk down the hall where behind one closed door there’s a baby crying. I can hear Nick and one of his nurses trying to soothe the child.
I find my stepmom at her desk, reading some manual. Knowing her, it’s about some disease in Africa, and she’s trying to find a way to help.
“Knock knock,” I say as I lightly rap my knuckles on her door. Aubrey looks up in surprise and grins.
“Noah! What a pleasant surprise. What brings you by?”
“I need some advice.”
She motions for me to sit down in the chair across from her desk, which is filled with pictures of all of us, including Betty Paige. A few years back, she and Nick had family photos taken and asked that Paige and I be included. I was an automatic yes and surprisingly my parents agreed to let Paige do it as well.
“So what’s up?”
“As you know, Dessie’s pregnant.”
Aubrey nods.
“Would she be allowed to go into a hot tub?”
Her eyes widen. “Absolutely not. The temperature of the tub is more than the uterus can shield from the baby. In laymen’s terms, the baby would essentially boil.”
I rest my head in my hands. I’m sick to my stomach thinking Dessie would harm our child like this. “What about doctor’s appointments? We’ve been here almost a month and she hasn’t mentioned needing to go back to visit a doctor or anything.”
Aubrey seems to think on this one a bit. “It really depends on when her last one was, but normal appointments are twenty-eight to thirty days apart so there’s an accurate record of the baby’s growth and how well nutritionally the other is doing. Why all the questions?”
I shrug. “My mom doesn’t think Dessie is pregnant.”
Aubrey sits back in her chair and sighs. “Women’s intuition. We’re not always right, but sometimes you can sense things. It’s also a mother’s sense. We suspect, always. It’s why we’re constantly asking you questions, it’s because we have a suspicion something isn’t right. And sometimes we’re wrong.”
“Dessie says she’s heard the heartbeat–”
“When was this?”
“At her first appointment. I had a road game so I couldn’t go.”
Aubrey pulls some wheel type gizmo out and writes a few numbers down. “It’s possible, but doctors normally don’t check for a heartbeat at the first appointment unless the mother says she’s farther along. Honestly, Dessie didn’t share much when we saw her at Christmas, no due date or anything like that.”
