She and He

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Kady was out of the house the next morning before Taren even woke up. She wasn't supposed to be at work until eight a.m. but she just couldn't stand to face Taren after the night before. She had tossed and turned all night worrying over it, sleepless.

A buzz came from her purse, and Kady pulled out her phone to see a text from Bianca had come in.

What happened last night? It began. Taren said you were all awkward and that you weren't even there this morning.

If it wasn't for her receptionist and the other early birds milling about in the area outside of her office, Kady would have made her internal groan audible and loud. She scolded herself for her behavior. Taren had always confided to Bianca for everything and Kady should have known he would have revealed this to her too. But what would she tell her best friend? Certainly nothing about her steamy and literal wet dream about her hunk of a brother.

Just been really stressed out lately, was all she replied. Bianca would pick up on the bullshit right away but it was all Kady was willing to put out there for now. She'd already dealt with enough boy drama to last a lifetime and she wasn't about to pile more on top of that. Surely Bianca would understand that, if she knew the situation at hand, that is.

Kady was in a deep enough concentration that she did not move from her work for a good hours other than to run to the restroom twice. That entire time, luckily, she did not think about anything other than the project she and Ms. O'Ralley were working on. The last hour of her work day she visited her employees, making sure they were handling the tasks at hand as well as checking up on their wellbeing. She wasn't one to micromanage but at the same time she always tried to see how each employee was doing often.

On her way into her office her receptionist, Wyatt, stopped her.

"Ms. Brookes, a man called you earlier. He wasn't on your list of people you wanted to talk to so I took a message for him." He said, shuffling the various papers on his desk to find the post-it with the information.

"Alright who was it?"

Wyatt squinted at his own messy handwriting. "Ahh, it was Mr. Daniel Paige who called. Said he needed to speak with you and if you didn't call before the evening he would stop by."

Kady's heart jumped into her throat and her eye sight grew a tad hazy. She nodded and smiled to Wyatt, thanking him for the note before rushing into her office to grab her belongings. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes but she refused to let them.

Even after three months of no contact and all of the heartache, she still couldn't handle the thought of him.

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The doctor clicked her tongue at the numbers on the blood pressure cuff and pursed her lips.

"One-thirty-five over ninety-one. Pressure's running a little high isn't it Ms. Brookes?" Dr. Perez was the epitome of a healthy middle-aged female. With a physique of a bicyclist and the intelligence of a Harvard Med graduate, she was one of the best prenatal care doctors in either of the Carolinas. Kady's mom had to cash in a favor with one of her country club friends and it paid off.

Kady crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly defensive. Her mind was going a million miles a minute but would always stray back to Daniel's impending arrival. She wouldn't, couldn't bring herself to call him like he wanted. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of doing what he asked. If he wanted to speak to her, then he would do so in person, where she could be in the solace of her home.

Near a frying pan if needed.

Bianca was informed the minute Kady left work about the situation at hand. Her offer to be there for support was more than tempting, but the talk she and Daniel needed to have would not be as efficient if there were people watching her over her shoulder.

Dr. Perez watched as Kady rubbed the slight protrusion that was her belly, eyebrows raised.

With a huff, Kady explained. "The father called to day and wants to talk. I'm not so sure that I want to but it has to be done."

Her doctor nodded. Perez knew the history since the first appointment Kady had, so she understood the anxiety. Not only that but she was also a divorced mother of two and could relate on a personal level.

"Lie back, we're going to do the ultrasound now."

Following the orders given, Kady rested on the medical bed and lifted up the gown. The gel was cold on her belly but she was nonetheless excited to see her baby.

"So can we find out the gender this visit?" Kady asked. She was a planner, and in her mind was the motions of what the nursery would look like.

Dr. Perez shook her head, looking intently into the ultrasound. "Gender typically can't be determined until at least eighteen weeks so we'll check next month." She moved the transducer around Kady's stomach a little more, her lips pursed.

"Have you been feeling any fatigue or nausea, more than usual?" She asked.

"I've been getting burnt out quicker than usual lately, yeah. Why?"

"Nothing to worry too much about, but the fetus' heartrate is lower than it should be. This can be normal in the second and third trimesters but seeing as you're too early on, it might be an indication of fetal bradycardia."

Panic gripped Kady's chest. "So what's going to happen? Is my baby okay?"

"Like I said, we needn't worry too much. We'll just have to keep a close eye on it. We'll stay on schedule for your appointment in a month but I recommend you lower your workload and try to stay away from anything stressful. Maybe that visit from the father isn't a wise idea until we know what we're dealing with here okay?"