Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
I looked around at the cabin. Why was Linc the one that Bane had called? It seemed like he’d have called his dad if he wasn’t going to take me to the police station to tell them about Ares, which was what I had expected him to do. But it had been clear Linc was in charge. Even Bane, who had no problem killing people—me included—had obeyed him. Why was that? This was all so very odd.
I heard booted steps on the porch, and I stood up, staring at the door. The knob turned, but I’d locked it. Then, there was a knock.
“It’s Linc,” his voice called out. “And I brought the doctor.”
I walked over to open the door.
Linc was holding two large paper bags in his hands, which appeared full.
“I also got you some groceries,” he said as I stepped back so he could come inside. “Halo, this is Dr. Burl. He is here to take your blood sample for the paternity test. Bane’s cheek has already been swabbed.”
I watched as Linc began to put the items in the bags away.
“It’s nice to meet you, Halo,” the older gentleman said. He didn’t look like a doctor. He was wearing jeans, cowboy boots, and a short-sleeved plaid button-up shirt. His gray hair was cut short, as was his beard.
“Why did you swab Bane’s cheek?” I asked, glancing back at Linc.
“When the, uh …” The doctor paused for a moment, and I saw sorrow flicker in his gaze. “When the potential father isn’t available to test, then their sibling’s DNA can be tested for relation to the fetus.”
This doctor must be close to them. Was he related to Crosby? He’d seemed to struggle with mentioning Crosby. His death must have been painful for him too.
“I see,” was my response.
The doctor set down his black leather bag on the coffee table. “Do you know how far along you are?”
I shook my head. I knew very little about pregnancy. Babies I knew about. I’d helped with my three youngest siblings. I’d done almost everything for Dennis but nurse him.
“When was the first day of your last period?” he asked me.
I had to focus. I knew it, but I wasn’t thinking very clearly. My thoughts were all over the place. “Um, well … I was supposed to start my period on June 15. Sometimes, I’m a couple of days late, so I didn’t really worry until I was almost a week late.”
I hadn’t told Crosby right away. I’d held on to hope that it would show up.
The doctor nodded and pulled out his phone. “And would you say your normal cycle is twenty-eight days?”
I nodded, then added, “Yes.”
He tapped out something on his phone. “Well then, you’re around fourteen weeks. You are far enough along that you will have plenty of fetal cells circulating in your bloodstream to test Bane’s DNA against it.”
I wished he’d stop saying Bane’s name. This was Crosby’s baby. One he would never see or hold. My eyes began to burn, and I dropped my gaze to the floor.
“Why don’t you have a seat for me on the sofa?” he said. “Linc, could you bring her a glass of juice? She’s pale, and taking her blood isn’t going to help that.”
“Orange or apple, Halo?” Linc asked me.
I didn’t want anything, but I hadn’t eaten all day. “Apple,” I replied, sitting down.
Everything felt as if I were standing off in a corner, watching someone else’s life. It couldn’t be mine.
“How long does it take?” I asked him as he tied a rubber string around my upper arm.
“For you, it will only take a day or so. Two at the most. I have the sources to get this done immediately. Typically, it takes a week or more.”
A day. I’d stay in this cabin for a day, and then they’d all know. What then?
Linc set the apple juice down beside me. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
I shook my head. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be hungry again.
The doctor tapped at my veins with his fingers, then looked up at me. “You will need to eat. The baby has to be fed properly. Have you seen an OB-GYN?”
“I will. I just”—didn’t know how to do that without telling my stepmother—“haven’t yet.”
His eyes shot up from what he had been doing to meet my eyes. “You need to be seen immediately. You should be on prenatal vitamins, and at this point, you should have heard the baby’s heartbeat to make sure”—he glanced at Linc—“the pregnancy is healthy. I brought what we need for that, just in case. After this, we will listen for a heartbeat,” he informed me, then went back to looking for the vein he was going to draw from. When he found one, he took the needle. “It’ll pinch.”
There wasn’t any physical pain he could inflict worse than what I was dealing with internally.