Finding Bluefield by Elan Branehama Read Free Book Online Page B

yourself again.”
    “You’re not thrilled?”
    “Thrilled is not the first word that comes to mind.” Barbara rubbed her face. She sat on the edge of the mattress. “You can’t smoke those if you’re having a baby. What am I saying? This is impossible. Ridiculous.”
    “You’re right. I quit.” Nicky pressed out the cigarette. “I can quit this time. You’ll take good care of me and the baby. How many mothers live with doctors?”
    “A lot,” Barbara said.
    “True. But how many lesbian mothers live with doctors?”
    “This is not a joke.”
    “And I’m not joking—not even a little. But I am happy. Very happy.”
    “Do you have a plan?”
    “No.”
    “What is your plan?”
    “I was planning on celebrating with you. On enjoying the moment with you,” Nicky said. “It’s not like you didn’t want to have a baby.” She moved around the bed and sat next to Barbara. “It’s not often you get a chance like I got, so I took it and now our problems are solved.”
    “Seems to me that they’re about to start. I need a drink.” Barbara headed downstairs. Nicky followed close behind.
    “A drink is good. We’ll drink to our baby.”
    “You know there’s no drinking when you’re pregnant.” Barbara opened herself a beer and drank.
    “This is going to be rough, but I can do it.”
    “Does this mean you’ve been unfaithful to me?” Barbara said.
    “I closed my eyes and thought about you the whole time.”
    “That’s disgusting.”
    “Anyway, it doesn’t count with a man,” Nicky said.
    “So I can have an affair with a man and you won’t mind?”
    “I didn’t have an affair. I didn’t even tell him my real name,” Nicky said.
    “What name did you use?”
    “Yours.”
    Barbara stepped back. “Did you tell him where I worked? Where we lived? Is he going to show up here looking for you and find me?”
    “Relax. I said I lived in Philadelphia and he lives in California, and I only told him my first name. I mean yours. Your name was all I could think of. That’s kind of cool isn’t it?”
    “What’s his name?”
    “Doesn’t matter,” Nicky said.
    “Did you enjoy it?”
    “All that counts is that we’re going to have a baby.”
    “Did you?” Barbara repeated.
    “Sort of. I mean I knew why I was doing it. Funny, this time, he was real slow, real patient, and I was in a hurry.”
    “The baby has his genes. It’s half his, you know.”
    “I know, but the baby’s still half mine, and the part that counts is that we’re the ones who are going to raise this baby. Just like if we adopted, only better. Starting right now, this minute, we’re the parents. That guy, who was a nice guy, will have nothing to do with it and no one needs to know anything about him,” Nicky said. “I don’t even know anything about him.”
    “You’re probably not even pregnant. I’ll do the lab work in a couple of weeks, and then we’ll see.”
    “You doctors are all alike. You always need a test.” Nicky pressed her hands against her belly. “I can feel it.”
    “If you’re pregnant, it’s too early for you to feel anything. There’s nothing going on yet.”
    “Nothing?” Nicky said. “A baby is growing inside me. It started. Cells are splitting. A life is beginning. It’s incredible. My life, our lives, will never be the same, and you call that nothing?”
    “What if she wants to know about her father?” Barbara said.
    “It’s a little early to worry about that.”
    “I could lose my job,” Barbara said. “People could try and take the baby. We’ll have to think about moving.”
    “That’s the beauty of this. Everyone will stop thinking that we’re dykes, and instead, they’ll just think some guy got me pregnant and left me. We’ll be a couple of spinsters. Dykes are a threat, but spinsters are just sad. People know me here. They know my family. They like me and they’ll like my baby.”
    “That’ll all change.”
    “You can get pregnant next. Guys would be falling