I live in a legitimately crazy small town, and the people here are insane. We live in a small town in Northern Maine, and in all honesty, I sometimes think there are reasons we are in the middle of nowhere.
Chapter 1
I woke up and ran to the bathroom. After I finished using the bathroom, I waddled to the kitchen and put on a pot of tea. Looking down at my bulging belly, I groaned and said, "Well, little one, I think you're trying to get me to pee myself. If you would be so kind, I would like to not pee my bed."
The baby caused a string of flutters as it moved. As my tea steeped, I went into my room and dressed for my day. I looked into the mirror and thought about what brought me to this moment. My ex-fiancé and I had been together for five years. When I became pregnant, he decided he could not be in a relationship anymore and went to live in his grandpa's fishing cabin. I knew where he was and that he was dating people in town. Life went on, and I prepared to be a single mom.
I took my tea out to my patio and sat on the porch swing. I was off today and needed to get errands and cleaning done before my work week started. I rubbed my belly and said, "Okay, kid, we are going to meet your Aunt Sarah at the diner and get some food before we go shopping."
Driving my car to the diner, I met my best friend, Sarah, who already had juice and tea waiting for me. She stood up and called out, "Damn Molly, you are one fine ass pregnant woman. If I liked chicks, I would make you mine."
Everyone chuckled, and when I sat down, I said, "Sarah, if I didn't like dick, I would take you up on it."
She nodded to the counter and said, "His brother is here, and he was on the phone with him earlier."
Sighing, I said, "His family agreed with him breaking up with me. If he had a financial obligation, then he couldn't give them money when they wanted it."
"That is insane," She said. "What are you going to do?"
"I will be working at the office until I am thirty weeks," I said. "Then I will work from home until the baby is born. After six weeks of maternity leave, I will do half-time at work using my vacation and PTO. Then at the twelve-week mark, I will be working full-time from home."
"How did you arrange that?" She asked.
"Easy," I said. "I am damn good at working in customer service and tasks. I think the company wants to have more people working from home. Then they can have a smaller office."
She laughed and said, "Well then, great job!"
Missy, the head waitress, came over and said, "Molly, Sarah is right, if I liked women I would chase you as well."
Chuckling, I said, "Missy, there is a problem with your theory."
She asked, "What is that, Molly?"
"You are happily in love with that sweetheart of a husband," I said. "So I know you would not be chasing me."
She let out a hearty laugh and said, "True. So what would you like?"
"I would like a Belgian waffle," I started. "Two eggs, firm scramble, breakfast potatoes, 5 slices of crispy bacon, Wheat toast, and a fruit cup."
The baby started to kick when I listed the food, and Sarah said, "Oh my sweet niece or nephew, you like a good meal."
Sarah ordered a duplicate meal with a few changes, and Missy said, "Well, ladies, I will have this out for you shortly."
As we sat talking about how things have been, the door to the diner opened, and Gabriel came in and sat next to his brother. I turned my chair so I would not have to look at him. I felt his eyes on my back and a few minutes later I heard, "Molly can I have a word with you?"
Looking up Gabriel was standing over me and I said, "What do you need I would rather like to eat my meal without indigestion."
"Can we speak in private?" He asked.
"No," I said. "First you smell like weed and alcohol I will not go anywhere with you for the safety of my baby. Second, you told everyone I was a bitch and that was why you left me. You gave up five years and started dating anyone who would open their legs. But guess what, I do not care, when the baby is born, you will be paying child support, and since you spend all your free time drinking and whoring around you will only get supervised visitation."
"I will not be paying child support," He said. "You cannot force me to."
"That is where you are wrong," I said. "You already did the blood test and have proven your Charlie's or Charles father. If you do not pay support you will not be happy with the consequences. I mean the town has started putting people in jail after 6 missed payments."
He bent down to look me in the eyes and said, "You will not like what is going to happen."
"God you reek of whisky," I said. "Get away from me before you make me physically ill."
"Gabriel," A voice warned from the door. "Get away from Molly and go sit with your brother or leave."
Looking past Gabriel, I said, "Thank you, Sheriff Riddle."
Gabriel walked over to his brother and sat down. Sarah asked, "Are you alright?"
"Shr is better than him," Sheriff Riddle said. "She will have a village help her with this baby instead of the town drunk and his troublemaker family."
Sarah asked, "Sheriff, would you like to join us?"
"As much as I want to say yes," He said. "I am meeting Maddie later today, and she promised me a large lunch."
"Tell Maddie we miss seeing her," I said. "We will see her at the baby shower."
Missy came over with our food, and Sarah said, "Thank you, Missy."
I smiled and started placing butter on my Belgian waffle along with syrup. I dug in and started to eat. Missy laughed and said, "Girl, how are you staying so hot eating so much?"
"Easy," I said. "I am growing this baby who is sucking away my fat, and I stopped stress eating now that the trash took itself out."
I continued to happily eat as I felt Gabriel's eyes on me. I continued to eat as I spoke with Sarah. When I could not eat anymore, Missy boxed up my leftovers. Sarah said, "Do you want me to go with you today?"
Chuckling I said, "Nah I am good, I am going to run my errands, then I am going to start decorating the baby's nursery."
Sarah waited for me to get in my car and drive away. I drove the local crafting store to pick up things I needed to decorate the nursery. As I was adding things to the cart, I heard, "Well look who it is."
Looking up from the shelf Gabriels sister in law was walking towards me. I said, "Becca wat do you want?
She gave me a huge smile and asked, "How does it feel to know he has been fucking everyone while you have become a whale?"
Looking at her up and down i said, "Becca, are you still upset I didn't cry or use my pregnancy to get Gabriel to marry me? I mean, entrapment is something you do, not me."
She got mad, and she said, "How dare you?"
"What, Becca?" I said. "You want to be that way with me I will call you out. I work a full-time job, I own my own home, and I walked away when Gabriel was brainwashed by you lot. That is fine with me. The baby and I will be fine without him, and none of you will get to know it."
"He will sue for custody," She said.
"Then he will have to pay child support," I said. "We have a whole town that knows the breakup. The reason why we broke up and how he has acted since then. He will not get away with things."
Becca looked at me and said, "Well just because you can't keep a man."
Chuckling I said, "Again, Becca, I am not into trapping a man to keep him. That is all you. Now, if you do not mind, I want to finish shopping and go decorate my baby's nursery. You know, because my house doesn't hold a billion family members."
I walked past her while she had a look of pure hate on her face. After I finished getting the items to make for the babies decor, I drove to the local Dollar Tree to get the items I needed from there. Then I finished my shopping day at the grocery store.
Pulling up in the driveway my neighbor Mr. Miller came over and said, "Good afternoon Molly! Let me help you get these into the house. Would you like them on the kitchen table?"
"Yes, Mr. Miller," I said. "Thank you."
Mr. Miller helped me carry everything in and asked, "Are you doing okay? I heard through the grapevine that ex of yours is playing the single ladies in town."
"Honestly Mr. Miller," I said. "If he could hop into all their beds he never loved me. So let him be stupid and get another girl pregnant. I will still get child support."
"Good girl," He said. "You will be right as rain. If you need anything, you come see me or Matilda, we will be glad to help you."
"Thank you," I said.
After he left I went to the kitchen and started to put the groceries away when there was a knock at the door. Opening the main door I saw Gabriels cousin mitch at the door. He placed his hands out and said, "I come in peace."
Laughing I said, "Come in."
He asked, "Did my stupid cousin come to his senses yet?"
"Do you honestly think he would?" I asked.
"One could hope," He said. Grabbig all my dry goods he placed them on the counter and pulled out my mason jars to fill them. "He is giving up what most people want. His damn family uses him so bad."
"How did you escape the trauma?" I asked.
"I came out as gay," He said. "That and I had a great support system when I came out. I didn't need their craziness."
I sighed and the baby started kicking me hard. Mitch chuckled and said, "See she agrees with me."
"She?" I asked.
"Yes," He said. "She. She is going to be just like you. If I ever decided to go straight, you would be the perfect woman for me."
It was my turn to chuckle as I said, "Mitch love the day you go straight I will whore myself like Gabriel."
"Molly," He said. "You know if you need anything, I am here for you. I am not a double agent I live in a real home with a real partner. Speaking of Jay sends his love and will see you in after he gets back to town. When you get closer to your due date, Sarah, Jay and I will be with you around the clock."
Tears started running down my face and Mitch hugged me. I asked, "Why wasn't I good enough?"
"Molly," he said. "Do not think this was ever on you. Gabriel is a fool. Our family are horrible, manipulative asshats. When you guys made it to a year together i thought he had gotten out. Everyone thought that he broke our family curse."
Taking a breath, I said, "He wanted the baby. He was so excited and then a week later we went to see his family and things started to change."
Mitch said, "They brainwashed him or guilted him. There is nothing you can do about it."
I let out a heavy sigh and said, "It is bull shit."
He nodded and said, "I agree. I think this is going to be a only time will tell situation."
Mitch helped me put everything away, and we went to the nursery. I was going to start decorating when I started feeling exhausted. When I could not stop yawning Mitch said, "Woman, let's pause the decorating and Jay and I will do this later this week. Go to your room and take a nap."
"But we had plans for the day," I said.
He turned me to my room and said, "I am not leaving you are going to nap."
He walked me into my room and lifted my covers. I climbed in, and he shut the light off as he said, "Get some rest, Molly. I am here and will be when you get up."
I did not realize how tired I was because I fell asleep fast, and when I woke up later in the afternoon, I smelled food cooking in the kitchen and heard the sound of rain in the distance. I made my way to the kitchen and found Mitch taking a pan of oversized biscuits out of the oven. I asked, "What is all this?"
He smiled and said, "This my dear is me meal prepping for you. You have a kitchen to die for by the way."
"That first pile of containers are chicken soup, I have two in the fridge and these are for your freezer," He said. "Those baggies are pancakes, the next set are bacon, egg and cheese on waffles, those containers are lasagna portions. These buiscuts are for your chicken biscuits I am making. There is a italian pasta salad in the fridge along with a large garden salad prepped. I also cleaned as I went. You are stressing and draining yourself. So I decided to help you along."
I said, "Mitch you are amazing. Where did all this come from."
"Well doll," A voice said behind me. "I happened to get into town early."
Turning around Jay was standing there with a gift bag and I said, "You brought me gifts."
He puled me into a hug as he said, "Of course how can we forget our favorite Mama to be. I hope you like this. I found it at a farmers market they have at night after I was finished with my meetings for the day."
I pulled out a larger sweatshirt that said, "Boss Mom." Then I pulled out a smaller sweatshirt, and it said, "Boss in training."
Looking at the sweatshirts, I said, "They are perfect! Thank you so much, Jay."
"So when will we find out if we are having a boy or a girl?" Jay asked, sitting at the counter.
"We should have known already," I giggled. "However, little one did not want to cooperate."
Mitch leaned over and placed his hand on my belly as he said, "As long as they are alright, that is all that matters."
"I agree," I said. "However, I would like to know so it makes it easier to shop."
We sat talking while Mitch continued to cook and Jay asked, "Would you mind if we come over this week to paint the nursery while you are at work? I am not sure when I am going to go out of town again."
Smiling I said, "Mitch has the spare key. Just let me know when you are here."
"Sure thing," Jay said.
I felt a pain go up my back and said, "Well, that didn't feel good."
Mitch said, "You alright?"
Another pain shot through my back and I said, "Its to soon. I am only twenty-seven weeks."
Jay grabbed my coat and bag. He looked at Mitch and said, "I am taking her to the hospital. Clean up and meet us up there. Come on Molly, let us see why your daughter is being difficult."
I took my coat and bag from Jay. Mitch hugged me and said, "It will be alright."
Jay helped me to his car and when we were on the way, he said, "Call Doctor Carson. Let him know we are heading to the emergency room."
I called the office and his wife Steph picked up the line saying, "Baby and Mama office how can we help you?"
"Hey Steph," I said. "It's Molly and I am having some weird pains. I am on my way to the emergency room."
"Molly hun," She said. "How far are you from the emergency room?"
Jay said, "Tell her we are ten minutes out."
Steph laughed and said, "Have Jay bring you to the maternity doors and James will meet you there."
"Owwww," I screamed as a pain shot through my back and front.
Jay caught my phone and said, "Steph have him waiting Molly is looking pale and clammy."
Steph screamed "James Molly is coming in hot meet Jay and her at the doors, to Maternity. Jay, James just ran to meet you."
Jay pulled into the hospital and Doctor Carson was waiting at the doors to the maternity wing with a wheelchair. When we pulled up the pain was getting worse and Dr Carson opened the door as he said, "Well Molly lets get you to the Maternity wing to see what is going on. Jay go park and join us in room three."
Jay nodded and went to park the car as I was wheeled in. The nurse helped me onto the bed and said, "Let us see what you have going on."
Doctor Carson pulled up a sonogram machine and had me lay back. He looked at me and said, "Molly you are supposed to be 28 and a half weeks according to your chart."
I said, "I thought I was twenty-seven weeks."
"No maam," He said. "We were going to go over your last ultrasound at your next visit."
Jay took my hand and said, "Surprise."
The contractions started to get stronger and I asked, "What is happening it is way to soon. I am not ready yet."
Doctor Carson said, "Lay back, Molly let us see what is going on on the ultrasound."
He placed the doppler on my stomach and said, "Well Molly you are in labor and we are going to see if we can stop it."
Molly- main (research, outbound calls, emails, tasks, podcasts, slideshows, and graphic design)
-------------------------->Gabriel-Ex / Brother- Becca(w) Mitch-Cousin(good guy)Jay-partner
Sarah- Best friend
Missy-Head waitress -------------------------> Husband
Sheriff Riddle-------------------------- Wife- molly
Mr. Miller------------------Neighbor, matilda-wife
Dr. James Carson (OB/Ped)---------------Wife Stella
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