Chapter 28
“Can I help you?” the man at the desk asked AJ as he scurried into the apartment building where Caryss lived.
“I’m here to see Caryss Martin,” he said forcefully, not really in the mood to get pushed around by some nerd wearing a bow tie and a matador jacket. The man looked AJ from head to waist, seeing as how that was as far down as he could see from behind the desk. He grew weary at the tattoos and black nail polish and shook his head in disgust.
“I’m sorry, sir, but Ms. Martin is not in at the moment. Would you like to leave her a message?”
“No, thank you,” said AJ as politely as he could through gritted teeth. He didn’t know if Caryss really wasn’t here or if the man was just being rude and denying him access because of the way he looked. He stepped away from the desk respectfully and was ready to walk out of the apartment complex but was stopped by the doorman on the way out.
“I’m sorry sir but I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation. I know where you can find Ms. Caryss,” the doorman said to AJ with a kind smile on his face. AJ nodded his head and the doorman gave AJ the address to her sister’s house. “She’s a wonderful lady. It’ll be very exciting to have a baby around here too,” the man said cheerfully.
AJ struggled to control the shocking blow that hit him as the doorman confirmed his suspicions. “Well, thank you so much for your help,” he managed to get out before bidding the man a good day and heading back to his vehicle.
“Holy Shit!” he yelled as he shut the door to the Escalade and started it up. “I can’t believe this! She has to tell Nick.” He pulled away from the apartment complex and began to steer towards Laney’s house with the help of navigation system in the SUV. Twenty minutes later he pulled in the driveway of the house with the address he had been given.
“Nice,” he commented out loud as he turned off the engine and got out of the vehicle. He walked up the path leading to the front door and rang the doorbell. He heard footsteps approaching the door and was taken aback when a woman who looked almost identical to Caryss answered.
She’s got lighter hair and hazel eyes instead of green, but there’s no hiding the relation, he reflected to himself as the woman smiled at him warmly.
“I used to dream of this happening when I was a teenager, and of course it never did. Now that I’m married you show up on my doorstep, just my luck,” she said charismatically. AJ could not help but smile at her charm and cuteness.
“Are you Laney?” he asked awkwardly, having no clue what to say or how he was going to explain himself.
“Yes I am; and I’m sure you’re here because of Caryss.” AJ nodded and then looked down at his feet. “She’s out back playing with the kids, come on in.” Laney opened the door all the way and stepped aside, allowing AJ to come into the house. He looked up at her and smiled, thinking that Caryss must have told her everything.
She led him through the living room and into the kitchen where the windows looked out into the backyard. He looked out the window and saw two small children running through a sprinkler and laughing and he saw a woman in a bikini watching them with her back to the house.
She doesn’t look pregnant to me, he thought as he moved his eyes from her feet up to her head and back down. I guess I was wrong. AJ shrugged his shoulders and Laney noticed it.
“Just wait until she turns around,” she told him quietly, waiting for a reaction from him. He looked over at her defiantly, not liking the insinuation in her voice even though she was right. “Don’t look at me like that,” she scolded. “You know that’s why you’re here. I just hope that Nick didn’t send you to do his dirty work for him.” She put her hands on her hips and waited for an answer.
“Nick doesn’t have a clue,” AJ answered softly, looking down at his feet. “He told me what Caryss said when she called; I needed to come here and find out if it was true before saying anything to Nick.”
“Why? Why couldn’t you just tell him what you were thinking and let him be a man and deal with it on his own? Were you there holding his hand when he knocked my sister up too or do you only do that when he’s gotten himself into a mess?” Her eyes were burning with disgust and her voice was almost at shouting level. AJ didn’t know what to say; he understood how upset Laney was and he knew she had a valid point.
Caryss could hear the raised voices coming from inside the house and she turned around to see what was going on. She saw her sister in the window, looking very upset, but she could not see who her sister was talking to.
“Auntie Caryss needs a drink of water. You guys behave and I’ll be right back out,” she told her niece and nephew as she walked towards the house. She slid open the patio door and walked into the house quickly; the temperature change from the hot outside to the air conditioned inside shocking her a little. She crossed her arms over her chest and hurried into the kitchen.
“Laney, what’s wr--” she started to call out, but stopped immediately as she entered the kitchen and saw AJ standing there. “Oh my God,” she squealed, running to him. He wrapped her up in a hug but was caught a little off guard by her reaction. Caryss herself was a little surprised by her reaction, forgetting for that moment that she had basically run away from his house and hadn’t spoken to him in four and a half months.
“Hey sweetie, how are you?” he asked as she slowly backed away from him. His eyes immediately fell to stomach. He looked at her moderately swollen belly and a slight smile spread across his lips. She saw what he was looking at and scrambled to find something to cover up with.
“No, you don’t have to, it’s beautiful,” he said quietly, gently grabbing her arm to stop her from leaving.
“I haven’t found a maternity swimsuit yet so I’m stilling wearing my bikini…” she trailed off, trying to hide her blushing face from him and offer an excuse for her belly to be showing. Some people find pregnant bellies offensive and she didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.
“Baby, you look fabulous,” said Laney as she walked over to her sister and hugged her. She bent down and rubbed Caryss’s belly and began talking in a cartoon voice to the baby. “At least you haven’t made mommy lose her figure yet.” They all laughed, and then Laney stood up. “I’m going to go out and check on the kids.” She quickly walked out of the room and Caryss and AJ stood there staring at each other as they heard the patio door slam shut from the other room.
“Why didn’t you tell him?” AJ asked, breaking the silence in the room. Caryss leaned against the counter and AJ sat down on one of the stools on the other side of the counter. Caryss looked down at her hands and sighed softly.
“I knew he would want to work things out if I told him I was pregnant, and I don’t know if I can trust him after what he did,” she began, trying her hardest not to cry. “I knew it would be easier to do this by myself,” she said, pointing to her stomach, “than to let him back into my life and risk being hurt again.”
“You never even gave him a chance to explain himself Caryss.”
Her eyes darted to AJ’s and she could feel the anger rising in her body. She remembered back to that day in the hospital and what she had said to him then, and she wanted to shout those same words at him again. Instead, she took a deep breath, striving to remain calm. Her elevated blood pressure during the pregnancy was already an issue with her doctors and unless she controlled herself, it would shoot through the roof during this conversation.
“Am I supposed to believe that there is a reason in the world that would make him cheating on me okay?” she asked, her voice calm and even.
“No,” AJ admitted. “But there are different reasons people cheat. He didn’t do it because he doesn’t love you or because he wanted to hurt you.”
“So he cheated honorably?” she threw back at him, sarcasm ringing in his ears like a gong. She felt herself get a little dizzy, something that happened frequently when her blood pressure rose.
“Obviously you’re still too upset to talk about it. I thought after four months you would have cooled down a little bit and would want some answers.” He shook his head from side to side and cracked the knuckles on each finger one by one.
“Not four months AJ, four months, two weeks and three days and no, I have not cooled down about it!” she yelled at him, tears burning in her eyes. “I came home from California heartbroken and hanging onto my sanity by a thread. When I had finally convinced myself that moving on and forgetting Nickolas Gene Carter was an attainable goal, I found out I was pregnant! I have had complication after complication with this pregnancy, now I find out the baby might have Down syndrome, and on top of everything else, I’m standing here dealing with you while you try and explain to me why the love of my life cheated on me!” She inhaled sharply to catch her breath, and a sharp pain shot across her stomach.
“Caryss!” AJ yelled at he leaped across the counter towards her.
“I’m okay, I’m fine,” she told him softly as she rubbed her hand across her stomach. “My blood pressure’s been really high and when I get worked up it only makes it worse,” she explained, walking to the table and sitting down in one of the chairs. He sat down in the chair next to her and scooted it so he was sitting in front of her.
“Does the baby really have Down syndrome?” he asked quietly, but wishing immediately that he had rephrased it or not asked it all.
“The doctors aren’t sure yet; more tests need to be done.”
“Caryss, I--” AJ began but was interrupted by the chime of the doorbell.
“Excuse me, I’ll be right back,” said Caryss as she went to answer the door.
“Care-bear,” AJ heard a female voice squeal as he sat in the kitchen. That sounds an awful lot like Liz, he thought to himself, straining his ears to hear some more.
“What are you doing here?”
“I think that Alex is on his way here. I don’t know how, but I think he suspects you’re pregnant.” That is Liz! What is going on? He stood up and ran into the living room where he saw Liz standing in the doorway talking to Caryss.
“You knew she was pregnant?” he asked his girlfriend, his tone vague. He was unsure of what emotion to feel.
“She’s my best friends, of course I knew,” answered Liz quietly, shocked to see him already here and trying to get a reading on him. “I promised her I wouldn’t tell anyone, and unfortunately, that meant you too. It wasn’t my place to say anything, that is her job. I’m sorry Alex.”
He stood there for a minute, thinking about what Liz and just told him. He understood the bonds of friendship and what a bad situation this whole thing has been all the way around. “You don’t have to be sorry. I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.”
Liz smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “What tipped you off?” she asked, motioning to Caryss’s belly.
“I was with Nick when she called him today and when he told me what she called for, I suspected.” Liz looked over at Caryss with questioning eyes. She didn’t know that Caryss had called Nick today.
“You talked to Nick?”
“I had to find out if anyone in his family had ever been born with Down syndrome,” Caryss explained softly, avoiding eye contact with Liz. She had not told Liz about the pregnancy complications or about the baby possibly having birth defects. That would have just given Liz more secrets to keep and less probability of her keeping them.
Liz shook her head from side to side slightly, her confusion obvious. “Why don’t we go into the kitchen and I’ll tell you everything,” said Caryss with a sigh. The three went into the kitchen and Caryss filled Liz in on everything.
When she had finished talking, Liz wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye and cleared her throat. “When are you going to tell Nick?” she finally asked, grabbing Caryss’s hands and holding them in her own.
“I don’t know,” admitted Caryss. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Tonight, you’re going to tell him tonight,” said AJ as he stood up from the table. He pulled out his cell phone and held it out to Caryss. “Call your doctor and get clearance to fly.” Caryss and Liz looked at him in puzzlement. “You are flying back with us to California and you are going to tell him, in person, tonight.”
