that rumor to cover his own guilt.”
“Sorry bastard,” Ellie Mae muttered. “Then it must be you. When are you getting married?”
“I’m not. Is this your first ultrasound?”
Ellie Mae nodded. “Yes, and no one knows about the baby except me and Darrin. So please, please keep my secret. My mama is going to stroke out over the wedding dress. If she knew I was pregnant, she’d lay down and die from the embarrassment. So why aren’t you getting married?”
“I don’t want to marry the guy. I found out that he’s as big a bastard as Lyle,” Paula answered. “When are you due?”
“The end of October. Being a big girl does have its advantages, doesn’t it? We don’t look like we’ve swallowed a watermelon,” Ellie Mae said. “How about you?”
“First of September. I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine,” Paula said.
“You got a deal. When are you tellin’ your mama?” Ellie Mae asked.
“Tonight,” Paula answered.
Ellie Mae chuckled. “Looks like I get the best end of the deal. We’re not tellin’ anyone until we get home from the honeymoon. Honeymoon babies cook fast!”
A lady in green scrubs opened a door and said, “Paula, are you ready?”
“Yes, ma’am.” She got up and patted Ellie Mae on the shoulder. “Hope you find out that it’s what you want it to be.”
“Me, too. And thanks for keeping my secret.” Ellie Mae ducked her head as if she were embarrassed to even say that. “If you want to tell Jody and Mitzi, it’s okay. I trust them. And I’ll need the dress to expand.”
“Thank you.” Paula picked up her purse and waved over her shoulder.
“Right in here. You’ve already had this done once, so you know the drill,” the lady said. “Do you still want to know the gender?”
“Yes, I do.” Paula was so nervous that she didn’t recognize the woman until she was on the table and saw her name tag. “Hey, you did this last time, didn’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am, I did,” Rachel said. “And he or she was not very cooperative.”
Paula got onto the examination table and pulled her pants down below her belly and her shirt up to her breasts. Rachel tucked blue paper into the band of Paula’s pants and then squirted gel across her tummy. “Got a good strong heartbeat. Would you look at that?”
Paula turned her head to the monitor to find her baby lying in a position that left no doubt about the gender. Tears flooded her eyes. Finally, she was getting what she’d prayed for and wanted so badly.
“Well, there’s no doubt now, is there?” Rachel handed her a tissue. “Why are you crying? Are you disappointed? Looks like you’re going to have a healthy baby.”
“They’re tears of pure joy,” Paula said.
She was glad that Ellie Mae was gone from the waiting room when she left. As nosy as she was, Ellie Mae would have wanted to know the gender, and Paula wanted to hold that secret awhile longer. She craved a big waffle cone of soft ice cream, but butterflies were having a party in her stomach. Once she’d told her mother the news, she’d have something to eat.
She drove from Greenville to Celeste slowly. She’d gotten finished earlier than she’d thought she would, so the girls wouldn’t have had time to drive to her mother’s place just yet. To keep her mind off the fit Gladys was going to throw, she thought about the dilemma that Jody was in. Paula had never had to go through that time of wondering if she was pregnant or not. She’d never had regular periods and had taken the pill to regulate her cycle. Even that didn’t work most of the time, and she’d gotten the news sprung on her when she went in for her yearly physical.
Thinking that she should buy Jody a pregnancy test, she almost stopped at Walmart but decided against it. Maybe Jody wouldn’t even need it. After all, she and Lyle had had sex only once in the past month. That sorry bastard Lyle should be shot.
Chapter Ten
With trembling hands, Jody pulled the pregnancy test out of its box. She’d bought one of the most expensive—one that promised a true reading as early as two weeks after conception. Tomorrow was the actual day for her period and she was usually regular, but she’d been under a lot of stress. Following the directions to the letter, she did what it said and then laid the stick on the counter.
Her chest tightened, making it hard to breathe.