“I’m late.”
“Ah, I see,” Dr. Conners looked rather amused. “Well, Mandy, let’s see what due date we get with the date of your last period. That gives you an estimate of when you conceived,” Dr. Conners dug a wheel out of his pocket.
“I conceived six weeks ago yesterday,” Amanda supplied.
“You know this?” he surveyed in surprise. Amanda felt heat climb into her cheeks as she nodded. Dr. Conners smiled slightly and looked down at the wheel. “March 15,” Dr. Conners noted it on her chart.
Several minutes later Amanda was seated in her car, still in a state of shock. She was going to have a baby. Amanda let that sink in; Cade’s baby. Amanda placed her hand over her belly and closed her eyes. A part of her leapt with excitement; another nearly panicked. A baby! Amanda slowly started the car and drove to the pharmacy to have her prescriptions filled.
“Hey, Mandy,” the pharmacist’s assistant greeted her. Her name was Molly; she had graduated with Trent and Cade.
“Hi, Molly,” Amanda returned her greeting.
“How are you?”
“Fine,” Amanda assured her; she so was not fine.
“Good, glad to hear it. What have you been up to?”
“Getting pregnant,” Amanda stopped herself from saying it. “Just working,” she finally responded.
“Here we go,” Molly took a bag from another of the employees. “Okay, any questions on your meds?” Molly glanced down at the bags in her hands. “The first one you want to take before eating, this one…” Molly stumbled to a stop, her wide eyes coming up to glance at Amanda sharply. “This second one should be taken with food,” she finally finished.
“Thanks,” Amanda took the bags.
“Congratulations,” Molly offered.
“Thanks,” Amanda repeated and turned to move to the register. After paying she walked down to the book store and bought a couple of books before returning to Jenny’s. She was reading one of them when Jenny entered, carrying a bag of take out.
“Okay, so I thought maybe I could tempt you to eat some of your favorite Mexican,” Jenny held the bag up.
“The doctor gave me some meds for nausea today.”
“Good; now you can eat. What did he say? Is it depression?”
“No,” Amanda answered, “it’s not depression.”
“Are you okay; it’s not something serious is it?” Jenny looked worried now. Amanda held up the book she was reading and watched Jenny’s eyes widen and her mouth fall open.
“That makes so much sense!” Jenny exclaimed a moment later as she hurried to Amanda’s side. “Are you okay?”
“I think so. I think I’m still in shock.”
“A baby,” Jenny’s voice turned soft. “Oh Mandy; we have to find Cade!”
________________________________________________
Amanda smiled at her aunt; she was wondering how on earth she had made it to town. Amanda had seen her father and brother a hand full of times since leaving the ranch but was giving them a wide berth for the most part.
“How did you get here?” Amanda demanded a moment later.
“I asked a friend from church to bring me. I want you to come home,” her aunt held up her hand to hold off Amanda’s argument. “I think you should move into the cabin and Trent should move up to the house,” Naomi shared her opinion.
“Dad might not want me there,” Amanda informed her aunt.
“Mandy, he paces the floor every night worrying over you.”
“I’m pregnant,” Amanda shared.
Naomi blinked; then nodded. “All the more reason you should come home and move into the cabin.”
“I’ll think about it,” Amanda promised.
“Good, now I should go,” her aunt stood and kissed her cheek. Amanda saw her out and started mulling over her options. Her aunt’s idea might be a good one, she realized.
A week later, Jenny and Naomi helped Amanda clear her brother’s things from the cabin and moved Amanda’s things in. Her aunt tried arguing when Amanda chose the smaller bed room as her own but finally conceded defeat. When Trent returned home from town with their father he frowned at his things where they sat on the porch.
“What’s going on, Mandy?” Trent demanded.
“It’s like this, I can go to town and get an apartment, in fact, Jenny wants me to room with her but this ranch has always been my home and I don’t want that to change.
“Trouble is I can’t live under the same roof with you or Dad right now. If you don’t like my plan, I’ll return to town,” Amanda laid it all out. She watched as her brother swiped a box up and thunked it down in the back of the truck; his expression was stormy.
“You could at