Chapter 495) Love & Priorities

Willow Grace Medical Center

As unpleasant as my current position and situation were, I couldn’t help bursting into loud laughter at the exchange happening before me.

The scene: the gyn scanning my lubed-up now slightly rounded belly for another check-up, I had just started showing a little, thanks to me being so very skinny, still, for the most part it looked like I binged on pizza and pastries the night before, still very easily hidden under clothing, the sounds of the sonogram machine, the heartbeat of my baby filling the room, as the doctor turns to us.

“A healthy baby, everything progressing nicely, I could not be more pleased with the development of the child, despite your terrible accident some weeks ago. Great job, you guys. Nothing but the best marks from conception to now, Mrs. Cameron.” the doctor said.

“It’s Miss, actually. I am not married.”

“Yeah, and all credit and kudos go solely to her, I have nothing to do with the making or development of this baby. Just along for the bumpy ride, as usual.” Nick grumbled.

The doctor paled; eyes widened. He had probably seen Nick’s wedding band and thought he was my married lover who didn’t believe it was his baby or something twisted like that.

“He’s my brother, not the father.” giggling, I cleared up the misunderstanding.

“Oh, hahaha, that’s interesting. Can’t say we get that a lot, the brother at the appointments. I honestly can’t recall one single time.” the doctor said politely with a very fake laugh, even though his eyes spoke a different tune. I bet he thought we were total weirdos.

“Trust me, doc, I didn’t want to be here either. Her bestie was supposed to go with her but flaked at the last minute. So now I get dragged into this for some reason, I told her to take my gay best friend, he’s a doctor anyway and her ex, so he’s familiar with all THAT and her girly bits, but he was supposedly called into surgery at the last minute. IF that is even true.”

I was glad this gyn wasn’t my regular doctor, just a vacation replacement, as I think he’d drop me as a patient after this anyway. Poor guy, and he was actually really cute, which made all this even more awkward.

Once finally dressed again, walking out together, I was still giggling, despite Nick’s fairly rough nudges, until he stepped in front of me.

“Seriously, AG, this is a one-time thing. Get the real dad to come or put Bianca on a leash or take mom or another friend! This was mega-awkward for me!”

“You think I want a subscription to being in stirrups, butt-naked with nothing but a barely there coverup, having my big brother holding my hand as another stranger peeks right up my undercarriage? I had no choice. I can’t do this alone all the time. I am a strong woman, but even I have limits. Today, I needed someone there with me.”

“I get that, but you could have asked one of your new friends, those rich girls from that yacht club you like to go to now, and yoga and shopping, and all that girly shit you guys like to do. Or take mom. Or Addy! Or literally ANYBODY but me!”

“Umm, have you met our mother? I love mom, but she is so not onboard with this single parent thing I am trying to do here, she’d seriously embarrass me even more, unintentionally. I know she means well, but my pregnancy just has her feeling a certain type of way. My new friends are still too new to drag them with to get naked in front of them with my legs in stirrups. And Addy … come on, Nick. I love your wife but taking her to the gyn with me would be even weirder for me than taking you, I am not even really related to her, and she is always so perfect. I want that even less when I am in such a vulnerable position.”

Nick huffed and was about to move on, when I held him back.

“Ahem, Nick, there is something I needed to tell you anyway. I did a thing … and since you are a lawyer, I thought I’d run it by you, just in case this comes back to bite me. I don’t think it will, but if it does … “

“Oh boy, this oughta be good. Whatcha do THIS time, AG? Lay it on me.”

“I told Jack I had a miscarriage. So … the baby daddy is kinda not a thing anymore going forward.” I dropped the bomb without any more ado.

“You did WHAT?! AG, what the ACTUAL fuck?! Why would you do that?” Nick looked at me as if I were a giant cockroach.

“Why do you think? I want to cut ties with him. If I just told him we’re through, he’d show up at my place again and again, because of the baby. Now he won’t have a reason. I told him with the baby gone, I don’t want to see him ever again. I’d say I broke up with him, but we were never really together to begin with so … Just in case he contacts you or something.”

“Why would Jack contact ME? I met the baby daddy of my future niece or nephew a grand total of one time, briefly, barely spoke with him since our mother was ready to rip his head clear off and shit down his throat, and what little I said to him I believe was me offering to clean his clock, twice. So, your Mr. Yeehaw-lover-boy and I didn’t exactly become Facebook friends then. Okay, but why, AG? Last I recall you were crying your eyes out missing him, wanting him, cos you looooove him so. YOUR words, last time Addy and I had you over for movie night, which ended with you sobbing into my brand-new cashmere sweater. That was the first time I wore it and it had to go to the dry-cleaners because it had better eye-make up than a Kardashian, thanks to my emotional lil sis. Ew!”

“Okay, if you must know, I went to see him after I came back from visiting my kids last time. Max invited me to a wedding and ..”

“WEDDING!? Already?! Maximilian – Bruh!!!”

“Not his. Our former sister-in-law is getting hitched. You know, Max’ brother Leopold’s widow, Eugenia. Max thought I might want to come and since he’s paying for the whole thing, he felt he could invite me.”

“And you’re going to that?”

“Of course not! But those news combined with Max’ new chick smooching around on him almost the whole time I was there – again – it made me miss Jack, so I had mom’s pilot divert to Del Sol Valley, had a driver take me to Chestnut Ridge to spend time with him. Well, this might be a little TMI, but I think you understand why I reacted the way I did better if you got all the gory details. Jack and I were in his bed, in the middle of … you know … when his best friend Ahanu came to the door. Instead of ignoring it, he stopped what we were doing, left me laying there like a turtle on my back while he answered the door. That already had me super-pissed and hurt, next thing I know Jack comes in the room, and instead of resuming where we left off, he gets dressed, telling me something about someone’s cattle herd breaking loose and all men in town are going after to round them back up. Can you believe that?”

Nick chuckled, I hit him.

“Not funny, Nick!”

“Sorry sis, but it is fuckin’ funny! I mean, one look at the dude, AG, and you can see that he is 100% cowboy. What did you expect? I am not really surprised at all. Why do you think mom, dad and I made such a big deal about all this? A blind man could see he was gonna break your heart and leave you to raise that baby alone, because he just can’t be bothered to commit to something long-term or he’s too busy helping birth some foals instead or whatever. I always knew he would never be more than a Sunday afternoon type of dad, and so did mom and dad. That’s why mom’s so roweled up about it all..”

“Well, I was and still am surprised and mad as hell at Jack for all this! I don’t care if he curls up with the horses in the stables normally or whatever, but he and I barely ever see each other – and then someone’s cows are more important than the mother of his child?! And he just leaves me there like a 2-dollar hooker?! No, I will NEVER forgive that. NEVER! I was so humiliated, still am!”

“AG, I am sure he knows that he pissed you off by leaving you in the middle of unfinished nookie, so you telling him you lost the baby is pretty obviously just a rouse. He didn’t strike me as the rebirth of Einstein, and I am not a fan of his, but he’s not THAT dumb, AG …”

“Neither am I, Nick. I just left right then and there, without leaving a note. And as I expected, eventually he came after me, was waiting for me at my house some days later. Luckily, that was right when I was getting home that time I rolled my ankle at yoga thinking I sprained it. So, there I was, miserable cos I was still in pain, reeking of doctor and alcohol and sanitizer, carrying a prescription bag from a well-known pharmacy chain, I was so emotional anyway and started sobbing the minute I saw him, so I seized the moment and told him I was coming home from losing the baby. Told him to leave and never come back, that I never wanted to see him again. He was hurt and sad and this time I got to slam the door in his face. But he DID leave and hasn’t been back since.”

“Wow, AG, that’s rough. If he ever finds out that was a lie, oh boy. As a father myself, I will tell you I wouldn’t take kindly to it if Addy had pulled shit like that on me. It would be war, for sure.”

“Well, that was the point, Nick, he is supposed to be pissed and lose interest in me. Besides, I don’t think you would just run off with Rohan in the middle of sex with Addy, leaving her laying in your bed with the legs up in the air and unfinished bedroom business wondering WTH just happened and where she ranks with you, would you?! Can you even fathom the humiliation, you can’t be okay with someone doing that to your little sister. He was ho-hum when he found out about the baby, if he were to ever find out I lied, he’d just be as ho-hum again, so no big deal. I am not afraid and he has only himself to thank for it all! Plus, that little white lie for the sake of the child worked out well for grandma and grandpa. Different circumstances, but same reasoning, and they ended up riding off into the sunset together. They are STILL inseparable. I rest my case.”

“If I ever did that to Addy, I wouldn’t live to talk about it, don’t be fooled by her always so calm composure, girl’s got that famous Tartosian temper if something pisses her off enough. AG, I do get why you are pissed and agree you have every reason to be, when a man really loves a woman, he won’t just leave like that. Rohan’s my brother from another mother, I love that man and would do anything for him, you know that, but damn skippy, nookie with Addy will ALWAYS outrank anything Rohan can come up to me with unless someone or something is on fire, and he knows better than to come a’knocking when the bedroom’s a’rockin, but lying about a man’s kid like you did, that’s next level in the worst way, AG. Plus, claiming it worked out well for our grandparents is a stretch. When grandpa ran into our toddler-aged mother at a park he just knew she had to be his, and when grandma eventually admitted it, they were at odds for many years. Mom grew up going back and forth between both till she was like 10 or 12 or something, and grandpa even married someone else. I wouldn’t call that working out great, a decade of constant reminders and pain. It was just pure luck they ended up together in the end. And come to think of it, this may well be the reason our mom has such fiery opinions about your pregnancy in the first place. Cos, I tell you what, they are great grandparents to Ryan, and to your kids during the rare occasions we all get to see them, so I know for a fact they don’t mind becoming grandparents again, it’s the circumstances that has their panties in a bunch.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah … I don’t know what to say here, Nick. If Jack and I were meant to be, like I thought we were, things would have gone differently. He would have made me a priority, he didn’t, so this is where it’s at now. Look Nick, I screwed up with this whole Jack thing, falling for him in the first place, running after him, and getting knocked up by him, I know that. I know I should have pulled the plug long before there was a baby inside of me. I am still not even so sure I REALLY want the baby, I am gonna roll with it, but I am certain now I do not want the man. Not if he can’t make me his priority, and who’s to say if he would make his kid one either. People have warned me about this, his best friend has, the best friend’s sister who used to date him warned me, even Jack himself warned me that he was like that. I didn’t listen, so now I did the best I could for damage control. Well, now you know everything. Will you be my lawyer if this ever comes back to haunt me?”

“Do I have a choice? Yes, of course I will help you, like I always do. But now we need to get out of here, I am driving both of us to my favorite steak house and you get to buy me dinner! This is gonna get expensive, AG. Payback is a juicy Kobe or Wagyu, medium rare and their finest bourbon, for starters. Probably something decadent off their dessert menu, too, until I start looking more pregnant than you do!”

Author's Note: 
The handsome doctor is Ridge Sinclair, made for me by the wonderful Mena Buchner. I hadn't planned for him to be there, but he just happened to be the attending physician for AG's checkup (part of the Pregnancy Mod by Pandasama). I took the shots for this chapter during an actual event at the in-game hospital. 
Another fun sidenote: I am not the only one thinking Ridge is va-va-voom gorgeous, as THE Penny Pizzazz just snatched him up right after I got him and his sister Willow settled in and marked them unplayed again. Yeah, Penny literally dropped our handsome Dirk Dreamer, whom she was sooooo in love with - supposedly - for Ridge and married him on the spot. Yikes. LOL
I undid that once, thinking the recent game update had confused my MCCC settings, but next thing I know is I am getting the notification again that they got married. Nobody else, just them, even though I have been adding a number of new unplayed Townies over the past days. 
Sorry Dirk, I tried. Penny is Mrs. Sinclair now and wants to stay that way, so instead of the two Sinclair siblings living together in a nice house I built for them, his sister is flying solo now while Ridge is playing house with the freshly baked Mrs. Sinclair.