A Child's Heart (Trent & Cassie's Story) A River City Novel (17 page)

The nurse finally called Cassie to his office, and
she sat there for another fifteen minutes.

“Hi, Cassie. You didn’t have to bring me lunch just
to see me. What’s on your mind?”

“I want my labia pierced, and I want you to do it. I
don’t want anyone to know I’m having this done.”

“I don’t do that.”

“Correction, you will do it, today.”

“Cassie!”

“I want it done.” She handed him the small package
that contained the two rings. “It takes an eighteen gauge
needle.”

“I’ll get one of my nurses.”

“NO!”

“I can’t--”

“No nurse.”

“Cassie, I can’t put you in stirrups and do this
without someone else present.”

“Then grab a resident, because I don’t trust anyone
other than you.”

He ate his sandwich and offered her a bottle of cold
water. “May I ask why?”

“I’m going to assume it’ll keep me from having sex
for a while, and after that, it'll be an erotic adornment.” She
could feel the flush over her cheeks.

“Follow me.”

It took only a few minutes, and it was over. She felt
nothing, other than his hand against her thighs.

He handed her a white paper bag. “Women with
episiotomies use this, and I suggest that you do it, too. Any sign
of infection, and you need to get back in here immediately. There’s
a cool gel pack in there. Put it in the refrigerator and use it.
It’ll keep the swelling down.”

She flipped out of the stirrups and put her panties
on. “You’re an angel! I owe you one.” She dropped a quick kiss on
his cheek, straightened her skirt, and walked out of his
offices.

Time was not her friend today. She called Tate on the
cell phone and Tate agreed to meet her later in the afternoon at
Cassie’s office. After she'd returned to her office and caught up
on all her messages, she called Trent.

“Hi. How did it go?” she asked.

“I’m set for Tuesday and Shawn is set for Thursday.
He needs to check into the hospital by six on Wednesday evening.
They want him overnight.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. He’s still a baby.”

“I won’t tell him what you just said.”

“What, Daddy?”

“Tell him he’s my sweet baby, and I love him.”

“You tell him.” He passed the cell phone to his
son,

“Hi, Cassie.”

“Hi, sweetheart. I have a surprise for you. If it’s
not too late, I’ll stop by when I get off from work. Otherwise
you’ll have to wait until tomorrow night.”

“Did you buy me a book?”

“I’m not telling, because if I did, it wouldn’t be a
surprise.”

“Cassie, will you come listen to my prayers and kiss
me goodnight?”

“Tell Daddy I’ll stop by when I’m done at work. I
can’t promise I’ll get there before you go to sleep, but I promise,
I’ll kiss you goodnight.”

***

Art to Ancient Artifacts, There is
Something for Everyone at The River City Museum. Cassie’s fingers
flew swiftly over the keyboard. Soon she had the mockup for the
brochures, the local cable channel banner, and the public service
announcement for the local radio stations, as well as the
billboard.
If someone changes one
word…
She pushed her chair back from her
desk and stretched.
People probably think
I do nothing all day but sit around. I’ve never worked so hard for
such little money.

She gathered up her things, left the office, and went
to Trent's house. She lightly tapped on Trent’s front door and
waited for it to open.

“I didn’t want to ring the doorbell and wake
Shawn.”

“He’s awake, and waiting for you.”

“Ah, sweet baby.” She gave Trent a kiss and headed
for Shawn’s room. “Hi, sweetie,” she whispered. “You’re supposed to
be asleep.”

“Daddy said I could stay awake until you got
here.”

She held up her hands. “I need to wash them. I’ll be
right back.”

She washed up to her elbows with antibacterial soap
and dried off, using the paper towels that sat beside the sink. She
looked down at her dress and realized she’d been everywhere in it.
“Trent?” she called. “May I borrow a tee shirt?”

He handed her one. She quickly changed and went back
to Shawn.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to bring dirt and germs to
you.”

“It took you forever.”

She sat on his bed, pushed her fingers through his
hair, and smiled. “It didn’t take me that long.”

“Can I still have my surprise?”

“They’re in the car.”

“As in more than one?”

She nodded. “I’ll go get them.”

She returned and handed him the dog pillow.

“Oh, wow!” He tore the plastic wrap off and snuggled
the doggie to his chest.

She reached into the bag and retrieved a set of body
crayons. “One set for you, and one set for Daddy.”

“For me?” Trent asked from his position in the
doorway.

She turned around and grinned. “We get to practice on
you, since your surgery is first.”

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes. It’ll be fun and it washes right off.”

He glared at her and Shawn laughed.

“Well, we want to make sure they fix the proper
shoulder. And we’ll put his name on him so they don’t mix him up
with someone else.”

“I said, no!” His glare had turned into a serious
frown.

She put the crayons back into the bag and put them on
Shawn’s small chest of drawers. “Bedtime. I want to talk to Daddy
before I go home.”

She went back to Shawn and gave him a big hug and
kiss, and then pulled the sheet over him and tucked it under his
chin.

“If you spent the night here, then I could pretend
that you were my mom, and we’d be like a real family.”

“You have a mother, and she will always be your
mother.”

“But she’s dead.”

“True, but she’s the one who made you. And it would
take more than my staying here to make us a family. Daddy and I are
working on that. You have to give us some time.” The rustling sound
behind her told her that Trent left. She gave Shawn one more kiss
and went in search of Trent.

“Don’t get his hopes up,” Trent said as she walked
into the kitchen.

“Are you saying that you don’t see marriage as a
possibility?”

“Want a beer?”

“No thanks." She put her hands on her hips. "You
failed to answer my question.”

“I don’t have an answer.”

“Okay, listen carefully. You might disagree with what
I’m about to say, but hear me out. When you thought there was the
chance that I was pregnant, you were very willing to marry me. You
didn’t want me to dispose of the fetus or do anything to ruin its
chances. I’m willing to bet that you planned to go to college, and
to Colleen, that was a big red flag. She was scared she’d lose you.
She knew how you felt about children, so getting pregnant was her
way of making sure you’d marry her.”

“That’s insane.”

“No, it’s logical.”

“Since the moment you found out that I got my period,
all discussion of marriage has come to an abrupt halt. That means
you’d be willing to do the right thing, step up to the plate, and
become a father one more time. But as long as that isn’t happening,
the thought of marriage scares the hell out of you.”

“That’s bullshit!” He popped the tab on a can of beer
and drank some.

She raised her eyebrows. “No, it’s not. You would
have never married Colleen. You would have gone off to college, and
never looked back.”

“I loved Colleen.”

“I’m sure you did. You were buddies and best friends.
Did she plan on attending college?”

He shook his head.

“She loved you and was petrified of losing you, so
she trapped you.”

He took another swig. “I don’t want to discuss
Colleen.”

“Fine. It’s your past, and you have a future. Think
about this.” She reached in her purse, pulled out a small bag, and
handed it to him. “The rings are in place.”

He opened the bag and withdrew a small hot pink box
with the store’s logo on it.

“Open it.”

He did and took a deep breath.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s for your…”

She nodded.

“You’re going to wear this?”

She nodded again.

“It’s longer than I expected.”

“I’ll give you the honors of attaching it this
weekend. I need to do a little healing before I add weight to the
rings.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Whatever was used to numb the area has worn off. I’m
very aware of that part of my anatomy, but I don’t have any pain.
I’m very willing to see what the future holds for us.”

~~18~~

As Cassie left the museum on Memorial Day, the rain
poured in sheets. She and Trent had planned to do steaks on the
grill, but they’d have to settle for steaks done under the broiler.
She stopped at her place, took a quick shower, changed into jeans,
and grabbed the meat from the refrigerator along with the potato
salad she had made. She hadn’t spent much time around his mom,
although she did have the distinct feeling that his mom didn’t
approve of the relationship.

She parked her car on the street and ran through the
pouring rain to Trent’s front door. It opened instantly as she
approached.

“In!”

She planted a wet kiss on Trent’s lips as she pushed
the hood of her slicker back. He took her bag and her coat. Kicking
off her wet sneakers, she hugged her arms as he hung her coat on a
peg.

“It’s going to drip on the floor.”

“I’ll get an old towel. Don’t worry about it. Are you
cold?”

“I’ll be fine in a minute. The temperature has
dropped.”

“It’s been a lousy weekend.”

“Tell me about it. All this rain sent many families
to the museum instead of participating in outdoor activities. We’ve
been packed the whole holiday weekend. I’m not complaining, because
it’s good for the museum. What did you do with Shawn?”

“Remember that dinosaur puzzle? We put it
together.”

“I can’t wait to see it.”

As she walked towards the kitchen behind Trent, she
was suddenly attacked by two small arms around her waist.

“Hi, sweetie. Daddy said you guys did the
puzzle.”

“It was hard.”

“You mean difficult?”

“Yep. It’s in the living room drying on
newspaper.”

Shawn steered her back around and pushed her in the
direction of the tiny room by the front door.

“That’s awesome. I’ve never seen one put together. I
wonder if I brought home another one, would you put it together for
the museum's gift shop? I think we’d sell lots of them if people
could see what they looked like finished.”

Shawn lowered his head. “Daddy’s surgery is tomorrow
and then I have to go into the hospital for mine. We don’t have
enough time.”

“After your surgery you’ll have plenty of time.”

Shawn shook his head.

She sat in a chair and pulled Shawn onto her knee.
The child buried his head into her shoulder and hugged her
tightly.

“Shawn, sweetie, you’re going to have lots of time to
do things after your surgery. Tate Bia’s husband coaches soccer,
and he has a special team of kids. He says it will be the perfect
place for you to start playing the game. He’s already reserved a
slot for you on the fall team. And he promised me that he’d come
over this summer and show you how to play.”

Shawn hugged her tighter.

“Sweetie, are you scared?” There was no response.
“You’re going to be fine. There’s an element of danger in
everything we do. I could have been killed in a car accident
driving over here. If we didn’t take chances, we’d never get out of
bed in the morning.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, anything could happen to anyone at any time. A
meteor could fall out of the sky and land on the house. We don’t
spend our lives worrying about all those terrible things that might
happen, because chances are they won’t.”

“Like the spider that was in the garden by the back
door that Daddy and I used to feed, and Grandmom didn’t know it was
our pet, and she killed it?”

“Well, I guess if you were that spider, then the
logic would apply. But I don’t think spiders worry very much. They
just take each day and moment as it comes. We think on a higher
level than a spider, so we tend to worry about things.” She cupped
his little face in her hand. “You don’t need to worry. Daddy is
going to come through his surgery with flying colors and so are
you.

"The difference is that your surgery is very
complicated and you’re still very small. They developed this
equipment just for you, but it will benefit all children who need
heart surgery. You get to be the first. You’re the pioneer, just
like the guys who rode west to stake claims on land or pan for
gold.”

“Like the astronauts?”

“Yes, just like them. The difference is when Yuri
Gagarin went into space, no one knew if it would really work. Same
with Alan Shepard, and then Neil Armstrong got to walk on the moon.
I’d have to compare this to your being a pint-sized Neil Armstrong.
They already know this surgery works. They just had to make
everything scaled for you.”

“One small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind.”

Her mouth dropped. “How did you know that?”

“That’s what Neil Armstrong said when he stepped on
the moon. I got it in a book. But who is Warry Gagagan?”

“Yuri Gagarin was from Russia, and he beat Alan
Shepard into space.”

“Are you sure? I never heard of him.”

“Well, I think I’m certain, but we can look that up
tomorrow on my computer while we wait for Daddy to have his
surgery.”

“I wish I had a computer.”

“I’ll give you one. I have an old one in my closet. I
bought a new one when I started working at the museum.”

“You’ll give me a computer?”

“Just remember, it’s an old one, but you’re still
going to need Internet access.”