Katie In Denver (In Denver Series Book 3) (3 page)

BOOK: Katie In Denver (In Denver Series Book 3)
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“No, it’s not Katherine,” my father says into the phone. “She had the abortion, and you are not to contact her ever again. Your invitation to our land has been rescinded, and if I ever find out you attempted to get in touch with my daughter I will call your parents and then I will tell everyone who will listen how you handled this situation. Am I making myself clear, Michael?” After a beat, my father hung up.

“I will call a council meeting I will let everyone know that business with the Kerrigans is to be terminated immediately and that the Kerrigans are prohibited from being guests on this Reservation. I won’t tell them why, but they will figure it out. You have the next six months to get your GED and then you have six months after the baby is born to enroll in college. We will figure everything out. I’m angry you didn’t come to me, Katherine, I always thought we had the kind of relationship that you could come to me if you were ever in any kind of trouble.” My father stood up and left the room with my mother following behind him not saying a word.

“Katherine, honey,” Maggie’s voice breaks my focus. “Pack a bag for a few days, and stay with me. Just give them a little while to process what has happened. Everything will be fine.”

I walk up to my room, and as I start packing, I notice all the pictures of Michael and me, and I start tearing everything apart. I run back downstairs and grab garbage bags. I fill them with stuffed animals and cards and deflated balloons; pictures and love notes; everything goes into the trash, and I close my door. I don’t say anything to my parents as I walk with Maggie out of the house. I broke my parents’ trust in me. I have to work on getting that back and have to work on putting Michael Kerrigan out of my mind and out of my heart.

Chapter 3

Michael

Katie showing up at my house without calling is strange. In the two years we have been together she has only been here a handful of times; we spend the majority of our time at her house or hanging out around town. I was planning on calling her later today to tell her I got accepted into Dartmouth. I know she is going to take it hard, we talked about it and at first I thought I would stay here and go to DU then she would join me two years later, but then the letter came telling me a spot had opened up at Dartmouth. How can I not go? It wouldn’t be fair to Katie to ask her to wait for the four years I will be away at school. So as hard as it’s going to be I’m going to tell her I want to take a break. I want to go to college and experience everything college had to offer: parties and girls. 

I guess you can say I was a late bloomer. I was tall and awkward with braces and glasses. My skin was bad. And I had red hair. It wasn’t until this last summer that I started hitting the gym with my brothers, and my six-foot-four frame filled out with lean muscle. The braces came off last year, I got Lasik, and my skin cleared up. People always used to say Katie was out of my league, but I think we match now. We still look like an odd couple since she is petite and curvy in all the right places with dark hair and brown eyes. Her eyes are dark, but in the light they sparkle. She has dimples on both cheeks like I do, but hers are higher on her cheekbone, and she has skin that looks tan and healthy. I know I’m the only one for Katie when I’m done with school. I will come back, and we can get back together.

The last couple weeks she has been nagging me about my drinking and now she thinks because I take a pill here or there I’m some kind of drug addict. Sometimes I just need to loosen up, and the pills help me to do just that.  Then she says the words that rock my world off its axis.  Hearing Katie say she is pregnant causes my world to stop; I feel all the air get sucked out of the room. I know if my parents find out they will make sure we get married. I see how unhappy Liam is at times. While his friends are still single and dating, he has a wife and a son to take care of. I don’t want that for myself or Katie; we are just kids with our whole lives ahead of us. The minute I tell her to have an abortion I know I lose her. The look she gives me tells me I crossed a line that can’t be uncrossed. It isn’t even a look of shock; it’s a look of disgust. When Liam speaks from the door, I know I am going to have to tell my parents; he won’t keep this from them. 

I don’t hear from Katie the rest of the day. The next day she calls and tells me she made an appointment, and I am so relieved we are dodging a bullet. I don’t want to fight; I don’t want our last conversation to be an argument. We had two good years together; I don’t want it to end badly. When she calls back again after I said I wouldn’t go with her to the abortion, she tells me she has a ride and to deliver the money to her aunt at the Diner in an hour. I go into my sock drawer and pull out two thousand dollars. Sitting at my desk, I write her a letter. I know it won’t make up for what is happening but if I could just explain…

 

Katie,

I know you are upset with me now, but I’m sure you will see this was the best for the both of us. We are so young and have so much life to experience. Maybe when I come back for Thanksgiving, we can meet and talk. I don’t want to break up on bad terms. I do love you, Katie; you were my first love. But, I am eighteen years old and don’t want to be a father or a husband right now. I hope you can forgive me.

-Michael 

 

I seal the envelope with the money and seal the envelope with the letter when I see Liam standing at my doorway again.

“You know you’re making a mistake,” he says to me.

“No, Liam, you made the mistake. You gave up your life for your high school sweetheart and a baby. I’m not making the same mistake. I want a life; I want to enjoy college. I watch you walk around here miserable because you didn’t have a choice with Rose, and I’m sorry your life sucks but I’m going to Dartmouth, and no one and nothing is standing in my way.”

“First thing, little brother, you don’t know shit about Rose and me or our marriage, and if you ever call my son a mistake again, I will break your fucking face. Second, this is going to come back to bite you in the ass because the shit you try and bury and keep under wraps is always the stuff that gets exposed first. Katie is a sweet girl and what you just did to her, what you asked her to do, is really fucked up and you have to live with that so go have fun at college with your parties and girls but remember you traded your baby for all that.” As he walks away, I hear the front door open and slam shut, and I can hear his car starting and then fading as he drives off the estate.

Katie’s Aunt Maggie was always my favorite member of Katie’s family; she was funny and easy going. When I pull up to the Diner, she meets me at my car.

“I don’t need small talk,” she said. “Just give me what you’re supposed to and go about your business.”

“Please let me explain.” I try to say more, but she throws her hand up.

“May you feel nothing but sadness, emptiness, and loneliness until you make your wrongs right. You will never be blessed with love and children until you atone for what you have done to a daughter of the earth. I curse you, Michael Kerrigan.” With those words, she got in her car and left. 

I got a call from Katie’s house the day of the abortion; it was her dad. He tells me never to contact her again and that I am no longer welcome on tribal land. Hanging up, I sit on my bed and feel nothing but sadness. 

I lie in bed and stare at my ceiling when my mom knocks to tell me everyone is waiting for me at the dinner table. I break down crying, and she calls my father in the room. I tell them everything and that I know I made a mistake, I should have stood by Katie, and I should have listened to her and come to them for help. My mother cried for me; she was upset that I would basically force Katie into having an abortion and my father just got up and went to call Katie’s father.

“Well, Michael,” he says with his voice filled with rage. “You have nothing to worry about. Katie terminated the pregnancy like you asked, her father said he will return your money, they don’t want anything from us and now forty years’ worth of friendship is gone because my close friend told me as long as he lives he will never forgive what the Kerrigans took from him. So finish packing. I’m sure you don’t want to miss any social mixers at your new school.” 

“Shamus!” my mom yells. 

“SHAMUS MY ASS, ELENA! He pushed a scared sixteen-year-old girl into killing her baby—my grandchild—so he could go away to college instead of doing the right thing and coming to us. He gave the girl two thousand dollars and told her to handle it! What would we do if it was Stacy? He wouldn’t even go with her! He told her he would pick her up and drop her off! Is that the fucking son I raised? No, that isn’t, so I’m telling him to pack his shit and get the fuck out of my house. I hope he enjoys Dartmouth.”

I have never in all eighteen years heard my dad raise his voice or curse at my mom. This was all my fault.

“He’s our son, Shamus, he made a bad choice.”

“No, don’t baby him. Making a bad choice is streaking across a football field, underage drinking, maybe trying pot— those are bad choices. How many times have we had this talk with our boys? How many times have we told them to come to us?”

He says nothing else before slamming my bedroom door. My mom sits with me and says, “Maybe you and Katie can work this out.” 

I shake my head, and the tears start again. “I broke up with her. I told her I wanted to experience college.” 

“Oh, honey, you have made such a mess of this whole thing I’m not sure I can help you fix this, son.” She gets up from the bed and walks to the door. “Finish packing, your flight leaves early in the morning, I can’t tell you everything will work out, only time will tell, honey.” My mom closes the door behind her and even at eighteen I know I destroyed my life and my happiness with a few simple dumb words.

Chapter 4

Katie

I scream. It’s pain like I have never felt before. It feels like my insides are being ripped apart. I roll off my bed and hit the floor. The light turns on, and it’s my parents.

“Joseph,” my mom says, trying to remain calm but I can see the panic in her face. “I need you to get the car the baby is on the way.”

“Mom, what’s happening? I can’t handle the pain,” I say, panting. “Mom, please help me.”

“Sweetie, I need you to breathe. Your dad is getting the car, your bag is packed, and as soon as we get you in the car I will call the doctor. Let me help you.”

She lifts me up, and I stagger to the car, lying down in the backseat. My dad is focused on the road. I woke up to the bright lights of the emergency room sign, the nurses running out to the car to help my parents.

“She is sixteen, and she isn’t due for another three weeks my mother informs the nurse.”

“We are moving her up to labor and delivery,” the nurse tells my parents.

When I arrive in the room, I’m hooked up to monitors and machines. I want to call Michael to tell him what’s happening, but I realize that would be a mistake. He has moved on with his life, and I have moved on with mine.

My dad is waiting in the waiting room while my mom, Aunt Maggie, and Percy come into the room to help.

“Katherine, are you ready to push? Your baby is ready to come into the world.”

“Wait, I was supposed to get an epidural!” I shouted.

“It’s too late for that, Katherine, you have to push.”

“Mom, make them give me something. Please, Mom,” I sob.

“Sweetie.”  My mom holds my face and looks into my eyes. “Look, millions of women for thousands of years have done this. You are a woman of the Earth; you can do this. Now, the doctor says push, so I want you to push! Don’t think about the pain think about the joy, focus on holding your baby.”

I nod and bear down. “OK, I’m ready, I can do this.”

“OK, Katherine, are you ready? Push! Keep pushing until I make it to ten then I want you to rest. Ready? PUSH!” the doctor yells. “One, two, three, four, KEEP PUSHING, KATHERINE, five, six, seven.

The pain and pressure is too much, and I have to stop.

“Sweetie, you did great. We have to push again, are you ready?”

“I can see your baby crowning, are you ready?” the doctor asks. “PUSH, KATHERINE, one, two, three, four, you’re doing great, five, six.” 

I hear my baby scream, and I lie back and cry while my mom and Aunt Maggie hug me and tell me how great I did. Percy watches them clean up the baby.

“He is beautiful,” Percy says. 

“I have a son.” My mother is wiping my face and rubbing ice on my lips. “I have a son,” I say with a smile on my face.

“Miss Blackwell, my name is Hilary. I’m here with this little guy’s birth certificate. It needs to be signed so we can have it registered. I notice that you left the father’s information blank.” I don’t want to look her in the face.

“She has the right not to list the information,” Percy declares from the doorway.

“No, the information should only be left blank if she doesn’t know who the father is. We don’t notify the father that he has been named on a birth certificate, the only time a father is notified is if the mother applies for any kind of assistance, and the father is put on child support.”

BOOK: Katie In Denver (In Denver Series Book 3)
4.13Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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