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Not Without A Fight

Chapter 2

Two weeks later I’m at my doctor’s office for a follow up exam to make certain that I’m all right after the kidnapping and fire ordeal.  I go through the usual urine and blood samples and such and sit in the exam room waiting for the doctor to enter and give me the once over.  Dr. Stevenson enters and sits in the chair at the table and rattles off some numbers like my blood pressure and white blood counts and lung capacity improvement and then she says something that stops me short.

“Your blood looked a little off so I ran another test and it came back positive.  You’re pregnant.  I would need to do an ultrasound to determine just how far along you are.  Do you want to do that now?

I just sat there looking at her as if she had two heads, four eyes, and a pinwheel on top of both heads.  I didn’t hear her correctly I just know it.”

“I’m sorry Dr. Stevenson but there must be some mistake.  I can’t be pregnant.  I haven’t had sex in months.  Maybe the test is wrong.”

“Evangeline I also thought that it was mistaken but I ran it again and there is no mistake.  You are pregnant.  Let me set up the ultrasound so that we can see how far along you are. After that we can talk, all right?”

“Yes, let’s do that Doctor.”

Dr. Stevenson’s technician sets up the ultrasound and Dr. Stevenson moves the wand over my belly and takes measurements and pictures and then tells me that I am 11 - 12 weeks pregnant.

“But doctor I haven’t had any symptoms, I haven’t had any nausea, my period isn’t always regular so I didn’t pay much attention when it was spotty the last two months and I attributed that to the kidnapping ordeal.  You’re saying that I’ve been pregnant since June.  How can that be?  I don’t understand.  My boyfriend and I broke up in June and I haven’t been with anyone else.”

And then it hit me.  The day before I broke up with John we made love.  I didn’t think about that since the next day we broke up and I didn’t want to have anything to do with him after that.  Then the kidnapping and now he’s with Natalie.

“Evangeline it is not uncommon for a woman not to exhibit any signs of pregnancy in the first month or two of pregnancy.  The trauma that your body endured because of the kidnapping may have masked some of the pregnancy symptoms.  You are pregnant now so let us deal with that fact.  You have options regarding this pregnancy.  You may want to think about those options before you decide on anything else.”

“Dr. Stevenson I only have one option and that is to have this child.  The father and I may not be together but this is my child and I will not do anything to him or her as if to convenience myself.  This child did not ask to come into this world and I will not punish them for my shortsightedness on choosing a partner.”

“That’s good to hear Evangeline.  I will work with you so that you have no problems with this pregnancy. You’re fortunate that you’ve not experienced the morning sickness that women usually get during the early part of their pregnancy.  Let’s keep it that way.  Do you have any questions for me.”

“I will ask that you keep this confidential.  I chose to come to this office because I feel confident that my friends and family will not have contact with anyone here.  May I rely on you that this will remain between us?  If at possible can you keep my file secure also?  I have many high profile cases and I would rather keep my private business private.”

“Don’t worry Evangeline I will make certain that we secure your file and no one will learn from us of your pregnancy.  Anything else?

“No, Doctor, I think that is all that I need to say.  I will see you next month.  Goodbye.”

I make it home and go to my bedroom, undress, take a long hot shower and dress in something comfortable and then sit on my sofa in my living room and start to make of list of things that I need to do before I start showing.  I will not run. I will not hide.  I have done nothing wrong.  This baby and I will be fine.

-Keep this information away from John.

-Have John sign a waiver of parental rights without him knowing that’s what he’s signing.

-Start wearing my clothes a little looser so that my belly won’t show so soon.

-Get all of my pending cases through court as soon as I can and not have anything undone when the baby is due.

-Find a judge who will sign the parental rights waiver without looking too closely at it.  I don’t want to get disbarred for pulling a fast one on anyone.

-Have Attorney Caroline Harper handle the parental waiver matter in family court and that way my name won’t be associated with it as the attorney of record.  She can explain it away as the expectant mother and the father are no longer together and the mother wants to get on with her life and the expectant father does not want to be involved with the mother at all.  Caroline will do it for me.  We help each other all of the time.

-Get the parental right waiver done as soon as possible and filed and then I can tell my family when I start showing.  With John out of the picture it will be easier for me to sell the idea of me raising this child alone.

I could not have planned it any better but here I am in John’s office returning a file to him and having him to sign ‘a form’ that I returned the file and two of his officers are in his office at that same time.  He’s so busy listening to what they are saying to him that he pays little attention to what I’m doing.  I told him that the form is a ‘waiver of parental rights’ and he says, “A waiver of my rights, it’s not like it’s my child Evangeline”.  I could not have asked for anything better.  Without any coaxing he said the exact words that I needed him to say and I have witnesses.  I play it off as if it is a joke and ask the two officers to sign the form as witnesses.  They all sign without first reading the form.  I smile and leave the office as soon as I can.  

I make it back to the office and give the waiver to Caroline along with my statement as the expectant mother and she rushes over to family court and puts the forms before the family court judge.  The judge is so swamped with papers to sign that she simply asks what it is and Caroline states that it is a waiver of parental rights and the judge asks if both parties are in agreement and Caroline presents the signed forms, duly witnessed, and the judge signs off on them and Caroline rushes to get them filed.  After the clerk stamps the paperwork and the order is filed Caroline returns to the office and makes a copy of the court order and hands to me the original.  I hug Caroline and thank her for doing this for me.  She said that she knew that I would do the same for her so she had no problem helping me with this matter.  Caroline only knew a little bit of what I went through with John and suffice it to say that she does not think very highly of him.

Now with the parental rights waiver filed I breathe a sigh of relief.  I don’t have to worry about John interfering with my child and me.  He might say that he didn’t know that he signed over his parental rights but I also had an audio copy of my conversation where he clearly said, ‘signing over my rights’ and ‘not my child’.

I haven’t started showing yet and for that I am thankful.  I have another doctor’s appointment in a week and by then I will be 16 weeks pregnant.  I won’t go home to see my family until I start showing and hopefully I can hold off until November.