“Chad, I agree that I need to go to a doctor, but to start prenatal care, not to have a pregnancy test.”
“Prenatal care? Oh my God.”
“Chad, I—”
“A rip in the condom. Nearly twenty years of condom use, Catie, and I’ve never had one rip on me. Interesting, isn’t it?”
“Wh-What do you mean?”
“What I mean is, that last time, you put the condom on me, remember?”
“So?”
“So it would have been really easy for you to poke a hole in it without me knowing.”
Catie’s blood boiled. “You are not going to pin this on me. I found the condom with the tear in it after the first time, before I ever put a condom on you. And for your information, I wi
shed damn hard for that test to be negative. I knew you didn’t want a child, a family. I knew you didn’t want me. But it’s positive, and the child is yours.”
“Maybe.”
She clenched her fists. “How dare you?”
“How do I know who you’ve been seeing? I’ve only been with you a few days out of the three weeks you’ve been home.”
“You fucking bastard!” Catie stood and pushed her chair under the table loudly. “The baby is yours. The condom ripped. I had nothing to do with it.”
“Get in my truck.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“The hell you’re not. We’re going to have a real doctor check you out. Then we’ll figure out where we can go to get rid of this…problem.”
“Get rid of it?” She gritted her teeth. “You can’t be serious. Know one thing, Chad McCray. I’m having this baby. With or without you.”
“Goddamnit.”
“What’s your problem anyway? A minute ago, you wanted to date me. To see me romantically, I believe is how you put it.”
“Dating you and setting up house are two different things.”
“Setting up house? I haven’t asked you for anything.”
“The hell you haven’t. Come on.”
“No.”
“Yes. We need to get you to a doctor in Denver. We need to find out what’s going on.”
“I already know what’s going on. I’m having a baby. You’re the father. I’m not asking you for anything. You can be involved or not. It’s your choice, but I’m having this child.”
Chad’s muscles tightened visibly. “If you’re bound and determined, you’re coming with me. I want a real doctor to look at you, Catie.”
He said not another word as he pulled her out of the kitchen, out of the house, and into his pickup.
He said not a word during the two hour drive to Denver.
He said not a word as he pulled her into the OB-GYN department of Denver Memorial hospital and demanded to see the best doctor they had.