Chapter 3
January 21, 2004
Stephanie sat in her dorm room, staring at the pink lines on the pregnancy test. Her period was a week late. Bailey was in her political science class. She used her phone to make an appointment with the campus doctor. "What am I going to do?" she asked herself.
She missed her economics class to visit the doctor. "You have a few options. Abortion, adoption or raising the child," the doctor stated. Dr. McLean rubbed his chin, a motion he did whenever a pregnant student entered his office. He was an attractive man close to Frank Plum's age. His hair was dark, with a few grey hairs at his temple. Stephanie noticed he had pale green eyes.
"I don't believe in abortions, and I don't want to raise the child," Stephanie said.
"Contact the adoption agency," he said, handing her a business card for Newark Adoptions.
"Thank you. Can I get prenatal care from you? I don't want to visit my doctor. He'd tell my mom."
"I can't foresee any issues. However, during the last few months, I'll refer you to an OB at the hospital," he replied. "Your student medical insurance would cover the cost of the appointments."
"When should I come back?" Stephanie asked.
"One month. Schedule the appointment with the receptionist," Dr. Kevin McLean replied. He reminded Stephanie to notify the father.
Stephanie didn't know who to contact. She wasn't even sure Rick was his real name. After all, she never gave Rick her real name. Stephanie hung her head after making an appointment.
She thought about the baby's biological father. His dark skin was smooth and flawless. He had muscular arms and abdomen. Not bulging muscles, but enough to provide definition. Rick's face still displayed a youthful look. He's going to be very attractive when he gets older.
April 15, 2004
Stephanie wrote her last exam for the year. She had one more year to complete before graduating with a business degree. Bailey hugged her and said she'd call during the summer. Stephanie got picked up from the dorm building by her dad. He took the day off work to help. "Hey, daddy," she greeted.
"How's my pumpkin?" Frank asked.
"Okay. May I borrow the car on Saturday to go shopping? I got a job at a hotdog stand in Point Pleasant for the summer," Stephanie wondered. "I'll need more shorts."
"Sure, pumpkin," Frank replied. The wind whistled through the trees as Stephanie and Frank loaded the car. Stephanie's purse fell to the ground, spilling the contents. She helplessly watched the paper sonogram image blow away. "Should I run after it?"
Stephanie was upset it was gone, but it was probably for the best. If her mother, Helen, found the photo, she'd marry Stephanie off to the first available man in the Burg. "No. It wasn't anything important, dad. Thanks for offering," Stephanie replied.
Frank looked at Stephanie through his peripheral vision. There was something different about his daughter, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He decided she looked defeated. Frank wanted to ask Stephanie what was on her mind. However, he knew his daughter wouldn't talk if she had not wanted to share. "Will you be home for Valerie's wedding?" Frank asked.
"Next weekend? Yes, daddy. I'll be home. My job doesn't start until the end of the month," Stephanie replied.
"Do you have a place to live?" he asked.
"Yes, but I doubt mom would approve. I'm sharing a beach house with friends from college."
"I assume some are boys?" Frank asked, smiling. Stephanie giggled as she nodded. "Protect yourself." That ship has already sailed, Stephanie thought.
April 17, 2004
Stephanie borrowed her dad's Buick to drive to the mall. She was seventeen weeks pregnant and only nineteen years old. At the stoplight, Stephanie rubbed down her abdomen. Her baby bump was barely visible. She could pass it off as a food baby if anyone asked.
As she approached the corner, she saw Joe standing outside of Giovichinni's Meat Market. Stephanie jumped the curb and hit him. She was angry he didn't call her after their one night together at Tasty Pastry. Her mom mentioned Joe was home for several months. He never asked about Stephanie, and it pissed her off.
"I'm sorry," Stephanie said. "My foot slipped. It was an accident." She thought about running him over a few more times.
"You broke my leg," Joe shouted as he looked up to see under Stephanie's skirt. Stephanie rolled her eyes and got back into the car.
She waited until the ambulance arrived before leaving. The police officer that questioned her had accepted her version of the event. Stephanie wouldn't get charged for running Joe Morelli down. She felt vindicated for his lack of courtesy three years earlier.
Stephanie smiled as she drove towards the mall. Joe finally got punished for taking her virginity. At the mall, Stephanie selected spandex or elastic waistbands instead of button-up with zippers.
April 24, 2004
Valerie was getting married. She got excited to walk down the aisle towards Steven Sutton. Stephanie couldn't stand the man. He openly flirted with the other single women. Valerie had her light brown hair pulled to the top of her head. A tiara held her loose curls in place.
"You look beautiful, Val," Stephanie said as she looked at Valerie in the mirror. Stephanie opened the clasp on the pearl necklace to put around Val's neck. She got them situated and put the eyelet through the clip. "These belong to Grandma Mazur. It's something borrowed."
"I'm wearing a blue garter, so that's something blue," Valerie added.
"Your dress is something new," Helen said, fussing with the hemline.
Grandma Mazur entered the room. She tied an old handkerchief around the bouquet. "Something old, Val," she whispered.
Stephanie hated the bridesmaid dress, but it was perfect for hiding the baby bump that started to show. The dress was pink, frilly and ostentatious. It was reminiscent of the Little House on the Prairie type dresses. In other words, ridiculous. She'd leave early the following morning to move to Point Pleasant.
Her friend, Gemma, the only other female resident in the house, picked her up early. Stephanie didn't bother going to bed after the wedding. She could sleep when they got to the beach.
"How are you feeling?" Gemma asked after they loaded the car.
"Better now that we're leaving here," Stephanie replied. She told Gemma about the hideous wedding. Her new brother-in-law tried to talk her into screwing him in the washroom. Stephanie was disgusted. She mentioned Steve wasn't a nice man, but Valerie refused to listen. "'He's from the Burg and a lawyer. Whatever he does in his free time is none of my business,' Valerie snapped at me."
"She said that?" Gemma asked. "Wow. Your sister's going to be eating her words."
Stephanie shrugged. "Probably. Val thinks she knows more than me because I've never had a boyfriend," Stephanie replied.
"Did you have a boyfriend?" Gemma wondered.
"Of course I did. We never had sex," Stephanie answered. "We did many things, but not intercourse."
"Okay. Twenty questions. Who was your first kiss?" Gemma asked.
Stephanie laughed. "Carl Costanza," she replied.
"First boy, to see you naked?"
"Technically, it was two boys. Carl and Eddie Gazarra," Stephanie answered honestly.
"Two boys saw you naked, and you never had sex with them?" Gemma couldn't believe it.
"Oh my gosh. You are such a pervert. We were two years old, sitting in the backyard pool," Stephanie said before laughing.
"Okay, same question, but when you were older," Gemma stated.
"Joe Morelli. It was the night I lost my virginity."
Gemma continued asking Stephanie questions. She was embarrassed by some of them, but she answered honestly. "Let me get this straight. Carl was the first boy you kissed, the first boy you gave a blow job to, the first boy to give you a hickey and the first boy to sleep naked with you overnight. Yet you never let him put his penis into your vagina?"
"Nope," Stephanie replied. "We wanted to have sex, but it was after my encounter with Morelli. Carl didn't want me to feel like he was taking advantage."
"Or he was protecting you from the other guys," Gemma suggested. "Or from getting pregnant."
"Could be," Stephanie admitted. "Look what happened on New Year's Eve. I got pregnant with this peanut as a result."
"Have you found the father yet?"
"Nope. I'll look for him after I have the baby and put it up for adoption," Stephanie replied.
June 30, 2004
Ricardo Carlos Manoso returned to Miami. He decided to join the Army because attending college didn't work for him anymore. The woman he met on New Year's Eve haunted him. She was beautiful. He had gone to Douglass College in February and March to ask about her. The campus was too big, and nobody knew Shelly with straight brown hair and blue eyes.
He thought about Shelly and how she made him feel. She was everything he wanted in a woman. The need to find Shelly consumed his thoughts. No other woman could satiate his sexual desire.
Stephanie, aka Shelly, lived in a rental at Point Pleasant with some of her college friends. She worked at a hotdog stand to pay her share of the expenses. The guys living in the beach house gave Stephanie baggy shirts to wear. If they noticed her gaining weight, they wisely remained silent.
Her hand reflectively rubbed down the baby bump as she leaned over the hotdog cart. The pregnancy was barely showing on her frame. Stephanie knew it would eventually become visible. She prayed it wouldn't show until closer to the due date of September 22, 2004.
Stephanie's mind went back to the memory of the night that she conceived her baby. Rick made her feel all kinds of emotions. She compared that night to the night she had let Joe Morelli talk her out of her pants in the Tasty Pastry. The two men couldn't have been more different. Joe had a lizard tongue and made her orgasm. However, when he entered her, Joe only focussed on his pleasure. Rick was a wizard. He drew several orgasms from Stephanie before seeking his own release. When he did climax, Rick got Stephanie to orgasm with him.
August 31, 2004
Ricardo Carlos Manoso stared at his wedding ring after he removed it from his finger. He shook his head and wondered how he could've been so stupid. The woman had played him. She wanted to trap a man, and he got caught in her snare.
It started a few months ago. Before Ricardo visited his family, he picked up a girl from the bar in Miami. Rachel was a beautiful Mexican-American woman. He went to her apartment, not wanting to bring her home. Ricardo got carried away and had sex without protection.
He used her washroom to clean himself and noticed the blood. She was a virgin. "Damn it!" he screamed. Ricardo didn't have sex with virgins.
"Is something wrong, Ric?" Rachel called from outside the door.
"Rachel, were you a virgin?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered, her voice quivered. "I wanted you to take it."
"Are you on birth control?" Ric asked, suspecting she lied about that too. Rachel shook her head no. "We didn't use protection." He was furious that he didn't insist on using a condom.
"That's fine. You don't get pregnant the first time," Rachel said, not realizing the naivety in the statement.
He had visited his family in Newark for a month before returning to Miami to see his Abuela Rosa. Rachel found him at the same bar where they met and told him that she was pregnant. Ricardo married Rachel to give their child his Army insurance benefits. "After the child is born, I want a divorce," Ric told Rachel.
"Whatever you want, Ric," Rachel said, heartbroken. Rachel knew when she met Ric that she was fertile. She picked the most attractive man in the bar to snag. When they got married, Rachel was thrilled. It was a few days after their wedding day that he dropped the bomb of their pending divorce. After Ricardo left to catch his flight, Rachel sat in her apartment and cried. He would get deployed immediately after basic training.
September 22, 2004
Stephanie visited the frat house where she had sex with Rick. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. "May I help you?" a tall blond-haired man asked.
"Um. I'm looking for Rick. Richard? Is he here?" Stephanie asked.
"You must mean Dickie. Hang on a second. I'll get him for you," he replied, allowing Stephanie to step into the foyer out of the cold.
An attractive blond with blue eyes exited the room where Stephanie slept with Rick. She knew her Rick wasn't at the house. "Hi, I'm Dickie."
"Oh. Um. You're not the person I was looking for," Stephanie said. "I'm Stephanie."
Dickie and Stephanie went for a walk to talk. He thought Stephanie was pretty. When she mentioned being from the Burg, he was interested. "Would you like to see a movie with me on Saturday?" Dickie asked.
"Sure, I'd love to," Stephanie replied. She finger waved at Dickie over her shoulder as she walked back to the cab.
Stephanie got him to drive her to the nearest Catholic Church. She asked him to wait for her. He reluctantly agreed, provided that the meter continued to run. Stephanie entered the church and lit a candle for her daughter. After she said a quick prayer, she returned to the cab. "Where to now, miss?" he asked.
"Douglass College, resident building complex," she replied. Once Stephanie got back to her room, she climbed into bed and cried.