Chapter Twenty
The Song
Martin sat outside the Camden house. He hadn't meant that the way it had sounded and he felt like a complete idiot. His cheek still stung from her slap. He was going to have to start wearing protective gear. She was hitting him a lot lately with a book or her hand. She was an emotional rollercoaster, he didn't know that much about pregnancy but he assumed that it was because of that because before the pregnancy she never hit.
Ruthie grabbed her headphones off the shelf and put them on. She need to escape and music was the only thing that she could think of but for some reason the song she turned on seemed to relate to the way she was feeling. She began to talk with the song.
The smell of your skin lingers on me now
"True I can still feel him."
You're
probably on your flight back to your home town
"Yep he's popularly on his way back to his dinky apartment!"
I need
some shelter of my own protection baby
"I do!"
To be
with myself and Center, Clarity
Peace, Serenity
"I wish!"
I hope you know, I hope you
know
That this has nothing to do with you
"I hope Martin knows that."
It's
personal, myself and I
"It is!"
We've
got some straightening out to do
"Yeah we do!"
And
I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket
"I already do miss you!"
But
I've got to get a move on with my life
"I have to."
It's
time to be a big girl now
"I guess so!"
And
big girls don't cry
Don't cry
Don't cry
Don't cry
"Yeah they do!"
The path that I'm
walking
I must go alone
"For now."
I must
take the baby steps 'til I'm full grown, full grown
"I'm over grown!"she placed a hand on her abdomen.
Fairytales
don't always have a happy ending, do they?
And I foresee the dark
ahead if I stay
That was it; Ruthie threw her ipod across the room and hit Martin again in the stomach this time.
"Again I need protective gear." Martin said under his breath.
"What did you say?" Ruthie asked.
"Nothing."
"I thought you'd left." Ruthie said and began to pout.
"I had but I came back." he said.
"Why?"
"To fix something." he said, "I can't leave you like this again. I'm sorry I'm so stupid and I keep saying the wrong things but I don't know what the right things to say are."
"And you think I do," Ruthie said walking over to stand before him. He was so tall and she was so short she had to tip her head up to see his face, "I don't!"
"I'm sorry." Martin said trying to resist the urge to pull her into his arms but he knew that was a bad idea.
"No I'm sorry." Ruthie said, "Sorry I smacked you and acted like a nut!"
"But a very cute nut." Martin said with a grin, "I have to go."
"I know." Ruthie said.
"Class tomorrow." he said and turned to leave again. Now Ruthie was feeling the complete opposite of before she felt like he didn't want her now. She was begging to feel like she was a fruitcake when he turned around and gave her a quick hug but it was a tense hug, there was still something unresolved, but he turned and left before they could fix it. Ruthie bent down and picked up her now broken ipod with a sigh.
Martin had passed Annie and Eric once before undetected but not this time they caught him as his hand touched the handle.
"Stay away from my daughter!" Annie roared at him.
"Annie!" he heard Reverend Camden say but he didn't turn around, "Martin I think it would be best if you didn't come around here for a few days, until the water breaks I'm mean cools."
He heard Annie take a deep breath and begin to sob. He opened the door now and ran for the safety of his car. He couldn't understand how Eric was staying so calm.