Chapter 3

“WHAT? Are you telling me that the baby might not be Micks?”

“Oh shit!”

Kendi broke down and clutched at me. The look on her face was the most horrible thing I have ever seen. I saw fear. I saw horror. I saw utter despair. My arms just reacted and wrapped themselves around my wife. Her sobs and shuddering body began a wave of hatred in me toward the doctor who had done this. The doctor was going to pay a high price.

“Come here sweetie. None of this is your fault. Besides, we don’t have a whole lot of info right now, other than some theories.”

“Mick, what are we going to do if the baby isn’t yours?”

“What are we going to do if it is?”

“We raise it and love it and start work on the next one.”

“That answers both questions for me.”

“Really?”

“Kendall O’Dell listen to me. I love YOU. I will love your baby. If it is our baby, so much the better. It is not my body, so I can’t demand anything from you. I have no real say as to anything about abortion. Everything I have to consider is from things I can control. If you have the baby, then we either keep it or give it up. If we keep the baby, then we raise the baby as our own.”

“But Mick, if it is not yours and mine, I don’t know what to do.”

“Mr. and Mrs. O’Dell. We have a test that we can run right now that can determine the DNA of the child.”

“Is that the amniocentesis test? I have heard that it can hurt the baby.”

“Mr. O’Dell. there is a small danger with amniocentesis. In about 1 in 200 tests some damage is done to the fetus. But I am talking about a different test. It is called a NIPP test, um, non-invasive prenatal paternity test. We take a sample of the mother’s blood, like normal from the arm and then a sample of the man’s DNA from a cheek swab. Around the 8^th week of pregnancy there is free floating DNA from the fetus moving around in the mother’s plasma. The lab compares the fetus DNA and the mother’s DNA to get a profile and then compares that profile to the man’s DNA. If it is not a match it comes back as 0% chance and if the samples work out it will come back with a better than 99% certainty that the man is the father. It is very accurate and very safe.”

“Let’s do that one!”

“Doc, how long does it take for the results to come back?”

“Mr. O’Dell, I have seen it as fast as two weeks and as slow as six weeks.”

“So that puts Kendi well into the 2^nd trimester if am doing my math right.”

“That’s right.”

“How safe is an abortion in the 5^th or 6^th month?”

“Mick! I don’t know if I can kill this baby. The baby has done nothing wrong.”

“I’m sorry lover. I was covering all of the things my poor little male brain could come up with. No such thing as too much good information.”

Kendi hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Doctor Askew, let’s do the NIPP test please. I need to know and so do the police and he won’t say it but so does my husband.”

“I do not.”

“You do. Otherwise it will eat you up. I know you Mick. You will always wonder. If you know then you can find a settled path through this in your mind and you will be at peace with your choice.”

“OK, Kendi. For you and your peace of mind with my peace of mind.”

When Doctor Askew returned, she had a nurse with her, and the nurse took the blood sample from Kendi and the doc took my cheek swab.

“OK, we will send this out today. The lab that does the testing will get it first thing in the morning and in two weeks, or six, we will get the results. Good luck.”

“Thanks doc, and doc?”

“Yes, Mr. O’Dell?”

“If there is any way to put a rush on it, please do so. In this case the sooner we know the better.”

“I will see what I can do.”

Kendi then took over.

“Thank you Doctor Askew. Now we need to set up return visits for me and I need to know if I need any special foods or vitamins. I am also a runner, so I need to know how long I can run before it becomes an issue.”

“OK. Are you a crazy marathon runner?”

“No. I run about 30 to 40 minutes a day on a treadmill. Mick can’t run too much, because of his knees, so he walks on the treadmill next to me.”

“So, you are not worried about the mileage that you run?”

“Nope.”

“How have you felt so far? Usually the first trimester is the worst. We haven’t talked about morning sickness, have you been nauseous?”

“Yeah a little, but not as much as I have heard some women are.”

“Are you feeling a bit more run down than normal?”

“I was. This week it was better. I feel like I have more energy. The last couple of weeks, while Mick was gone in the late afternoons, I have been taking naps.”

“You have? Are you feeling OK?”

“Yes, Mick, I have been feeling tired.”

“You should have told me. We could have not gone on walks or skipped some of the workouts.”

“Mr. O’Dell, it’s OK. She should have been feeling nauseous and she should have been feeling a bit tired. Her body was going through the initial stages of pregnancy and the big changes that were taking place. Her body is all used to it now, so all she has to do, is do her normal routine and watch the baby grow.”

“Damn, Kendi, you should have let me know that you were pregnant earlier, I could have helped you at least feel better.”

“Thank you, dear. I love you too. Doctor, how soon before the due date should I back off the running?”

“You could be running the day you give birth. The general rule of thumb is if you feel good, keep doing it. If you feel weak, back off. If you see spotting, stop and call me. As you get bigger your balance will change so you may need to change your running posture. Just be smart and listen to your body. Aches and pains are there to tell you something.”

“OK. Any special foods to eat more of or less of?”

“How is your diet?”

“Her diet is very healthy, Doc. Since I have been with her, she has me down 30 plus pounds and I feel great.”

“So, no fast food or fatty foods?”

“Nope. I mean, we eat the occasional greasy burger, but usually it is fruits, veggies, and fish and chicken. Mick used to be a junk food junkie. We don’t do soda either. We drink iced tea and wine. OH! Wine! Can I drink wine?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Mrs. O’Dell, no one knows how much alcohol is dangerous to the baby. We know the more a woman drinks the greater the chances of fetal alcohol syndrome. One glass of red a week might be fine, but it might not because we have no data to suggest a safe or dangerous limit. When in doubt always err on the side of the baby.”

“OK.”

“Doc, I have a question. We have a pretty active sex life. Do we need to back off? Do we need to take any special precautions?”

“That’s my husband. Doctor, if you ask him, he will tell you, truthfully, that he is asking out of concern for me and not his needs. That is why I love him. We do have a very active sex life, so I guess I should listen to your answer as much as Daddy here.”

“The baby is safe and protected. Do whatever you want to do as long as you feel comfortable. If a position hurts or is uncomfortable, stop doing it. If it feels good go for it. Some women get really horny and some lose their sex drive altogether. Pay attention to the same general rules you are going to follow with running.”

“OK, Mick! The orgy is out.”

“For you maybe.”

“Mick!”

“You two are a real hoot. I hope this baby is yours.”

The doctors sentiment brought the levity of the moment to a screaming halt.

“Shit. Thanks doc. For a second there I forgot all about that little issue.”

“I’m sorry Mr. O’Dell.”

“And that is another thing. If you are going to keep dropping big fat unhappiness bombs on us, you should probably call me Mick and my wife Kendi.”

“You can call me Donna if you wish.”

“I will, but Mick will probably call you Doc for the duration. So, is that it?”

“Yes. See the front desk and they will schedule you for your next visit and I will call you as soon as I know the results of the test.”

“Thanks Donna.”

“Thanks Doc. Oh, Doc, the police will want to know about this exam, so will Marie, our lawyer.”

“I’ll make sure to get it to Marie and she can get it to the authorities. OK?”

“Yup. Thanks again.”

We stopped at the desk and set Kendi’s next appointment, then we walked out of the office hand in hand and down the hallway to the elevator. Kendi was quiet and was squeezing my hand hard until we walked outside. We stopped and hugged and then Kendi broke down and cried. She held me tight and sobbed loudly. I felt so helpless.

“Mick call Marie and tell her the news.”

I pulled out my phone and pushed a new speed dial tab, as we walked out of the office building and towards downtown. Marie picked up.

“Hi Marie. We just left Doctor Askew and we need to talk. Where are you?”

“I’m at the courthouse. Do you know where that is?”

“Yeah, we walked past it on the way to the doctor’s office. We are walking in that direction now.”

“I will meet you in the lobby. Do I need to set up a meeting with the investigators?”

“Probably. Kendi is about three and a half months pregnant and we weren’t having sex three and a half months ago.”

“Oh no.”

“There is more, but it is better to tell you in person.”

“I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby.”

I disconnected the call and took Kendi’s hand as we walked the six blocks to the courthouse. I wanted to talk or something to get her mind off of the problem, but I didn’t know what to say or how to say what I didn’t know what to say. As we walked the only thing that stopped my rage from boiling over was the warm hand holding mine.

Every time the anger would rise, Kendi would squeeze my hand and make it retreat. I wasn’t crushing her hand as I got upset, but somehow, she could feel my pain. As we walked past the 4^th block, Kendi began to slightly swing our arms.

By the time we got to the courthouse, our moods were at least lighter. We walked into the front door and there was Marie. We hugged, and she led us through security and to a meeting room in the DA’s office.

“Agent Miles, this is the couple I have been telling you about. Mr. Mick O’Dell and his wife Mrs. Kendall O’Dell.”

“Mr. and Mrs. O’Dell pleased to meet you. Come into my office and we can talk.”

The three of us followed the agent into his office and sat while he took his place behind his desk.

“Who are you an agent of?”

“I’m with the FBI.”

“We didn’t think that you guys would be here for a few weeks.”

“I was here at the Capital for another issue and Detective Billings was calling me on his cell phone and waiting for the elevator while I was walking out of the same elevator.”