Chapter 3

“We’re here,” Stacy says smartly, throwing the car in park and looking over at the teenager. “Remember to be on your best behavior in here. You blow it for us, I will fucking kill you myself.”

Melody doesn’t need to be threatened with words. The woman has been a part of her random beatings since she arrived with Rick at his home. When she first left with him, it was daunting to travel nearly a thousand miles away from home and everyone she knew. But that was remedied by the fact that she was going to have a great life with the most amazing man. No sooner had they stepped through the door though, did it all change. Stacy was there waiting to meet her. And that is when Melody’s whole world came crashing down on her.

“I’ll behave,” she says, throwing as much confidence as she can behind her words. Melody doesn’t plan on doing anything stupid. Nobody is obviously looking for her and who would believe her over the words of two adults?

“You had better,” the woman reiterates. “We don’t need you getting in trouble for lying, because then we’ll have to deal with the bullshit of getting you out of it.”

“I’ll be good,” the girl reiterates.

“Come on,” Stacy snaps, opening the door. “Remember, you’re not sure which boy is the father. There’s three of them, so it’s hard to tell.”

Melody nods. She has already memorized every detail Stacy and Rick gave her for her cover story. The goal is to make it extremely difficult for the doctor to want to learn of the child’s father, if she is pregnant. Provided that everything goes smoothly, after the birth Melody would simply sign over adoption to her parents, Stacy and Rick.

The girl follows Stacy into the doctor’s office. It is quite packed with pregnancies, most all adults, but there is a couple teenage girls. Some look like they are ready to blow, others don’t look pregnant at all, but most are showing, clearly several months in between. Stacy grabs the newest issue of Parenting while Melody remains still, eyes toward the floor. She was given instructions to keep her eyes down before hand, but even without those instructions she would have done it. Where she once felt elation to meet Rick and be out from under her parent’s thumbs, she now feels ashamed and wishing she was back home.

The wait seems like it takes forever, especially since she cannot look at the clock. Melody barely raises her head when the nurse calls her name. She doesn’t move until Stacy elbows her and tells her, “Come on.”

“You are her mother?” the nurse asks.

Stacy nods. “Unfortunately I am,” she replies, playing the role of disappointed mother. She and Rick didn’t want to sound too eager to be becoming grandparents.

“Would you like for your mother to come back or stay?” the nurse asks, directing the question toward the young teenager.

“I’m her mother, of course I’m going back,” Stacy quickly answers. “You cannot tell me I have to stay out here.”

The nurse flashes the older woman a stern look. “As a matter of fact, the state allows for the minor to choose because it is her body and her pregnancy.”

Stacy sucks in a deep breath, ready to lay it all out on the unsuspecting nurse. It is Melody that quickly seizes the opportunity to diffuse the situation. She knows that if something goes wrong, she’ll be to blame and it won’t end well. Rick may find it hard letting go of her, but Stacy won’t. And if there is one thing Melody has learned is that Stacy wears the pants between the two. “I don’t mind if my mom comes,” she says, cutting off Stacy’s retort. “I rather her be there. Even though she seems mad, she is supporting me.”

“Okay,” the nurse says, flashing the girl a sorrowful look. “Follow me please. We need to get your vitals then we’ll get you into a room.”

Melody and her false mother follow the nurse to a small station recessed in the wall. The nurse checks her blood pressure and temperature and asks a few standard questions. Melody answers all of them the best she can, what she cannot or not sure of what to say, Stacy fills in the blanks. It draws a couple questioning looks from the nurse, but the woman dismisses them with simple answers that seem to do the trick. Afterward, they are taken to a room decorated with charts and baby print wallpaper.

“The doctor will be in as soon as possible,” the nurse says with a friendly smile. “In the meantime, I need a sample from you.”

Melody looks up, surprised as if caught off guard by the request. “What’s that for?”

The nurse smiles and says soothingly. “It’s no biggie. I just need you to pee in this cup. It’s standard to see if you are pregnant.” When she sees the girl hesitate to take it, she believes it’s because Melody thinks she has to do it in the room. “You can use the restroom right across the hall.”

The teenager’s face brightens a little. It’s one thing to be watched by the wretched woman sometimes when Rick is fucking her, but to be watched while peeing just seems so different and wrong on many different levels.

The elation doesn’t go unnoticed by Stacy, however. “Don’t worry,” she tells Melody. “I can go with you. I don’t want you to have to go at this alone.”

“I’m sorry, but this she will have to do on her own,” the nurse says. “If she needs help, I can assist her.”

Stacy throws her hands in the air. “You know what? Fine. What the fuck ever.” She crosses the room to sit in the lone chair by the examination table. “You go piss in the cup. I’ll be waiting right here for you. But you better not take all day. I doctor doesn’t have time to wait.”