Epilogue

For the next two years everyone involved in the story kept living their lives, operating in what, for them, was a normal way. Bob and Julie raised Richard. Erica completed her advanced EMT and paramedic training. She got a job with an air ambulance service in Lincoln and was paired with a doctor. They responded to the most critical patients and within her first year Erica was a hardened expert at helping save people’s lives. The job was 70% waiting for something to happen and 30% madness as twelve things needed to be done at the same time.

Veronica got posted to Troop A, which covered five counties and Omaha. Her duties were normal 80% of the time. The rest was spent either in training with the SWAT team, or actually deployed for some emergency in which SWAT was a resource for the supervisors.

The boys continued their studies and both graduated in roughly the middle of their classes. Robby got a job offer from a company that installed and maintained power distribution equipment. He was able to live anywhere in a four state area, but was on the road most of the time.

He was the first to move in with Ronnie.

Randy specialized in emergency medicine and found a job at Methodist Hospital in Omaha, where he worked 12 hour shifts in the ER.

He also moved in with Veronica, who had rented a two bedroom apartment.

Randy had an advantage, of sorts, because he was in the apartment on a more regular basis. Robby’s advantage was that, when he wasn’t out on a job, he was there twenty-four hours a day.

Veronica’s advantage was that, during a normal fourteen day cycle, she had a man she loved to sleep with about half the time.

She still couldn’t decide which one to marry.

She figured it didn’t matter until she decided to have a child.

Of them all, Erica was the only one who languished alone in bed most nights.

Her mother and uncle were about an hour and a half away. She had to work every other weekend, but on her free weekends Bob would arrive on Friday night and stay until Sunday around noon.

Much of that time, of course, was spent in bed, with his incestuous, spurting penis firmly ensconced in his niece’s young, snug pussy.

Everything took on a routine feel that the average person experiences. Work took up a lot of time.

And in their off time, they loved each other.

The routine broke, if that’s the right term for it, when there was a really bad chain link accident on I-80 one day. The driver of an eighteen wheeler fell asleep at the wheel and his truck went across the median. He woke, but couldn’t control the truck and it went into the lanes of opposing traffic. He hit two cars head on and six other cars then ran into the mess. Two drivers went into the median to avoid that, and ended up crossing it and hitting cars on the other side.

Eight ambulances responded to the scene, along with three fire departments and four troopers. Veronica was one of the troopers and Erica’s helicopter landed in a field next to the carnage. Erica made three trips to various hospitals that day and Veronica was on scene for almost twelve hours straight. The interstate was closed completely in one direction and only one lane of traffic was open on the other side.

In the excitement, both women missed a pill.

Veronica noticed and caught up the next day, but Erica worked double shifts for two more days, ferrying patients to different locations and performing the normal things that still had to be done.

She had missed three pills by the time all was back to normal.

She’d taken four more pills before Bob showed up for a weekend.

She thought she was fine.

But her body had “burped” and an egg had descended into one fallopian tube.

That egg was bathed in Bob’s sperm before it even got to her womb.

And by the time he left, he was going to be a daddy again.

Erica didn’t notice anything was wrong until she realized she was fifteen days overdue for a period.

She had been there when her mother had this problem, so she knew what to do.

She sat, staring at the indicator window of the home pregnancy test she’d obtained.

“Not yet,” she whispered as she waited. “Please ... not yet.”

But it was positive.

Erica and Veronica lived about an hour and ten minutes from each other. They didn’t get to spend much time together, because their schedules rarely cooperated. Roughly every other month they had a few days they could get together. If Erica went to Ronnie’s place she might get to see one or both of the twins, but in this case she didn’t want to see them. She asked Veronica to come to her apartment, instead.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ronnie.

“I’ll tell you when you get here,” said Erica. “I don’t want to talk about it on the phone.”

“I have two days off starting Thursday,” said Ronnie.

“That’s fine. It can wait until then,” said Erica.

“You sound strange.”

“I’m just distracted. That’s all,” said Erica.

“Okay!” said Veronica. “I’m here. What’s the big secret?”

“I’m pregnant,” sighed Erica.

“Uh oh,” said Ronnie, softly. “Bob?”

“Who else would it be?”

“Sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

“What do I do, Ronnie? I didn’t want this to happen for another couple of years.”

“I know how you feel,” said her friend. “Will this cause problems at work?”

“No. I’ve been there long enough to get maternity leave, but I’ll have to find child care and with my schedule that may be difficult, if not impossible. This is going to screw things up.”

“I’m sorry. Have you talked to Bob and your mom yet?”

Erica shook her head.

“Surely they’ll be supportive,” said Ronnie.

“Oh, I’m sure they will, but that won’t solve the childcare problem.”

Erica sat down at the dining room table across from her mother. She got right to the point.

“I did what you did,” said Erica. “I missed some pills and then let Uncle Bob make love to me.”

“Oh no,” sighed Julie. “Do you mean...?”

“A home pregnancy test says I’m pregnant,” said Erica. “I didn’t intend for this to happen yet.”

“Yet?”

“I wanted to wait two more years.”

“So you’re not actively dating other men?”

“Of course not, Mother. You know I love him.”

“We hoped you’d ... grow out of that.”

“Not so much,” said Erica.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll have to change jobs. My schedule with my current employer is too fluid. We’re flying two or three times a day. I’ll never be able to find childcare.”

“Oh, Honey,” sighed Julie. She knew Erica loved flying and her job.

“I’d love to be able to stay home like you got to do,” said Erica, “but even if I change jobs I can’t work from home.”

“We’ll think of something,” said Julie.

“I can’t imagine what it could be,” sighed Erica.

“Well, we’ve got nine months to figure it out.”

Erica’s job situation wouldn’t be affected until she was seven months along. At that point company policy forbade her to fly. It was deemed too dangerous because of the stress she’d be under. Until then, she’d continue as she had been doing.

As for Bob, his role was similar in some ways to the role males had played since humans descended from the trees. He had mounted the female and impregnated her. Now he went about his manly duties, unintentionally disconnected from the problems his seed had caused.

This is not to say he didn’t care about Erica’s pregnancy. Far from it. He still visited, like he had in the past. The first couple of times all he did was spend time with her, talking and listening as she worried about her future. They slept together, but it was just for the comfort of being close.

The second time he visited, though, she was horny, and it never took her long to get him stiff.

“You got me pregnant doing this,” she said, looking up at him as he labored above her.

He went in deep and rubbed.

“Guilty as charged,” he said. “Are you mad at me?”

“If I was mad at you, you’d have known it long before now,” she said. “Let me get on top.”

They switched positions and she sank down on him. She leaned forward to dangle her breasts in his face.

“My boobs will make milk in about six months,” she said.

“I love the taste of your mother’s milk,” he said.

“Ewww,” she sighed. “My milk will be for my baby.” She rubbed. “Our baby,” she sighed.

“Sometimes the baby won’t empty both breasts,” said Bob. “That can get painful if you don’t have someone to help out.”

“That’s what you call it? Helping out? Hah!”

“You’ll see,” he predicted.

When Erica was six months along Veronica arrived for a visit with both twins in tow.

“They wanted to see what you look like,” said Ronnie.

“I look fat,” grumped Erica.

“Actually, you look pretty good,” said Robby.

“This is weird,” said Randy. “I never thought I’d see you this way.”

“You never thought I’d have a baby?”

“I guess not.”

“You’re staring,” Erica said.

“I’m just trying to imagine Ronnie this way,” he said. “Can I feel it?”

“You want to feel my baby bump?”

“Yeah. Can I? I get to see lots of pregnant women, but I don’t get to grope their bumps.”

“You’ll get kicked,” she said. “The little bugger plays soccer in there or something.”

Randy moved to her and knelt. He cupped her swollen belly gently. Almost immediately her T shirt showed the travel of a heel across her distended abdomen.

“Wow,” said Randy. “That is so cool!” He looked at Veronica. “I can’t wait to feel this on you.”

“Rein it in, cowboy,” said Ronnie. “Two more years.”

“You always say two more years. You said that a year ago.”

Veronica took a breath but he cut her off, still fondling his sister’s pregnant belly.

“Don’t say it. I know what you’re going to say. We have to get married first. And you still can’t choose which one of us to marry.”

Veronica looked at Erica, who said, “They know you too well.”

“Well? I just can’t decide, that’s all.”

“You’d look so good like that,” sighed Robby.

“I would not,” asserted Veronica.

“Yes you would,” said Randy.

He got up and kissed his dark-skinned lover. She pushed at him, but only halfheartedly. Soon they were locked in a passionate embrace.

“How about you don’t get her pregnant at my house,” grumbled Erica.

Robby just shrugged and grinned.

At seven months Erica got transferred to the dispatch office, where she fielded calls. It was actually a benefit to the company in one sense, because she could dispense advice over the phone to caregivers in the field. She also worked shorter shifts, and her schedule was regular. If she stayed in that position she’d be able to schedule child care when she went back to work after her maternity leave.

But she knew she’d be unhappy. She loved her regular job and she was way overqualified on the dispatch desk.

A month before her due date, Erica was once again visiting her mother. She went there to see if Julie would coach her delivery. Both twins had offered to do that, but she didn’t want either of them looking between her legs.

“I can’t believe you put me in this situation,” groaned Julie.

“What situation? I’m the one who’s pregnant!”

“Yes, and I’ll be the grandmother who will worry about you and the baby constantly,” snorted her mother. “The solution is obvious!”

“What’s obvious? I’ll be okay. I’ll figure something out. There are thousands of single mothers out there and they all figure it out.”

“Sweetheart, you have fabulous experience. You could get a job anywhere you want to.”

“Okay. Maybe that’s true. I’d love to stay where I am, but if I do, to make the childcare situation work it would have to be in dispatch and I know I’d be miserable. But that’s on me. I still don’t see how that affects you.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this,” said Julie. “Bob will never let me live it down.”

“What are you talking about?!” yipped Erica.

“The solution is for you to have the baby here,” sighed Julie. “I’ll be your child care.”

“First, I can’t ask you to do that,” said Erica. “Second, what if I can’t find a job here?”

“You will. Holden has grown. They just built a new fire station on the north side of town. They’ve built apartment buildings galore up that way. People are commuting to Lincoln because the cost of living is so much lower here. There’s a new strip mall and everything. With your experience you can get a job here easily.”

“Not if I’m pregnant when I apply, Mom. Nobody’s going to hire a paramedic who’ll go on maternity leave right away. I have benefits where I am. I just don’t have a childcare solution.”

“So have the baby there, and then move here. You can stay with us until you get a new job and a place to live. That’s what Bob will give me hell about. I told him there was no way you’d live with us after you went to college, and here I am inviting you back.”

“You’re sweet,” said Erica, “but I’m not sure that’s the best solution.”

“Do you have a better one? You have the baby and draw on your benefits, but live with us. Then I can take care of the baby for a month or so until you can resign and move here permanently. I’m sure you can get a job here and we’ll help you find somewhere to live. Then, I’ll be your childcare solution and everything will be fine.”

“You want to be my child care provider?” Erica looked skeptical. “I’d think you’ve had your fill of diapers and crying babies.”

“Actually, I’m pretty happy. My job was going nowhere anyway and I’d forgotten how wonderful it is to care for a little one. Caring for two won’t be a problem. I’ve been there and done that. Bob helps out. You know he’s trying to get me to go off the pill again, right?”

“No, and I’d think you’d tell him where to shove it,” said Erica. “I don’t mind having his baby. I wanted to some day. Not this soon, but that ship has sailed. So I’ve come to terms with that. But you’ve put in your time. Get him a board with a knothole in it and tell him to impregnate that!”

“We’ll see. So ... what do you say? I can solve your problem. I’m willing to solve your problem. All you have to do is relocate here.”

Erica sat, mute, while she thought about her mother’s offer. She had enjoyed the separation and her job. She’d finally been able to do what she wanted, when she wanted, at least when she wasn’t working. And she’d still had Uncle Bob as her lover. She knew, deep in her heart, that no other man would measure up to him. She’d always want him, even when she was in her thirties and forties. As long as he got stiff for her, she’d avail herself of his love.

The thought of not flying was like a rock in her stomach. But she also knew what paramedics in ambulances did. They got to the scene first and their efforts were what made the air evac ambulances work. Patients had to be stable before they could fly and it was EMTs and paramedics on the ground who got them stable.

If she lived in her own place there would still be separation. And she’d still have Uncle Bob. And childcare that would work for whatever situation she ended up in.

“Okay,” she said, softly.

“Oh, good!” gushed Julie. “Don’t you dare tell Bob I’m happy about this. I’m going to moan and groan to him, but you’ll know it’s all an act.”

“I still need to find a job,” warned Erica.

“I’ll make some inquiries,” said Julie.

“I need a nap,” sighed Erica. “I can’t believe how tired I get.”

“You’re carrying a twenty-five pound dumbbell around with you everywhere you go,” said Julie.

“Oh? How do you know it’s going to be a boy?”

Erica grinned.

Instead of looking for job openings in official releases, Julie went straight to the source of paramedic jobs. She visited both ambulance garages in town, as well as the fire stations. She didn’t speak to HR personnel, but rather to the supervisors of such employees. Her pitch was the same at all.

“I know an experienced paramedic who will be moving to town in a few months to have her baby and be closer to family. She’s worked for an air ambulance service in Lincoln for two years. Will there be any possible job openings in the next four or so months that she could apply for?”

Her intent was not to bypass official channels, but she knew that sometimes, co-workers know about potential openings long before HR hears about it. At the Eighth Street fire station, the lieutenant she first spoke with called his captain over and asked how their request to have a paramedic assigned to their station was going.

“It looks like the city council will approve it, but the red tape will take another three or four months.”

“How soon after that will they actually hire somebody?”

“It will depend on finding a qualified person and I can’t estimate how long that will take. Why? Who is this woman?”

Julie repeated her mantra and the captain took her to his office for a longer chat.

“Have her come see me next time she’s in town,” he said in the end. “Nothing is official, yet, so I can’t make any promises, but I don’t want to pass up a qualified candidate who’s interested. She might not be interested once she finds out what her working conditions will be. We’re still an all male station and the men can be rough sometimes. They’re professional, but boys will be boys, if you know what I mean.”

“She was raised with three older brothers,” said Julie. “I doubt your men could surprise her.”

“Perhaps we’ll see,” said the man.

Roughly 60% of law enforcement officers go an entire career without ever drawing their weapon to defend themselves or make an arrest. Being on the SWAT team reduces that percentage significantly. A year and five months into her career as a state trooper there was a SWAT alert. The primary sniper couldn’t get there in time and Veronica got called out for a SWAT mission.

A man had been fired from his job for being drunk during working hours. He went home and drank even more. His wife expressed her unhappiness with him and used some poor choices of words in doing so. Words like “useless”, “asshole”, and “fucking moron” got her bloodied and left for dead in their dump of a home. He then gathered up two pistols and a rifle and went back to work to get his revenge. Thankfully he was as poor at planning an assault on his former co-workers as he had been at doing his original job and most employees escaped from the place, which built trailers of various kinds. He fired four shots when he entered the shop, aiming at nothing in particular. The welders and (new) forklift driver scattered, finding exits. Three of them called 911. The office personnel, which consisted of two girls and the supervisor who had fired him, might have gotten away, too, except the office was well insulated and all they heard were bangs from the shop, which wasn’t unusual at all.