Chapter 72

"I'm pregnant," Lisa said.

Devlin looked up in surprise. She and Krissi were having lunch in Linkins and talking about Krissi's upcoming book tour, and neither had seen Jo and Lisa approaching.

"You're sure?" Krissi asked. "You know you can get a false positive from stress, that can delay your periods and--"

"I just came from the Health Center," Lisa said. She drew up a chair and sat. Jo remained standing, her hand on Lisa's shoulder. "I tested positive for baby."

"Are congratulations in order?" Devlin asked.

"I think so," Jo said. "We'd tried to adopt, but the great State of Illinois won't let us." She scowled and made a throwing-away gesture. "Lisa's a student, and my schedule keeps me away from home too much. That doesn't 'create the proper child-rearing environment.' At least that's what they said."

"I think they didn't want us to adopt because we're lesbians," Lisa said. "They can't come right out and say that, but you can sort of pick it up between the lines."

Krissi glanced at Devlin. "So who's the father? I'm assuming there is one, because you didn't say anything about in vitro."

"We looked into it," Jo said, "but it's way too expensive. We thought... we... I mean Lisa was doing this... thing up at that place you used to go to, Devlin, with men, and..."

Devlin felt realization spread through her. "You got pregnant at Emma's?"

Lisa, who was clenching her hands in her lap, nodded. "That's the only place where guys... where I've been with... I mean where I let guys..."

"We're familiar with the mechanics," Krissi said as Lisa flushed and stammered to a stop. "I hope you were sensible and were with only one man. Or did you... ?"

Lisa shook her head. "I don't know. I think I know when it happened, and I thought I was taking the proper precautions, but I guess I wasn't."

"What method were you using?" Devlin asked.

"Well, I knew the days I ovulated," Lisa began, "and--"

"Good God!" Krissi said. "You were using the rhythm method?" She looked at Devlin, her mouth open in surprise, before turning back to Lisa. "You do know the word doctors use for women using the rhythm method, don't you? They call them mothers."

"So I've learned," Lisa said. "The other methods... nobody uses condoms up there, and I didn't want to take the pill because it increases your risk of blood clots and other things, and..."

"It also decreases your chances of pregnancy," Devlin said. "There are several other methods of avoiding pregnancy, too, not just the pill. Why didn't you ask your doctor what they were?"

"I didn't want... I was sort of embarrassed... I mean..."

Devlin and Krissi looked at each other again. "So now you're going to have a baby." Devin shook her head. "I know it's too late to say it, Lisa, but it almost seems like you were trying to get pregnant."

"I think she was," Jo said. She finally drew a chair over and sat. "She told me Wednesday, and I've had a lot of time to think about it." She put her arm around Lisa. "Personally, I think it's for the best, but that's just me. The adoption people were never going to let us get a baby, so now we're going to have one that's ours."

"I think you're right," Devlin said at last. "Congratulations, Lisa."

"Thanks, I think." Lisa gulped. "I kind of thought I was pregnant last week. I mean I missed my period, and my breasts were very tender, and I threw up a couple of times in the morning, but that's happened before and I hadn't been anywhere near a man."

"You need to see a doctor, not just the clinic here on campus," Krissi said.

"My healthcare benefits don't cover her," Jo said. "I checked. Until we can work something out, we're going to have to use the clinic."

"This just gets better and better," Devlin muttered. "I wish I knew what to tell you."

"I should have thought of the risks," Lisa said. "I mean doing it with a man is... that's the way you make a baby."

Devlin nodded. "It is."

"I sort of remember who I was with that night, too," Lisa went on. "It was only a couple of men... well, maybe three. Four? Should I tell them? I don't know their phone numbers, but Emma would have them, and I could call them."

"That's a harder question," Krissi said. "Suppose you do. Suppose you figure out who the father is, and he wants you to get an abortion. What do you do then?"

Lisa and Jo looked at each other. "I hadn't thought of that," Lisa said in a small voice. "Do you think he would?"

"He might not," Krissi said, "but his wife might. Or she might insist that they get the baby after you have it."

Lisa swallowed, and her hand went to her tummy. "No. They can't have it. I'm the mother. It's mine. It's ours."

"The courts might not agree," Krissi said.

"But... they couldn't, could they?" Lisa looked back and forth between Devlin and Krissi.

"There's no telling what the courts might do," Devlin said. "The father has rights, but, and I hate to say this, you might just consider not telling him, whoever he is. Were you with those men specifically, or did you participate in a group?"

"Oh, just with the men. I mean I hooked up with their wives, and we, um, you know, and then the men wanted to participate, they were awfully excited, and I thought..." Her voice trailed off. "If it helps, I remember the women. Guys are... I don't really pay that much attention to them, and..."

"That still won't tell you who the father is," Devlin said. "It would be one of those two or three--"

"Three," Lisa said quietly. "I'm sure it was three. At least I think so." She swallowed again. "Or maybe more. I don't remember. Things were kind of blurry that night."

"They'd have to do a paternity test," Devlin said. "That's the only way to know for sure."

"More important than that," Krissi said, "at least in the short term, is that you need to get a job with health benefits. What if there are problems with your pregnancy? What if there are problems with the delivery? Or after? You don't know the father's medical history, so you don't know if there'll be something your baby has. And you'll need child care, and that means you'll have to find a job with benefits."

"I... ulp, yeah, I guess."

"No guessing about it," Krissi said with a shake of her head. "This is something you have to do, for the baby if not for you."

Lisa nodded.

"If you need help putting together a resume," Krissi added, "give me a call. If nothing else, I can type it up."

"Uh, sure."

Krissi took Lisa's hands. "Lisa, having a baby means you're all grown up. You need to think of these things. You can't just be a carefree girl any more." She glanced at Jo. "The two of you have a bond. Now is when you put it to work. Jo, Lisa's going to need you now more than ever."

"I know," Jo said. "I've tried to tell her how happy I am, but she doesn't seem to be listening."

"I'll help you as much as I can," Krissi said, "but a lot of it starts with the two of you."

Devlin snagged a paper from another table. "In the meantime, you need to find a job. Talk to the Job Center people. The earlier you can find something, the better it'll be for the three of you."

"Three... ?" Lisa looked confused.

"You, me, and the baby," Jo said softly.

Lisa looked confused for a moment, and then she dabbed at her eyes. "Yes, the three of us."

"Give me a call," Krissi said as Lisa and Jo stood. "Let me know if there's something I can do to help."

"I'll call you in a day or so," Jo said. She put her arm around Lisa's waist. "We'll both call you in a day or so."

In the quiet that followed their leaving, Krissi shook her head. "She wanted a baby. Maybe not consciously, but she wanted one. The State told them no, so she went with Plan B."

"That's the way I read it," Devlin said. She stirred her coffee, staring at the swirls from the cream. "I've been active for more than six years, and going to parties for most of that time. Even when I was young and dumb, I remembered to use protection. Butch and I used condoms, and just after I was 14 my mother put me on the pill."

"Did she know you were active?"

Devlin shook her head. "Several girls at the high school I was attending got pregnant, and mothers all over the school district began dragging their daughters to a doctor. That turned out to be a good move, because it was right after that Danny and I began to get together."

"Do you think the idea that you weren't going to make a baby made you accept Sue's offer?"

"No, not really. Sue didn't know what my Mom had done, and she offered to make sure I was baby-proof."

"That was decent of her."

"She remembered something I think Lisa just belatedly realized: this is how you make babies. Sue didn't want to raise one that she hadn't carried."

"Even before I started," Krissi said, "my mother had me on birth control. We were in the Netherlands, and things are a lot more casual there than they are here. There were some kids who would get together after school, blow some dope, and have sex. It was casual and laid-back, but even casual sex can get you knocked up. I wasn't doing anything, I didn't even hang with those kids, but she thought she'd make sure she wasn't going to become a grandmother."

"So you've said."

Krissi pushed her plate away from her. "It'll be interesting to see how this plays out."

"I'm going to be busy for the next few days," Devlin said. "So why don't you follow up with her on that resume."

"I figure I'll have to remind her," Krissi said. "So, back to what we were talking about, when does Evan get in?"

"About 2:30 today. I offered to meet him in Chicago, but he said he preferred to fly up. From there it's straight on to my mother's. We have dinner reservations at this really nice restaurant in Peru for 6:00."

"She's never met him, has she?"

Devlin shook her head. "I'm a little anxious about that. But we're having dinner tonight to help that along."

"And where are you staying?"

Devlin smiled. "On the couch at my mother's, while he has a motel room."

"Girl, if you two don't get together, you're going to burst."

"We'll see. Anyway, he's flying out Monday: Chicago, Miami, and then on to San Juan, Puerto Rico. That'll give us a day just for ourselves."

"Ernie called last night," Krissi said. "He's going to meet me this afternoon. He says he has a couple of things he thinks we'll like." Krissi looked at the remains of her lunch, a small smile on her lips. "Based on what's happened the last couple of times you and Evan have gotten together, you'll need whatever it is Ernie's bringing. He said they're experimental, and he'll need our feedback." She glanced at her watch. "You need to get to the airport. It's 1:30."

Devlin grabbed her coat and stood. "How do I look?" She was wearing nylons and a red dress she'd bought for the occasion. She'd added a fake pearl necklace that matched the real pearl earrings she'd found one day in Chicago.

"You look like what a mother hopes to see in her daughter," Krissi said.

"Thanks... I think."

Krissi laughed, putting her arm on Devlin's. "I know, the last thing a gal wants to hear is that she resembles her mother."

"You look a lot like your mother. You know that, of course."

Krissi put her hand on her chest and faked swooning. "Oh, I am sorely wounded." She straightened up with a smile. "I do, though, and that's one of the troubles you get with straight blonde hair. I should get it cut and permed or something."

Devlin shook her head. "No, somehow that wouldn't be you. Besides, think of your fans."

"You're right. I'd have to get new pictures taken for the book covers. No thank you. Now enough of that, we have to get you to the airport."

Evan came off the plane looking handsome in his sport coat and slacks. They traded kisses--she remembered to breathe this time--and finally just stood there holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes.

"Did I say it's good to see you?" he finally asked.

"In the most direct way possible." She sighed happily. "We, uh, we should... I suppose we should get your luggage."

"I don't have much. Most of it I sent to my folks." They began to walk slowly up the concourse, their arms around each other, her head resting on his shoulder.

"There's been a change of plans. I'm going to visit them for a couple of days before going on to San Juan." He grinned. "And then try to explain why I threw a 2-2 fastball down and in to Bernie Williams."

She couldn't remember the details of the game, but she nodded. "He tagged it." That was a phrase she'd learned from the Trish. There were a few more, and she hoped she could drop them intelligently into the conversation.

"He didn't hit it out, but he cleared the bases with that double. What can I say? That's what the catcher called, and I thought it was a good idea. In the end I was the one who threw that pitch."

She patted his arm. "But now, for a few days, you don't have to think about it."

"Is your step-dad a baseball fan?"

"He's not really my step-dad," Devlin said. "Not in the legal definition of the term, and neither of us acts like I'm his daughter."

"Oh, sorry. Um, how do you address him?"

"Tom, that's his name. And he calls me Devlin." She smiled up at him. "He says I'm too old to be called his daughter, but he says it in a way that doesn't hurt. But he did say that if I had anything I wanted to talk about that I'd take to a father, that he could always lend me an ear."

"That was decent of him. There are a lot of guys who wouldn't do that."

"I know."

They passed a couple kissing on the concourse. He was in jeans and a polo shirt, she was in a dress, but she had her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist.

"Somebody's glad to see someone," Evan said after a glance. "I think they might get as far as the nearest hotel."

"Um, maybe," Devlin said. "If the parking lot wasn't so public, though..." That could be us after we're married, she thought. She envied the couple. In less than an hour they were going to be on a bed, their clothes scattered across the floor, and getting reacquainted in the most basic way. They'd probably have to have a late dinner, or room service. She studied the way their lips were locked together. Definitely room service.

She suppressed a sigh. "Come on, we have dinner reservations for 6:00. Let's get your luggage and get out of here."

When they got to the parking lot she tossed him the keys to her car. "I'll navigate," she said. "I know where the restaurant is."

"Are you sure? You know the roads around here better than I do."

She just smiled and waited for him to unlock the car. They rode in silence until they were on the highway headed north.

"What's life like in the majors?" she asked. "I've read things in the papers, and I've heard things from the wives."

"Don't believe everything you hear from them," Evan said, "but don't discount it, either. A lot of things happen that don't get in the press."

"Such as? I'm not trying to satisfy some weird curiosity," she added, "I want to have some idea of what I'm getting in to."

"Fair enough," he nodded. He sat silent for several seconds, watching the cars around them. "Well, first, we don't get paid nearly as much as you may think."

"What? I've seen reports of salaries that are, well..."

"Pretty high?" He nodded again. "Some players get paid pretty well. But the Athletics are a small budget team. They're not like the Yankees, or Boston, who'll pay a player tons of money. I'm making the Major League minimum, and when my contract is up I'll have a chance to get a raise, but the Athletics won't bust the budget to sign me, either."

"What's the Major League minimum?"

"$200,000 a year, which is a lot more than I was making in the minors."

Devlin laughed a little self-consciously. "That seems like a lot to me."

"Every place we go the local community takes out an entertainment tax, and then there's everything the Feds take, and California has a state income tax." He shook his head. "It all adds up. The club has people who do nothing but calculate all of that stuff. It's a full time job."

"So $200,000 really translates into... ?"

"Well, first, it's spread over 12 months. Then there's all the stuff that's taken out, and my agent's commission, don't forget that. By the time everyone gets finished my paycheck is down to about $2,200 a week."

"That still seems like an awful lot of money," Devlin said. "The best I ever did with my commissions was $960 in one week. That was when I sold athletic bras to the entire ISU Women's Track Team."

"Really? I thought--"

"Normally I make around $500 or so a week, but I have a lot of sales. A lot of gals don't make as much."

"How do you afford school, then? I thought tuition was pretty steep."

"I have several scholarships that pay for my books and other things like that. And until last year, my mother was helping out. I started making enough right about the time the baby arrived, which worked out well."

"I think it helps to get reminded of what other people make," Evan said after a bit. "We forget that in all of the mess about our contracts, deferred money, and so on. Fortunately there's meal money and other things like that when you're on the road. If there wasn't, nobody making the minimum could afford to play ball."

"I thought you said that during the off-season you had some other job."

"That was when I was in the minors. You need that extra income, otherwise you're just not going to make it. And if you're in the low minors you'll often stay with a host family, which will take care of room and some of your food."

"I'd think the constant travel would be a grind."

"You learn to sleep on the plane, and some more when you get to your hotel room. A lot of players spend most of a road trip sleeping. But no matter what happens, you've got to be ready to go when the umpire says 'Play Ball!'"

"What do you do on your off days? Other than sleep, that is."

"What do you do?" he shot back. "I have no idea what life's like in college."

"You're studying almost all of the time, at least if you're serious about your education."

"Really? All of the time?"

She nodded. "After your first term you take books with you everywhere you go. I've got some of my required reading in the backseat."

"A lot of guys think college is nothing but one party after another."

"There's a guy on my Senior Project Team who swears his roommate is majoring in beer tasting, and that the guy next door is studying seduction techniques. I had a roommate who spent her last term attending some really wild parties. But she was husband-hunting, and latched on to a Pre-Med student at one of them. They got married last year."

"I'd heard rumors of wild parties, booze and all sorts of things."

"Booze, yes, though I usually don't drink. Anything else?" She shook her head. "I don't move in the circles that do drugs. Some kids do, though, but then they take easy majors that don't require any effort."

"A couple of the guys on the team played college ball," Evan said. "They have stories of wild parties with booze and half-naked women all over the place." He chuckled. "One of them told me that if you're an athlete you have to work at not getting laid."

"The parties I've gone to didn't have much in the way of booze," she said. "A bottle of wine, perhaps, but nobody was interested in getting drunk. Most of the time the bottle was never even opened."

"But everyone was half-naked," he joked.

She clenched her hand out of sight. "More like all-naked," she said quietly.

The car swerved slightly as he looked at her. "You're kidding me."

"No," she said quietly, "I'm not." She took a careful, settling breath. "I thought I'd tell you about my past, the way I was before I met you."

"Your past. You don't... is there anything criminal I need to know about?" His tone had changed, as if he was being guarded.

"No, and not illegal, either. It's just that I did... there are... were... things I did..."

"Not illegal?" She could hear him relax slightly.

"Definitely not illegal. But if the scandal rags ever got hold of any of it..."

"You mean this is stuff that somebody could take to the National Enquirer."

She nodded. "But the people who do this can keep their mouths shut."

"Not likely," he said, shaking his head. "You don't know the sheer amount of money the scandal rags can throw around."

"Most of the people at these parties were faculty members. I was the only student. They have their standing and reputation to consider, and that's worth any amount of money."

"Faculty members?"

She nodded again. "Now you know why they'd keep it quiet. There's more. You know that place we met in Florida?"

He nodded. "Some of that resort is clothing optional. Is that... were you staying at one of the nude places?"

"We were nude, but it went beyond that. We, uh, we were hopping into and out of each other's beds the entire 10 days I was there. As a matter of fact, that was the main recreation. Krissi--you met her, she's the gal I went down there with--she has these pictures of her and some guy."

"Any pictures of you?"

"Not of my face." She glanced at her lap. "A little lower down."

"You're kidding me!" He started to laugh, and then stopped, giving her another glance. "You're not kidding."