Color of Forgiveness (32 page)

She takes in a couple of deep breaths and
opens the door and lets out a startled shriek when she sees Natalie
standing there. “We need to talk,” Natalie says, grabbing Myra’s
hand. “Come on.”

Stunned, Myra follows her into the living
room. Natalie lies down on the couch on her side and points to the
loveseat. “Sit,” she says in a commanding voice. Myra sits.

Natalie’s blue eyes study her face for a
moment. “So you obviously haven’t told him yet.”

“Told him what?” Myra whispers.

“That you’re pregnant.”

“I’m not… I mean, I…”

“You
are
pregnant, right?”

“I don’t know. How did you…?”

“I’m a nurse, remember… a nurse who happens
to be pregnant with her
fourth
child. And it’s been kind of
obvious. You passed on the wine last night at dinner. You were
practically green this morning at breakfast, just picking at your
food and you just threw up. I know the signs. Have you taken a
pregnancy test yet?”

“No, I…”

“How late are you?”

“I’m not really late. I spotted a couple of
weeks ago, but I’m on the pill. I missed a few pills last month
because I fell and got a concussion and had to have stitches. But I
took the pills as soon as I realized I’d forgotten them.”

Natalie sighs. “Well, if you are pregnant,
you’re probably about six weeks,” Natalie rubs her fingers against
her temples and scrunches her eyes up. “This is such a mess. Just
when you come into his life, and he starts to live again, this
happens.” She tucks her hand under her pillow and looks directly at
Myra. “But I know God has a plan for the both of you, and I know
without a doubt that Dylan’s head over heels in love with you. It’s
so
written all over that man’s face. But, Myra, after
everything he went through with Mel? He’d have to be absolutely
terrified of being a father again.”

Myra swallows hard and nods.

“You
are
going to tell him,
right?”

“I, uh…”

“Myra, you
have
to tell him, the
sooner the better. But be prepared for him to flip out. This is
going to turn his world upside down, and I know it’ll be hard for
him to accept. But he’s going to have to accept it because if he
doesn’t, I’ll send Chad to Nyssa to kick him in the balls, okay? Or
if I’ve had the baby by then, I’ll come to Nyssa myself and kick
him in the nuts. But no matter what, don’t keep this from him. It
will only make matters that much worse if you do.”

Myra nods again.

“Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll all be
here to support you. And I really,
really
like you, Myra. It
seems that God has sent you into Dylan’s life because you’re
exactly what he needs.

“Now, first things first... You need to take
a pregnancy test because we might be worried about nothing. And I
just so happen to have one upstairs. The guys are going to be in
the basement playing that stupid video game for a while. Let’s go
find out, shall we?”

The not knowing has been eating away at
Myra. Even though she feels weird doing this with his sister-in-law
who she barely knows, she’d rather just find out for sure one way
or the other. So she nods at her.

Natalie starts to stand up. “Wait,” Myra
says. “I can go get it if you tell me where it’s at.”

“That’s okay. It’s in the master bathroom. I
can lay on the bed while we wait.”

Myra follows Natalie as she slowly makes her
way up the stairs to her bedroom. She locks the bedroom door behind
them. “It’s in the cabinet under the sink,” Natalie tells her as
she lies down on her side on the bed. “Just pee on the stick and
come back out here, and we’ll wait for the results together.”

Myra opens the cabinet and finds the box
towards the back. With shaky hands, she opens it and quickly reads
the directions. Her heart races and she feels like she’s going to
hyperventilate as she holds the stick in her hand. She pees on it,
sets it on the sink and after washing her hands, steps back into
the bedroom.

Natalie smiles brightly at her. “See? That
was easy. Now come here and sit,” she says, patting the bed beside
her. As soon as Myra sits down, she grabs her hand and squeezes it.
“It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“I’m scared,” Myra admits in a trembling
voice.

“I know you are, but don’t be. Dylan might
blow his top to begin with, but he’s a good man. And he’s in love.
He was an
amazing
father to Mel. You should have seen him.
He was the best dad ever. And you’ve got us now. I kind of feel
like you’re already part of our family, weird, huh?”

Myra nods and gives her a small smile.

Natalie looks up at the clock. “It’s time.
Go get it but don’t look at it. Bring it back in here so we can
look at it together, okay?”

Myra swallows hard, her heart pounding
ferociously as she walks back into the bathroom. She doesn’t look
at the stick; she just grabs it and walks back out into the
bedroom. She sits down on the bed, and Natalie grabs her free hand
and rubs it. She gives Myra a supportive smile. “Okay. Let’s do
this.”

Myra sets the test on the bed, and they both
stare down at it. Her eyes meet Natalie’s. Natalie smiles, tears
glistening in her eyes. “You’re going to have a baby,” she whispers
softly.

* * *

“I think Myra has a stalker,” Dylan says as
he shoots the head off of a zombie and brains go flying
everywhere.

Chad hits pause on his controller and looks
over at Dylan. “Huh?”

“We saw a car parked on the road near her
house like someone was watching her or some shit. Then someone
slashed the tires on her car last week.”

“No shit? Who the hell would do something
like that to Myra? She’s like the nicest chick I’ve ever met in my
damned life. She wouldn’t hurt a goddamn flea.”

“There are a couple of fuckers it could be…”
Dylan says before giving Chad a rundown of the suspects: Derek,
Lucia, and Ray.

Dylan takes in a deep breath. “And Sabrina
showed up on Myra’s doorstep the other day.”

“What the hell?”

Dylan briefly describes their encounter.
“Myra thinks it might’ve been Sabrina that slashed her tires, but I
just can’t see Sabrina doing something like that. What do you
think?”

“Nah, Sabrina would never do anything like
that.”

“I didn’t think so either.”

Dylan’s phone rings. He pulls it out of his
pocket and mutters, “Goddamn it,” when he looks at the caller ID.
He silences it. “Some people just won’t take no for an answer. I
can’t even keep up with all the calls I get for jobs. But some of
these people, I’ve told them over and over that I can’t do the work
they need done, but they just don’t get it and won’t leave me
alone.”

“Assholes,” Chad mumbles. “You know, you’ve
really got me fucking pissed over this Myra thing. Damn, bro. Do
you need me to come to Nyssa and knock some heads? Anybody messes
with Myra, I’ll beat them down. Check this out.” He pushes his
sleeve up and flexes his bicep. “It’s fucking steel, I’m telling
you. I got your back, bro.”

Dylan can’t help but chuckle. Chad has a
weird way of showing it, but he protects the ones he loves. It
makes Dylan feel good to know that Chad already likes Myra enough
to feel protective of her, and he knows without a doubt Chad would
come to Nyssa without hesitation if he asked.

* * *

“Bye,” Myra says with a wave as Dylan helps
her into the truck. As soon as Dylan closes her door, she wipes her
eyes. Saying goodbye to his family just about killed her. They were
all so sad to see them leave.

“I cannot believe mom and dad came back
today to say goodbye to you
again
. They told you goodbye
last night. Jesus,” Dylan groans as he backs out of the
driveway.

“Oh, it was sweet. Admit it.”

“Annoying, not sweet...”

Dylan stops at a stop sign and looks at
Myra. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something.”

Myra’s stomach drops to her feet when she
sees the expression on Dylan’s face. Does he know? Did Natalie tell
him? She promised she wouldn’t. Myra swallows hard. “Okay?”

“I was thinking of stopping by the cemetery.
Would you want to see it?”

She blows out a heavy breath, every muscle
in her body relaxing. “I’d love to.”

“Good.” Dylan looks relieved as his eyes
move back to the road. He puts his hand on her thigh, and she wraps
her fingers around his.

As they drive, Myra’s heart feels heavy;
this secret she holds and carries inside of her burdening her with
guilt. It was only hours ago that she found out… that she’s
pregnant. She’s going to have a baby… Dylan’s baby. She’s beyond
terrified about the whole thing. She knows Natalie was right, and
she has to tell him soon, but when? How in the world is she going
to break the news to him?

Myra’s thoughts are interrupted when Dylan
turns through a set of large wrought iron gates. Driving slowly,
Dylan follows the curved, narrow road towards the back of the
cemetery. He pulls the truck over to the side. After turning the
ignition off, he just sits staring straight ahead.

He clears his throat. “Myra, I wanted to
warn you that there’s a picture of me, Sabrina, and Mel on the
tombstone. Remember when Sabrina and I got into that argument, and
she insisted on adding some pictures?”

Myra nods.

“I just didn’t want you to be upset about
it.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

He leans in and gives her a quick peck on
the lips before he gets out and opens her door for her. He entwines
his fingers with hers and leads her to a section underneath a tree,
stopping in front of a beautiful flat stone. She stares down at it,
her eyes becoming so blurry with tears that she can barely read
it.

Mitchell Evan Lawson
“Mel”

Sleep, my little one, sleep
You will live on in our hearts forever

Dylan drops her hand and bends down and
starts flicking leaves and dirt off of it. She quickly wipes her
eyes. She doesn’t want him to see her breaking down like this. She
needs to try to keep it together. Her heart aches as she watches
him.

She focuses in on the pictures. The picture
on the right is a photo that Myra recognizes from the album Dylan
showed her. It’s a professional photo of Mel by himself. But the
picture on the left is one that Myra hasn’t seen before. Dylan has
his arm wrapped around Sabrina, and Mel is sitting on his lap. They
look like the perfect family, all of them unbelievably beautiful
and looking so happy.
This is Dylan’s past
, Myra tells
herself as pangs of jealousy hit her. She’ll never be in a photo
like that with Dylan with his ring on her finger and their child on
his lap and joy on their faces…

Dylan stands and wipes his hands on his
jeans. “My hands are a little dirty, but I want to hold your hand
again. Do you mind?”

Myra smiles and grabs his hand. “I don’t
mind,” she says, squeezing his hand gently.

“I’m really glad I brought you here. It
feels good. I like having you know about this part of my life.”

“I’m glad you shared this with me.”

Myra hears a car pulling up. They both turn
around to look, and Myra’s mouth drops open.

“What the fuck?” Dylan mutters angrily as
Sabrina gets out of the car and stalks towards them.

Sabrina’s eyes flash with anger as she
glares at Myra. “What are you doing bringing
her
here to our
son’s grave? She has no right to be here. He was
our
son!
Ours!
”

“I can bring whoever the hell I want here.
It’s a free goddamn country the last time I checked. How did you
know we were here? Did you follow us?”

“I come here every Sunday to visit Mel, you
know that.”

“Oh,” Dylan says. “Well, we were just
leaving.”

“Wait! Can I speak to you
alone
for a
minute, Dylan?” Sabrina asks as she gives Myra the evil eye, her
gaze dropping to their clasped hands.

“Not alone. If you have something to say to
me, you can say it in front of Myra.”

Sabrina sighs and shakes her head. “Never
mind… I’ll just catch you another time.”

Dylan pulls Myra towards the truck. She
frowns as she stares out the window at Sabrina. She has such a
forlorn, sad expression on her face. Myra’s gaze drops to Sabrina’s
hand hanging limply at her side and the stuffed monkey in it that
she clutches. She didn’t notice it earlier.

* * *

“I’m really sorry she showed up like that,”
Dylan says.

“It’s okay. I’m sure it’s really hard on her
to see the two of us together.”

“That still doesn’t excuse her behavior.
Damn it, I need a cigarette. These fucking patches aren’t cutting
it,” he mumbles in frustration as he touches his pocket, wishing
like hell a cigarette would magically appear in it.

“Dylan!” Myra shouts. “Pull the truck
over!”

“What?”

“Pull over! I’m going to throw up!”

Dylan veers to the side of the road and
slams on his brakes. Myra undoes her seatbelt and scrambles to the
other side of the truck and has it opened before Dylan can barely
blink. He jumps out and races around to find her hunched over, dry
heaving. “Are you okay?” he asks as he grabs her hair and holds it
back for her and rubs her gently on the back.

She answers with a few more dry heaves.
“Mom’s casserole making you sick?” he asks lightly as he pats her
on the back a few more times. She coughs and wipes her mouth on the
back of her sleeve before she straightens and looks at him. She
slowly shakes her head.

“You got one of those stomach bug
things?”

She slowly shakes her head again. Her face
is so pale; she looks scared half to death.

He frowns. “Then what the hell is wro—” he
stops mid-sentence as he watches her hand move to her stomach. Her
fingers splay out across her belly in that particular way women do
when they’re…