Nickolas-1 (15 page)

Mrs. Sugar sat down again and stared at her. “Are you...yes, I can see that you are. Morgan, love, why would I toss you out because you’re pregnant? I love having you close. I plan to be this child’s honorary grandmother. If you keep it, that is.”

Morgan looked around the room. It was all she had in the world. She had bought the furniture from them last month. She knew they gave it to her at a great discount. She’d been to garage sales and had seen what things were going for. And next month, she was going to buy herself a new computer, maybe. She looked down at the small mound that was a baby. She was four months pregnant as of today.

“I can’t possibly keep it. The father, he... I’d have no help. I don’t want to even be pregnant. I...I don’t know how to be. I don’t know how to love it.

Someone else will be able to. There are lots of people who would be happy for a baby.”

Mrs. Sugar didn’t say anything for some time. “Morgan? Have you told the father about the baby yet? He has a right to know, both legally and morally.

Maybe he’ll change his mind.”

“He...when we...he only had sex with me to prove something, a point I didn’t get. Not then anyway. He told me that I wasn’t going to trap him into marriage with a child. He even offered to pay me to have future sex with him. So, no, I don’t think he’s gonna change his mind.”

“Bastard. Some men want to play but not pay. I’m a retired lawyer, but I still practice now and again. I’ll write up the form letter for you. You have to let him know regardless of his opinion of himself. I’ll give him ten days to respond to it.

If he doesn’t, then you’ve fulfilled your obligation to him. I’ll bring it by tomorrow. What’s his name?”

His name. Did she want people to know his name? No, not really. She didn’t care about him one whit, but she also didn’t want to have to explain to people how she had ever considered herself in the same league as the Grants. She didn’t think he’d respond, but she also didn’t want him to sue her for some sort of slander either.

“Can I just mail it to him, or does his name need to be on it?” If she could just send it, she could avoid as much contact as possible.

“When I write this for you, I will never be able to tell anyone anything you tell me. Ever. I won’t even tell Mick. He’d probably kill him anyway and I don’t have time to visit him in prison. Besides, who would cook for the bar? I need his name, I’m sorry.”

“I see. Doctor Grant. Nickolas Grant.” She looked away from Mrs. Sugar. She didn’t want to see what she thought of her being with a man like Nickolas Grant.

“I’ll have it for you in a few days. And, Morgan? It takes two people to make a child, not one. He was just as much a part of your being pregnant as you were.

“Becky Morgan? Ms. Becky Morgan?” The nurse had to shout to be heard above the din.

“That’s me, well, sort of. It’s Morgan Becky; Morgan is my first name, not my last.” The clinic was extremely busy today. She had been there since eight this morning and it was now going on two. Her back hurt and she had to pee really, really bad. The lady at the desk had told her if she missed when they called her name, she would have to start at the top again. So she wasn’t chancing starting this day all over.

“It says right here that it’s Becky Morgan. I don’t see nothing that says Morgan Becky.” The woman looked to be in her mid-twenties, Morgan thought.

She was chewing gum and popping it like it was going to be the next Olympic sport and she was going for the gold.

“No, it says Becky comma Morgan. The form said to give last name first, the first name last. That’s what I did. So it’s Morgan Becky. Sorry.”

“Really, that’s a comma? Well, duh. Look, I don’t care what your friggin’

name is. You wanna go see the doctor or not, Miss Becky comma Morgan?” Miss Steele comma Linda was gonna get her nose punched if she didn’t take it down a notch, thought Morgan.

“I want to see the doctor, please.” She followed her back to a little room and was told to sit. When Morgan had asked if she could use the bathroom first, Linda didn’t answer but left her sitting there.

Morgan had gone to see all the doctors on the list that Damon had given her.

Two of them had refused to take her as a patient because she was uninsured. The third one had told her that she needed to pay up front. She couldn’t do that, she told him. He had suggested that she take out a loan to pay the bill. And just what was she supposed to use as collateral, her belly?

The fourth doctor had a waiting list until mid-May. She’d be about seven months by then and she didn’t think that would be very smart. The last doctor, a Dr. Simon, was nice enough, but he was really expensive and she didn’t know how she could afford to see him and eat too. But she’d made an appointment for next month all the same.

When the door to the office opened and Dr, Clare stepped in, Morgan was almost relieved. Almost.

“Ms. Morgan. I understand you got smart with one of my staff. I don’t want smart asses in my clinic. Your type of people think that just because it’s free you can treat anyone how you want. That’s not the way things are done here.”

“I didn’t get smart with anyone. I just corrected her when she said my name wrong. It’s Morgan Becky, not Becky Morgan. And just what ‘type’ is my kind?”

“You will tone down that attitude right now, or I’ll have your butt back in prison so fast your head will spin.”

Morgan sat there for several seconds just looking at Dr. Clare. Prison. If it wasn’t for the fact that having the baby in prison went against everything she knew, she’d let her. Instead, she leaned over and picked up her bag and left the office. She didn’t need prenatal care that badly.

“Don’t bother coming back here either!” was shouted down the hall after her.

She didn’t even look back, but raised her hand and flipped her off. Maybe it was childish, she thought, but it was the first smile she’d had since she’d found out she was going to have a baby.

~~~

“Dr. Grant? I’m a processor; I have a registered letter for you.” Nick and Damon were just leaving Nick’s apartment when the man showed up. Nick looked at his brother.

“Is there a first name? We’re both Dr. Grant.” Ever helpful Damon. He couldn’t think of any reason why he’d be served, so it had to be for Damon.

“Ah, yeah... Hummm... I have to call the office. I can’t read this here name.

Hang on a second.” As the man stepped away and pulled out his cell phone, Nick looked at his brother.

Something was up. He looked...nervous.
Oh no
, he thought,
Damon is in
trouble.
Someone was suing him for malpractice or something. Shit. He was just pulling out his own cell when the man came back.

“Nickolas. It’s for Nickolas Grant. That either of you two?” To say that Nick was shocked would have been an understatement. It wasn’t until Damon nudged him that he realized that he hadn’t answered him.

“Yes. Me, that’s me, Are you sure it’s for Nickolas, not Damon? I can’t think why the law firm of...Sugar and Sugar would be contacting me?”
Why did that
name sound familiar?
he wondered.

“Thanks, asshole. Just tip the man and let’s go get some dinner. I’m starving and you owe me ribs.” Damon poked him in the ribs as he walked away.

Nick signed the receipt for the letter and moved to the elevator where Damon was waiting. He stuck the letter in his jacket pocket and stepped on when the doors opened.
Sugar. Who was Sugar?
he thought.

“Are you going to open it? Might be important.” He looked over at his brother again. He knew. He didn’t know how he knew, but Damon knew what the letter was about.

“Why don’t you tell me what it says and I won’t have to bother?”

“How the hell should I know what it says? Just open the fucking thing and let’s forget about it.”

Ah, Damon was not only nervous, but he was snarky as well. He pulled out the letter and handed it to him. “Read it. Tell me what it says then.” This was a joke one or all of them were pulling on him. His birthday was tomorrow, and they thought they’d have fun at his expense. He watched Damon’s face as he debated with himself and finally tore it open. “Damon?” He had fallen back against wall when he opened the letter and, just like that, Nick knew that it wasn’t a joke.

“It says...it’s to inform you that Morgan Becky is pregnant. She’s contacting you of her pregnancy and telling you that you have no legal rights to her or her child and that she isn’t asking for your support or name. As one of the men she has had sex with in the past year, she is legally notifying you of her impending delivery.”

“What?” He took the letter from Damon and read it himself. There had to be a mistake. Morgan was pregnant? It wasn’t possible. “It’s not mine. I didn’t ejaculate inside her. This is just a ploy to get money from me. Well she isn’t...” Nick opened his eyes and looked up at David Tulle. He blinked several times before the man came into focus.

“What happened? I don’t remember...I was talking in the elevator and I don’t remember what happened next.”

“I hit you, you fucking asshole. Didn’t ejaculate? Are you fucking nuts?

What, you relied on the pull and pray method much? If you do, then its small wonder I don’t have fifty bastard nieces and nephews running around.” Damon had hit him? Because Morgan was pregnant? Was he named in the letter too? No that couldn’t be right... Still.

“Could you be the father too?” When Damon advanced on him with fury in his eyes, David pulled him back. Nick knew he wasn’t the baby father any more than he was. He’d get to the bottom of this right now. He pulled out his cell phone to call Devin. “Yeah, I need your help. I’ve been named in a paternity suit and I want my name out of the hat for daddy of the year.”

“Like that’s fucking a possibility,” Damon snarled at him. Devin must have heard him and laughed at Nick.

“So, who’s the babe in question? Let me guess...Bambi Jenkins? No! Wait, that vamp from Damon’s office, what’s her name?” Devin asked him.

“It’s Morgan Becky.”

“Nah, that’s not it. Morgan is the woman who used to work for... Holy shit!

You knocked up Morgan? Mom is gonna castrate you. Twice. Shit, really?

Morgan? I thought she had better taste than that.”

“Funny. Yes, it’s Morgan Becky. I was just served by Sugar and... Shit.” He just remembered where the name came from. Mick Sugar, the bar owner.

“Sugar and Shit? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them. And, believe me, I’d remember a law firm by that name.”

Nick thought, for not the first time, that his entire family was a bunch of sarcastic pricks.

“Can you help, or do I need to find a more reputable firm to help me? I’m not the father. I want her to stop insisting that I am. What can you do?” Nick rubbed his chest again. Damn it, he’d not had an ulcer flare up in two weeks. Of course, he wasn’t eating well, but that didn’t matter really.

“You say you’re not the father, then forget about it. Fax me the paperwork and I’ll see what I can do. We may have to order a paternity test, just to be safe, but that’s no biggy. Wow, Morgan Becky. Didn’t see that one coming.” He stayed on the phone with him until Devin received the fax. He wanted to get this cleared up as soon as possible.

“It’s a form letter telling you that she’s pregnant. I’m going to demand proof of that now. I’m having Caroline call the doctor. It says here that you are named as one of the men that had sex with her in the past year. I’m assuming this isn’t true?”

He’d had sex with her, but he hadn’t come. He was really stupid for not thinking he could still get her pregnant at the time, but he’d been so furious at her. “Yeah, I had sex with her. Once, and it wasn’t all that great either.” That was a lie. It had been absolutely heaven being inside of her. But he was not sharing that with his brother, any of them. And he wasn’t going to tell them how much he missed her, how much he wanted to find her and to tell her he was an ass.

Well, up until today that is.

“Well, that puts a different slant on things. Let me order the DNA test and we’ll work from there. I’ll be at Mom’s on Sunday for Mother’s day. I’ll see you then.”

“I’d like to suggest you first find another doctor. You look like shit. You’re supposed to glow when you’re pregnant; you just look sickly. Secondly, give him what he wants.”

Morgan looked at Mrs. Sugar. She knew how bad she looked, but the doctor said the baby was fine. He also told her he didn’t want a fat woman delivering.

So he’d put her on a three thousand calorie a day plan. Morgan wanted her baby to be healthy when it was born. No one wanted to adopt a sickly child. She’d learned that all those years in the orphanage.

The diet was working out okay. She was saving money on her food bill, which was good. And she only had four months and four payments of a thousand dollars a month to have him paid off. Money was tight.

“I don’t care. Just set it up. It doesn’t matter.” She rubbed her hand down her belly and felt the kid move under her hand.

The first time it had moved, she wept for an hour. There was a life inside of her. It moved around a lot at night, keeping her awake. But she didn’t rub it anymore, not unless she forgot, like now. It was hard not to touch it. She couldn’t fall for it. It needed a home with loving parents and someone who could watch over it. It wasn’t going to be her.

“Just set it up and let me know.” She waddled back upstairs to her rooms above the bar and sat on the kitchen chair. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the blue sleeper she’d bought that first day. As she laid it out on the table, she began to cry softly. When it was neatly spread out, Morgan laid her head down on it and began to cry harder.

~~~

“She’s agreed to the test. It’ll be performed on Monday the second of June.

There were a couple of conditions that I didn’t think you’d have a problem with, so I agreed to them. Her attorney and I will be there as witnesses and Damon has agreed to do the tests,” Devin told him as soon as they shut the study room door at their mom’s. He’d not told her yet, and didn’t plan on it either.

“What conditions?” He had wanted to be there when the test was performed, but Damon still wasn’t talking to him and he was still pissed at him too. He’d just wanted to see the look on her face when she had to come face to face with him after all her lies. Devin said that would be in bad form and to just stay at home.