“Are you making this shit up as you go along?” Obie asked. “Trying to bullshit me out of suing your ass for malpractice?”
“I’m not making this up as I go along,” Renter assured him. “It’s a well-documented phenomenon that is responsible for most vasectomy failures that take place after one year. It’s also extremely rare. One in a million kind of rare. This is the first one that I have personally ever heard of.”
Pauline and Obie looked at each other for a moment and then back at the doctor.
“All right then,” Obie said. “Now that we know what happened here, how about we fix it?”
“Fix it?” Renter said.
“You can fix it, right?” Obie said. “Put me back on the table with the stirrups, tie my little buddy up out of the way, give me the shot, break out the little scalpel and the cauterizing thing?”
“Well ... yes, I can go back in and separate the vas again,” he said. “But that’s only after we’ve done some more...”
“Fuck that,” Obie said. “No time like the present. Let’s head over to the little room and get this shit done.”
“You mean right now?” Renter asked.
“Right fucking here, right fucking now. Come on, Doc. Let’s do this thing.”
Two hours later, Obie was sitting on the couch in a suite at the Portland Sheraton Grand Hotel, a glass of scotch on the rocks at his side and a bag of ice resting on his crotch.
“Does it hurt?” asked Pauline, who had gotten the barest glimpse of his black and blue scrotum when she’d helped him change into a pair of sweat pants.
“It feels kind of like I got kicked in the balls about an hour ago,” he said. “Oh ... I guess you probably can’t relate to that. Anyway, it’s uncomfortable, but nothing I can’t handle.”
She nodded and then sat down next to him. “This has been a most interesting day,” she said.
“Yep,” he agreed, taking a sip from his scotch.
She let him sit in silence for a few minutes and then said, “So ... do we want to talk about this situation now, or wait until you’re feeling better?”
He looked at her and gave her a weak smile. “I guess now is as good a time as any. I’m sorry I had to get confirmation first, but it’s the way I am. Now I know. You’re carrying a baby that I put in there.”
“I am,” she said. “And before the idea is even brought up, I’ve already decided that I’m going to keep it.”
“You have?”
“I have,” she said. “I’m a firm believer in a woman’s right to choose whether to carry a baby to term or not. I think that abortion is a necessary evil in our society today. I also know it’s not for me. My choice is to keep this baby no matter what else happens between you and I.”
“And you’re sure on that?” he asked.
“I was about ninety-nine percent sure when I first found out,” she said. “I’m coming up on forty now and I’ve never had a child. I have a maternal instinct, Obie. I have a life growing in me and I want to raise it to adulthood. I might not ever get another chance if I terminated this one and I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself. And then, when the doc told us how long the odds were for something like this to happen ... well ... it just seems like something that is meant to be, you know what I mean?”
Obie nodded. “I know what you mean,” he said. “I feel the same way. I’m not a big fan of women having abortions to begin with—I was raised a Christian, remember—but I’m certainly opposed when the baby in question carries my genetic code. I would’ve tried to talk you out of it if you’d gone down that road. And if you’d refused to be talked out of it, that would’ve been the end of us forever. I wouldn’t have been able to look at you after that.”
“I understand,” she said. “But since we’re not going down that road, what road are we going down? I don’t need anything from you if push comes to shove. I’m not going to try to get child support or any of that crap out of you. I have money of my own and I’m perfectly capable of raising a child on my own.”
“I know you are, hon,” he said. “But I’m not the kind of man who is just going to knock you up and never have anything to do with you or the child again. That’s my baby in there and I intend to be a part of its life, whether that includes you in the picture or not. I will insist on having a relationship with the child, just like I do with my other children.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “In the meantime ... we go on like we have been? See where it leads?”
“Works for me,” he said. “My equipment is out of action for about a week though. I hope that isn’t a deal breaker.”
She laughed. “I think I’ll manage,” she said, cuddling into him.
He put his arm around her and then adjusted his ice pack a bit. “When do we start telling people about this?”
“I want to tell Jake and my parents and Celia right away,” she said. “They should know.”
“I suppose.”
“As for the media and the public ... well ... let’s wait until I’m in the second trimester, huh? There’s always the possibility of ... you know ... and there’s no sense creating a sensation until we know it’s for real.”
“Sounds like a plan, darlin’,” he told her, letting his hand rub her shoulder.
At the same moment that Obie and Pauline were producing a revealing sperm sample in the patient bathroom of a Portland medical office building, Jake and Laura were in the first class lounge of United Airlines at LAX. They were sitting at the bar, Jake sipping a bloody Mary, Laura drinking a cup of black coffee. Her alto saxophone case and her suitcase of clothes had already been checked.
“Still no word on Pauline?” Laura asked as Jake hung up the white courtesy phone on the bar.
“No,” he said. “All Darlene knows is that she’s in Portland with Obie. She cancelled all of her appointments for today and gave no explanation for why she was going there or any number she could be reached at.”
“That is very unlike her,” Laura said.
“It is,” he agreed with a shrug. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation though.”
“I feel bad just leaving without telling her this news,” Laura said. “She is my manager after all. I have to sign a touring contract, remember? I’d really like to have her there to go over it before I sign.”
“I’ll keep trying to get hold of her,” Jake promised. “Just don’t sign anything until you talk to her. You can start rehearsing with them and learning the ropes, but don’t sign anything.”
She nodded slowly. “I’m really nervous about this whole thing, sweetie,” she said.
“You’re gonna kick some ass out there, hon,” he assured her. “You know what you’re doing.”
She nodded a little and then leaned into him. “I’m going to miss you so much,” she said, a tear running down her face.
“I’m gonna miss you too,” he said.
“I’ll call you every night,” she promised.
Jake jerked reflexively as he heard these words. They were the same thing he said to Angie before he had gone out on tour. “Don’t say that,” he told her, perhaps a little more sharply than intended.
“What?” she asked, pulling back and looking at his face.
“Just call me when you can,” he said. “Don’t make it a chore. And I’ll come out and visit you whenever I can. Pauline will give me a copy of your tour schedule once she touches bases with you.”
“Do you promise?” she asked.
“I promise,” he assured her.
Five minutes later, flight 841 to Pittsburgh was called for boarding. As a first class passenger, Laura was in the first group.
“I love you, Jake,” she told him as they embraced in front of the jetway.
“I love you too, Laura,” he said, giving her one last kiss.
Her carry-on bag in hand, she walked down the jetway and disappeared. She did not look back.
Chapter 14: Wheels and Deals Revisited
Los Angeles, California