"American Girl Breaking Traditions everywhere"

Chapter Ten




Two weeks later…

Jolene sat on her couch her bloated legs elevated on a stool and the phone near her. She was due any day soon and she wasn’t aloud to do anything but breath. She sat with a pen and a paper pad on her stomach for a table. Her stomach was large and round and she was ready to relieve herself of this child. On the paper she wrote things she wanted to do after giving birth.

Her first on the list was her dire need to loose at least thirty pounds. The second would be to get close to Danny like she hadn’t since she’d entered her third trimester. The third would be to lecture Lydia about secluding her from the fun because she was pregnant. The list continued on until ten. The list was her way to state how she felt out on paper. She hadn’t been able to write in a while because she didn’t enjoy the position of sitting in front of the computer.

Jolene began writing number eleven when but stopped abruptly at the feel of liquid leaking from her. Wide eyed she grabbed the phone and dialed Danny. Tossing the pen and pad to the side she attempted to arise. After about five minutes she was up only to look back at her seat that was covered in warm liquid. Sighing at how much she would go through to rid the couch of that stain she walked to her room. She flipped on some slippers and grabbed her bag.

Just then she had her first contraction. The pain was over bearing and she gripped the bag and tried to handle the pain as best as she could. Remember she had dialed Danny she listened in on the phone ringing. Finally Danny answered and Jolene simply said “It’s time!” she hung up the phone and took a seat on her bed. She began breathing in and out.

It was only ten minutes till Danny arrived and loaded her into the car. Danny drove down the early morning street and rushed to the hospital. With in minutes they were in front of the near by hospital. It was nine in the morning and the hospital was tame. Danny had her registered and the hospital workers loaded her into a wheel chair that quickly directed her to a room.

Jolene sighed and put a hand on her stomach. It wouldn’t be long till she held her beautiful baby in her arms. Her contractions were strong and they were close to each other. The doctor checked and announced that she was fully dilated. This wouldn’t be a long birth. She wouldn’t be in labor for hours on end. She would have this baby soon.

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Lydia rolled over in Ahmet’s now empty bed. She sat up and looked around the room. She hated being alone in his bed. It wasn’t her bed so she never felt quite right laying there. She threw the bed sheets back and jumped out of the bed. She walked around a bit picking up clothes and putting them on. She walked out his room slowly and listened. The apartment was silent and the air was warm. Lydia walked to the kitchen and looked around. Nothing said that he had eaten breakfast and there wasn’t even some kind of note. Lydia shrugged and sighed and moved into the living room where her purse would be. She reached into her purse and pulled her phone out. She had missed one call.

Smiling she was sure it was him to tell her where he’d gone off to. She flipped her phone open and to her surprise it was a missed call from Danny. She called her voicemail entered her password and listened to the message he left her.

“Lydia Jolene is having the baby!” The message was short and simple. It told Lydia exactly what she wanted to hear and gave her reasoning to rush out of the house.

Lydia did one more quick search around the house for Ahmet and gave up. She threw her shoes and sweater on and was out of the house. She jumped into her car and rushed to the hospital. Lydia made it to the hospital in no time and ran into the front entrance after squishing her car into a parking spot.

“I need to know where Jolene Duggan is giving birth and I need to know NOW!” she said to the worker at the front office desk. Lydia had received the call around ten and had actually listened to it around one. She wasn’t one to sleep late but with out being awoken by Chrissy’s early morning movements Lydia would sleep till dark.

Twenty minutes later Lydia found herself in a room with Chrissy, Danny, Zhi and Jolene. “Oh my god let me see!” Lydia said walking in. Lydia removed the child from Chrissy and held it in her arms. She looked down at a beautiful baby girl.

“Isn’t she the greatest?” Chrissy said.

“Amazing” Jolene added.

“Yeah she is amazing.” Lydia said looking down at the child.

“No I meant its amazing you read my mind and didn’t bring Ahmet to ruin the moment.” Lydia smiled at Jolene’s ability to find an insult at such a moment.

“I don’t know where he is actually so I guess you just lucked out.” Lydia said giving the baby to Danny.

“Looks like you lucked out too Lyd” Zhi said pointing to her head. Just then Lydia gasped and grabbed at her hair.

“NO!” She had forgotten about her hair. She had run out of the house so excited to meet her new niece she had forgotten about her hair. Lydia’s cheeks blushed red and she attempted to fix her hair.

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Zhi lay on a blanket in the grass while Chrissy lay beside him. They were both looking up at the stars. After the hospital they had gone their separate ways but something had made him want to be with her. It was late at night and he called her. He invited her to the park with him and here they were lying in the grass on a blanket staring up at the sky.

Zhi rolled onto his side and looked at Chrissy. He brushed back some of her hairs and stared into her eyes that reflected the full moon above them. Her eyes were beautiful and he found it mind boggling how she had managed to stay single this entire time. God was good to him. Now Chrissy would never again bare the single stasus. Zhi wanted to make Her his for the rest of his life.

Zhi reached and kissed Chrissy’s lips. Chrissy smiled up at him. “Christine Anne Duggan you have just about the most wonderful smile I have ever scene. I hope I get to marry and live my life with you.”

“Well Zhi I have bad news for you. I plan to spend AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE with you. I adore you in the strongest way I could have ever imagined.” They shared a moment of silence and what felt like true love.

The air was warm, the night was calm and everything was finally at ease. His life was finally going the way he wanted it to. “You know C… if I had to say anything about you. It would be that you are an American girl breaking traditions EVERYWHERE!” Chrissy giggled and pulled him to her. They kissed under the stars and nature swallowed them in the peace and righteousness of being together.