Chapter Twelve
Drew and Ryan got the women into Ryan’s truck, deciding to leave Karlie’s car and Drew’s truck at the apartment, in case Jake found them. They were hoping it would buy them some time if Jake saw their vehicles and thought they were in the apartment, he’d go after Karlie, giving them more time to run. As for the rest of the plan, Drew thought that it was a good one. They started heading north out of Alabama toward Tennessee. He and Ryan’s parents had an old hunting cabin in Northern Tennessee that they could hide out in. He didn’t want to take Karlie there at first, wanting to keep her close to her new OBGYN, but she seemed to be out of the woods now and able to travel. Jenna, on the other hand, looked about ready to burst. The good part about the plan was that the hunting lodge was about thirty minutes from a top-notch hospital, so if Jenna’s baby did decide to make his appearance a little early, they’d be able to get her to the hospital on time, or at least he hoped so. He didn’t want to see Karlie’s sister give birth; the thought made him nauseous. Still, they were working on a very thin timeline with Jenna due any minute. They needed to figure out where Jake ran off to sooner rather than later. Drew called Mr. Angel before they packed up to leave. He told Karlie and Jenna’s dadtheir plan, and he agreed. He told Drew that Officer Peterson hadn’t been able to find Jake to arrest him. They had an affidavit out for his arrest, but it looked like he had run. Drew worried that Ryan and Jenna had led Jake straight to Karlie, but Ryan swore that he wasn’t followed. Still, he looked around every few minutes to make sure there were no suspicious vehicles behind them.
“You’re making me nervous,” Karlie whispered to him. They were in the back seat of Ryan’s truck. He took off his seatbelt and slid closer to her.
“Just making sure no one followed us, baby. Ryan needs to concentrate on getting us there, and I need to watch for Jake,” Drew said. She stiffened in his arms, and Drew kissed her, trying to ease some of her tension. God, he wished he could fix this whole fucking mess. He wanted Karlie to feel safe because he would never let Jake touch her or the baby. “Honey, you need to relax. All this stress isn’t good for the baby. She needs her momma to relax. I won’t let anyone touch you.”
Jenna tried to turn in her seat, but Ryan put his hand on her belly, stopping her from unbuckling.
“You and that little one need to stay buckled, darlin,'” he drawled. Jenna just grunted, realizing that she was stuck.
“Fine,” she hissed at Ryan, making him bark out a laugh. What the hell? Drew hadn’t seen Ryan laugh so much in his life. “You two are having a girl?” Jenna turned her head to ask.
“Well, we aren’t sure,” Karlie shrugged. “We are scheduled to have a sonogram in three weeks, and they should be able to tell us the sex.” Karlie turned to Drew, “I never asked if you want to know if it’s a boy or a girl.”
He smiled, leaning in for another kiss, “Whatever you want, baby. If you want to find out, then we will.” Karlie seemed to relax in his arms and smiled at him.
“I want to know,” she said, kissing him back.
“Um, if you two love birds are about done,” Ryan interrupted, “Jenna probably needs a bathroom break, again.” He looked over at Jenna and smiled, adding, “It’s been five minutes since her last pee break.” Jenna got all huffy but kept her mouth shut. Karlie and Drew just laughed, making Jenna giggle.
“Don’t make me laugh,” Jenna squealed, “I’ll pee my pants.”
∞
They stopped at a small grocery store to pick up a few essentials before they reached the cabin. Karlie got out of the truck and stretched. The trip had turned from a three-hour drive to a 5 hour one, and everything hurt. Her only saving grace was all the pee stops for Jenna because she honestly had to go just as much. Poor Jenna looked a little worse for wear. She was a little more swollen, which was evident by the way she waddled into the cabin. It was sweet how Ryan helped Jenna out of the truck and up the stairs, into the cabin. He got her settled on the old sofa and propped her legs and feet up with a few pillows. Karlie brought Jenna water in from the truck and handed it to her.
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Geez, why don’t you just go pour it directly into the toilet?” he teased. “That’s where it will be in five minutes anyway.” He winked at Jenna and went out to help Drew with the unloading. Karlie sat on the chair next to her sister, grabbing Jenna’s hand.
“You okay?” she eyed Jenna, worried. “You are looking a little puffier than earlier and a whole lot more tired.”
Jenna laid her head back on the armrest of the sofa, “Yeah, just swollen, and I am dog tired. With all the crying and mood swings, I am sure hoping that my hormones settle down after this baby is born.”
Karlie squeezed Jenna’s hand, “How are you feeling about Jake, any regrets?”
Jenna lifted her head off the sofa and looked at her sister, “The bastard banged my head into a wall, knocking me unconscious, and then locked me in a closet and left me. What second thoughts should I be having?”
Karlie held up her hands in surrender, “I just want to make sure that we are still on the same page. After he beat me at your wedding,” Karlie said and grimaced, “I was going to press charges because you said that you were not going to marry him. But the next day, you bailed him out and took him back.”
Jenna shrugged, “I was—I was just so confused. I was pregnant, and the man that I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with beat my sister. When I found out that he had hit you over the seven years that you were together, well—I knew that I couldn’t stay with him. I could never trust that he wouldn’t hurt our baby.” She rubbed her belly. “Hey.” She smiled, taking Karlie’s hand and putting it on her belly, “He’s moving and kicking, or punching. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between the two. Can you feel him?” Karlie held her breath, and when she felt her nephew punch her hand, she gasped and started crying. By the time Ryan and Drew walked back in, after unloading the truck, both women were sobbing and hugging each other.
Drew rushed to Karlie’s side, “Honey, what’s wrong now?”
Karlie looked up at him and gave a watery smile. “I felt the baby kick.”
“The doctor said that you shouldn’t feel that for another month or so. Are you sure?”
“Not our baby, Jenna’s,” she said, sending both women into laughing fits.
Drew looked at his brother, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to keep up with these mood swings for the next five months,” he said, shaking his head. Ryan seemed fixated on Jenna, so much so that when he walked across the small room to them, Karlie stood, giving Ryan her spot. Jenna squirmed a little, putting some space between Ryan and herself.
Ryan cleared his throat and barely looked Jenna in the eyes, “Can I feel the baby kick?” Ryan asked. Jenna went completely still. She looked as if she couldn’t decide what to do. “Well—if he’s still moving. Or if that makes you uncomfortable, then never mind. Just forget—" Jenna reached for Ryan’s hand and placed it on her huge belly, effectively stopping his rambling. Ryan gasped, “It feels like he’s doing backflips in there. How do you stand all that moving around?”
Jenna smiled up at him, “I love it when he moves. It tells me that he’s okay. You know, Jake has never asked to feel the baby, his baby, move or kick. He’s never put his hand on my belly. Don’t you think that’s odd? Jake hasn’t touched me since we found out that I was pregnant—at all. Do you know what I mean?”
Drew groaned, and Ryan pulled his hand away from Jenna. “I think we all know what you mean, Jenna,” Drew groaned. He seemed less than happy to know anything about Jenna’s sex life.Karlie just wrapped her arms around him and smiled up at him.
“Drew can’t seem to keep his hands off of me, especially since the baby bump appeared,” she shared, causing both Ryan and Drew to groan.
