Chapter 5: Oliver & Company

“Rhapsody? Doesn’t it only take three minutes? You’ve been in there a pretty long time…”

Damn. I forgot I had left Raleigh and Riley in the dark. They had been waiting probably close to 15 minutes at this point.

Every knock on the door was like a stake pounding through my heart. If I told her, it was real. Well….it was real anyways, but I wasn’t ready to admit it yet. I had been running through the words over and over again in my head, but I just wasn’t ready to say them.

I couldn’t leave them waiting any longer though. I painfully got myself up and trudged to the door. When I opened it, she looked at me wide-eyed in anticipation.

“Well?!”

I opened my mouth, but as I suspected no words came out. Instead I instantly broke down into tears. I tried covering my sobs and regaining control. It was no use – I was an emotional wreck.

“Oh Rhapsody…”

She instantly wrapped me into a hug. I’m usually not one big on family affections, but I sunk into her and cried. I needed it.

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“You piece of trash! I don’t believe you even have the nerve to show up at my house after what you did to my daughter! Get off my property!”

“Mr. Bivard, I think I sort of have a right to see her.”

“A RIGHT?! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!”

“If she really is pregnant than I have every right! It’s my kid! I’m the father!”

“You’re just a kid! There’s no way you can be a father! You wouldn’t be fit to be an older brother!”

BAM

“I had to grow up without a father and I’m not going to let the same be true for my kid. And there’s no way I’m letting you stop me.”

“Cameo, if you don’t get off my property in the next 30 seconds I’m going to call the police and have you arrested for trespassing, assault and battery. Want your kid to start out in life knowing he has a criminal for a father?”

“………………………No.”

“Then get the hell off of my lawn.”

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Pregnancy was rough. A lot rougher than I would have expected it to be. I mean…if pregnancy felt like this all the time, why are there women that have so many children? My mom had 6! Was she insane?

My feet and back hurt all the time. My first whole trimester I felt like throwing up everything I looked at. My so-called “boyfriend” had peaced out after the night of the incident. And absolutely NONE of my clothes fit me anymore.

I had to call and ask my sister Raegan if she could send over some of her old maternity clothes. They were quite big on me (Raegan had already been bigger than me in the first place) but hey, beggars can’t be choosers. And I was quite literally a beggar.

Dad’s first move was to kick me out. Ray and Riley instantly fought him, but he was adamant about it. Raleigh cried so hard I thought her eyes were going to run out of tears. My saving grace came, ironically, in the form of Scott.

He reasoned with my father in a way I’m not sure any of us understood. His words made sense….they were beautifully chosen about how it was his grandchild that he’d be condemning to a life of poverty and deprivation (thanks for the faith in me Scott) and could he live forever with the guilt, etc etc. It was his tone that baffled us all. Usually my father didn’t listen to any logic unless it was his own. But the way Scott talked almost seemed magical.

Regardless, he convinced him to let me stay at the house, but I was walking on eggshells. I’ll have to remember to make fun of him less.

Once again I had a lot of time for piano and music theory. As it turns out, I do actually like it a great deal. I hate admitting it, since music is my father’s passion, but there’s just something so…..soothing about it. I played nearly every day for my entire pregnancy and honed my talents. I was quite good at it by the end there.

Once the baby had started developing more, I could tell it enjoyed the music too. Sometimes when I’d play upbeat or jazzy pieces, I could feel it in there, kicking and moving around. It was a combination of interesting and creepy that I’m not sure I can put into words.

“You’ve been getting better.”

“Thanks.”

“You know, playing classical music while the baby develops is really good for intellect. You’re helping the baby become smarter every time you play.”

Ray listened to me all the time and continually made comments that I didn’t care about. It was kind of annoying and took the fun out of playing. I rolled my eyes and stood up. My back hurt, my stomach hurt and my feet hurt….I was not in the mood for him to be philosophical.

Bad idea. He immediately came over to talk to the baby. He insisted this helped it learn languages during development. I think he had read one to many baby books for his own good.

“Hello baby. Comment ça va?”

“Ray, seriously. I’m not in the mood.”

“Rhapsody, you’re never in the mood. I’m just trying to help make sure the baby has every opportunity in life, starting at an early age. He’s my nephew and you’re a teenage mother. I can help you raise him and make sure everything goes well. You can’t do it on your own sis. You’re too young.”

“Ray!”

I was soooo not up for his little pep talk. He was aggravating the hell out of me. I went to take a step away from him when I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen.

My voice became a little more panicked.

“Ray?!”

I clutched my stomach. Holy Lord, this was the worst pain I’m sure I’ve ever felt in my life. I was doubled over.

“Rhapsody? What’s wrong?!”

“I don’t know! It hurts so much! I feel like I’m dying!”

Ashamedly, I started to cry. Ray smiled warmly, put his arm around me and corralled me into the car.

“It’s ok hun. I think you’re just going into labor.”

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Let me tell you something about labor. Labor is the worst 5 hours of pain you can experience after 9 months of already being put through hell. I seriously don’t understand why women have babies. WHO WOULD EVER DO THIS WILLINGLY? They belong at insane asylums.

Labor is when your 7 pound, 12 ounce infant decides they’re going to push themselves out of one of the smallest holes in your body. Nevermind that they DON’T FIT. They just continue to push themselves along, not caring in the slightest they’re making you feel like a thousand tiny knives are cutting up your woman parts, which BY THE WAY, some of us plan on using again. Rude.

When my nightmare was finally over, I got to leave the hospital with a happy, healthy baby boy. My entire family (including Sabre and Kerrie!) was in the waiting room to greet us when we came out. Since I didn’t have any other ideas, Ray suggested we name the baby after one of his favorite classical books, Oliver Twist. Everyone seemed to like that idea, so Oliver Samuel Bivard joined our family.

On the way to the hospital, Ray had called Cameo to let him know the baby was coming, but he never showed up. I guess he really doesn’t want anything to do with his son after all.

Once we had gotten back home,  I was exhausted after my entire ordeal. Ray took care of Oliver for me while I got some of the first restful sleep in pretty much 8 months. They bonded immediately and Ray actually seemed upset when I woke up. He didn’t have to worry though. As far as I was concerned, he could take care of that baby as much as he wanted.