Twisted Fate by Summer Cooper

5

Keily

Logan could just fuck right off, Keily thought as she practically waddled back to her row and took a seat. She knew he’d seen her, knew he was agitated, but she didn’t want to talk to him. The only reason she was there was because she had to be, she didn’t want to go to jail for not showing up as directed to.

This was a nightmare for her, one she’d tried to get out of by asking to be removed from the case. The prosecuting attorney’s office said she was a direct witness so she’d have to appear at the courthouse on the date given, pregnant or not. That hadn’t pleased her at all.

She sat there, her ex-husband on one side, her ex-lover on the other, and relived the humiliation and heartache both had caused her over the years. Well, to be fair, Joe had caused more than his fair share for far longer than Logan had. But Logan had broken her heart more than Joe ever could because she’d actually loved him when he walked out on her.

And the babies.

Although, he hadn’t known about them, so she couldn’t blame him for that.

Well, he knew now, if the way he stared at her was anything to go by. She could feel his eyes on her, almost burning a hole through her, as she testified against her ex-husband on his behalf.

Not that she was angry with him, she couldn’t blame him for leaving her. It was the why, why he’d called her in for a job interview in the first place that really…hurt.

Yes, she decided as Rosa stroked her left hand reassuringly, it was the fact that he’d played her, and she’d never suspected a thing that really tore a hole through her very being. She knew she deserved it though. She’d been so mean to him when they were in high school together, always saying snotty things to him just because he was there, and different, and Joe hated him for some reason. So she’d been a bitch to him, as she had been to so many other people in her life.

There was also the fact that she’d been there that night, she’d left him, and worst of all, she’d never told a soul. She stayed home for a few days after that night, afraid of Joe and his friends, but in the end, the boy that made her heart melt one day and beat with fear the next, had sweet-talked her into a night in the back of his car. She forgot that Eugene even existed, until the night he’d left her, as a man now named Logan.

Then there was Joe. He hadn’t been physically abusive often, usually it was verbal and emotional pain he caused her. But there’d been times, bruises she’d become expert at hiding, and she hated seeing him again. He was also a reminder of what she used to be, who she used to be.

She wasn’t that hateful, greedy person anymore, and even Violet was giving her another chance at being a sister and an aunt to Alice.

“You alright?” Rosa whispered to her, her warm brown eyes straight ahead.

“Yeah, mostly. The babies are kicking the shit out of me and I hate being here with these two, but I’ll get through it. Thanks for coming.” Keily leaned into her friend for support and clasped at her hand. It really was nice to have someone to lean on, emotionally and physically. Even with the bump support and the support hose she had on, her back was killing her. She knew it was only going to get worse as the babies grew, but she didn’t mind too much.

“I wouldn’t have let you come by yourself, you know that. I took a vacation day when you told me you had to appear despite the triplets, so I’m getting paid to be here with you. That’s a good thing to me. I’ll ask if you can go when they take a break.” Rosa leaned her head against Keily’s and they both sat quietly while the trial went on.

It was a simple enough case and should be done by the afternoon. But she wanted to go home, crawl into her bed, and watch Netflix until her eyes closed and the world faded away. Especially since she knew Logan would be on her as soon as he got the chance, to ask her about the babies.

She didn’t want to talk to him about them, she decided, as she rubbed at her belly with her free hand. She wanted to ignore him for the rest of her life. He’d left her, for good reason, and she lived with the shame and humiliation of it all. Talking to him now would just add to her misery.

He would accuse her of getting pregnant on purpose, of tying herself to him in the most underhanded way a woman could. She hated that thought and didn’t want him to feel obliged to come anywhere near her, or even remember that she existed. She hadn’t told him for that very reason. Logan had moved on with his life, hadn’t contacted her or spoken to her at all since he’d left that night.

Rosa told her he was busy in California and she hadn’t doubted that he was. The earthquake had destroyed his building, so it was hardly surprising that he stayed out there. But Keily suspected that it was also because of her that he stayed away. He hadn’t wanted to see her, be near her, and she couldn’t blame him for that.

Guilt ate at her as the minutes passed, guilt that she hadn’t taken better precautions, guilt that she’d been who she was for so long, guilt that she hadn’t recognized him when she first met him. Oh yeah, there was also the guilt over the fact that when she’d first ‘met’ him, she’d wanted to use him for sex and whatever she could get out of him.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” She whispered to Rosa suddenly, her voice tight and full of emotion.

“Want me to come with you?” Rosa turned, her eyebrows knitted with concern.

“No, stay here, I’ll be fine.” Keily slid to the edge of her seat and used the back of the bench in front of her to pull herself up. It wasn’t easy, but she managed with the help of Rosa’s hand at the small of her back.

When she finally made it to the bathroom, she inspected her image in the mirror above the sinks. The pastel yellow dress wasn’t a typical winter color, but that was one of the reasons she’d liked it so much when she found it in the consignment shop. It was a bright color that had made her smile. It suited her blonde hair and light eyes and made her look less washed out.

The pregnancy was taking a toll on her body and her health. How she’d managed to get pregnant with triplets she would never know. Multiples didn’t run in her family, as far as she knew. Fate must have decided she’d have all of her babies at once because she knew one thing for sure, after this pregnancy, she doubted she’d ever want to do it again. Even if Lisa told her that she would, as time passed. Lisa had never been pregnant with triplets, so what did she know?

Keily wiped at her eyeliner when she noticed some of it was smudged under her right eye, and put on more lipstick. Her bladder protested at having so much weight pressed against it and she waddled towards the first toilet. She sat there, almost at peace for a moment as she hid from the world outside the bathroom door. Logan couldn’t come in here and Joe wouldn’t bother if he knew what was good for him. She was safe from them both in here.

As she struggled to grab hold of her panties and pull them up, along with the support hose, she reminded herself that she was well on her way to a degree, she was supporting herself, and she’d changed over the last year and a half. She wasn’t the same woman that left Joe, though she didn’t regret that at all. That was probably her first step to becoming an actual human being with kindness and thoughtfulness in her heart.

“Why do they make these cubicles so fucking small?” Keily muttered as she tried to stand up without letting go of her underwear and hose. She had to turn against the cheaply painted white wall of the cubicle and push herself up because she was afraid the door wouldn’t hold if she put her weight against it. Not that the flimsy privacy wall was much better, but she wouldn’t have so far to fall if it collapsed under her weight.

She felt like an overinflated balloon, stretched and too big to be handled with anything but extreme care or it would pop. Tears stung at her eyes, humiliation washing over her again as she lost her grip on the hose. This really fucking sucked.

She allowed self-pity to wash over her for a moment before she lifted her head again and sighed. “There’s no use in crying, girl, get your panties up and stop being a baby.”

There was nobody else in the bathroom, she could talk to herself all she wanted to. She looked up at the ceiling while she got her emotions under control and saw plain tiles painted with the same cheap white paint as on the cubicle walls. The floor sported those utilitarian gray tiles that seemed to be in almost every government building she’d ever been in. For a moment, as she wiggled until the hose finally came up over her bump, she wondered if they’d started out white too and had dulled to gray over time.

“You okay in there?” Rosa called out as she walked into the bathroom.

Keily heard the door close and smiled. “Yeah, just being your average roly-poly, trying to get her pantyhose to stay up.”

“Need some help?” Rosa asked, always helpful.

“Nah, I’ve got it now,” Keily answered as she smoothed down her dress and opened the door. “It takes getting used to, being this big.”

“I can imagine,” Rosa said, even though her face said she couldn’t imagine how Keily was coping at all. “I think I’d go without the support hose and underwear, altogether, if I was you.”

“I would if the hose didn’t help ease some of the pain in my back.” Keily sighed and washed her hands. “As for panties, it’s just habit, isn’t it?”

“I guess,” Rosa answered and twisted her face around into a frown. “Logan’s outside.”

“I know,” Keily replied, not sure why Rosa was mentioning him again.

“No, I mean outside the bathroom. He’s waiting for you.” Rosa said, punctuating her statement with a nod of her head towards the door.

“Shit,” Keily muttered and dried her hands with the brown paper towels from the dispenser on the wall. “He’s figured it out then, I guess.”

“Well, he would be kind of stupid if he hadn’t figured it out.” Rosa laughed a little. “I mean, you look like you’re about to give birth, so it has to be his, right?”

“I hadn’t thought about that. He can’t know it’s triplets though.” Keily sank back against the wall, staring at her friend with helplessness. “What do I say?”

“Just tell him you’re doing fine and don’t need him. Or tell him that you’re not fine, that you need help, they’re his babies too and he should be here for them. Tell him what you think best, Keily. That’s what you do.”

Keily frowned and nodded. Rosa didn’t know the whole story, so she didn’t know Logan wasn’t just a dick that had left her at the worst possible moment. She didn’t know that Keily felt that she’d got exactly what she deserved, she just knew her friend was hurt and alone when she shouldn’t be. Keily put a hand on Rosa’s arm and smiled over at her. “Thanks. I’ll figure it out, I guess.”

“I hope so, I hate seeing you so torn up over it. I’d kick him if I could.” Rosa even growled a little there at the end.

“It’s not all his fault, Rosa.” Keily reminded the other woman.

“I know, you keep telling me that, but I can’t help how I feel.”

“I know.” Keily smiled to reassure her friend and nodded at the door. “You go on ahead, I’ll be in when I’ve finished this little confrontation with Logan.”

“Alright but promise me you’ll just walk away and come sit with me if he’s too much of a dick to you.” Rosa’s eyes pleaded with Keily, so she nodded again.

“I will, promise.”

Rosa walked out at last and Keily took one last breath, straightened her spine as much as she could with her babies bowing her back, and tried to take a step. Fear made that impossible. Not fear of physical harm, but fear of crying in front of him, or that she’d make a fool of herself in some other way.

Yeah, she’d approached her relationship with Logan coldly in the beginning but somewhere along the way, she’d fallen in love with the broody asshole that made her smile. He’d made her cry too, she knew that, but he’d made her laugh, feel secure, cared about, and cared for. Then he left her.

That hurt, it stung worse than that time she’d gotten into a wasp nest when she was a kid, but there wasn’t anything she could do to make any of it better. She’d deserved what he did to her and she couldn’t change that. The only reason he was out there now, waiting to confront her, was because she was so obviously pregnant.

She hadn’t thought about the fact that she’d have to go to court when he’d first left her. She’d hidden from him when Rosa let her know he was in town, but then she got the subpoena and knew he’d find out she was pregnant. There was no denying it when she was this big. She’d tried to get out of coming, but the prosecuting attorney’s office wouldn’t hear of it.

The moment she’d dreaded was now at hand and she had to face it.

Finally, her right foot moved, and then her left. She plastered a blank look on her face and opened the door.

“Keily.” Logan started, but then stopped.

“Logan,” Keily replied, her eyes open and staring right at him.

He looked so good, the same man she’d curled into so many times for comfort and love, even if they’d never said those words. He was worried, she could see that in the tension at the corners of his mouth and eyes, but still, he was just so…handsome.

“Is it mine?” He asked, interrupting her thoughts.

“Pardon?” She asked, her brows knit in confusion. Was what his? She’d been too lost in looking at him to comprehend what he’d asked.

“The baby.” He answered with a slight nod to her stomach.

“Baby?” She asked in surprise. Oh, right, he didn’t know. “Oh, the babies. There’s three of them.”

“Three?” His eyebrows shot up. He leaned back a little as if to get away from her.

That stung, but she hid it behind another blank look.

“Yes, three. Our triplets.”

“Ours?” Logan’s face went slack and he stared back at her. “Ours.”

“Ours.” Keily agreed, her heart thumping too fast in her chest, stealing her breath away for a moment. This wasn’t going well at all, but then she hadn’t really expected it to.

“I think we need to talk then.” Logan pulled his lips in, his brows drawn together again. “After court. I’ll take you to dinner or whatever you want.”

“Alright.” What else could she do but agree?

“I’ll see you then.” He said before he turned and walked away.

Okay, no tears, no embarrassment, just an agreement to meet with him after court was over for the day. Good. That went better than she’d expected it to, she thought, as relief flooded through her. Now she just had to get through the conversation he wanted to have later.