WATER RIGHTS, CHAPTER 20, POOR LUKE???

 

          When Luke woke up the following morning, he was surprised to find himself fully dressed on the couch and his mouth felt as though the less appreciated portions of a barnyard had been deposited there while he slept. He groaned and sat up, putting up his hands to hold his head which hurt badly and suddenly felt ten times its normal size. Even his eyes throbbed and he wanted to keep them closed.

          What the hell, he asked himself and then the previous afternoon came crashing back into his memory. It made his headache worse and his biggest desire was to go back to sleep so he didn’t have to think about Hannah and another man or be aware of how his body felt…exactly like fucking shit. And, it was all her fault. The way he felt was all her fault.

          Luke struggled to his feet and headed for the bathroom. He groaned from the pain in his head and his back from sleeping on the couch, but his bladder was full. He needed to piss something terrific. Once he’d done that, he swallowed a few aspirins with a couple of handfuls of water from the sink. Then he stripped off his clothes and got into the shower. He let the hot water pour over his head and shoulders. It helped remove some of his discomfort. Finished, he turned the knob to cold and stood there until he got the shivers. Dry and in clean clothes, he had to admit he felt better, not terrific, but better.

          He headed for the café he usually patronized for breakfast. His lunches at the ranch always left him completely full, so he rarely ate dinner. Of course, everyone in the café, hell the entire town for that matter, knew who he was and that he was Stevie’s father. One older waitress who’d maybe read one too many romance novels and thought she was clever and cute always had a zinger or two of a question. Luke hoped he could avoid the tables she served this morning. His luck was as crappy as it had been the day before.

          Kimmie was what her badge said even though her days of being a Kimmie were long past. As soon as he sat down, paper in hand, she approached with the coffee pot. “Well, lookee who’s here for breakfast. When you going to make Hannah an honest woman and eat breakfast at her table?” She laughed and nudged his shoulder with her free hand. “Stevie know who you are yet?”

          “Look, Kimmeeeee, you may think you’re funny, but I don’t think so at all. If you wouldn’t mind, a simple good morning or how are you would be way more welcome than all the comments you have to offer about Hannah and Stevie. I’d actually like it if you just shut totally up about those two. Alright? Alright. Great. I’ll have my usual.”

          “Well, I never….” Kimmie began, to which Luke responded, “Yeah, I’ll just bet you never. Thank you, Kimmeeeee, that will be all for now.”

          Luke turned his attention to the paper and read it while he ate his breakfast and drank about four cups of coffee. Kimmie didn’t attempt another conversation, but made him know she was unhappy, slamming the plates on the table, sloshing coffee in his cup and smacking his bill down. For the first time, when he departed, he left a single dollar as a tip instead of the usual five. Fuck her too, he thought as he climbed into his truck.

          Ordinarily he would head for the ranch and Stevie, but this morning, he turned his truck in the other direction and headed for the larger town an hour or so away. He told himself he didn’t need to see Stevie, that there was plenty he could find to do without spending all his time at the ranch. Hell, maybe he should gather up his stuff and find a place in the next town. Just leave here and never return. That would serve Hannah right. Let her bring another bastard into the world. He wondered if the town would be as forgiving this time as they were the last. Then he realized he was referring to his own child as a bastard as well and it almost made him cry.

          Once Luke arrived in the larger town, he wondered what he was going to do with himself. He didn’t really know anyone and the various choices of entertainment didn’t appeal. He didn’t want to see a movie. He didn’t want to visit the little museum. He wasn’t hungry for lunch. He didn’t feel like drinking, but that seemed about the only option. Maybe he’d just order a beer and watch whatever football game was on the bar TV.

          Luke managed to make himself a couple of friends by buying a round of drinks for the few people in the Rocky Saloon. Before he knew it, he was well on his way to being drunk and feeling very sorry for himself.

“Hey, you, what’s your name? Tim, am I right?” Luke asked the old guy who’d moved to sit on the next barstool.

“Yep, that’s me, Tim Farley,” he responded.

“Well, Tim, I got me a problem I could use some help with and you look to be old enough to maybe give me some advice. What do you say, pal?”

While Tim was thinking it over, Luke ordered a couple more boilermakers. They were tasting mighty fine he thought.

“Well, depends on what kinda advice yur lookin’ fer.” Tim responded.

Luke took a big swallow of his fresh drink. “Tim, I found the woman of my dreams a couple years ago. I had to leave for a while, well, a couple years really.”

“She married when ya got back?”

“No, she isn’t married, but she’s the mother of my child. Now, seems like she got herself pregnant while I was gone and wants me to be the father to some other man’s git.  Now, does that seem fair? I ask you; would you father someone else’s kid?”

“Here’s what I say,” Time breathed his bad, beer and whiskey tainted breath into Luke’s face. “What I say is she’s a whore. She shouldnta gone behin’ yur back and got herself in trouble. I say it’s her problem, not yours. Why you wanna have anythin’ to do with a whore like that anyway?”

When Luke heard Tim refer to Hannah as a whore, his hand clenched so hard, he almost broke his glass. It was all he could do to keep from turning and smacking Tim into the next county. Hannah was no whore. Tim had no call to say that and if anyone was gonna say Hannah was a whore, it was him.

“Tim, don’t be calling my woman a whore. She’s not a whore and if you say it again, I’m gonna beat the absolute shit out of you.”

“Well, fuck, man, you asked my advice. It’s one thing to visit a whore, but sounded like you were thinkin’ somethin’ more long term, like marriage.”

“Yeah, well, maybe.”

“You gonna be able to trust her if you have to go away again? How you gonna feel ever time you look at the secon’ kid? You gonna be able to love it even if’n it ain’t yurn?”

“Would you Tim? Would you be able to feel the same way about it as you’d feel about your own kid?”

“Hell no. Ever time I saw it, I’d be reminded another man had been feastin’ offa my plate. I would’n like it one bit.”

At that point, the favored football team scored a touchdown and their talk was interrupted. That was okay with Luke. He didn’t like what Tim had been saying even though Tim said the very things Luke had been thinking off and on since Hannah had told him she was pregnant.

At some point, Luke moved to a booth and at closing time, the saloon keeper had to wake him up to throw him out. Of course, it was early morning, his truck was frozen and it took some time to warm it up and thaw the windows. As he drove carefully around the town because he stank of booze, he found there didn’t seem to be any place open anywhere. Finally, he found the bus station which was open. Luke figured he could hang out there until he sobered up enough to drive back to his place. Maybe there’d even be some food available to soak up some of the alcohol.

Inside, it was quiet and warm, but the only food and drink available was in the various machines lined up against the wall. Luke found a few crumpled dollar bills in his pocket and wandered back and forth until he decided on a cup of automatic coffee and some Grandma’s oatmeal cookies. Didn’t really sound appetizing, but he needed to put something in his belly.

Back at the ranch, Hannah wasn’t getting much sleep either. The day had been horrible. She’d never seen Stevie act the way he’d acted today. When it finally became clear Luke wasn’t going to show up and she couldn’t say why, Stevie threw himself on the dining room floor and proceeded to have the first ever tantrum she’d seen since his birth. She was ashamed and aghast at his actions as were the staff members who witnessed his total meltdown.

Stevie had barely eaten lunch he’d been watching so hard for Luke. And, when Hannah pulled him up off the floor into her arms and started for the house and naptime, her son struggled, flailing his arms, kicking his legs until one of the young male staff members had stepped in and scooped him from her arms. Thrown over his shoulders, Stevie was hauled to his room, Hannah right behind. She thanked the young man, shut the door and turned to Stevie who was once again on the floor kicking and screaming.

“I won’t take a nap. I want Luke. Luke naps with me. I don’t want you, mom, I want Luke. Go away. I hate you.”

That pretty much did it. Hannah grabbed Stevie, yanked him up into her arms and got them both on the bed. She put her legs over his, wrapped his arms between them and just held on.

“Okay, Stevie, that’s enough. Calm down. Just calm down, okay. Mommy’s right here. Mommy will take care of you. It will be okay, Stevie, promise.”

It took a bit, but eventually, Stevie stopped crying and his body became limp. Periodically, his little chest rose and fell with the after crying hiccoughs. Hannah slowly released the tight hold she had on Stevie. He didn’t want her to let go though because in his sleep, he tried to nestle even closer. Hannah made herself comfortable, pulled a blanket over them and tried to relax.

Relaxing was almost impossible though because she was so angry herself. She wouldn’t have minded laying on the floor, kicking and screaming and carrying on her own self. She also wouldn’t have minded if Luke showed up so she could kick his ass into the next state. What a mistake she’d made, and Lord, how many mistakes made up her life now? She should never have allowed Luke access to Stevie even if he was his father. Luke never vowed to stay even though he kept after her to be friendlier and to tell Stevie Luke was his father. She was glad now that she’d held firm on that. Imagine how the poor kid would be feeling if he’d known Luke was his daddy and not just a man who seemed to like to spend time with him.

Hannah knew one thing for absolutely positively sure. If, or when, Luke came back, he wasn’t going to be welcomed with anyone’s opened arms, including Stevie’s. She carefully eased out of the bed, made sure Stevie was safe and covered. Back in her own kitchen, she used her radio to ask Jo, Dave, Dale, and Anita to come to her there. She asked they do it quietly so Stevie wouldn’t wake. When they’d all arrived and sat down at the table, Hannah began.

“When we’re done here, I want the gate by the highway closed and locked. Anita, you can put up the sign asking people to buzz for entry.” Hannah took a deep breath and continued, “I do not want Luke to return to the ranch, not even for a minute. You all saw how Stevie reacted this morning when Luke didn’t show up. I made a huge mistake letting Luke have such easy access.”

Hannah took a sip from her water glass. “Now, I’ll tell you what happened yesterday to cause Luke to disappear, at least for today and maybe forever. The truth of the matter is I’m about two months pregnant.”

Eyebrows were raised, her friends looked at each other and Anita was bold enough to say, “I don’t see how that’s possible unless it’s the second coming.  You haven’t been on a real date since you had Stevie.”

“Yeah, well, it was no angel who made me pregnant. I won’t go into any details because you don’t need them. Let’s just say I had a lot to drink, was totally unsupervised and made the mistake of responding to compliments, soft touches, and the idea I was still attractive. All it takes is one time and that was it, one very forgettable and uncomfortable time.

“Yesterday I decided I needed to be honest with Luke, especially since I love him so much. The way he’s been with Stevie, I thought perhaps he had a big enough heart to take on a child that wasn’t his. I was wrong. Luke’s reaction and words were definitely not what I wanted to hear. He was actually rather nasty in some ways. In any case, I hoped it wouldn’t change his relationship with Stevie, but as we can all tell from his absence, that isn’t the case.”

“Well, I find that real disappointin’,” Joe offered. “We were all real pleased he was back and trying so hard to win you back. Maybe Luke just needs some time to think.”

“Yeah,” Dave added. “I bet he’ll be back in the morning apologizing all over the place and asking forgiveness.”

“And if he’s not,” Dale said, “I’ll just put something in his food to make him real sorry.”

“Thank you, gentlemen and Anita. I appreciate your support, but once I got Stevie settled in for his nap, I decided I cannot have another day like this one with him. So, Luke is persona non grata from here on out. Folks may look at me and talk about me behind my back once I start showing, but I had Stevie and I can have this one on my own as well. Y’all are part of my big family. I know you may be disappointed in me, but I really didn’t set out to have sex with an almost complete stranger. My only excuses are that I was so lonely, so hungry for a bit of kindness, flirting, a little bit of skin-to-skin time. That wasn’t exactly what I got, but there is a new life as a result.”

“And I bet I know just who it was that took advantage,” Anita said quietly.

“Yes, you may or may not know and it’s not important. I won’t be seeing that person ever again. I also have no intention of sharing this news with him. Just as Stevie is mine, and all of ours, this Little Mite will become a new member of our family and we’ll love him or her just as we do Stevie.

“And, finally, feel free to share my news with other staff members, especially when it comes to Luke being unwelcome here. I did this once before and I can do it again, especially with everyone’s love and support. I also hope y’all know how much I love and appreciate each and every one.”

As her staff got up to leave, Hannah got up as well. Hugs were exchanged and words murmured before they went out the door. Hannah watched through the window as they went down toward the dining hall. Anita soon reappeared, hopped into one of the little electric carts and headed for the highway. When she returned, the sign she’d placed in the cart was gone and Hannah knew Luke would now not have any access.

She turned away from the window, rubbed her flat belly and said, “Sure hope your big brother isn’t as upset tomorrow as he was today. Maybe if I tell him about you, my second Little Mite, he’ll be so excited and happy about a sibling, he’ll not feel Luke’s absence quite so much.

Hannah beat her pillow into a new shape and put her head back on it. She told herself to stop thinking about her day, Stevie and Luke, and concentrate on getting some sleep. She'd need to be at her best should Luke show up tomorrow, well, it was really today now wasn't it.