Chapter 11

Trina texted with Char before she went to sleep. They both worried for Meri. When she woke, she watered Mrs. Lui's plants and waited to hear Meri moving around then Trina knocked on the wall. Meri knocked back.

Going next door, Trina went inside and hugged her tired looking cousin. "Morning, sis. Did he call?" When Meri didn't answer, Trina asked, "Oh, hon... So, what now?"

Meri picked up the temporary marriage certificate and crumpled it. She gritted her teeth as she blinked rapidly. "I get an annulment if he refuses to come back."

"Want me to hang out with you today?"

"Don't you want to go home and seen Houston?" Meri tried to focus on something besides her misery. "When does he get back?"

"We broke up," Trina revealed honestly, "He's moving to New York with his side-hoe because she is probably failing out of nursing school this semester."

"You don't seem that upset." Meri said as she started cutting laminated dough into croissants and rolling them with chocolate filling.

Trina shrugged, "I am but I'm not. He was cheating on me with Erica."

"She's the one you were tutoring, right?" Meri thought she remembered Trina complaining about her fellow nursing student as she put breakfast in to bake.

"She introduced us but, honestly I feel like I was just his plan B. He was always mad that I was too tired to go out during the semester or after working a shift. He thought it was stupid that I would work for free and have to wait tables because he didn't understand how clinicals worked," Trina talked randomly about all the little things that went wrong with her latest relationship, ending with, "I hope they get to New York and get everything they dream and deserve."

They had eaten all the croissants and drank all the coffee. It was a Monday, so they binged a show and tried not to think about the men in their lives. The next day, Trina worked but Meri didn't. Meri became more and more stressed with every day Colt didn't call. She would only let herself send two text messages a day. She wasn't going to chase him. She wasn't like the damsels in the western romances she loved so much and she began to feel like she was a fool for thinking he would ride off into the sunset with her.

A week after Colt left, Cody called to check on Meredith to check on her, then Cordell called. Her father-in-law listened as she explained her side and about how she had worked for years for the chance to get the promotion to head pastry chef and that I was completing my masters. Cordell said he understood about finishing school, but asked that I leave a voice mail or text message for Colt every night and give their marriage a chance. He revealed he had never seen Colt in love with anyone until Meri, and for begged her not to give up on his son yet. So, she texted daily and once a week, she called with the usual, "How's your day, today I baked this or that. Cody said you rode well, blah blah blah." But she never got a text back and not one phone call. She wondered if this was how Layne felt when Trina's dad dumped her. Failing miserably to be strong and resilient like the heroines of her novels, Meri wondered how she could fall so in love in only two weeks.

~~~

Meri lost the ability to eat without throwing up. Two months later, when birth control pills came in from the mail-order pharmacy, the new generic brand made it worse, so she quit taking them all together. Meri couldn't stand vomiting and figured there was no point in taking them until she knew if Colt was going to come back. She had only stayed on them after Claude because they had never bothered her.

~~~~

After fainting during a shift, Janine drove Meri to the hospital. It was midnight before she was seen and the answer to her months of misery was so simple she didn't know how she missed it.

"But... but I was on the pill until two months ago, and I haven't had sex since before Christmas," Meri stammered. "How could I be pregnant?"

"And you never missed a dose?"

Meri shook her head, adding, "And I wasn't on antibiotics either. I know some of those mess up birth control."

The nurse looked concerned. "Which kind were you on?" Taking the name, she left.

A doctor came in, looked at Meri's IV then sat down. "Ms. Dubois, there seems to have been a problem with your birth control and the company that made them is under investigation by the FDA. The nurse is printing out the information. If you got pregnant, when you say you think you did, then it is almost too late for you to have an abortion. Are you certain you didn't conceive later? I need to verify the date in case you aren't ready to have this pregnancy, and we need to schedule you for a procedure as soon as possible."

She realized he was willing to give her an opportunity to take a little more time, but she couldn't have an abortion. "No... I mean yes. It's fine. I'll keep it."

He patted her hand. "Alright, but I am sending you down to have an ultrasound. The fact you were taking birth control for the entire first trimester is a little worrying, but the investigation has to do with improper and lower than effective dosing, so I am hoping your baby will be fine."

After the ultrasound, Meri took the picture home. The doctor put her on a strict diet and scheduled her for check-ups. Part of the investigation into the pharmaceutical company meant they had to pay for all hospital costs of pregnancies caused by the failure of their pills.

As soon as it was 8 AM, Meri sent copies of the images to her sister and cousin in a group text.

Guess who is going to be an Auntie? Congrats! Love you, sissies!

Within twenty seconds of Meri hitting SEND, Trina beat Charlene calling. Her sister sent grumpy texts while her cousin cheered. Meri set up a facetime call to both and explained about the birth control fiasco, then admitted, "I still haven't heard from Colt, but his brother texted me last week."

"I'm so sorry, Meri," Trina regretted her pain.

"I am not. Fuk him. Heck, I was going to surprise you, but now... I am getting transferred back stateside. I helped the Pearl Harbor NCIS with a case so I get to pick where my next duty station is. I am unpacking in San Diego today, and I can be in Vegas tomorrow. I have ten days' leave." Charlene's voice sounded hard. The tone she had when she was about to lose her temper and ruin someone's world. "I will take the papers to him in Texas and make him sign them."

"Char, no, don't," Meri refused her.

"Meri, he left after two weeks, four months ago, and you didn't file for an annulment or divorce," Char sounded like she was trying not to yell at her. "It's time to let go."

"Char, stop!" Trina snapped, then her voice softened, "Meri, have you considered the fact that he may not be coming back?"

"I have... I'll call him," Meri promised meekly with her head down. "I have to go to the grocery, the doctor put me on a special diet." It was obvious she was trying to get off the call.

"Today! Say it," Char insisted, pointing at the screen.

"I'll call him today and ask him if he is coming back or wants a divorce," acquiescing, Meri sounded defeated. Her shoulders slumped.

"And tell him about the baby," Charlene demanded.

"I don't want him to feel obligated," Meri argued, as she wiped her tears away.

"Meri, he has the right to know you are expecting, even if the two of you aren't together. Just tell him, you don't want or need his money. We've got this," Trina encouraged.

"Do it now and call me back," Charlene repeated her demand.

"Char, stop," scolding, Trina shook her head, then with her soft voice she encouraged, "Call him when you get off from talking to us, and Char will see you tomorrow. I can be there for the weekend, but I have classes and clinicals for seven more weeks, then state boards. You need to take care of yourself, Meri. Take prenatals, destress, and unfortunately cut back on your bean juice addiction."

"I haven't had more than one cappuccino a day for the last two months. My stomach won't handle them," Meri confessed then insisted, "Look, neither of you needs to come. I have a week off work, doctor's orders, and I am just going to rest. I love you both but you're busy, Trina," Meri tried to sound stern. "And, Char, get settled then come visit." She was relieved when they agreed.

Meri cleaned her loft and ordered groceries for pick up. She sanitized her refrigerator and scrubbed the oven. She did everything she could to delay her call until dinnertime so she could get off the phone quickly and failed, so she called Colt's phone, hoping for his voicemail.

A laughing young woman answered, "Hello?"

Meri could hear the sound of horses and cattle, but she couldn't make a sound come out of her throat. All the times she texted, he ignored them. The once weekly she called, he always sent her calls straight to voicemail until now.

"Helloooo?" The girlish voice almost sang.

"Um, is Colt there?′

"Hey Colton... Some floozy on your phone again. I told you I won't share you with floozies."

Meri heard his laughing voice say back, "I'm yours alone, darlin'."

"Tell him the divorce papers are in the mail," Meri snarled, then she hung up on their laughter.

Tears poured from her eyes as heaving, angry sobs shook her body. Her cowboy had ridden off into the sunset with someone else. Pulling the divorce paper packet out of her desk drawer, Meri signed the papers, folded them up, and stuffed them in an envelope with his mother's ring folded between the pages with a nasty note.

"Colton,

I hope you and your floozy are very happy. Here is your mother's ring to give her. Sign the papers and submit them in the addressed envelope to the Las Vegas Court. I don't want anything from you, and you obviously don't want anything from me.

Meredith Dubois"

She googled then scribbled the address of the Lazy K Ranch with the postscript, 'To the attention of Colton King'. If Colt had wanted them to work things out like his father claimed, he should have taken a moment to call her back instead of pretending she didn't exist. In a fit of pique, she deleted all the cowboy romances off her e-reading app.

~~~

Cody King was on the chute as they loaded the yearlings into a cattle hauler. Colt was sitting on Sinner Sam moving the yearling calves out of the roundup pen and up the chute. He yawned. His sleep routine had been way off lately. All he seemed to dream about was a pair of hazel eyes with honey and chestnut hair. The last time he saw her, she was heading to her job as a restaurant baker. She refused to come with him because her job was more important than him, their marriage, or even her own safety. His Dad said he needed to call her and try to work things out. Cody gave him no end of grief for letting her slip through his fingers. She texted every night, but he couldn't talk his wounded pride into letting him call back. He didn't know what to say. Her saying she didn't need him hurt. Sinner Sam's cookie lady was one of the best women he had ever met, and he had sulked away from her like a spoiled brat. Rationally, he knew he was wrong to demand she just quit her job and come with him.

"Colt... Colt!" Leighanne was yelling across the ring at him. He looked over and she waved his phone. He gestured for her to answer it, so she did.

"Hey Colton... Some floozy on your phone again. I told you I won't share you with floozies."Leighanne laughed. Her laughter was contagious and he chuckled.

'Floozies? Where does she get these words?' He wondered. "I'm yours alone, darlin'," he promised his little sister, before he held the phone up to his ear. "Hello? Hello?"

He heard nothing except the livestock around him then the call dropped. His ID said it was Meredith, but she never texted or called him this early in the evening. He sighed, thinking maybe she pocket dialed him. The cell service on this part of the ranch only existed because of a new cell tower on a hill over the interstate. He held the phone back to his baby sister, but she lost her balance. He dropped the phone to grab her hand so she wouldn't tumble into the temporary corral full of range cattle. They watched as Sinner Sam put his giant hoof right in the middle of it.

Leighanne looked at Colt wide-eyed, hand over her mouth before she burst out, "Omigawd, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright. That's why I got insurance on it." Stepping down from the lead-footed beast, he picked up the shattered plastic from the dirt. It couldn't be salvaged, but the memory card looked intact, so he tucked it in his shirt pocket. He didn't want to lose the only pictures he had of his wife.

Two weeks later, Meredith hadn't called or texted again, then a certified letter arrived which broke his heart. Meredith sent him divorce papers and his mother's ring with a snarky note to give the ring to his new floosy. He started calling her, but her phone always went to voice mail. Cody said he just got an auto response from her text messages too. Colt tried to call her job and was told she didn't work there. He didn't know the address of where she lived beyond driving there. He packed his truck and headed for Las Vegas. It was time for Meredith and him to settle things and for her to come home with him to the Texas panhandle.