Chapter 22

Sheridan looked on in disgust as Gwen polished off her second mustard covered sardines with onion and dill pickles on rye sandwich.

"How can you eat like that?" She asked. "The smell alone is enough to make me seriously ill."

Gwen washed down the concoction with a cold glass of milk.

"It's very delicious." She countered. "Sometimes I add picante sauce for that extra zing."

"Okay enough about your abnormal eating habits." Sheridan interposed. "I have a weak stomach."

"Just you wait until you're pregnant." Gwen quipped. "Your cravings are going to be worst than mine." She predicted.

Sheridan shook her head in protest. "No way will you catch me porking out on chili flavored corn chips with ice cream."

"Doritos cool ranch and cookie dough ice cream hits the spot every time." Gwen smirked.

Sheridan playfully threw a pillow at her friend. "I swear my godchild is going to come out smelling like sardines and onions." She laughed.

Gwen thew back her head and laugh when suddenly she felt a light kick.

"OH!" She said surprisingly. She placed a hand over her abdomen. The baby kicked again. She looked at Sheridan, tears glistened her eyes.

"Wthat's the matter Gwen? Are you okay?" She asked anxiously. Gwen nodded and placed Sheridan's hand on her abdomen. Sheridan was so startled when the baby kicked that she jumped.

"The baby!" Gwen squealed. "She kicked!"

Sheridan laughed. "She's telling you not to feed her any more of those disgusting sandwiches." She teased.

Gwen began to cry. "Don't mind me, I cry at the drop of a hat these days." She sniffed. "Last night I was bawling my eyes out after watching one of those sappy Hallmarks commercials."

Sheridan giggled. "It's going to be okay Gwen." She reassured her.

"I know." She sniffed. "Sometimes when I think about being a mother I panic." She confessed. "What if I screw it up? I don't want my child hating me."

"Gwen, you're not alone." Sheridan said softly. "You have your parents and me."

"I know." She blew her nose and sighed. "Do you think I make a mistake by requesting full custody? Sometimes I feel like I did the wrong thing."

"Gwen don't second guess yourself. You did the right thing, You know that you will never forgive yourself if you didn't do everything in your power to protect your child from Theresa."

"Thanks for saying that, I feel so much better." She picked up her cell phone. "I have forty-three messages waiting for me. I bet they are from Ethan and Colyer."

"What are you going to do about Colyer?"

"Leave him alone." Gwen said. "I will not be a party to destroying another person's life." She said. "I had that happened to me and I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone else except for Theresa."

"Ethan told me he asked Theresa for an anulment."

"It will NEVER happened, hell will freeze over before Theresa let Ethan go."

"He threatened her with jail time."

"Like I said, hell will freeze over before Theresa let him go."
 

****
Colyer dialed Gwen's cell phone number for the umpteen time.

"Come on Gwen pick up." He said impatiently.

"Hello I'm not avialable right now...." Her voice mail began...

"Damn!" He yelled. He disconnected the call.

It has been almost two weeks since he last saw Gwen. He needed to talk to her before he leave town in another two weeks. He needed to know why she didn't bother to tell him about her pregnancy, plus he needed to tell her about his so-call engagement.

He tried catching her at home but was told tht she was out of town for a few days.

"At least she's not with that teat sucking pup." He mumbled to himself.

Just thinking about Ethan made his blood boiled. He wanted to kick his ass when he forbade him from riding in the ambulance with them.

"If that wimpy bastard was standing in front of me now I would..."

"Colyer! Hey man watch what you're doing?" The crew chief shouted.

Colyer snapped out of his daydream in the nick of time to save his fingers from being severed by the electric buzz saw, he quickly jerk his hand away.

"That was a close call." His boss said. "Do you need to take a five minute breather?"

Colyer shook his head. "I'm fine." He assured him. "I was being a moron, I promise to be more careful."

"Okay then." His boss replied. "I'll take your word for it."

Colyer knew that he had to keep himself busy in order to chase away any and ALL thoughts of Gwendolyn Hotchkiss from his mind.