“I’m not nauseated,” she said, his words spinning in her head, convincing her that hewasthe culprit. “Where are my pills, you big jerk?”
Shock and hurt merged in Christopher’s expression. “I ain’t take your pills.”
She ignored him. “Where are they?”
“I ain’t took those motherfuckers,” he snarled. “But you sure the fuck diggin’ your goddamn heels in about not wantin’ another baby.”
“I told you I changed my mind, which I have every right to do. It was traumatizing to you and our kids. That was selfish of me.”
“No, what the fuck’s selfish is you ain’t wantin’ to even think aboutmyfeelins. I told you I want another kid.”
“That isn’t true. I always consideryourfeelings. Many times, above my own. You didn’twant me to have another baby, so I scheduled the surgery—”
“Withoutmyfuckin’ permission—”
“I’ll ignore that,” she said irritably, “before I get really angry.”
His eyes widened, and he stiffened.
“As I was saying, you told me to push the surgery back, so I did. Butyoudon’t carry the babies.Ido. I don’t want another baby right now. You can’t jerk my chains around according to your whims.”
“You mine,” he snarled. “You belong to me. I can do what the fuck I wanna.”
“In your dreams. My body, my choice. It’s the same thing you told me when you had the vasectomy.”
“A lotta fuckin’ good my dick snip did, but itain’tthe same thing.”
“I’m not debating this with you, Christopher. Just know if you took my pills, I’ll consider that abuse and manipulation. You have no reason to want me pregnant.”
“I didn’t take those fuckin’ motherfuckers, Megan. Go search my shit. You ain’t findin’ them cuz I ain’t took them. You probably put them somewhere and, since you ain’t ever liked pills, you fuckin’ forgot where and wanna blame me cuz you a forgetful lil’ motherfucker.”
It was possible, although she was loathe to admit that.
“I ain’t upset they lost though. You walkin’ the fuck away at a fuckin’ whim but you ain’ttakin’ Rebel nowhere ‘til you take a pregnancy test. Case fuckin’ closed.”
“Are you taking me hostage?” she bit out.
“Don’t fuckin’ tempt me.”
Meggie scowled, thinking of the full week she’d had planned. Tomorrow, she’d intended to finish buying the furniture for Jo’s room. Tuesday, she was going to stock it with clothes, diapers, wipes, and whatever else she could think of. In the wake of her friend’s death, she and Bunny planned to meet with the other old ladies to discuss their tribute to Gypsy. That was supposed to happen on Wednesday.
Meggie rubbed her eyes. She spoke to Gypsy at least three times a week, many times on three-way with Bunny. Sunday was one of the main days Meggie and Gypsy spoke, so today was harder than expected because she was gone, her life cut short without warning.
“Christopher, I love you. I adore you. Iworshipyou, but there are two things I’m not doing. Living the rest of my life paying for taking a break from the man you’d become and having you play with my reproductive system at your whims. If you took my pills, keep them. I’ve requested a new prescription.”
He pounded his fist on the table again. “I ain’t took your motherfuckin’ pills and I ain’t wantin’ you to pick up the new fuckin’ prescription.”
“Maybe you didn’t, but you aren’t stopping me from starting a new pack.”
“The fuck I ain’t. I ain’t tookthesemotherfuckers, but Ima takethosemotherfuckers, so fuck you.”
Anger pounded through Meggie, and she kicked Christopher, ignoring the sting to her toes.
“You in your fuckin’ bare feet. Your kick hurt you more than that motherfucker hurt me.”
Balling her hands into fists, she jumped to her feet and started for her husband, but Axel grabbed her wrist.
“Mom, stop!” he cried. “Stop, please.” His teary voice broke through her annoyance. She turned to him and put her arm around his scrawny shoulders. “If you think Dad abused you, you’ll leave.”
