Page 57 of Justified Lies

Gabe sat in disbelief looking between Megan and her attorney. Clearing his throat, the balding lawyer spoke.

“So, unless you are willing to allow me to move on to the grandparents, the child will be placed in the care of the Minister of Social Services. Further, even without your permission, the Province will look to family for guardianship, except for extreme extenuating circumstances.”

“Hold on.Jesus.” Gabe swore, rubbing the five o-clock shadow that was on day three.

It wasn’t every day your world was rocked like his had just been. He was having trouble coming up with words. The small attorney’s leg shook, distracting Gabe. The man was fidgety, as if he would prefer to be anywhere except there. Gabe couldn’t blame him.

Spending this sunny morning inside a women’s correctional institution hadn’t been his first choice either. But when he had received a call saying he was needed for an urgent meeting concerning Megan, he didn’t hesitate to make the two-hour drive. But this was all too much. Gabe needed time to think, time to plan.

“When do I need to decide by?” Gabe asked, looking directly at the attorney.

The man wore a drab, gray suit with an off-white shirt and red tie. He appeared tired and bored, like a parody of a real attorney. There was no way Gabe could look at the woman to his right. He knew what he would find written all over her face. It was the same thing he always saw these days—desperation, shame, and fear.

Megan’s once pretty features were marred, thanks to thedrug habit that helped land her here. Regardless, Gabe couldn’t say no to her—he had already come to terms with that. But even he couldn’t see a way to handle this one.

“Well, I would say six months,” the attorney said slyly.

Gabe leveled him with a glare, astonished that the man could find humor in this situation.

Visibly collecting himself, the lawyer went on. “When the baby is born, that is when you have to decide.”

“Shit, season will just be ending. What the hell am I going to do with a baby once football starts up again? I’m gone all day. I travel every other week!”

Now Gabe did turn to look at Megan who had been silent thus far.

“Why didn’t you say anything until it was too late to do something about it?” he spat out bitterly.

She looked down at the beige table they sat around, the yellow lighting accentuating the shame displayed on her face.

“I didn’t know until I got locked up. We found out when I had my physical. Gabe, I swear, if there were any other option…”

“Who is the father?”

“I … I don’t. I’m not positive, but…”

Gabe cut her off, weary of the constant excuses.

“Seven years,” Gabe sighed harshly before continuing. “And when you get out, then what? Am I supposed to sit around waiting for you to swoop back in?”

“No!”

Megan said the word too quickly, an absoluteness in her voice.

“I don’t want this baby,” she said gripping her abdomen. Nothing about the act was nurturing or maternal. Gabe and the lawyer both stared at her in shock.

“I’ll never want it,” she finished in a whisper.

Gabe’s stomach twisted. He was disgusted. In part, due to the disappointment he felt in the woman beside him, but a larger part was disappointment in himself. When he was seventeen, he had been so impatient to get out of their small town in rural Saskatchewan, with the same shitty people he had known since birth.

When he first fled town like a bat out of hell, he hadn’t stopped to think about how his absence would affect anyone except himself. He was selfish and now he was paying the price. Karma had finally come knocking. Knowing that there really wasn’t a choice to be made here, Gabe shook his head. Turning his back to Megan, he spoke to her lawyer.

“No need to wait. I’ll take the baby.”

****

Regina, Saskatchewan

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