Bird Song

Chapter 4

A/N Thank you for reading! Love it or hate it, let me know what you think. This chapter includes probably my favorite part of Kestrel's back story, and I hope that you enjoy it. Dedicated to Claire for her support, click the link and check out her work!

Typical of a Monday morning, I didn't want to get up. I woke before my alarm as usual, but not because I was about to throw up. My stomach was blessedly calm this morning, and I was afraid that any movement would change that. The quiet buzz of my cell phone finally got me moving. I was probably the only person in town aside from Bernie Walker who actually got cell reception, because I was on the roof, and his mansion at the top of a huge hill.

The screen showed Adrianna Dean. I smiled, one of the reasons I had fallen so hard for Hunter was his mom. A recovered alcoholic who was obsessed with Tinkerbell, she ran the book/antique store, Lost Things. She was the sweetest woman I'd ever met, and she called me like clockwork every weekday morning to make sure I was up.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning sweetheart. How are you and my grand-baby this morning.”

“Oh you know how it is. I don't think this little bugger approves of the food I'm giving him, but by now I've almost gotten used to it.”

“It'll pass darlin'. You take care of yourself, and I'll see you at the shop when you're ready.”

“Okay, I'll see you soon. Bye.” I tucked my phone back into the velour drawstring purse that I had made myself in a burst of creativity a few years back.

There was still thirty minutes before I needed to leave; plenty of time to take a shower. Taking quick showers is something that sticks with you when you grow up poor. Marsha took care of the bills, so I could probably allow myself the luxury of a long, hot shower every once in a while, but I didn't. She never said anything to us, but I knew the diner was barely scraping in a profit as it was, and I didn't want to put any undue financial stress on her.

At three and a half months (that was my guess, Doc Pepper didn't have a sonogram machine and I couldn't afford to go almost three hundred miles just to get an ultrasound) I wasn't showing yet, but my jeans were getting tighter in the thighs, and harder to button every day. I would have to ask Adrianna to use her dial-up to order some of those pants with the stretchy waist. If I gave her cash, she let me use her credit card to get things online.

Before I found out about the baby, I'd been saving up to get the hell out of dodge with Hunter, and I saved up almost two grand. When he took off though, the money disappeared with him. Just last week I finally saved enough back up to get a bassinet. Adrianna tried to convince me to let her buy it, but it's something I need to do for myself. Another two weeks and it should arrive at the store.

It takes about two minutes to walk from my apartment to Adrianna's store, but lately I'd been taking a longer route. Doc told me exercise is good for me and the baby. The walks were doing me good in other ways too, like allowing me to see that Linnesville was beautiful in its own way. I took a deep breath of the crisp fall air and looked around.

Growing up, I wanted nothing more than to get out of this town, but now, now that I was having a child of my own, there was nowhere else I'd rather be. I can see my little girl drawing with chalk between The Corner Store and The Hardware Store. Or maybe a little boy, making my heart race as he clambers along the stone wall in front of the church. Whichever this baby turned out to be, I would love them with my whole heart, and maybe, just maybe we could make my mom truly smile again.

I had been helping Adrianna out at Lost Things since she opened the doors five years ago. Before Adrianna took the place on, it belonged to her uncle, George Packett. Back then, the sign just read “Books / Antiques”. I would go into the store after school and curl up in the corner with a book. Since I wasn't old enough to escape Linnesville for real, I found my escape in books. George would let me stay as long as I wanted, even sat and just talked with me sometimes. Every day before I left, he gave me a Werther's candy; it became a sort of challenge for me to make the sweet last the whole walk home.