Finding The Father

Chapter Twelve "The Truth"

"I have to piss." Abby announced when Nick and I caught up. The lights from the giant flashing CASINO sign created a red glow on half of her face.

"I do too." Owen jumped in with an uncomfortable look peeling at his face. Nick nodded in agreement.

"Do you guys know where the bathroom is?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as an Elvis impersonator flashed as smile at me as he walked by.

"There's probably one in the casino over there." Abby pointed over her shoulder to the sign that was now lighting each letter of the word one at a time starting from C and ending with O.

"You cannot walk into a casino with all that money on you." I told her and she glanced at the crumbled bills in her hand.

"I take offense to- '' She paused and thought. "You're probably right." I nodded and she handed me the money.

"Don't you have to go, too?" Owen asked and I shook my head.

"No, I'll just wait here for you guys."

"Are you sure? I don't know how comfortable I am leaving you here-" Nick started.

The psychic at the table a few feet from us, an older lady with white hair and a kind smile, butt in. "I can watch your girlfriend for you, dear. A pretty thing like her might need the protection of a scary old lady like me."

"See? I'll be fine, just go." I smiled at Nick and he returned with wavered one. He sighed and the three of them started making their way over to the casino.

"Have a seat, dear." The psychic motioned at the chair on the opposite end of her foldable table. There was a crystal ball sitting on the center of the table and a stack of cards in front.

"You don't actually have to babysit me. I'm a tough girl." I told her with a polite smile.

"That you are, I can sense it. But a promise is a promise." She gestured to the chair with both of her hands this time.

I shrugged my shoulders and put the money in the back pocket of my jeans. When I sat down, the psychic started shuffling her stack of cards.

"Oh, I don't want a reading. We don't have enough money."

"Nonsense," She waved me off and smiled, "This one is free." I raised my eyebrows at her at her complimentary offer. She pushed the crystal ball to the side of the table and spread the cards out into a half circle row. "Pick a card."

I studied the row before I pointed at one from the middle. "That one."

She pulled the card from the row and flipped it over on the table in front of me. It was an odd drawing of a sun with a face. Underneath it was a white horse being ridden by a person drawn in orange. The words read 'THE SUN .'.

"Ah, The Sun." The psychic smiled. "You're pregnant, aren't you?"

I looked up at her in bewilderment; I could feel my eyes growing wide. "I-" I glanced around to see if Nick and the others were coming back. "How did you know?"

"The cards, dear. They never lie." She grabbed my hands into her icy cold ones. I shivered. "You're not far along, maybe two months? I sense fear with this pregnancy. Fear for your well being-"

"Okay." I stopped her and pulled my hands back. "That's enough."

"You still have two more cards, dear." She drew her hands back and smiled a sweet but somehow dismal smile. "Pick another."

Cautiously, I point at a card towards the end of the right side of the row. She flipped it over and it showed a drawing of what looked like a river of water running through a valley. There were branches coming through from the left side of the card, each branch had individual leaves growing on it.

"Oh," Is all she said.

"What? What is it?"

She looked down at the card with furrowed eyebrows, her lips sat in a straight line. "The Eight of Wands reversed."