Page 5 of How is This My Life? (Shorts)

“You need to text her, telling her you do not wish to have further contact with her about your ex, and that you would like to cease all forms of communications. If she doesn’t stop, I’ll send out a formal cease and desist letter.

As for the child’s father, I could draft something saying that when the baby is born, he will sign a parental rights termination paper.

He’ll need to sign that and establish paternity before we can take him to court and legally terminate his rights.

Have you told him? About the baby?” I shook my head.

“I wanted to talk to you first. To know what my options were, and to protect myself.” I was wringing my hands nervously in my lap, just wanting to be done with this super sticky situation.

“We could call him and let him know we’re recording the conversation.

We would let him know you’re here with me discussing options to protect yourself and the baby, and then go from there.

Sound good?” I nodded, taking a deep breath, pulling my phone out to call.

It just kept ringing, but there was no answer. Of course.

“What’s the number? I’ll call from the office line.

” I handed her my phone so she could just see the contact number.

I watched as she punched in the numbers and put it on speaker phone.

She hit record on her cellphone as it rang and rang before a very groggy, confused ‘ Hello ?’ came from the other end of the line.

“Hello, is this Mr. Trevor Stoodermyer?” She sounded all business, fierce. Fiercer than I probably would have sounded trying to talk to him about this.

“Yes?” He sounded like he just woke up.

“Good morning. This is attorney Taylor Cunningham, family law. How are you today?”

“Family law? I’m fine? What’s this about?” He was quickly sounding more and more alert.

“First, I want to let you know this call is being recorded and that I’m calling on behalf of Elise Adams, your ex-girlfriend,” she motioned for me to talk now. I stood up and leaned over the receiver of her office line.

“Trevor. I’m pregnant. It’s yours. We need to establish paternity so—”

“Stop,” he sounded annoyed as all get out when he interrupted me, “You’re what ?

! I don’t want a fucking baby. Fucking get rid of it,” He said gruffly, then a muffled, ‘sorry baby’ as rustling was heard on his end.

“What do I need to pay you to get rid of it, Elise? Because I’m not going to be a dad and I’m not paying any kind of child support, Elise.

We aren’t even together anymore. You left me. ”

“That’s why I’m calling, Trevor. Miss Cunningham has paperwork for you to sign, saying you’ll sign away your rights after establishing paternity when the baby is born. We have to go to court to have a judge sign off on it, but after that, you have no legal obligation to the baby.”

“When can I sign?” I hated how urgently he asked, “Can I ask that you not put my name on the birth certificate? I can come down in…an hour?”

“Perfect. Thank you very much.” Miss Cunningham said.

“Sure,” was all he said before the line went dead. I breathed a sigh, and it was of both sadness and relief, as if a fifty-pound weight had just been taken off my chest after crushing my heart to dust for my child. We wouldn’t have to deal with him.

Ever again.

Waiting for the hour for him to show up was probably the hardest part of all of this, aside from the warring emotions.

Aaron and I sat on the couch while he tried to calm me and distract me with conversation.

He was attempting to get me to name the baby Aaron or Erin, which he claimed were both solid names for a girl or a boy.

Miss Cunningham had the paperwork drawn up in a matter of minutes, and I emailed all the texts from Tawnya over to her, pictures included.

Then, it was just a waiting game for him to show up at the office.

We also had to have Trevor get a paternity test, which, technically, we could do at my next doctor’s appointment, or we could wait until the baby was born.

I did not want to wait until the baby was born.

There was no way I wanted him thinking it was his and he could try to come back to lay some sort of claim over him or her, for the next six and a half months.

There was no way. I wanted it done and over with if this was what he wanted to do.

“Miss Cunningham, I have a Mr. Stoodermyer here to see you.” That announcement through the intercom got my heart rate up and palms sweating.

I felt like I could feel the heart muscle contracting with every beat it made in my chest. The door opened, and the emotions that bombarded me and jumped me of the dark alley of my mind were too much.

I hadn’t seen him in over a month, but let me tell you.

There was no way that was Trevor. He had his voice when he shook hands with the lawyer, but what walked through that door was not the man I fell in love with at sixteen.

He looked…haggard. I wasn’t sure if there was another, more accurate word to describe how he looked.

Just looking at him from head to toe, you could tell he was partying way too much, and way too hard.

He didn’t look like he’d had proper nutrition since the night I left.

His skin looked sickly pale, he had large, dark bags under his eyes, and his hair lacked its normal luster.

What walked in behind him, gripping his hand like it had always been hers, was Tawnya.

She had the audacity to come with him, to something that should have been between the two of us, looking every bit the cheap hussy she’d proved herself to be.

“Where do I sign?” That was all he asked, all he demanded.

He wouldn’t even look at me or Aaron, staring at Miss Cunningham only.

Tawnya did, though, she looked right at me, looking smug and triumphant as hell, thinking she’d won some kind of prize.

She scoffed, looking at me. Miss Cunningham had handed Trevor a pen, and I heard the sound of a pen on the desk scrawling out a signature.

“Oh, honey. Did you really think you could keep him? Honestly? Trying to trap him with a baby?” She looked me up and down like I was some kind of animal, or some whore, “It’s probably not even his.”

Excuse me? Not his? I’m not some whore like her, spreading my legs for any man, including those who are married. She was a homewrecker.

“Firstly, honey . You can have him. Please. Keep him and keep him far, far away from me and my baby. Secondly,” looking at her like I could see exactly who she was, not who she was trying to portray.

“That was why I asked him to come here. To say he will agree to sign over his rights as soon as the baby is born and the DNA test comes back stating that the baby is his. In fact, when I go back to the doctors in a couple of weeks, I’ll be able to do a test then so we can get it over with.

We,” I said, motioning from my face to my belly, so she would know exactly who I was talking about, “Want nothing to do with him.”

She smirked, thinking she had somehow won, whether it was winning Trevor or making him think giving up his child was a good idea. I just stared at her with a stony face. I wanted to tell her, ‘Not yet, honey. ’ There was still one more bomb to drop.

“And it’s all thanks to your texts and pictures, Tawnya.”

“This is her?” Miss Cunningham asked, her hand pointing at Tawnya. I nodded.

“This is for you,” Miss Cunningham handing her a stack of papers.

As soon as Tawnya took it from her, she continued, “You’ve been served.

It’s a cease-and-desist letter. If you don’t heed my warning, I’ll be forced to file a formal complaint of harassment with the courts.

” Trevor’s jaw clenched, glaring back at Tawnya.

She looked like she was shrinking, feeling about two feet tall, shuffling from foot to foot.

“What are you talking about?” He asked, finally looking at me. Those eyes I had once loved so much looked at me, completely dead. He looked pretty much through me, instead of at me.

“These.” I handed over my phone to him. He took it from me, careful not to touch me. His jaw clenched as he scrolled through the texts. He set my phone down on the desk instead of trying to pass it back to me, and he turned another cold gaze on Tawnya.

“I told you, Tawnya. She’s out of the picture, and has been for over a month.

You don’t need to bother her, and you won’t be bothering her.

You send her another message and I swear to God, I’ll drop you so fast your ass will fucking bruise.

” He practically growled at her, cold and menacing.

He gripped her hand tightly and stalked back out of the office.

Everyone was quiet, looking at each other, when the door opened again, making me jump in my seat.

“Let me know what time the DNA appointment thing is, and where I have to go to get this done, and…I guess when it’s here. Have the paperwork ready that day so it can be done.” He was about to leave when Miss Cunningham spoke.

“We won’t be able to do any of the official paperwork and our date in court until the results come back and the baby is born.

My lab should only take a couple of days, and if you want to get it done at the next appointment, we can get the test done right away, so there’s no wait after the birth.

I’ll call you when it’s time, and I’ll set a court date for a week after your due date. ” He nodded once and left again.

I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding when he stuck his head back in. When the door shut again, I could feel myself physically deflating.

How is this my life?