Texas Style Justice: A Novel by Susan P. Baker

Author:Susan P. Baker [Baker, Susan P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: corruption, Judge, suspense, Heroine’s Journey, female protagonist, Texas Hill Country, Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Refugio Press
Published: 2018-06-03T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Standing outside the San Antonio office of her OB-GYN, Torie overheard the conversation of two women. The daughter told the mother how scared she was, and the mother reassured the daughter. Many years earlier, Torie’s mother had accompanied her to the doctor, holding her hand, both of them as full of awe as the two women with whom she’d just come into contact. She’d been filled with elation coupled with a bit of fear, the normal anticipatory fear, the not-knowing-what-it-would-be-like-to-be-the-mother-of-a-child kind of fear, but knowing her own mother would be there to advise her and help her and assuage that fear.

Now, she was there for a different purpose. To get new contraception, to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, to insure that nothing would interfere with her hopes and dreams of being on the Supreme Court. Her well-woman exam was past due, but getting in to see the doctor was no easy feat between the doctor’s busy schedule and her own.

Life would be easier if she’d use a local doctor, one in Bremerhaven or even in one of the neighboring towns. Since she’d first taken office, she’d gotten all new doctors not only out of town but out of her judicial district. Bad enough as an attorney she’d often come into contact with litigants in the grocery store, the fitness center, or church, but as a judge it could be even more delicate. One of them could be testifying before her in the morning and looking up inside her in the afternoon.

The office, which smelled like rubbing alcohol, was filled with women in various stages of pregnancy, including one who could go into labor at any minute. Torie sat as far from the women as possible, hoping it wasn’t catching, her stomach in a knot at the idea of stripping down to a hospital gown for the exam. She’d borne a child and still minded being examined. Was she a prude because she didn’t want to expose her genitals?

She hadn’t told Sergio of the appointment. Talk of birth control, when he wanted to have a child, was not high on their list of dinner topics. She’d scheduled the appointment after the almost-disastrous anniversary night. They were back on intimate terms, but a smidgen of coolness had seeped into their relationship. Something she couldn’t quite grasp. She took responsibility for it, for everything that had gone wrong lately.

After she’d found him pacing off the backyard, they’d had deep discussions about their relationship. She’d promised not to put her father before him, though truth be told that was going to be excruciatingly hard when it came to discussing politics. She and her father had never been as close as Howie and her father, but her goal was that one day they would be. As she’d progressed professionally, he’d been more attentive to her. And politically, they had a lot to talk about. Her father had always been involved in politics as a behind-the-scenes person, coordinating local campaigns from the time he was a young man.

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