Different Circles

Meanwhile, life went on. Laura kept in touch with her brother Joey in Pocatello, calling him at least once a week to catch up on things. As it turned out, he and his family had not been able to come to California for spring break because she and Jake were still up in Oregon working on the V-tach project and Jake did not feel they could take a week off over spring break because the project was behind schedule and they only had studio time until May 1. They made plans instead for the Best family to visit in the summer, when things would be far less hectic and they could stay for two weeks instead of only one. She did not tell her brother about her little passenger and, since he was not here to observe her non-wine habit, he was unable to deduce it on his own.

On April 18^th, the first new cut from the Brainwash II CD began to hit the airways. It was called What’s In a Name? and it was one of Jim’s songs, a moderately toned alternative rock piece with some fairly profound lyrics. It was not the best cut on the CD, but it was the best of Jim’s and Jake had directed it to be promoted first so it could be followed up with one of Marcie’s tunes and then one of Steph’s. The listeners seemed to like the tune well enough. It got a lot of requests and was soon being played regularly from coast to coast throughout each day on alternative rock and pop stations, though the hard rocks tended to ignore it. Jake liked the song well enough, but every time he heard it he could not help but think what it might have been had he just been there to help shape it in the early stages of the recording progress.

Oh well, he thought at such times. I made my choice to concentrate on the TSF and now I have to live with the consequences.

On April 27^th, the mixing and the mastering of the V-tach CD (simply titled V-tach) was finally complete to everyone but the Nerdlys’ satisfaction (they felt that if they could just have a few more days to tweak a few more levels, they could nail it down to perfection). Copies were made and distributed to the band members and those involved in the studio portion. A box of copies were given to Jake for distribution to the Aristocrat suits primarily, but to other record companies if Aristocrat used their option to pass on the project if they did not feel it would sell. Jake was pretty certain they would not pass on the option. The boys had put out some good solid tunes and they had mixed and mastered them quite well.

Celia got back in her car for the two-day drive home (she planned to overnight in the Heritage area and then continue on the next morning). The members of V-tach were flown home on a chartered Gulfstream that KVA Records paid for. The Nerdlys, Jake, Laura, and little Ziggy all climbed into Jake’s plane and left Coos Bay behind until the next time.

No one was sure exactly when that might be.

On May the 5^th, Cinco de Mayo, Laura and Jake arrived at the office of her gynecologist, Dr. Vargo, in Granada Hills just before 10:00 AM. She had had blood work drawn the previous day and they were here to go over it and receive their official confirmation that Laura was pregnant, although at this point there was no longer any doubt in their minds. She still had not had her period, her breasts were now getting larger as well as sorer, and she had begun to have strange food cravings—watermelon and other melons chief among them, fruits that she had never really cared for much before.

“He’s not going to stick his hand up in there, is he?” Jake asked as they entered the modern office building.

“No,” she said. “He is not going to stick his hand up in there.”

They did not have to wait long after they were put in one of the exam rooms. Whether this was because they were a celebrity couple or it was just how the doc did business, Jake did not know.

“Congratulations,” he told them once the door was closed. “You are indeed pregnant.”

Even though they were already quite positive, it was a happy moment to hear that it was official.

“And everything is okay?” Laura asked.

“As far as I can tell at this point,” Vargo said. “The hCG quant test we ran—that’s the test that tells us just how much hCG you have and allows us to extrapolate how many weeks pregnant you are—indicates that you are approximately ten weeks along at this point. That matches up pretty much exactly with your last reported menstrual period of February 18^th. All of your other tests look good as well. CBC is normal, electrolytes and urine function normal, no glucose or ketones in your urine, blood glucose level normal. And you are blood type A positive, which means you won’t have to worry about getting the Rhogam shot after you deliver and during every subsequent pregnancy.”

“I’m O negative, doc,” Jake said. “The different Rh factors won’t hurt anything?”