Finding Bluefield by Elan Branehama

princess,” he said, lifting Roberta. “Who wants to go swimming?”
    Richard left and Carol-Ann helped Barbara wash the dishes. Nicky sat at the kitchen table nursing Paul.
    “That was a great dinner,” Carol-Ann said, drying the dishes.
    “I couldn’t eat garlic the whole time I was pregnant,” Nicky said.
    “I never got nauseous,” Carol-Ann said. “It’s because I had girls.”
    “You love being pregnant,” Nicky said.
    “Holding Paul makes me want to do it again,” Carol-Ann said.
    “Are you serious?” Nicky asked.
    “Sure.” Carol-Ann finished the dishes and was rinsing out the sink. “One more. I think I could do it one more time. Richard really wants a son. I’m happy with all girls, but I’ll try again if he wants to.”
    “I’m going to read in the living room,” Barbara said, putting the last dish away. “Do you want me to take Paul?”
    “I’ll keep him a little longer,” Nicky said.
    Carol-Ann sat next to Nicky. “Let me hold my nephew.”
    “You want coffee?” Nicky said, walking over to the stove. She pulled a cigarette out of the breast pocket of her denim shirt, put it in her mouth, and searched her pockets for matches. Coming up empty, she leaned over and lit the cigarette on the stovetop burner.
    “Sure. Let’s drink it outside,” Carol-Ann said. She brought Paul out to Barbara while Nicky poured the coffee.
    They stepped out into the night air. Carol-Ann sat on the picnic table by the big oak. Nicky leaned against the tree.
    “I remember when Daddy built this table,” Carol-Ann said. “I wanted to invite some friends for a barbecue, but we didn’t have a picnic table so Daddy built this.”
    “You whined for a week until Daddy couldn’t take it anymore. Then he built it.”
    “I always thought you’d be the one to leave this place and I’d be stuck here my whole life.” Carol-Ann picked her teeth with a blade of grass.
    “I’ve never felt stuck here. Never wanted to leave. If I left, I’d just be looking for a place like this.” Nicky moved her back from side to side, letting the bark massage her muscles. The moon, just clearing the top of the barn, was the color of custard.
    Carol-Ann crossed the driveway to the old Impala wagon parked in the unmowed grass. She placed her coffee on the roof and her hands on the hood. “Daddy loved this car. First car he bought that wasn’t a pickup. You ever going to sell it?”
    “You want it?”
    “Are you kidding?” Carol-Ann laughed. “They’d laugh at me if I drove this in my neighborhood.”
    Nicky opened the car door, slid into the driver’s seat, turned the ignition, and rolled down her window. She leaned over and pushed the passenger door open.
    “You leave the keys in the car?” Carol-Ann asked.
    “You’ve gotten too used to L.A.”
    “I’m thinking of the kids getting in here. You’re going to have to start thinking that way.”
    “Hop in,” Nicky said.
    Carol-Ann grabbed her coffee and slid into the passenger seat. Nicky guided the car around the barn and turned onto the dirt road that divided the cornfield. Corn stalks rose high above the car on either side, leaving only sky visible. Noise from the crickets overwhelmed the Impala’s deep rumble. Nicky drove without headlights, letting the full moon light the way. “How come you didn’t tell me you were staying in a hotel?”
    “Richard thought of it on the plane. He thought it would be easier for you and it would be more of a vacation for us.”
    Nicky downshifted into second where the road narrowed and the car brushed against corn stalks on both sides. Carol-Ann pulled her elbow into the car. Nicky shifted back up to third.
    “What is Paul’s last name?”
    “He has ours. I mean mine.”
    “What about his father’s name?” Carol-Ann said.
    “I told you there’s no father.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I’m not claiming immaculate conception. It’s just that he doesn’t know about Paul. So there is no father.” They came