I guess I should call my parents once I stop sobbing. It’s been a few days and they’ll call me if I don’t call them—I’d rather talk to them when I feel like I have it together rather than being surprised by a phone call when I don’t.
One week later
The hour of my comeuppance was at hand. I was less than an hour away from Los Angeles, and the miles were melting away. I had the beginnings of a baby bump, but it wasn’t noticeable unless someone knew to look for it—and I was the only one that did. I hadn’t actually gained any weight—yet. I lost weight during the second month of my pregnancy because food wasn’t staying down, and my appetite was a disaster. Things started to shift as I got closer to the three month mark. I was skinnier in some places, but my stomach wasn’t firm like it was before I got pregnant. The nausea was less, I was eating more than normal, and the fatigue usually set in by the late afternoon hours.
This drive makes me wish I would have taken Everette up on his offer to buy me a plane ticket—I was going to have to tell my parents about him anyway.
“She’s home!” My mother ran to the front door and immediately hugged me.
“Hey!” I faked a little bit of enthusiasm.
“Did you pick a major yet?” My father was behind her with his arms folded across his chest.
“No…” I sighed.
“That’s the only time you get to ask her!” My mother turned around and shook her finger at my father.
“I had to ask!” He walked over, and despite not being happy with my response, he still hugged me.
“Welcome home. We haven’t converted your old room into an office yet, so you can stay there.” He squeezed me a little tighter.
“He’s kidding—we’re not doing anything with your room until you have your own place,” my mother grumbled under her breath.
“Thanks…” I leaned back from his embrace and sighed. “I’m a little tired from the drive, so I may need to lay down for a bit.”
“That’s fine.” My father patted my shoulder. “We’ll come get you when dinner is ready.”
I wasn’t just tired—I was exhausted. Part of that was the constant worry that never went away. I had no idea how I was going to sneak away and see Everette. I didn’t want to delay our reunion, nor did I want to wait until the end of my trip to tell him about the baby, but I didn’t have a good excuse for visiting our neighbor. Amelia decided not to come home for Thanksgiving—she didn’t think it would be worth it until Christmas since she was so far away—so I couldn’t even use her as an excuse for leaving the house. All I could really think about was my bed and a very long nap, so I went upstairs and delayed all of the inevitable discussions for a little while longer.
A few hours later
“Holly? Dinner is ready.” My father tapped my door until I woke up.
“Thanks, I’ll be down in a few minutes.” I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes.
I’m fairly famished at this point—but I sure would like to sleep a little longer.
I got dressed as quickly as I could and picked up my cell phone. I had a message from Everette asking if I had arrived and another one a few minutes later letting me know that he saw my car in the driveway. I replied and let him know that I was home safe but wasn’t sure when I would be able to see him since my parents were home. That was the truth and a delay tactic on my part—I was going to tell Everette about the baby as soon as I got the chance—I just didn’t know when that would be. My parents weren’t going to let me run off the first night I was back, even if Amelia had been in town.
“College must be hard work—you were out like a light.” My father chuckled as soon as I got to the table.
“Yeah.” I sat down and sighed. “I think it was the drive that really did me in…”
“I got you a soda.” My mother motioned to the can in front of me. “We’ve got tea if you’d prefer that instead.”
“Actually…” I looked down at the table. “I think I’ll just have some water.”
They’ve never had Sprite in the house, so I’m sure that hasn’t changed while I was gone.
“Did you kick the soda habit?” My father raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I figured you’d be guzzling energy drinks by now like all those young people I work with.”
“No.” I shook my head back and forth. “It’s usually water or Gatorade these days.”
Even if Gatorade does have enough sugar to make Everette’s doctor side to get twitchy.
I kept in contact with my parents and talked to them on the phone regularly, so I didn’t have any major news to share—well, none that I could share at the dinner table. A lot of what we discussed was just recaps of those conversations, and it felt like I was just lying to them. I was talking about options for majors, classes I might take the following semester, and grand visions of a future I wasn’t sure I would actually have. The real conversation was going to come later, and I wasn’t looking forward to ruining Thanksgiving for my family. Everette was spending Thanksgiving Day with his family too, so I had to either tell him before he left or try to hold everything in until the holiday was officially over.
I probably won’t be able to tell him tonight, and I don’t know if I’ll get to see him tomorrow—maybe it would be better to wait until everyone has digested their Thanksgiving dinner…
I was torn. The main thing I wanted to avoid was seeing Everette without telling him the truth. I didn’t want it to be a secret that lingered between us when there was an opportunity to come clean. That felt like it would be the worst option. I stayed downstairs with my family for a couple of hours after dinner, but the bed was calling my name, even if it was early. I wasn’t lying when I said I was tired, and they didn’t raise any objections when I told them I was going to bed early. I went upstairs, got ready for bed, and barely got laid down before I saw my phone light up on the nightstand beside me. I had a message from Everette.
Everette: Do you think you can sneak out tonight after your parents go to bed?
Holly: Wow, you’re encouraging bad behavior now?
Everette: I just want to see you.
Holly: I want to see you too.
Everette: So? Can you?
Holly: I guess I can be naughty for you…
Everette: That’s what I was hoping.
The time had come. There was no way to avoid it. I really did want to see Everette—regardless of what his reaction was. He definitely wasn’t going to be expecting the bombshell I was about to drop. He thought I would be sneaking over to his place for something much different than a baby revelation, that was for sure. I was still exhausted, and it would be a couple of hours before my parents went to bed at the earliest, so I set an alarm on my phone. I couldn’t use the ringer, so I set it to vibrate and held it in my hands as I closed my eyes. It was a true testament to my fatigue that I could actually go to sleep with all of the nervous energy swirling around inside me, but it didn’t take long.
Two hours later
“Huh?” I opened my eyes when I felt the phone vibrate. “Oh, right.”
Are my parents asleep?
Their bedroom door was cracked, and the light was off. I didn’t see any lights on downstairs. That seemed to confirm they were asleep—or at least in bed. I changed into my clothes and did my best impression of a ninja as I crept downstairs. The front door was the quickest way to Everette’s house, but the back door was quieter, so I chose that option. I carefully made my way to his house, sent him a text message to let him know I was there and waited for him to open the front door. It only took a few seconds for him to appear, and the smile on his face—a smile that was for me—made everything inside me melt into a puddle.
“Damn, I’ve missed you.” Everette wrapped me up in a hug and kissed me.
The kiss seemed to take all of the worry away—any man that could kiss me like that wouldn’t be upset if he found out our passion had resulted in a miracle. I just had to tell him the truth. The kiss was a lot more passionate than any of the othe
rs we had shared—even the first one. His hands moved along my back, squeezed my ass, and pulled me closer. I could feel his cock getting hard against my stomach. He tried to pull me inside the house, but I wasn’t ready—I didn’t want the kiss to end. It just stripped away everything that had been bothering me since I first saw the plus sign on the pregnancy test—and while I believed he was going to have a positive reaction, the lingering fear was still making me hesitate—I could put that feeling in abeyance as long as his lips kept crushing mine.
“What the hell is going on here!?” An angry voice pierced the night air—it snapped me away from Everette—it snapped me in half.
“Dad!?” I spun around in confusion.
“Holly Abigail Pierce, you get back to the house right now!” He power-stomped up the steps and grabbed me by the arm.
“Mr. Pierce—let me explain…” Everette’s face was flushed with shock.
“You!?” The anger was practically dripping off my father’s words. “You stay the hell away from my daughter!”
“Wait, dad—hold on…” I tried to raise an objection, but I got the angriest glare I had ever seen in response.
“No, you’re going back home. You’re going back to bed—where you’re supposed to be!” He pulled me down the steps and started walking back to our house.
I guess I’ve already ruined Thanksgiving—and I didn’t even get a chance to tell Everette the truth…
Chapter Fifteen
Everette
“Mr. Pierce! Please, let’s talk about this!” I ran down the steps after him.
He didn’t stop. He just kept pulling his daughter across my lawn—to his lawn—and then into the house. Holly looked back at me one more time before they went inside the house, and I saw tears in her eyes. The door slammed and the night got eerily quiet. There was no way I could leave things like that. I cared about his daughter—and I knew why he reacted the way he did—but he needed to know what was really going on. I didn’t know how to tell him I had fallen in love with his daughter, especially since the math wouldn’t be in my favor. I moved in while he was on vacation—I literally only had a couple of days with her. Revealing how much I cared about Holly would require me to tell him that I had visited her in Arizona—that we had been talking since she had been gone.
Fuck it; I’m not going to stand out here like an idiot while she shoulders all of his wrath. If he wants to punch me in the face, then I might as well give him a target.
I ran to Holly’s house and started beating on the front door. There was no response at first—but I could hear yelling inside. A light came on upstairs, and then I heard more yelling—it was Mrs. Pierce. My knocking must have woken her up. Angry stomping echoed behind the door and it got closer with every step. All I could do was stick out my chin and wait to get knocked off the porch if that was his plan, but then I was going to pick myself up and tell him the truth. A split second before the door opened, I realized he could very well have a gun—but there was no way for me to second guess my decision to try to beat his door down before it flew open.
“This is a family matter!” He tried to slam the door in my face, but I put my hand up—it hit my hand so hard that I was almost certain I felt a bone crack, but I didn’t budge.
“Mr. Pierce, we have to talk about this.” I wasn’t going to force my way into his home, but I had to get him to listen to me.
“Dad, please let him in.” Holly’s voice cracked as she spoke.
“Bill, for god’s sake, let him in.” Mrs. Pierce sounded annoyed but reasonable. “Obviously, we’re going to discuss this like civilized people.”
“I don’t need to discuss it like a civilized person! This grown man was kissing my little girl—I’m about as far from civilized as I can get right now!” Mr. Pierce turned towards me and growled under his breath, “You should walk away before I decide that I don’t care if I get locked up tonight.”
“I’m not a little girl anymore!” Holly ran to the door and grabbed it.
“Bill, she’s right.” Mrs. Pierce walked up and put her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Let him come in.”
Mr. Pierce relented, but he wasn’t happy. He took a step back from the door, pulled away from his wife, and went to the other side of the room to stew in his own anger as I stepped into the house. We were all in the same room. That seemed like a good start. It wasn’t ideal—it wasn’t how I wanted Holly’s parents to find out, and I doubt it was how she wanted to have to tell them, but the situation was already in front of us. The four of us stood there for a moment like we had no idea what to say. Holly was on my left with a look in her eyes that she desperately wanted to hug me, but she was scared to do it. Mrs. Pierce had a look on her face that resonated confusion, as if she was still trying to process it. Mr. Pierce just looked pissed—and if his look could have killed me dead, they would have been burying my body in the back yard instead of trying to figure out who was going to speak first.
“So, how long as this been going on?” Mrs. Pierce was the first one to speak.
“I just want to hear you say that you’re going to stay away from my daughter!” Mr. Pierce took a step forward.
“Dad, calm down.” Holly shot daggers at him with her eyes. “We met while you were on vacation…”
“Of course you did” Mr. Pierce’s scoffed. “We leave you home for one weekend because we decide you’re old enough to stay on your own and this happens.”
“I really care about your daughter—actually, I love her.” I took a step towards Holly. “She means everything to me…”
“Everything?” Mr. Pierce snorted angrily. “You’ve known her what—three months? You’ve spent a few days with her—if you laid a hand on her…”
“Bill…” Mrs. Pierce had failed so many times at keeping him calm that I wasn’t sure why she was still trying, but she did. “Do I need to remind you that we got married less than three months after we met?”
“Times were different then!” Mr. Pierce growled. “Holly is just a kid! My kid!”
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back—I guess. Mrs. Pierce stopped being calm and started shouting at her husband. Holly suddenly went from trying to reason with her father to trying to stop both of them from yelling. I tried to interject a few times, but just caught some of the backlash. Eventually, Mr. Pierce turned his wrath back towards me—and accused me of lying to him from the start when I asked to help load boxes in his car. I couldn’t deny it—I had already kissed his daughter at that point. Mrs. Pierce seemed to shift alliances as she pieced together the fact that I sat at the dinner table with them—after I had already become involved with their daughter—and never once mentioned it. It wasn’t long until we were having four separate conversations and trying to talk over each other.
“Stop—please can we just stop yelling!?” Holly took a step back and put her hands on her head.
She bowed out of the discussion, but her parents were still laying into me. I tried to plead my case. Mr. Pierce was convinced I was just taking advantage of a young girl who had no idea what she wanted—because she couldn’t even pick a major in college. Mrs. Pierce went back and forth between us verbally—one second she was telling her husband to calm down and the next, she was telling me that the relationship was going to be hard and we should take some time to think through what we were doing. I knew what I wanted—there was no doubt in my mind—I just didn’t seem to be able to convince the two people that were freaking out about it of my love for their daughter. All attempts to pull Mrs. Piece back to the side of the fence where neutrality existed was fading fast, and Mr. Pierce definitely wasn’t going to do anything but stand his ground.
“I’m pregnant!” Holly silenced every voice in the room immediately.
“What?” I looked at her, and my jaw just sort of fell open like it had come off the hinges.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Mr. Pierce threw his hands up—and then he stormed out of the room.
“Are you sure?
” Mrs. Pierce tilted her head slightly.
“As sure as four pregnancy tests and a trip to the OBGYN.” She put her hand on her stomach. “And morning sickness—and cravings—and I’m tired all of the time.”
“Oh my god…” I blinked in surprise and spoke, but my jaw barely moved.
“You had no idea?” Mrs. Pierce narrowed her eyes.
“No ma’am.” I shook my head back and forth.
“You didn’t tell him?” Mrs. Pierce tilted her head and turned her attention to Holly.
“I was about to—before dad blew a gasket…” Holly looked down and sighed.
“I think you two should probably talk now.” Mrs. Pierce looked at me—and then back to her daughter. “I’ll make sure your father doesn’t come back in here until you’re done.”
Mrs. Piece made a swift exit from the room. I heard a couple of shouts, but then there was silence. Whatever she said to him must have worked because he didn’t come storming back into the living room. I looked at Holly, and our eyes met. All I wanted to do was hug her. I immediately walked over, wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. My head was spinning, but for some reason, my analytical brain wasn’t giving me any answers. I kept begging it to let me live in the moment, and apparently it decided to abandon me in the one moment when it would have actually been really beneficial.
“I didn’t want to tell you on Skype.” Holly squeezed me tight. “I’ve been so scared…”
“Why were you scared?” I moved my hand to the back of her head and stroked her hair.
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