by Chloe Walsh
"Excuse me?"
"I said that I would mind," he offered, never taking his eyes off me. "And if we're being completely truthful here, ma'am, I don’t give a damn about this week's calculus test."
A chorus of laughter and wolf-whistling erupted around us.
"Well, maybe you'll find the motivation to learn again on your walk to the principal's office," Mrs. Kilmore replied sharply. "Off you go, Mr. King."
"Fine. I'll go if she goes with me," he told the teacher, causing another outbreak of laughter.
"You'll go because I want you to leave my classroom, young man."
"You must be smoking some strong shit if you're delusional enough to think he's gonna walk out of this classroom without her," Reebo chuckled from across the room, which earned him a stern glare from our teacher and the revoking of his presence in class.
"Out you go, Mr. Rose," Mrs. Kilmore snapped, pointing to the door.
"Fuck yes," he chuckled, clearly delighted with himself as he hurried to the door. "It's nap-time for the teddy bear."
"Miss Peterson," the teacher said, turning her attention back to me. "While I appreciate the fact that you haven't spoken out of turn, your presence is making it impossible for me to teach my class." She inclined her head to the door, making it clear that she wanted me to leave.
"Let's go." That was Daryl, who was already grabbing my bag off the floor and slinging it over his shoulder, not giving me an option either way.
Riddled with anxiety, and trembling with fearful anticipation, I slowly rose from my seat and followed him out of the classroom.
57 Daryl
She was back.
Molly was back at school and I couldn’t fucking breathe.
I could feel her eyes on my back as she followed me out of the classroom and all I wanted to do was pull her into my arms and kiss the hell out her, but I knew that might not go down so well, so I refrained. Just about.
"Wait – don’t you have to go to the principal's office?" she asked, trailing after me, as I walked straight past the office and headed for the exit.
Shaking my head, I held the door open for her and quickly followed her outside.
If Molly thought I was going to waste my time I planned to spend with her on getting chewed out by the principal, then she was more innocent than I thought.
"Wh-where are we going?"
"My truck," I replied, forcing myself not to take her hand in mine. "I don’t wanna have this conversation with an audience nearby."
"Oh," she replied, exhaling shakily, as she hurried to keep up with my long strides. "Yeah, me either."
I knew I needed to slow down and walk at her pace, but I was too fucking impatient – too desperate to get her alone.
By the time my red Chevy came into sight in the student parking lot, Molly was breathless, and I was all out of patience.
"I missed you," I blurted out, unable to hold it in a second longer. "I missed you so fucking much, Molls."
"I missed you, too," she puffed out shakily, as she leaned against the side of my truck and held her side. "Holy crap, D. Did you have to walk so fast? I think I'm winded here."
"I'm sorry about that," I mumbled and then threw my hands up. "I'm sorry about everything, Molly. The lies? Keeping all of that from you when you had every right to know? Being an epic fucking douchebag? I'm sorry for everything, baby."
"I know," she replied, slowly catching her breath.
"No, you really don’t," I choked out, feeling so much for her in this moment that I could hardly believe that my heart could stand the pressure. "Since you've been gone, everything's gone to shit. I can't focus, I can't sleep, I can't fucking function without you, Molls. We're connected. We always have been. You're the best person I've ever known and I don’t want to lose that. I don’t wanna lose you, Dolly. Nowhere feels like home anymore. Because you're my home. And I know that I screwed up real bad, but I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to get us back on track. Anything you want, Molly. Whatever you need. I mean that, because the thought of living one more day without you by my side makes me want to –"
"Daryl," she interrupted, looking truly terrified now. "Before we get into this conversation, there's something that I really need to tell you." A tremor racked through her small frame. "And I'm scared that you're gonna be really mad about it."
"What?" I shook my head. "No, I won't be mad at you, Molls. How could I?"
"Because I didn’t tell you sooner," she strangled out, hands moving the hem of her school sweater.
"Tell me what…" my words trailed off when she pulled her sweater over her head and revealed what I knew in my heart wasn’t holiday weight.
"I'm pregnant," she whispered, confirming what I'd thought, causing my world to tremor and shake.
"Yeah," I forced the words out, attention riveted to the round swell of her stomach. "I can see that."
58 Molly
"I'm pregnant.
"Yeah… I can see that…"
Daryl didn’t say a word after that.
He just continued to stare at my stomach like it was a foreign entity from outer space.
Minutes ticked by achingly slow, and still, he remained completely motionless.
"I'm not expecting anything," I added quietly, feeling beyond terrified by his lack of a reaction. "I swear that I'm not. I just…I had to tell you."
"That's not a small bump, Molly," he finally said, gaze reluctantly flicking to my face. "Is it?"
"No." Trembling, I shook my head. "I'm twenty weeks."
"Twenty weeks…" Blowing out breath, he ran a hand through his hair. "That's a lot of fucking weeks, Molly."
"I know…" Swallowing deeply, I clutched my little bump. "According to the dates, I, uh, would have conceived that first time."
"That was back in August, Molly." His jaw ticked. "This is January."
All I could do was nod my head and watch as he felt the weight of world closing in on him. I couldn’t stop it from happening. I'd experienced the same feeling when I found out that one drunken night had altered my future forever.
"How long have you known?" Emotion blazed in his eyes. "Did you know before you left?"
"Yes," I whispered, wincing.
Betrayal filled his eyes. "And you left anyway?"
"I didn’t find out until I was sixteen weeks," I hurried to defend. "That was why I came to your house that night." Tears sprang to my eyes. "I had just found out that afternoon and I was so scared… I came straight to you, D – to tell you. I promise. But everything happened with your mom and Wren, and I just… I couldn’t deal. I didn’t mean to keep it from you, I swear."
"I can't…" he muttered, more to himself than me. "I don’t..." Pressing his hands to his temples, he began to pace. "Twenty weeks. Twenty goddamn weeks."
"I'm sorry," I squeezed out, guilt ridden.
"Why are you apologizing?" he shot back, still pacing. "I'm the reckless prick that knocked you up your first time." The minute the words were out of his mouth, a pained groan escaped him. "Jesus Christ, I put a baby inside you, Molly! A goddamn baby. That's like a whole other human being."
"I know, D," I croaked out. "I can feel it."
"You can feel it?" he demanded, wide-eyed. "Jesus Christ, it's moving around inside of you? Already?"
Sniffling, I nodded. "Yes."
"Holy fuck, Dolly!"
"Do you mind if I sit down for a bit?"
"Shit, yeah, of course!" Opening the passenger door of his truck, Daryl helped me up. "Sit, Dolly, sit. Jesus, sit."
"Thanks," I replied with a relieved sigh. "Are you okay?"
"I don’t know what I am right now," Daryl replied honestly, as he leaned against my open door. "I came out here expecting to grovel at your feet and I'm… and it's just rolling around in there? Just…cooking away in your uterus?" He shook his head, looking at a complete loss. "What is it? Do you know yet?"
"I didn’t find out at my last checkup," I replied, reaching into my shirt pocket and retrieving my la
test sonogram. "I, uh, wanted to wait. Here – this is for you," I added, holding it out for him. "It's my last sonogram. Last week. I asked the doctor to make you a copy. Just in case you wanted one."
"Holy fuck," he continued to say over and over as he snatched the sonogram out of my hands and stared down at it. "I did that… to you." He glanced at me before flicking his attention back to the sonogram. "We made that… together."
"I'm due in May," I decided to offer up. "And like I already said; I'm not expecting anything from you, okay? I understand that you're committed to playing college football, and I one hundred percent support that. I mean, I want that for you –"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Holding a hand up, Daryl stared at me like I'd grown three heads. "What are you saying here, Molls? That you think I'm gonna up and leave you to raise my kid by yourself?"
"No…" I shrugged, unsure of how to answer that question. "I'm just saying that I understand that you have other obligations –"
"From where I'm standing, I only have one obligation," Daryl cut me off. "And that's to you, Molly." Clearing his throat, he added, "Well, two if you count the intruder in there."
"Intruder?"
"Yeah." He shrugged sheepishly. "It was all I had in the moment."
"Intruder's a pretty accurate description for this little guy," I agreed, smiling.
"Guy?" Daryl's eyes lit up. "It's a boy?"
"I have no idea," I replied. "But that's what I've been calling him."
"Well, hell, you better hope we ain't having a daughter," he warned, chuckling nervously. "'Cause she's gonna be pissed when she finds out that her mama spent nine months referring to her as guy instead of princess."
"Mama." I shook my head. "I still can't believe that I'm gonna be someone's mama."
"Holy fuck," Daryl choked out, eyes widening to the size of saucers. "I just realized that I'm gonna be someone's daddy."
59 Daryl
I had no words.
Well, none that made any sense, at least.
I came outside to my truck, fully expecting to beg for Molly's forgiveness, and instead she dropped a bomb on me.
I was going to be a father.
Me.
A daddy.
And I didn’t even get nine months to get used to it, either.
I got four.
Holy shit.
"Does your father want to kill me?" I asked, as more of an afterthought. "Ah hell, he's gonna kill me, ain't he?"
"No," she replied, lips tipping upwards. "He's had a month to get used to the idea."
"Lucky him," I muttered, shaking my head.
"Are you mad at me?" Molly asked then.
"What?" I stared at her. "Mad at you?"
"For not telling you sooner." Chewing on her bottom lip, she rested her small hands on her big belly and sighed. "For running away."
"I understand why you had to leave, Molly," I told her, and it was the truth. "I know how bad you were hurting – and how much of that pain I'm responsible for – and even though it fucking killed me every day that you were gone, I understand why you had to do it."
Affection filled her brown eyes. "You do?"
I nodded slowly and dared to place my hand on her knee. "I'm just glad that you came back to me." Instead of shoving my hand off like I'd half expected, Molly covered it with hers. "You did come back to me…right?"
She was quiet for a long time before whispering, "Yeah, D. I came back to you."
Relief flooded my body. "Thank Christ for that."
"I'm not over it." She looked at me with sad, lonesome eyes. "I don’t know when or if I ever will be…" With a little shrug of her shoulders, she added, "But I understand that everything you didn't say was kept unspoken because you love me."
"I do love you, Dolly," I said gruffly, heart beating wildly. "I love you so damn hard."
"I love you, too, D," she whispered. "More than anything. Which is why I don’t want to be the person that holds you back from making your dreams come true. And football is your dream. I don’t want you to lose out because of me –"
"That's not even up for discussion, Molly."
"But –"
"No." I shook my head. "I won't leave you on your own in this. Not ever." Throwing all caution to the wind, I leaned in and kissed her, too fucking starved for her taste to stop myself. "I won't leave you," I repeated, knotting my hand in the back of her hair. "I won't become my father. I won't put football before you and our baby like he did to my mama and me. I won't."
Clutching onto my neck like her life depended on it, Molly kissed me back with just as much emotion. "I don’t want you to resent me –"
"That ain't ever gonna happen," I promised, stroking her nose with mine. "Whatever we do from here on out, or wherever we go, we do it together. As a team. You and me."
"A team," she whispered against my lips. "I like the sound of that."
"Yeah?" I grinned. "Well, spoiler alert: I make for one helluva teammate, Molly-Dolly."
She grinned back at me. "That's good to know, King Doofus.”
60 Daryl
"Tell me that you're joking," were the first words that came out of Rourke's mouth when I dropped the bomb on him later that evening. "Seriously, D. Tell me your girl in there –" he paused to point to where our girlfriends were standing in his kitchen before continuing, "ate a shit ton of cookies over the holidays and that big ole belly of hers is a result of sugar and not sperm!"
"I can't."
"Goddammit to hell, D." Blowing out a shaky breath, he ran a hand through his dark hair and paced the foyer. "Fuck me, you went a made yourself a damn crotch goblin."
"The hell?" I cocked a brow. "Crotch goblin?"
"I can't believe this. You're eighteen, D. Eight-fucking-teen." Rourke shuddered. "I knew trouble was brewing the second you told me that you went bareback with her. I goddamn –"
"If you're planning on saying that you told me so, then you might as well save your breath," I warned, folding my arms across my chest. "She loves me. I love her. She's pregnant. It's mine. I'm stepping up and standing by her. We're gonna make it work – and it will work. It is what it is, Rourke."
"What it is, my friend, is impending fatherhood," he urged, eyes bulging now. "You're gonna be a daddy, Daryl. Jesus Christ, you're gonna be someone's father."
"I know, Rourke," I bit out in a hushed tone. "Calm down, will you?"
"Calm down?" He gave me a crazed look. "Why are you calm? Aren't you scared? You've got a damn kid on the way. Shit!"
"Yeah, man, I know. And it's safe to say that I'm sufficiently terrified," I acknowledged, casting a glance towards the girl with the baby bump.
My girl.
My baby.
"Then join me in freaking the fuck out, why don’t you?" he shot back, looking disheveled and rattled. "Please."
"I'm in love with her," I offered, feeling a little lost and a lot afraid. "I just want that girl, Rourke. That's it. I wanted to keep her when I was five years old and I want to keep her now." I shrugged. "I have no goddamn clue what I'm doing, or how I'm gonna raise a baby in college, but I guess I'm kinda hoping that everything will just… sort of fall into place for us."
"It will," he agreed after a long pause. "Fall into place, that is."
"You really think that?"
"You're a good guy, D," he offered, sounding a little more together now. "The best man I know. If Molly Peterson is who your heart is set on, then you deserve a little luck and a helluva lot of happiness."
"She is," I responded, gaze once again flicking back to Molly. "She's all I want, Rourke."
"And your family?" he asked, instantly darkening my mood. "Are you going to tell them about the baby?"
"I'm sure my mother will hear all about it in the supermarket."
"But she won't be hearing about it from you?"
"No," I confirmed, grim at the thought of seeing the woman again. "Not from me."
Rourke nodded in acceptance. "So, that door is well and truly closed, huh?"<
br />
"Closed, locked, and bolted," was my flat response, as I folded my arms across my chest. "I'm not ready to speak to her or Sophie. I don’t think I ever will be, and to tell you the truth, man, I'm okay with that."
"Because you've gone and made yourself a little family of your own," he chuckled, shaking his head. "Reckless son of a bitch."
"Molly has always been my family, man," I told him. "And so have you."
He grinned, cheeks flushed from the compliment. "Don’t get all weepy and shit on me."
"I ain't." I laughed. "I'm just letting my baby's god-daddy know how much I appreciate him."
His eyes widened. "Holy fuck, are you serious?"
"Who else am I gonna ask?" I cocked a brow. "There ain't never been a day in my life when you haven't had my back, Rourke Owens. I want that for my kid."
"You really want me to be your crotch goblin's godfather?"
I nodded. "I really do."
"Well hell, D, I'm honored," he said, clearing his throat, as he pulled me in for a hug. "And I accept – I ain't changing diapers, but I'm honored, man."
Chuckling, I slapped his back. "Appreciate it."
"So, you've played the waiting game with her, then the truth game, and now you're what, heading towards the endgame?"
"Yeah," I laughed. "I guess we are."
Smirking, Rourke nodded. "Yeah." His sharp gaze flicked to his girlfriend. "I know that feeling."
Molly
When I walked into my house later that night, it was with a full heart, and Daryl King's hand in mine.
The minute we stepped into the kitchen, my father's eyes went straight to the tall boy standing beside me. "I see she found her way back to you."
Nodding, Daryl squeezed my hand tightly. "Yes, sir."
A small smile ghosted my father's lips. "I see."
"I owe you an apology, Mr. Peterson," Daryl blurted out, keeping ahold of my hand, as he addressed my father. "For putting the cart before the horse with Molly, or so to speak." His cheeks reddened as he spoke. "I know that we're young, and we don’t have everything figured out just yet, but I can promise you here and now that when it comes to your daughter, I will do right by her. I swear it. I won't ever turn my back on Molly or the baby. I'm not my father's son. I will take care of them both. I'll give them my name. I'll give them everything I have. I will be a good man to your daughter. And a good father – "