UnPlanned

by M. Piper

  I rub my eyes and stretch out, closing my laptop. Maybe she just has a familiar face.

  Wren shot me a text about an hour ago that she’s going to bed so I should probably head there myself. It’s going to be an early morning and I was waiting up to see if she was coming over or not. Now that I have my answer, there’s really nothing keeping me up.

  I shut off all the lights and as soon as I hit the pillow I hear Yellow start barking.

  One of those ‘someone’s attempting to murder my family’ barks that bolts me out of bed and straight to where he’s growling at the door.

  That’s when the soft knock comes again.

  “What the hell?” I whisper. “Go sit,” I tell Yellow and he backs up, his fur still standing up but he sits like he’s told.

  I crack the door open, ready to fight off whoever’s there. When I’m hit with Lark’s face, covered with a hood, I swing the door all the way open.

  “Lark?” I ask, glancing around outside. “Where’s Wren? Is everything ok?”

  She slides into the house and pulls her hood down, glaring at me.

  “Ames,” she whispers and my eyes go wide. “Linc Ames.” She swipes up her jacket sleeve, quirking an eyebrow at the black and white elephant tattoo. A tattoo I remember talking about in math class in Seattle the day after she got it.

  Holy hell. That’s why she seemed so familiar today. We went to school together.

  I cock my head at her and wonder briefly if Wren didn’t tell me something key about her sister. Like her real name? Or perhaps the fact that we went to the same school? I blink a few times and give her a puzzled look.

  “I went as Amanda at school,” she whispers, her eyes as wide as mine.

  “Holy fuck,” I mutter, squeezing my eyes closed.

  Amanda Portsmith is who I knew her as in college, all the way across the country in Seattle where we both settled in for four years of college. Apparently she never had the drive to come home.

  “This is weird…right?” I grimace.

  “Yea,” she laughs quietly. “That’s just the beginning.” Her eyes scan the room and land on Carter’s picture. “You know, my parents sent me to a private high school,” she says slowly. “I didn’t know anyone my age here in Springfield and I was so suffocated by my parents that I ran the minute I could and tried my hardest to forget about home. My sister followed shortly after she graduated High School.” She pins me with her eyes, lined with black. “Looks like you tried doing the same.”

  “I tried,” I nod. “Came home a couple years ago.”

  “Trust me. I know.” She walks over to Carter’s picture and swipes her finger down the frame. “He’s perfect.”

  My nerves amp up as to what she’s really doing here.

  “Aman…” I stop myself and clear my throat. “Lark. What is it that you need? If it’s not to spill the beans about your other persona at school it’s fine. There’s no need to rat you out. That’s between you and your sister.”

  “She knows, Lincoln.” She says, waving her hand. “But what I’m about to tell you…well she definitely doesn’t know.” Her head slowly shakes. “And I’m not even sure why I’m telling you…”

  “Tell me what,” I all but growl. It’s late and I hate games.

  “Carter… He has the Potts nose, Lincoln.”

  “Say what now?” I whisper, my stomach sinking.

  “See the straight line right there?” She slides her finger again over his picture then squares her body with mine and runs her finger straight down the line of her nose. It’s…perfect. I always knew whoever his mother was had to have some very distinct features because he definitely doesn’t have the West nose…but holy hell.

  “What the fuck,” I whisper, sitting on the couch before my knees drop out from under me. “You?” I croak, my throat tightening. “You’re…” How would I not remember that?

  “No,” she whispers, cutting me off. Her eyes land on mine. “But she is.”

  I bend and grip my temples, throwing my head between my knees. She’s lying. She can’t be telling the truth right now. There’s no way in the world this can be true. She’s gotta have a different motive because there’s no way I would fuck Wren and not remember her. I fucking love her.

  And then I close my eyes and picture Wren and her perfect little nose…and it all makes some sense.

  Carter would take to his biological mother better than anyone else.

  Her maternal instincts with him are kick ass.

  …but how the fuck…?

  “No way,” I mutter. “No fucking way.”

  Not that I wouldn’t be ecstatic…but that means… That means I fucked her and forgot about her. Oh shit.

  “Lincoln…you really think I would drop this on you without knowing, one hundred percent?”

  “She said her baby was adopted, Lark,” I whisper, shaking my head in denial. “Someone else has her kid right now. Carter… He’s mine. You’re not taking him.”

  “That’s not,” she says, pausing and taking a breath. “Lincoln that’s not why I’m here.” She crosses her arms in front of her and shakes her head. “Wren thinks the baby was adopted, Lincoln. In reality, my parents paid me off, a very wealthy sum, to just have it taken care of. It was too late to force the abortion when they found out, so they did what they do best. They swept it under the rug. They didn’t allow Wren to come home the entire pregnancy for fear that someone here would find out our dirty little secret. They wouldn’t allow me to let her file the adoption papers because then it’s on paper for eternity. They expected me to take care of it without involving them and without involving authorities. I’ve lied to my sister for years now…I’m tired of it.”

  “How…” I feel like I’m going to be sick. “Lark, I’m so fucking confused. Carter’s mine. We had blood tests done. He’s my child, I…shit.”

  “The night at the frat party. The one where the cops broke it up and you walked home in the freezing cold with a group of people?”

  I flash back to that night, remembering being so angry that I had to slum it up at a frat party, and my mind searches for seeing Wren that night but so much is a blur. God, I was hung-over for days from that one.

  “The warehouse behind the house, Lincoln. The abandoned one,” she whispers, her voice cracking and tears falling down her cheeks.

  “Oh fuck,” I manage. Everything comes back full force like I was smacked in the head with a baseball bat.

  I fucked Wren. I drunk fucked her, hard, then left her to fend for herself in the cold dark fucking warehouse so I could go find more chicks to screw before the end of the night. “Oh, holy shit,” I murmur, my stomach rolling. I glance at the picture of Carter and it all clicks. “Oh, fuck,” I whisper, running for the bathroom.

  I’m not a puker, not even when drunk, but I spill everything into that goddamned white porcelain throne.

  “She can’t know, Lincoln. It’ll ruin…everything,” Lark whispers from the doorway. I glance up at her and wipe my mouth while she dries her eyes.

  “You…you knew?”

  “I knew it was you, Linc. I was looking for my little sister, scared to death that her first frat party was ending like it was. God, she was so drunk before I lost sight of her. I walked out back to search and I saw you stumbling out of the warehouse right before I ran in and found her.” She shakes her head. “I had to help her pull her pants back up, Lincoln. She was that far gone and you just left her like that.”

  “How did you know it was mine, though?” I whisper, sitting back on my heels. If this isn’t degrading, talking to a girl in the bathroom after just puking up my guts in the toilet, I’m not sure what is.

  But that doesn’t bother me.

  What bothers me is the fact that I’m not entirely certain what to do with this information right now. I want to smash things. I want to scream and throw things and punch people…but what good will all that do? I want to tell Wren she’s one of us…literally…but that could ruin everything.

 
; “Lark, you just took a chance and figured ‘hey, I’ll just give it to him, I know he fucked her’?”

  “Lincoln, you’re the only man she had sex with before that baby was born.” She states, crossing her arms.

  “I…she was a virgin?” I whisper, trying to remember that night. It’s all so vague…but I don’t think I remember fucking anyone that green.

  “No, but I remember it had been a long time. We were just talking about it the day before the party. When she showed up pregnant and the timing worked out, I knew what I had to do.”

  “Steal your sister’s baby and give him to the dad,” I murmur, my eyes falling to the floor. “Lark, that’s fucked up.”

  “I didn’t have a choice, Lincoln. I wasn’t about to see my nephew go into the system.” She sniffles and shakes her head, sliding to the floor. “He was the perfect tiny blue bundle. I cried for days after doing what I did, but I knew in my heart you were a good person. I knew you’d take care of him.”

  I look at her point blank.

  I want to tell her that she ruined me…but did she?

  “I need you to go,” I mumble, clearing my throat and standing. “I really, really need you to leave.”

  “Lincoln, you can’t tell her. She can’t know this. My parents…God, if they knew you guys were dating and her baby is here…and…” She breaks down as she follows me out of the bathroom.

  “What?” I snap, lowering my voice so I don’t wake Carter up. “What will they do, Lark?”

  “I don’t know, but they’re not good people,” she whispers.

  “He’s my fucking son. She’s the fucking mother. You will tell her, or so help me God I will…and it’s not going to be pretty if I do.”

  Her eyes fall to the floor and she sobs. I can’t feel anything right now, least of all sorrow for this woman in front of me that’s screwed over so many people’s lives. And for what? Money?

  “I mean…did you two ever just consider keeping the baby?” I blurt, pacing the kitchen. “Lark, you literally stole a baby from someone and dropped it off at a stranger’s house. How in the world do you sleep at night?!” I bark. “That’s your blood, Lark! He’s your nephew!” I hiss, waving my arms to Carter’s bedroom.

  Fuck!

  She shakes her head. “I don’t. I haven’t. It’s why I can’t come home. I can’t be around my parents, they turned me into a monster.”

  “You can say that again.” I open the back door. “Get out. I’m giving you twenty four hours to tell her.” I clench my jaw and watch her eyes fill up with tears. She nods quickly and hurries out of the house.

  I watch as she runs away and the day she placed Carter in my arms plays on repeat in my head. My heart hurts, my head hurts, and I feel like I could be sick again.

  “Dude, seriously?” Ford bursts into the house, smelling of cigar smoke and alcohol, but his eyes show only fury. “Middle of the night bootie calls to cheat on your fucking girlfriend?” he blurts, then kicks me. “You’re a fucking moron,” he mutters.

  “She’s not…that’s not what it looked like,” I groan, rubbing my shin.

  “Then what the fuck was it?”

  I stare at him, let out a puff of air, and shrug.

  “That was the girl that dropped Carter at my door,” I manage through a tight throat. “Wren’s his mother, Ford.” I let a tear finally slip down my face and he rushes to me and wraps his arms around me.

  “Holy shit dude. Does she know? Wren? Who the hell was that?” He asks, pointing to the door.

  I can’t hold this all in. Not something like this. I take a breath and start in at the beginning. My entire family knows how I got Carter, but I never knew the full situation. I do now. And I feel like a tool.

  “We gotta tell Mom, Linc.” Ford looks like he’s sobered up enough by the time I finish to make sense of the situation. “That family is powerful… We need to get ahead of this.”

  I nod and rub my neck. “We’ll head there in the morning,” I mutter, shaking my head. Why in the world does the universe hate me? How is this even going to end well?

  It’s not. That’s how.

  I’ve been texting Lincoln all morning but he still hasn’t replied and I’m starting to get worried. We had plans to go to his Nan’s house with Carter and Yellow today since it’s Sunday but it’s going on noon and I haven’t heard from him.

  “Hey sis, what’s cookin?” I walk into the kitchen where Lark’s hard at work baking something.

  “Pie,” she blurts then spins and her eyes go wide. “Pie. I’m making your favorite pie.”

  I laugh and prop myself up on the island countertop, watching her frantically cut apples and toss them in a skillet.

  “You’re making homemade apple pie?” I chuckle. “What the hell did you do that you need to butter me up with my absolute favorite?” I smirk and she wiggles her body awkwardly.

  “Nothing,” she whines. “Just feel like pie.”

  “You realize you live in Washington, the apple capitol of the world, but you wait until you’re back in the middle of nowhere to make me a pie? You never made these for me in Seattle.” I pop an apple slice in my mouth.

  “Yep. Busy and shit.” She huffs and wipes her hands on her apron before spinning and grabbing the dough.

  “Are you high?” I ask, trying to get a glimpse of her eyes. She’s not a druggie by any means, but I wouldn’t put it past her to light up after last night’s events. Jesus, I even wanted to after that horrible dinner. My parents drain me.

  “Nope,” she chirps, throwing me a fake smile. “Just happy. I missed you.”

  “How was last night?” I ask, heading for the coffee pot.

  “Oh,” she laughs a boisterous laugh…very uncharacteristic for my sister. “so good. Just…just so much fun. Good. Great.”

  “Why’re you being so weird?” I murmur over a warm cup of coffee. Fall is my favorite season and it’s rapidly approaching. Soon my iced coffee middle of the days will be replaced with steaming cups of java and I won’t be wiping little kids asses daily for a living.

  God, I’m excited for things to be moving forward.

  I head to my closet and start going through my wardrobe, making mental notes of what I need to start this new job. What I need is a serious shopping day. And maybe a new credit card to buy it all on. I start to smell the pie and not long after, Lark calls me to the kitchen.

  “Is that warm pie and vanilla ice cream?” I groan, my mouth watering.

  “Sure is. Have some.” She slides me the plate and grabs a fork, her face so serious when she hands it to me.

  I take a bite and let out a sigh. “Holy hell this is amazing.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” She nibbles at hers as I devour mine. “I have news,” she finally says.

  “I knew it,” I whisper, taking another bite. “Spill. Are you moving home? Is someone sick? Did Dad rope you into something stupid?” I take another bite and notice how pale she looks right now. “Lark, you don’t look so good. Are you sure you’re not sick?”

  “I’m not, Wren,” she whispers, her hand shaky as she sets her fork down. “Please don’t hate me, ok?”

  “I could never hate you, big sis.” Jesus she’s got me worried.

  “We never put the baby up for adoption,” she blurts, closing her eyes.

  I drop my fork the minute the words fall from her mouth and the clank of metal on porcelain sounds like an atomic bomb in the silent room. My eyes hit hers and I see how they’re filled with water and if I weren’t sitting right now, my knees would have given out from under me.

  “What?” I whisper, unable to form any more words though I have a million questions.

  “Shit,” she huffs, taking a step away from me and wiping her eyes. The longer she waits, the angrier I get.

  “Lark, what the fuck did you do?” I manage, my throat tight as a tear slips down my face. “Is he dead, Lark? Did my baby die? That’s the only reason you’d keep something like this from me, right? To protect my heart?�
�� I stammer, shaking my head and covering my mouth from letting out a cry that will definitely wake the neighborhood.

  “No…shit no, Wren. He’s very much alive. I promise you.” Her arms fall to her side. “I dropped him off somewhere the day he was born. But he’s very much alive,” she blurts.

  “Shut up.” I growl but she nods, grimacing.

  “I fucked up.” She cries and I take a deep breath, then stand and walk over to her. “I just tossed him aside like he wasn’t my nephew,” she cries.

  “You’ve gone fucking mental,” I growl and my hand cracks across her cheek.

  I’ve never hit anyone in my life. But my sister just changed that for me.

  Apparently she’s been a bigger force in my life’s ways than I thought. “I thought you were on my side,” I hiss.

  “I didn’t have a choice,” she cries, holding her cheek. “It was that or the system as an unnamed baby, dropping it at the police station. Mom and Dad didn’t even want it alive.”

  “Stop!” I hiss. “Stop calling him an ‘it.. He’s a baby. He’s a toddler right now,” I say. “Fucking Christ, Lark. Who are you?”

  “I’m your sister. I’m an aunt that knew the father of the baby and I knew he’d take care of him.”

  It’s like a knife cuts straight through my back. Straight goddamned through it.

  “You know the father?” I whisper, squeezing my eyes closed and taking a deep breath. “You know the father and you didn’t bother to tell me? Did you for once think that maybe I wanted the baby? That maybe I wanted to keep him and raise him and have something in this goddamned world I could call my own?”

  “Mom and Dad wouldn’t have let you do that, Wren,” she says, shaking her head.

  “Fuck Mom and Dad!” I shriek. “Do they know what you did?”

  “They were upfront with their money. I wasn’t to talk about it again and I was to take care of everything without them being involved.”

  “Did you say money?” I narrow my eyes at her and everything starts clicking in place. She never had an amazing job but she let me live with her rent free and never wanted for anything. That’s fucking why. Because my parents paid her to get rid of my ‘screw up.’