by Simply BWWM
Connor’s heart flew into his throat. “NO! No!” he shouted, standing up out of his chair. “She didn’t get an abortion, did she? Am I too late?” he asked anxiously, his eyes wide and his heart racing.
Reggie stood up as well, sliding his hands into his jean pockets. “No, Mr. James, she hasn’t had the abortion yet. She doesn’t want to; she was thinking she would rather give the baby up for adoption, but she is in a tight spot right now. You see, her father is really the only support she has because she lives at home with him, and he is paying her way through school and giving her a place to live and you know… taking care of her.
“He’s all she has, besides me, and I’m still living at home with my mom, so I’m not really able to help her either, especially since neither of us has graduated yet. We don’t graduate till spring. So, he told her that she has to have an abortion or get out of his house, and she has nowhere to go.
“She feels like he is going to force her to do it, and she will have to let the baby go, except she doesn’t want to. What she really wants is to keep the baby, because she’s grown kind of attached to the idea that she gets to carry your kid and have some small part of you and the love that you two shared, and that’s important to her, so she’s definitely against the abortion, but she is also struggling with giving the baby up for adoption, which she thinks is the only viable option since she has no way to take care of a baby.
“It’s just that her dad put his foot down about the adoption idea. He absolutely won’t hear about it at all. As far as he is concerned, she either aborts the kid or gets the hell out of his house, never to go back. So, she’s really stuck.”
Reggie shrugged and looked deeply at Connor. “That’s why I’m here, which I am sure you were wondering about. She won’t come to you because she thinks you don’t care about her at all because you are getting married or whatever it is that you are doing, so she doesn’t feel like she has anywhere else to turn, but I thought that you should know, because I thought that maybe you could try to find some way to help her out, if you care about her.”
Reggie finally stopped speaking. He had said all that he came to say, and maybe a little more, and he had left the ball in Connor’s court.
Connor stared at him for one long moment and then said, “I need your help.”
Reggie looked at him with a little smile. “Yeah? What are you going to do?” he asked as he watched Connor pulling his coat on.
“I’m going to go to her house and talk to her and to her father, and things are going to change one way or the other, but if I have anything to say about it, she and I are keeping that baby, no matter how we have to do it. I need you to take me to her father’s house. I don’t know where she lives.” He looked at Reggie imploringly, and Reggie pulled his gloves back on and nodded his head.
“Alright! Let’s go!” he grinned as he followed Connor out of the door.
Twenty minutes later, Reggie and Connor walked up the sidewalk in front of Catalina’s house and knocked on the door.
Reggie was certain that he had never been so nervous in his life. Harold pulled the door open and looked at them.
“Good morning, Reggie,” he said, not sure who the other man was. “Do you and your friend want to come in? It’s cold out there.” Harold stepped back and held the door open for them.
Reggie chuckled and gave Connor a sidelong glance. “My friend…” he mumbled as he laughed and Connor looked back at him.
They walked into the house together, and then Reggie looked at Harold and took a deep breath. “Mr. Marshall, this is Connor James. Connor, this is Catalina’s dad, Harold Marshall.” He made the introduction and then he immediately took several steps backward.
Connor held his hand out to Harold and as he was saying that it was nice to meet him, Harold’s voice raised the roof off of the house.
“WHAT?!” he roared furiously. Then he looked directly at Reggie. “You brought this son of a bitch to my house!”
Connor dropped his hand and pursed his lips, looking downward for a moment before raising his eyes toward Harold again.
Reggie shrugged. “Well, Cat needs some help, and he’s the father of their baby, so… yeah. That’s why he’s here. I’m looking out for my friend,” he answered bravely, still standing several feet back from Harold and Connor.
Harold’s head swung back to face Connor and he glared hotly at him. “I can’t believe you’re standing in my house!” he yelled as he closed his hand into a fist and drew it backward.
Connor’s eyes grew large and he followed Reggie’s example and took a few steps back. “Sir, I’m sorry to come here unexpectedly, but I just found out about the baby, and I obviously have a responsibility that needs my immediate attention.”
Harold shook his head. “You’ve done enough to my poor girl; she doesn’t need anything else from you, you bastard. All she needs is to change schools to get away from you and get that damn abortion and then all her problems will be solved!”
His fist was still waving behind him, so Connor kept his distance. “Mr. Marshall, I don’t want her to get an abortion; I want her to keep the baby and I want to help her raise it,” he told Catalina’s father honestly.
Harold’s anger reached new boundaries. “The hell you say!” he hollered loudly, “She is not keeping that bastard kid of yours, she is going to go get an abortion and focus on herself and her education, she’s going to graduate and then she is going to make a good life for herself and you are not going to get in her way again! Do you understand me?” he thundered angrily.
Connor was about to argue back, but just then Catalina came out of her room and looked at her father. “What on earth are you yelling about out here!” she began, but then she looked over and saw Connor and Reggie standing there and her mouth fell full open.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in amazement.
Connor tipped his head toward Reggie. “Your best friend let me know everything that’s going on,” he told her seriously, and then he looked between her and her father. “I’m here to tell you that I want you to keep the baby!” he told her firmly before her father could interrupt them.
Her hands flew to her mouth as she covered it in surprise. She shot a look of shock at Reggie. “You told him about the baby?” she gasped.
Reggie shrugged. “Someone had to do something, nothing good was going on here,” he said, taking a couple more steps backward and bumping into the wall.
Catalina looked back at Connor. “What do you mean, you want me to keep the baby? How am I supposed to do that? I have no way to take care of a baby!” she cried out anxiously.
He looked back at her with wide eyes. “Yes, you can keep the baby. I’m going to help you!”
She shook her head and narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to help me? What about your wife? Don’t you think she might object to you having a baby with another woman and helping to raise it?”
Connor shook his head. “It isn’t like that!” he told her, and Harold grew furious, stepping toward Connor as he swung his fist behind him.
“You’re wife? You have a wife? You’re married and you went after my innocent little girl? You rotten piece of filth! What the hell is the matter with you!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, launching his rock hard fist in Connor’s direction. Connor ducked and Harold narrowly missed him and then almost fell over when he lost his balance.
Catalina ran at her father, reaching for his arm and calling out, “Daddy, no!! Daddy, please don’t hurt him!”
Harold turned on his daughter and fired his anger in her direction, yelling at her. “You stay out of this, you’ve done enough damage already! Look at the mess that you’ve made!” he snapped angrily at her before turning his hateful glare back to Connor.
Connor looked at Catalina and waved his hands in the air. “Cat, I’m not married! I’m not married, and I’m not engaged! Deborah lied to you! She was trying to blackmail me to get me to marry her. She told me that if I married her, she would save my j
ob, but if I didn’t, then she would make sure I got fired and that I wouldn’t be able to work as a teacher at any other colleges ever again!”
Catalina’s mouth fell open once more as surprise spread through her. “You… you aren’t engaged? You’re not getting married?” She blinked in wonder. She had spent hours upon hours agonizing over the knowledge that he was getting married, and as she stood there before him, realizing that he wasn’t getting married, her whole universe seemed to shift and she tried to comprehend it.
“Cat, I want you! I couldn’t marry her, not even as a business arrangement. She’s a horrible woman!” he told Catalina.
Reggie shook his head with wide eyes. “She’s a mean cold hearted bitch. That’s what she is.”
Connor glanced at him and nodded. “Yes, she is.” Then he looked back at Cat. “She was trying to force me into a marriage by blackmailing me using my job. What she didn’t know is that I applied at another college and got accepted, so I’m leaving for another college across town. I’m going to be making twice the money there, too, so I’ll have plenty of support for you and the baby!” he told her desperately.
Harold shook his head. “She is not having that baby! She is going to get an abortion and she is going to focus on her education and graduate and that is final!” he insisted fiercely.
Catalina looked at her father in desperation. “Daddy, please! I don’t want to abort the baby! I want to keep it!”
He pointed his finger sharply at her. “You are not keeping that bastard baby. You are going to get rid of it!”
She shook her head. “NO! Daddy, I want to keep it!”
Connor started to walk toward her and Harold moved swiftly in between them. “You stay away from my daughter, do you hear me? You’ve done enough damage! I can’t even believe you’re still standing in my house! Get the hell out of here!” he shouted at Connor, but Connor looked over at Catalina, who was standing just behind her father, looking over his shoulder at Connor.
“Catalina, I love you! I love you with all of my heart, and I just cannot keep living without you. It’s like torture for me! I need you. I need you with me for the rest of my life. I want you to marry me and be my wife. Let me take care of you and the baby and I promise you that everything is going to be alright!” he called to her and she stared at him as her heart felt like it stopped in her chest.
Harold had finally had all that he was going to take. He launched himself at Connor and Connor dodged out of the way, moving behind him and grabbing Catalina’s hand in his, pulling her into his arms.
Harold hit the floor instead of hitting Connor and he swore as he landed hard where Connor had been standing a moment before. Reggie moved to help him up, but Harold waved him away and got up on his own, turning to face his daughter and Connor.
“You get your damn hands off of my daughter!” Harold yelled at Connor, but Connor turned and looked down at Catalina.
“Marry me, say yes. Right now, just say yes and we will walk out of that door this minute and you can come be with me. We’ll go to my home and you can live there with me. You can finish school and graduate, and I will marry you and we will raise our family together. Say yes… now!” he pleaded with her.
She looked from him over to her father who was back on his feet and storming toward them furiously. “You get your hands off of my baby girl, you son of a bitch!” he demanded and Catalina stepped in between her father and Connor, and her father suddenly stopped short, unwilling to touch Catalina.
“Daddy, no! Please stop! It doesn’t have to be this way!” she begged him, but he looked down at her and shook his head.
“I told you what you could do, and that’s the only way that this is going to work! Do you understand me? I told you that you owe your loyalty to this family and to me, and you need to remember that! Now you get away from him! You are not going to have anything to do with him or his kid! You have a responsibility to me and to your mother for all that we did to put you through school, and you have a duty to yourself to make the best life that you can! Now you let go of that fool you’re guarding and you get your butt back in your room. I’m going to kick this jackass out of my house!” he yelled.
Reggie watched it all from his place up against the wall. He knew how mad Harold was. He had been around Harold a long time, and he knew that Harold didn’t take anything from anyone, and that having Connor in the house would be more than Harold was willing to put up with. But he also knew that Connor and Catalina needed a chance to talk things out, and as he stood there watching them both, he saw the change in them as it took place, and he knew that the visit he had made that morning had been exactly the right thing to do.
Catalina looked from her father up to Connor and she shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Daddy… it doesn’t. I can love you both. We can have a whole family together if you just let your anger go! Please, Daddy…” she begged, but Harold shook his head.
“Don’t you dare choose that bastard over me. I am your father! I am your family! You are my daughter and I am telling you right now, if you walk out of that door with that man, you are never going to walk into this house again. Do you hear me?” he shouted at her with tears in his eyes, and Cat looked back at him and shook her head, reaching for Connor, who wrapped his arms around her and began walking with her to the front door.
“Catalina!” her father yelled out more in pain than in anger. She shook her head again and they moved toward the front door together.
“Daddy, you are always going to be welcome in my home, and I am always going to love you no matter what,” she said tearfully as she walked with Connor out of her father’s house, and she heard her father howl in rage as the door closed behind her, and Connor took her by the hand and walked with her to his car.
Reggie watched through the window from inside the house, and he stayed where he was against the wall until Harold had thundered into his room and slammed the door closed. Then he went into Catalina’s room and gathered some of her favorite clothes, tossing them quickly into her suitcase, and he walked quietly out of the front door, closing it gently behind him.
*
Epilogue
The snow fell softly, perfectly coating the earth on a January morning as cars pulled into the parking lot of the little church. Connor stood before a long mirror, straightening his tie and looking at himself critically. He looked like a groom. He felt like a groom. He just couldn’t quite believe that in one hour he was going to actually be a groom, but this knowledge made him happier than he had ever been, and the wide smile on his face showed it.
In a room much like his on the opposite side of the church, Catalina was sitting on a chair running her fingers through the flowers in her bouquet as she wished for the umpteenth time that her mother could be there with her. She touched the ring on her hand, twisting it back and forth, looking at the design and color and remembering fondly when her mother used to wear it.
Then she stood up and walked over to the mirror, gazing at her reflection, staring at the bride who was staring back at her. She could barely believe that she was looking at herself standing there in a church in a wedding dress on her wedding day. It was more than she ever had believed would happen with Connor, but there she was.
She looked at her left hand, her ring finger bare for the last morning of her life, and she smiled, thinking about the weeks she had spent with him living at his house. It was a beautiful house and she had loved being able to be there with him, to share it with him and to be a couple out in the open in front of everyone. She had never been so happy, save for one thing.
She closed her eyes and wished from her heart that her father could forgive her someday and be part of her life again. She missed him terribly.
There was a knock at the door and she looked up and called out that it was open. Reggie poked his head around the corner and she grinned at him.
“Hey! There’s my man of honor. I thought you were going to be late!” she gushed in relief, happy to see him.
He shook his head and whistled at her.
“My God, you look incredible.” He walked over to her and smiled. “Listen, you know if it doesn’t work out with Mr. Perfect in there, I’m waiting on the sidelines and I’ll step in any day!” he half teased her and she laughed at him and bashed him lightly with her bouquet.
“Reggie!” she scolded him.
He laughed and shook his head. “I’m just kidding! Just kidding. Kind of.” He winked at her and took her hands in his. “Listen, though, in all seriousness, I have a special wedding present for you.”
She shrugged. “You can give it to me later!” she told him with a smile.
He shook his head. “No, I think it would be better if I gave it to you now,” he assured her.