AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Here, darling, have a seat.” Mrs. Loughty’s soothing motherly voice instantly puts me at ease. “Pippa, dear, get her some water. Or do you want a nice cup of tea?”
“W…ater,” I manage to squeeze out, voice thin.
Pippa springs into action, and the next thing I know, an ice-cold glass of water is shoved into my limp hand. I drink it without hesitation or much thought, too lost in my head. It isn’t until the glass is empty that I realize how incredibly thirsty I was. The water actually helps. I can feel the coldness slide down my throat and settle in my stomach, which seems to kick-start the rest of my senses.
“What am I going to do?” I ask, finding my voice again.
“What do you want to do?” Pippa asks. “Do you want to keep it?”
“Pippa.” Mrs. Loughty gasps at the question. “Shame on you! What a thing to ask.”
“Hey, Mrs. L, this is a pro-choice home.”
I lift a hand to silence their bickering. “That’s not… I don’t want to do anything like that. I’m going to have the baby, and I’m going to keep it.”
“Good decision, my dear.” Mrs. Loughty seems to relax at that and slips her arm around my shoulders.
Pippa takes my hand.
“I mean, money-wise I’m sure I’ll be okay,” I go on, trying to work things out as I speak. “But I didn’t plan for this. I suppose I’ll have to work right up until I deliver. And then after…daycare is so expensive, and I hate the thought of leaving my baby with a stranger. I don’t have any family around who can help. Oh, God…”
Pippa and Mrs. Loughty hug me tightly, and I cling to them, shutting my eyes and taking a few calming breaths. I can’t hold back the tears anymore, and though I’m not outright sobbing, they flow so fast, I might as well be.
“We’re here for you, Lizzie,” Pippa tells me, smoothing my hair away from my face. “You don’t have to work everything out tonight. And you don’t have to do this alone.”
“That’s right,” Mrs. L agrees. “Just take it one step at a time, dearie. You only just took the test. All you can do tonight is have a good warm dinner and get some sleep. Start fresh in the morning.”
Her words bring little comfort. Logically, I know it makes sense, but my nerves are too frazzled to follow anything that would be considered logical.
“Yeah…I guess…” is all I can manage to say.
“What about the father?” Mrs. Loughty asks. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but you really do have to tell him. It’s his responsibility too, you know. Rex may a bit of a dimwit, but I imagine he still knows right from wrong.”
I share a look with Pippa, but it isn’t necessary. I can tell by her expression that she knows exactly who the father is.
“It’s not Rex,” I correct.
“Oh? It’s not?”
Pippa shakes her head. “Nope.”
“The father is…well, he’s not in the picture. What we had… It was a one-time thing.”
“You modern women. Gosh, I wish I was thirty years younger. Actually, make that fifty.”
“Besides,” I mutter, “he was pretty clear about not wanting kids.”
“Well, then, that’s his loss,” Mrs. Loughty says in the same tough-as-nails voice I’ve heard her use many times in the past when her mind was set on something. “Pippa is right, Elizabeth. You don’t have to do this alone. We will both be here for you.”
“Yeah, it’ll be like Three Men and a Baby.” Pippa plasters on a smile.
“Except better,” Mrs. Loughty says with a wink, “because we’re hotter… and we actually know what we’re doing.”
“Do we?”
“Meh, we’ll figure it out,” Pippa agrees, shrugging.
“Of course we will,” Mrs. L declares. “And you’re still going to dance, and you’re still going to get that dance studio you’ve been saving for. This doesn’t have to change your dreams.”
