the rag on the back of my neck. “It’s called nausea and vomiting from pregnancy.” I look at him sideways. “I spent the night reading up on morning sickness.” He sits down by my feet. “Also, if you are six weeks pregnant, our baby is the size of a pea and the shape of the letter C and little buds have formed that will be the arms and legs. Is there anything else you want to know because I’m pretty sure I learned everything around four a.m. this morning?”
“I can’t deal with you when you’re like this,” I tell him and just lay my head on the back of the couch, closing my eyes. I drift off to sleep, and when I wake up, he’s sitting at the end of the couch reading the book What to Expect When You’re Expecting. A cover has been draped over me. “What time is it?”
“A little after eleven,” he tells me. “Do you want something?”
“No,” I tell him and slowly get up and go to the bathroom. I get dressed and get ready to go to my father’s. I walk out of the bedroom and see him sitting on the couch. “I think we should go.”
“Lead the way,” he says, putting the book down on the table. I walk out, and after arguing with him about taking two cars instead of one, he wins, and we make our way over to my father’s. When he opens the door and sees us, his smile disappears, and in its place a frown comes over him.
“Hey, Daddy,” I say, coming in. “Sorry to just drop in, but I need to talk to you and Mom,” I tell him, and he just looks over at Carter who nods at him. “We need to do this fast,” I tell him as the nausea returns in full force. We walk to the living room, and I take my phone out to FaceTime my mother. “Hey, Mom, it’s me.”
“Oh, hi, sweetie,” she says, and I see she is sitting on the couch. “I’m here with Dad,” I say, turning the phone, and she smiles and waves at my father who just scowls. “And Carter.” I turn the phone, and now my mother scowls also. I place the phone down on the table and sit down, and I make sure she can see us all. “There is no easy way to say this,” I start, and my father just shakes his head.
“You are not marrying him!” he shouts, and Carter now shakes his head.
“I’m not marrying him,” I say and then look over at Carter who glares at my father. “But we are having a baby.” I just say it, and my father shoots out from his chair. Carter springs up also, and I spring up, standing in the middle of them, the fast motion making me queasy. “Can you both calm down?”
“How can you do this?” He looks over at Carter.
“I am not going to apologize for having a child,” Carter says.
“What about her finding you in bed with a whore?” my father shouts, and Carter just looks at me.
“I never slept with her!” Carter shouts. “Never even touched her.”
“Lies!” my father shouts. “You are a liar.”
“I’m a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them,” he says softly, and then I hear my mother suddenly sobbing, and we all look over at her.
“My baby is having a baby,” she says and then looks at my father. “Our baby is having a baby.”
“I know, sweetheart.” His tone changes, and he grabs my phone and leaves the room.
“Well, that went well,” I say to Carter who is just standing there.
“I never, ever touched her. Not even a hair on her head.” His voice is husky. “After she left, I burned the bed on the beach.” My mouth opens in shock. “You have to know. And as much as I want to forget that moment, you have to know,” he says and then looks up and starts to say something, but my father returns, and you can see that he had tears in his eyes.
“I’m sending a plane for your mother. She wants to be here for the doctor’s appointment,” my father says, and I shake my head.
“I’m going with Carter,” I tell him. “It’s just us for the first one.” My father stares at me. “I love you, but you know that it’s the right thing to happen. No matter what he did to me.” I look down, and