Eva entered the back door of the house, biting her lip in apprehension. After her talk with Brenda, she knew she had to tell her father. Her father was her world, along with her new fiancee of course, and she wouldn’t be able to hide this secret much longer anyway. He deserved to know that he was going to be grandfather.

Maybe, just maybe, it would give him something to look forward to.

She walked through the kitchen and found her father sitting in front of the tv, kicked back in his favorite Lazyboy chair now that the crowd finally dissipated to their rooms. The scene was achingly familiar, though her mother was still missing from the chair she had favored in the corner. Even though it had been so many months since she died, the house still looked the same, felt the same, and Eva expected at any moment that her mother would walk through the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

Her father had taken her death the hardest, refusing to even talk about it after the first month. Eva had shouldered some of the responsibilities, but knew that she couldn’t do them forever.

Especially when she found out she was pregnant. Oh how she wished her mother was here now!

“Hey Dad,” she finally said, crossing the room and sitting in the chair near his. “What are you watching?”

A tall glass of whisky in his hand, he looked over at her. “The game. Dinner went well tonight, don’t you think?”

Eva nodded, resting her hands on her stomach, still concealed under her coat. She had thought about just revealing her bump and letting him ask questions, but decided on the surprise maneuver. She had gotten herself into this situation and no matter what her father said, it wasn’t going away. They would have to work through this and he would just have to accept the fact that his daughter was having a child with the man she loved.

“Eva May, you look more like your mother every day.”

Eva looked up to find her father staring at her, a faint smile on his face. “I-I see it more now than ever.”

“Dad,” she sighed, seeing the glimmer of tears in his eyes before he blinked them away. She didn’t like seeing her strong, stoic father with that sad, tearful look in his face. He had always been their rock, the man that nothing could touch, but her mother’s death had nearly destroyed him.

He shook his head, wiping a hand over his face. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up. Did you see the stack of college brochures on the table?”

Eva bit her lip again, a habit she did when she was nervous or worried. Back when everything was right in the world and her mother was alive, they had pored through the colleges and universities, some as far as the states, for the perfect ones that Eva would continue her education. She had dreamed of being a nurse or a teacher, helping others.

But now that seemed to be just a distant memory, put aside for the baby that was growing in her belly. She wasn’t upset at the fact, but rather excited at how her life had taken such a drastic turn. Her fiancé loved the fact that she was pregnant and Eva couldn’t wait to start their lives together. “I-I haven’t had a chance to pick through them.”

He looked at her, his eyes narrowing. “You don’t have much time if you expect to get in before the fall term. Make sure you do that tomorrow.”

She heard the military style marching order in his voice and nodded, knowing that he would not let it rest until she agreed. “Yes, sir. I will do it tomorrow. Maybe Brenda can help.”

“Good,” he said, his eyes turning back to the TV. “You girls should go together.”

Eva held back her laughter, thinking of Brenda at college, with all the boys around for her choosing. Brenda will be in heaven then.

Her baby kicked suddenly and she started at the assault on her belly, still not used to the fact that she had another human being in her.

“And it would give you some space.”

“From what?” Eva asked, shifting in the chair to get comfortable.

Her father looked over, a frown marring his features. “From him.”

Eva sighed. There was no question that her father did not like the love of her life. When she had tried to introduce him to her father, he had told them both that they were not going to date and walked away, leaving Eva in shock. She had to admit that he was not what her father probably had envisioned and that his lifestyle was what his father, such a normal man, would call extravagant, exotic, execrating. Eva in turn thought it was exciting and extraordinary. The religious sect he worked in had a program of spiritual evolution based on mental concentration and the search for self-knowledge which should lead to a healthier and more harmonic life.

Claiming roots as far back as the tenth century, it had lain dormant, reappearing in the fifties, inspired by visions of a Brazilian Shaman who lived in the Brazilian Amazon Forest from where it spread worldwide.

As soon as they were married, they would live in a free community, where spiritual guidance would keep them all in peace, loving each other.

Her father told her she was mad and had kicked her secret fiancé out of their house, threatening to denounce him to the police, if he approached Eva again. Her lover had laughed and said the old man could go to the police as much as he wanted, since it was perfectly legal what he did and it was her father who would be prosecuted for prejudice against a recognized faith. Her father’s eyes had gone cold, his posture even more rigid than normal, as if a rod had been thrust into his spine. Without a word, he had pointed Eva to her room.

But wouldn’t he be glad now that they were in love and expecting his first grandchild? “I’m going to see him, Dad. I’ve already told you that you can’t stop me.”

Her father sat up so fast that he nearly knocked the chair back onto the floor. “And I reminded you that you live under my roof and I make the rules. Do not tell me you have been seeing him behind my back, Eva May.”

Her father looked murderous, his face tight with anger and Eva weighed her options. She could just blurt it out now and hope for the best. After all, he was already upset.

“Never mind,” he said a moment later, gulping the rest of his whisky down. “I can see it written all over your face. I know you’re eighteen, but he is not good enough for you, Eva. Trust me on this.”

“Will anyone be good enough, Dad?” she asked sarcastically.

Her father clenched his fists together tightly, his eyes boring holes into hers. “Do not get yourself involved with him. He’s a bad seed and he’s only going to ruin your life, Eva.”

“He is not!” Eva said firmly, standing. “I wish you would let me live my life as I see fit! He’s good, I swear it.”

Her father snorted. “Then you have poor taste in men. I thought I raised you better.”

Tears blinding her eyes, Eva pushed past her father and stormed out of the house, not caring that the back door banged against the doorframe as she walked outside. Her father was wrong. He wasn’t a bad seed. He loved her. She could feel it in her bones and in her heart.

Her love for him and their baby was…just psychedelic. The adjective didn’t even begin to describe what it all encompassed, but it was the most appropriate adjective she could think of.

Her father would just have to accept the fact that she was going to marry him.