Chapter Seven ♥
*
Dean straightened his back, tried to hide his humiliation, and cupped himself so that as few people as possible could see. Bardot, for her part, laughed. Dane tried to force an expression that made him look more confident than he felt.
"Oh my God, are you three okay?" Bardot managed – the whole question held only a hint of a snigger. "They said everyone was out."
"You just saw us go in, though," Dane said.
"Well," Bardot said, failing to hide her laughter little bit less. "I should get going. After all, I don't need to see too much more of any of you today."
She turned, buried her face in her hands, and let out a laugh that even her strongest efforts apparently couldn't contain. She disappeared in the crowd, and Dane was left with his two friends, trying to forget that he was standing in front of what must've been the whole town, with nothing on but a dream and his own shame.
It didn't take them long, though, before there were paramedics surrounding them, wrapping blankets around their shoulders. The three sat in the back of an ambulance, being inspected by doctors who were much more professional than Major’s sister had been. Dane's hand got wrapped up and bandaged, and the three of them were left there to shiver in the wind and the shock of having just narrowly escaped with their lives.
Major turn to Dane. Dane immediately went on the defensive, but as it turned out, he didn't need to.
"Leo's right.” He looked like it was a hard admission to make. "I've been treating you like shit, and I shouldn't. I know you better than that. If you're serious about my sister, that I won't stop you. Just know that, if you do anything to hurt her, I'm coming after you."
"I'll do my best," Dane said. "But… I'm not too sure she wants to see me at this point." Dane let out a long low breath. "I'm hoping it's just because she doesn't want to upset you."
"Bardot's a smart girl," Major said. "But, at the same time, just like any of us, she can be pretty dumb. If she wants to be stubborn, then she can get her head up her own but just like the rest of us."
Dane looked at Major with a serious expression. "So it's fine if I date her, then?"
"I can allow it," Major said.
"And… What about… If I wanted to marry her?"
Leo laughed, but Dane didn't. Neither did Major. The expression on Major’s face wasn't furious, but it said in no uncertain terms that while he’d given his forgiveness, he hadn’t yet forgotten his anger. "Don't push your luck."
Leo leaned into Dane, as if he was going to say something conspiratorial. But when he spoke, he wasn't being quiet enough to make sure Major didn't hear them, and Dane winced. "No go on, man, and make her your woman."
Bardot reached to pick up the phone. She had it in her hands. She had the number entered in. And all she had to do was to press the little green button, and Dane would be on the other end of it. She could tell him that she didn't care what her brother said. She could tell him that she was pregnant. He deserved to know, after all.
Instead, she pressed the power button got, and the screen turned off. She tossed the phone onto her bed. By the time that she managed to pace from the bed to the door and back, a little voice in the back of her head wreaked havoc on her mind, telling her that she needed to call Dane. It was only right. Instead, she just resisted some more. The urge not to call them was so strong that whatever other urges she might have had, that one overwhelmed it.
After several attempts, though, Bardot finally made up her mind. He deserved to know, she repeated. She wasn't going to get rid of the baby, and that meant that whether he was involved in child and not, Dane was going be a father. And he deserved to know that. She picked up the phone, punched Dane's name on her contact list, and punched the little green button.
She put the phone to her ear, listening. It rang once. Then, the butterflies in her stomach that had been bothering her all morning decided that they had enough. Bardot dropped the phone and ran to get kitchen, where the nearest bit of plumbing was, and buried her face in it.
She wasn't the sort of person who got sick very often. Apparently, getting pregnant changed things. By the time that she finished being sick in the kitchen sink, and cleaned her mouth out with a little bit of water, the phone call was all but forgotten. She trudged back to her room, only to look down at the phone, and see that she had a missed call. From Dane.
Below the notification was the notification that she had a voicemail. She tried to convince herself to listen to it, but the butterflies in her stomach decided that they weren’t finished yet. She barely made it back to the kitchen before she had an emergency. At least, she thought sourly, she hadn't lost it on the floor yet.
The sound of a beep outside of her door told Bardot that the mail had arrived. It took every part of her not to rush straight to the door; instead, she took her time. She didn’t want to lose it again, just because she was in a rush. When she finally did make the door, though, she flung the door open and found the mailbox full of letters.
Most of them were a waste of her time. An advertisement for a local hardware store she never even been to, a bunch of save a lot coupons, and the weekly coupons from the local mall. None of them she needed, but they delivered them anyways. There was a bill, reminding her what she had a balance for a surgery she got in last year when she broke her finger. The payments went through every month, but so did the bills.
The last letter, though, was the one that caught her attention. She pulled it open like it contained the first bite of food she’d seen in months, and yanked the piece of paper inside the envelope out. Her eyes scanned over the document. Bardot screamed! She rushed back to the kitchen, through the paper down on the Counter, barely able to contain her excitement. Fable heard all the noise, and leaned out of her room.
"What's all this craziness about?"
"Here," Bardot said. She held the paper out to Fable. "Read this." Fable’s eyes scanned quickly over the page, then she took a deep breath.
"Congratulations! We all know you could do it,"
"I mean, I thought I could, too, but… Seeing it in front of me, it's a little bit different." Bardot felt giddy. "I'm really going to Seattle."
"But… What about…"
"And did you see the salary at the end?" Bardot was practically shouting at this point, her excitement overwhelming her. "I have enough money to support myself, and my baby. I don't need to rely on anybody. I'm going to be okay. Everything's gonna be fine!"
The whole thing felt like it was overwhelming her. She felt dizzy! She started to lean over the sink again, knowing exactly where dizziness tended to lead.
"You need to tell Dane, though," Fable said, becoming serious. "He deserves to know. He's got every right to."
"But, I don't need him to give me any money or anything," Bardot said, trying to sound hopeful. "I won’t need to come after him for child support, or anything like that."
"And if he wanted to be there for you?"
"You know Dane better than that," Bardot said, her enthusiasm slipping. "This is the easiest way."
"You can't lie to him," Fable said, gently. "Not even if it's just a little one, and this one isn't. Not even if it's just by omission."
Bardot took a deep breath. She looked down at the paper again. Her excitement was fading fast. Fable was right. But when Bardot tried to think of what she was going to say to Dane, that turning in her stomach started again. I should have tried harder, Bardot thought. Her conscience tore at her for the decision, but the only thing that she could think of was that she couldn't tell him. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't tell him.
"Fable, please. You can't… You can't say anything to them."
"I very well can," Fable said. She set her jaw and looked Bardot deep in the eyes. "Dane has a right to know. And if you don't tell him, I'm going to. Because I would hate to imagine that that child go through his entire life and his father not even know he existed."
"Look… I'll tell him, okay? Just… You have to give me some time. I promise I'll tell him before the baby’s here, but… I got a lot of stuff to take care of right now, okay? So you have to… Just… Please, give me time."
"I'm serious," Fable said. "I will tell him if you don't. But if you need time, then take your time. You guys have a lot to work out anyways. So I'm not going to stick my nose into it too far. Not yet."
Bardot felt sick to her stomach. She spat in the sink. Any minute now, she knew, she was going to lose her lunch again. Just thinking about telling Dane made it all worse. Why couldn't her sister just kept her mouth shut? It would be so much easier if she could just…
Fable left. She went back into her room. And Bardot, left alone with her thoughts, try to figure out how she was going to tell Dane. Then, she realized the answer, and frowned. The right answer, was that she was going to leave. If she didn’t have to see him, then… Even if Fable told him, it would be fine… Right?