Chapter Ten
“I’ve talked to Cheryl. There will be no divorce,” Malcolm Jennings said. Almost as soon as Emily entered the room, he’d positioned himself behind the President’s desk with his hands folded in front of him; peering out at Kurt and Emily as though they were errant children who had created a mess and he was now here to clean it up.
“Kurt and Cheryl will go to marriage counseling and work out any issues that they have.”
“Malcolm, I told you, we tried that before it didn’t- “
“Miss Pratchett,” Malcolm Jennings continued holding up a hand to silence his son in law. “Will continue her graduate studies at another University of her choosing.”
“Wait, why do I have to leave?” Emily asked. Fusain had been the only University she’d applied to for her graduate work. It was the only place she truly wanted to go.
“Because, both I and the president would prefer it if Kurt stayed on here,” Malcolm said. “And, obviously, we can’t have you on the same campus.”
“So, you’re just assuming that Kurt and I are over?”
Emily glared at him as hard as she could, silently taking deep breaths to calm her nerves. When he looked up at her, those hard, sharp eyes suddenly filled with repressed fury, it was more difficult than she thought it would be not to back down.
“Of course it’s over,” he said. “Do you honestly think you were just going to keep doing…whatever it was you were doing? While Kurt’s wife and hundreds of other people knew about it?”
“I didn’t think that it would keep going exactly like it was,” Emily said though her voice sounded much softer, more beaten down than she’d expected it to. “But-“
“Good,” Malcolm said talking over her. “Then you’ll agree that this is what’s best for everyone.”
The finality of his tone said that he didn’t expect any push back on his pronouncement. With another deep steadying breath, Emily reminded herself that she had to push back. She couldn’t give in.
“…But, we can’t pretend that nothing happened either,” she said. “Partly because, in nine months, there’s going to be very real evidence that something did happen between me and Kurt.”
The look Malcolm Jennings was giving her now, as though he would like nothing more than to strangle her where she stood, had probably felled stronger people than Emily. But, with another deep breath, Emily remembered what she’d told herself.
She had to fight. She had to fight for herself, for Kurt and for their baby. If she didn’t, no one else would.
“If you think you’re going to black mail me with some fake pregnancy-“
“I’m not,” Emily said. “I am pregnant. And, before you ask, I don’t plan on getting rid of it or giving it up for adoption. I’m going to keep my baby. I’ll raise him on my own if I have to and I’m not asking for a penny from you but, I am going to have our baby.”
Malcolm's glare turned into a sneer that spelled nothing but contempt. Though, his eyes softened slightly as though he was a bit impressed with Emily.
“And how can we be sure the baby’s Kurt’s?”
For the first time since Emily had entered the room, Malcolm's eyes glanced to his son in law. Emily looked to him too. Half hoping that, spurred on by Emily’s courage, he might show a little of his own. Hoping that he would berate his father in law for the implication that Emily had been sleeping around and, what’s more, tell him that he was divorcing Cheryl no matter what Malcolm had to say about it.
But, the longer she looked at Kurt, his eyes pressed to the floor not daring to look at either Emily or Malcolm, hands twisting nervously in his lap, the more she realized that she was going to have to keep fighting alone.
“Well?” Malcolm said impatiently. He looked between the two of them as though he too was expecting Kurt to answer.
“Believe it or not,” Emily answered instead. “I’m not some slut. No matter what those meme’s say. I haven’t been with anyone but Kurt in over a year.”
Malcolm let out a small snort of disbelief at that. Emily looked to Kurt once again, praying that that snort might cause him to stand up and defend her. Kurt glanced at his Father in Law. His lips went tight and a muscle seemed to jump in Kurt’s jaw. But, he said nothing.
“I’m willing to do a paternity test when the baby’s born if that would make you more comfortable,” Emily said sarcastically. Anger was now replacing her fear at confronting Malcolm. And she knew she wasn’t just angry at Mr. Jennings. She glanced sideways again at Kurt, the nervous twisting of his hands, his refusal to speak, filling her stomach with a bubbling rage.
“Anyway,” Emily said cuttingly, feeling as though she was speaking to both men. “The point is, I’m going to have a baby. And, no matter what, you two are going to have to deal with that.”
She ended this pronouncement with a glare at Kurt who caught it and looked up at her. His eyes were wide with surprise and confusion, as though he didn’t know why this anger was being directed at him.
“I suppose we will,” Malcolm said turning Emily and Kurt’s attention back to him. Malcolm slunk down in his chair and heaved a heavy sigh.
“Of course, it would have been a lot easier if we only had to pay you a onetime sum to take care of the problem,” he said. “But, since this is what you’ve decided, I’m sure we can discuss a monthly payment once the baby’s born.”
“I said I didn’t want your money,” Emily told him through gritted teeth.
“But, you’re getting it none the less Miss Pratchet,” Malcolm said fixing her with another glare that sent shivers down her spine and made her want to retreat.
“In the meantime, you’ll transfer out of Fusain University and to another school. I’ll make sure that your scholarship transfers over and you get a good recommendation.”
“How generous,” Emily muttered sarcastically. Malcolm ignored her.
“You won’t have to come back to campus,” he continued. “You’ll finish out your work for this semester from home. And, needless to say, this is the last you’ll see of Kurt. And now, if you could send Dr. Schneider in on your way out, I’d appreciate it.”
He looked down at the papers in front of him and began shuffling. It was a clear indication that he wanted her to leave.
She knew that she shouldn’t. She knew that she should continue to stand and fight. But, when she opened her mouth to speak, she found that she had nothing left to say. The man now pointedly looking at his papers in front of her, the man who was clearly showing her that she was not worth any more of his time, had defeated her.
Emily’s energy already felt sapped. A mixture of anger and fear and pain welled up inside her. It felt as though she was about to scream or burst into tears at any moment.
She couldn’t fight any more. She didn’t have the energy.
But, she knew she couldn’t give in either. She’d promised herself that she wouldn’t. What she needed was someone who was willing to fight with her. To take up the charge when she couldn’t do it any longer.
She looked at Kurt who, she could tell, was trying his level best not to look at her. That muscle kept jumping in his jaw and his eyes were fixed at a point on the floor directly ahead of him.
She knew this look. He’d worn it with her a few times before they’d started…whatever it was they’d been doing the past month. It meant he was repressing something. There was some feeling he desperately wanted to let explode out of him but he didn’t dare give voice to it.
When he got like that before, Emily never mentioned it. She knew it was best not to push his buttons about things he’d rather not talk about.
Now, she knew that she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t fight alone. If they were going to be happy, he had to fight too.
So, taking a deep breath, she grabbed hold of the last emotional reserves she had. And turned to Kurt.
“Is that what you want, Kurt?” she asked. Kurt looked up at her, the pain in his eyes so palpable it almost made her gasp.
“Miss Pratchet, I told you. That’s all we need from- “
“I’m not talking to you,” Emily said turning to Malcolm. A bit of the anger she’d been holding in as best she could now fly out at him in her darkest glare yet. Even Malcolm Jennings’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. Emily didn’t care. She turned back to Kurt.
“Kurt, if you want me to disappear, if you want me to go to another school and never see you again, I will,” she said. “But, if I do, I want to know that it’s what you want. It’s not something he’s making you do.”
Kurt glanced quickly between Emily and Malcolm, a flush rising in his cheeks. It was as though someone had presented him with two doors, both unlabeled. One led to life and the other certain death. Now, he was trying to decide which one to take.
The longer his silence continued, the angrier she became with him. The truth was, she knew what he wanted. What he truly wanted. He wanted to be with her and he wanted to keep his job.
The question now was which one he wanted more.
“You’ve got to make a choice,” she pressed. “Do you want me to stay or do you want me to leave?”
The tension in the room had come to a boiling point. Even Malcolm had stopped shuffling his papers and seemed to be on the edge of his seat, waiting for Kurt’s answer as much as Emily was.
“Emily,” Kurt began. Her heart sunk when she heard the defeat echoing in his voice. “Emily…I…I can’t.”
Tears welled in her eyes and it took the last of Emily’s strength not to let them run down. Blinking them away, she nodded.
“Ok then,” she said. “I…I guess this is good bye. I’ll send Dr. Schneider in.”
Without turning back to look at either of them, she walked quickly out of the room. As she opened the door, she felt hot tears sting at her cheeks and she knew it was useless to wipe them away.