Chapter7
“I’m late,” Molly said as she rushed out the door. She slammed the door shut and bolted to the front porch.
“Miss Molly!” Miguel called from the car. Molly turned around at the front step. “You forgot your bag!” She looked down at her empty hands and up at Miguel, who waved a small, brown paper bag at her. Embarrassed, she ran back over and grabbed it from his hand.
“Thanks,” she said, not knowing if he looked inside.
“You okay?” He cocked his head to one side.
Molly nodded. “I’m fine. Just kind of…” She held up the bag. “Did you see what’s inside?”
“It’s none of my business,” he said. He straightened his posture once again. “But what I do know is.” His eyes twinkled at her. “I have five brothers and sisters and I’m the oldest. I know what a pregnancy glow is and you’ve got it. I’ve seen it for about a week now. Ever since Mr. Tyler got home from his business trip.” He winked at her. “My mom always glowed, way before she ever thought she might be pregnant.” His eyes softened. “I don’t know if that’s good news or bad news for you but congratulations none the less.”
“You could be wrong, you know,” she said softly. Her tone wasn’t malicious. She was thoughtful and worried. “It could just be a happiness glow or a…” Her voice trailed off.
“You’re going to make a beautiful and loving mother, Miss Molly. I can already tell you that. You have a big heart and you are a good person.” He cleared his throat. “If you don’t mind me saying that.”
She felt as though she was going to burst into tears. There were suddenly people in her life that thought about what she was like on the inside. Her hopes. Her dreams. They thought she was a good person and that’s what made her feel like crap. She had cheated on Kevin. Deep down she knew that she was pregnant and she knew that it wasn’t Kevin’s baby. Not only had they used protection – Kevin didn’t want the scandal of having a pregnant fiancé – but she had this inkling suspicion. Then again, maybe it was just wishful thinking. Having this baby would get her out of their engagement if he didn’t believe that it was his after all… But what would she do? A single mother? Did she need to get this…taken care of before it was too late? Her eyes met Miguel’s eyes and she instantly knew that she couldn’t do something like that. Molly wrapped her arms around him.
“Thanks,” she said. “I don’t think that I’m as good of a person as you say but it is something that I really wanted to hear.”
“It is true,” he said. “Remember, Miss Molly, we all make mistakes. It is what you do after those mistakes that really make you who you are.”
Does he know, she thought. Does he know that I cheated on Kevin? If he does, why did he say that he thought she was a good person? She shook free of those thoughts and thanked him again and dismissed him for the day, before running inside with the bag.
The front door slammed shut. She knew that no matter what the pregnancy test said, she would want to sit and wallow over her situation for the rest of the day. Maybe enjoy a pint of ice cream to herself. A cheesy chick flick from the 80’s didn’t sound so bad either.
She sprinted to the bathroom and shut the door. The bag and the rest of its contents fell to the floor as she tore through the home pregnancy test box.
* * *
“Is it ready yet?” Nattie asked, pacing in the hallway.
“I don’t know. I’ve never done these before,” Molly said as she flung the pregnancy test around in her hand. Her tendency of talking with her hands when she was nervous wasn’t doing her any favors on this particular day. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Nattie looked at her watch as she paced. She crossed paths with Molly as they both patrolled the hallway in different directions. “I think you have another 30 seconds left before it’s ready. You have 30 seconds of freaking out to do before this gets real. Go.”
They passed each other again. “I can’t believe this is happening to me. It was just one time. We just had sex that one time. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Okay, maybe it was. It was a big deal. Justin was amazing. If that is what sex is really like, then I’ve been doing it wrong my whole life. But that doesn’t mean that I’m ready to have a baby. I’m still a baby. I know that Kevin said he wanted babies,” she continued. As she talked, she waved her hands around frantically, almost hitting Nattie in the face as they passed each other once more. “But he didn’t want babies right now.”
“Five more seconds.”
“I can’t have his baby. I can’t have a baby. I haven’t done enough with my life to-”
Before passing one another again, Nattie stopped her, dead in her tracks. She stared into her eyes. Molly had never seen such concern in her friend’s eyes before – not for her at least. A purse with a stain, sure. Mud splattered shoes? Yeah. But concern for her friend? “It’s time,” she said. “You okay? You want me to look at it?”
“No, I don’t need you to. I can do it.” She took a deep breath.
“Hey,” Nattie said. “No matter what happens, know that I’ll be there for you. I mean, babies scare the crap out of me but I’ll be there. I can play the cool aunt card. If you need a place to crash, you and the little peanut can stay with me.” She hugged her.
The warmth of her friendship almost overwhelmed Molly to tears. Her eyes began to well and she had to choke back a sob. They separated and Molly was just about to raise her hand in order to look for that pink strip when they both heard the front door slam shut.
“Crap,” Molly squeaked.
“The bathroom,” Nattie said. She rushed to the bathroom – Molly assumed – to get rid of the evidence. She was suddenly glad that she had called her best friend (actually, texted her “911. Come now.”) to come over. She had left the box sitting on the counter with the instructions laid out and the wrapping everywhere. The receipt was in the paper bag with a chocolate bar and a pack of gum.
“I’m home,” called Kevin from the front of the house. “I got off work early so that we could spend some time together. I figured that you might be mad cause I was gone all weekend and…” He suddenly appeared at the end of the hall.
Molly’s hand immediately went behind her. She stuck the pregnancy test into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled her long shirt over it to hide the portion that stuck out of her pocket.
“You okay?” Kevin asked as he walked toward her. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Yeah, sorry,” she said, trying to shake the look off her face. She hugged him. “I’m fine. Um Natalie is here. She’s in the bathroom.”
“I guess that means no afternoon delight,” he said with a coy smile.
“Afternoon delight.” Her voice showed sarcasm as she repeated the dated term. “Oh, you’re cute. I don’t think anyone’s had one of those since the seventies, honey.”
He chuckled. “A little afternoon nookie, then?”
She could feel his hand as it reached down to grab her butt. She quickly sidestepped away. “Not while Nattie is here,” she said, trying to act cute. Kevin fell for it.
“All right, all right.” He kissed her and took her hand. He led her down the hallway and out into the kitchen. “I got you something,” he said. “An ‘I’m sorry’ for the weekend.”
“Oh, it’s fine,” she said sitting down on the barstool at the breakfast bar. Kevin walked over to the front room and returned with a small bag. He handed it to her and beamed. “You didn’t have to get me anything. I told you that I wasn’t mad when you got back. Did I seem mad to you? For reals?”
“No, but I still felt bad,” he said. He nodded at the bag. “Go ahead an open it.”
She did as she was told, though she wasn’t as excited about it as she normally was. Molly hoped that he didn’t sense a change in her personality. It’s not that she didn’t think it was sweet for him to get her something. She just had more important things on her mind right now. Or rather, in her pocket.
She pulled the small gift bag toward her and took the tissue paper from the top. It was times like these that she knew that he was more than what her other friends and family said about him. All they ever said to her was how controlling he was but they never got to see this side of him: the sweet side.
“Oh,” she said as she peered into the bag and pulled out a black apron with white frilly lace around the edges.
“An apron?” Nattie said as she walked into the kitchen. “You’re really pushing this housewife thing, aren’t you?”
“I thought you would think that it’s cute,” he said. He turned his attention back to Molly. “What do you think?”
“Yeah,” she said. She opened her mouth to say something else but nothing came out. She just stared at it.
“Well, I can take it back if you don’t like it,” he suddenly said, an offended tone behind his comment.
“It’s fine. I love it. Thanks,” Molly replied. The tone of sincerity that she wanted to portray didn’t quite come out. She snatched the apron away from him and held it close to her chest for a quick squeeze, then set it back down on the counter.
Kevin reached for it and held it up. “I thought you would look really cute in it anyway,” he said. “But…”
“No buts…” Molly said. She shot Nattie a dirty look before her best friend could say anything else, then she reached up and grabbed it from him. She plopped back down on the seat and as she did, she could feel the pregnancy test snap from her weight.
“What was that?” Kevin asked.
“Must just have been the stool,” Nattie said.
Kevin shrugged. A familiar chime came from his suit pocket. He held his hands up to the girls as his other hand reached inside his coat and fished out his phone. “Work,” he said. “I’ll be right back.” He answered it and meandered out of the room for a little privacy.
“Did you see what it was?” Nattie whispered. “Was it positive? Am I going to be a cool aunt?”
“Do you want it to be positive?” Molly asked as she jumped off of the stool and took the test out of her pocket. The plastic was bent and cracked but the test seemed fine enough. She flipped it over in her hand but before they could see whether or not there was a red line or two red lines, Kevin appeared back in the kitchen.
“What’s that?” he asked.
The girls jumped. Nattie jumped in front of Molly, trying to hide what was in her hand.
Kevin’s eyes narrowed. “What is that?” he asked.
“Uhh…, uh… A thermometer,” Nattie said. “Your thermometer. I’m not feeling too hot.” She reached behind her and grabbed the test from Molly’s hand.
“Then what are you doing over here?” Kevin asked, stepping back. “Go home.”
Nattie slipped the test into her back pocket and sidestepped toward her purse on the breakfast bar. She grabbed it and made a bee line for the door.
What’s she doing with my test, Molly thought. “I should walk her out.”
“Well don’t get too close. I don’t want to catch anything.” He was only half paying attention anymore as he walked down toward the den. “Movie?” he asked, not even bothering to look back at Molly.
“Sure,” Molly said, hurrying after Nattie. When they stepped out onto the porch Nattie grabbed the test from her pocket and held it in front of them. “Is that one line or two?” Molly asked.
“It’s so fuzzy. I think it might be two lines… What does that mean again?”
“I don’t know,” Molly said. “The lines are supposed to be pink but these look a little…purple? Blue violet?”
“How could you mess this up? It’s peeing on a stick. How can you mess that up?” Nattie said. She playfully smacked Molly on the shoulder but instantly regretted it when she looked into her face. “I’m just kidding. I’ll get you a new test and we’ll take it at my place. What do you say? I’ll even get one of the new ones that have a digital readout. Unless you want to go see your doctor instead?”
Molly shook her head. “No, if it turns out to be negative I don’t want anyone except you and Miguel to know about this.”
Nattie nodded. “Whatever you say, sweetie,” she said. She held the test in one hand and used the other hand and arm to give Molly a side hug. “Sneak away tomorrow. Have Miguel take you to my place tomorrow. Gotta visit your sick friend, right?”
Molly nodded and they said a couple of quick goodbyes before they went their separate ways. After shutting the front door behind her, she took a deep breath. All of this lying, she thought. I don’t like it. I don’t have to really hide a pregnancy test, do I? I mean, the baby could possibly be Kevin’s. She sighed. I just have to stay away from Justin from now on. She made a bowl of popcorn before making her way down into the den. The 50- inch television screen blasted the room with light and noise like the sun breaking through a blanket of clouds. On the couch was a snoozing Kevin. In one hand was the remote control. In the other hand was his phone. She set the bowl down in the seat next to him so that she could cover him with a blanket. Then she plopped down, set the bowl in her lap, and gently slipped the remote out of his hand.
Mindlessly flipping through the TV channels, it didn’t take long for her to start zoning out. She missed Justin. She could still feel his touch. Even thinking about it sent quivers up and down her spine.
“You sure you’re okay?” came a soft voice next to her. She looked over. Kevin was awake. He blinked at her. “You seem a bit preoccupied. You passed right by that remodeling show that you always ask me to watch.”
“Oh!” She hadn’t even realized it. She wasn’t really paying attention to the TV anyway so she handed the remote over. “I think I’m just tired and my head hurts. I’m just going to lay down a bit. Here,” she said, handing him the bowl of popcorn.
He leaned toward her – though not all the way – and took the bowl from her hand. She met him halfway so that he could kiss her forehead. “I hope you’re not catching whatever Natalie brought over here,” he said. He rolled his eyes. “I swear. If she knew that she was sick, why would she come over?”
“She was going through a thing.”
“A thing?”
“Yeah.”
“What thing? What thing could she possibly be going through that she thought she needed to see someone right away and possibly expose other people to the flu or the zombie virus or the-”
“She might be pregnant,” Molly blurted out. What? What did you just do? Molly screamed in her head.
“Well, that’s her problem,” Kevin said, not skipping a beat.
“But I’m her best friend. I want to be there for her.”
“That’s great. You’re a sweet girl and all but why do you have to jump up and help her when she was the one that screwed up by pregnant in the first place,” he said, putting a fistful of popcorn in his mouth.
She could feel the anger boiling up from her chest like a tea kettle. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, gawd. Don’t get offended. I don’t want to have to deal with that. Didn’t you say that you had a headache or something?” he said rolling his eyes. “Listen. I’m still pretty jet lagged from the trip. How about we watch a movie later?”
Molly didn’t bother answering. Moving the remote back into the armrest of his chair, she silently stood up and walked up the stairs to the kitchen. Kevin didn’t try to stop her. He didn’t do much of anything. She couldn’t believe him. And to think, she was going to spend the rest of his life attached to this guy. She almost burst into tears just thinking about it.
The bedroom was cool. She had left the shades closed that morning due to her mounting anxiety. She had sensed that something was wrong. When she felt ill that morning, her panic suddenly climaxed at the thought of being pregnant and turned into even more morning sickness.
She peeked through the curtain and saw that the sun was shining directly into the window. It was a beautiful day but she didn’t feel like reveling in it. She just wanted to lay down and cry. I could just pretend that it’s Kevin’s baby even though I know that it isn’t. I can just feel it. Would that make me a horrible person? Am I already a horrible person? She took a deep breath. And what about Justi-
Like clockwork, her phone buzzed on the nightstand. She stared at it. She knew who it was. It was like Justin could read her mind and knew when she was thinking about him. This had been happening all week. He would pop into her mind and while she was daydreaming about him, he would text her. It was never anything romantic or poignant. Just “Hey” or “Thinkin bout you”. She never answered and now that she might be pregnant with his baby, there was no way that she was going to answer back. She plopped down on her bed, face first into her pillow.
“He wouldn’t want to know,” she said to herself. “He wouldn’t care. Kevin doesn’t care…, or at least he doesn’t care about Nattie’s baby. I hope that he would care about mine. He would be able to provide for us and all. Telling Justin would only exacerbate the whole situation.