Chapter 31 – Darren
The visit had gone wonderfully. I will never forget the peaceful look on my son’s face as I put him and my mother into the car, him clutching my mother and sleepily protesting their leaving.
What a difference this visit was compared to the last one. Bryant had actually wanted to stay with me.
I told him that he would be coming back soon enough. And I really meant it—Hope or no Hope. I was a proud father and it was time I started acting like it. Even though he didn’t seem satisfied by my reassurances, he at least smiled long enough to whisper “bye, Daddy,” while waving a chubby hand at me, and then they left, with promises of us being able to video chat the very next day.
As I waved them off and watched the car disappear around the bend, reality began to set in. While I was in the middle of enjoying my son’s visit, I had tried putting out of my head the fact that Hope would be leaving.
But, a man of my word, I went off to find her. She was sitting in her room, surrounded with her things and two empty suitcases. She wasn’t packing. She was just sitting on the edge of the bed curled up with her arms around her legs. She looked worried or sad.
“Here, let me help you,” I said, moving to pick up some of her things and put them into the suitcase.
“Don’t do that!” she yelled, snatching the things from my hand and throwing them to the floor.
“Whoa! What’s going on? I’m only trying to help.”
I put my hands in the air and started backing away. I didn’t want to trigger anything. Maybe it would be best if I just left her alone to pack herself and leave, I thought. I didn’t want to cause a scene. Even if it was only her and I left in the house, I had to remind myself I had built it for peace, and what was going on right now was the exact opposite of that goal.
“No, don’t go,” she pleaded, just as I was about to back out of the room into the hallway.
Now, I was really confused.
“Hope, can you please tell me what’s going on?”
Hope brushed her auburn hair away from her face and turned to face the window. There was nothing to see since it was so dark. I just assumed that she was looking at her own reflection. She was so beautiful, I couldn’t say that I blamed her.
“I really appreciate you staying for the visit. It meant a lot to me that you stayed even though you feel torn.”
“I can’t go.”
I couldn’t believe that I was hearing her right.
“What?”
“I can’t go.”
The past few days had been such an emotional rollercoaster, I wasn’t entirely sure that I wasn’t having some sort of hallucination or imagining that she was saying those words.
“Why not?”
“Because, I… I…” She sounded like she was about to cry.
“What? Hope, please tell me what’s going on?”
“I… I think that I might be pregnant.”
My heart skipped a beat. I didn’t quite know what that meant, but I knew that, whatever the case was, we needed to find out for sure.
“Well, that’s not the only reason I can’t go,” she hastened to add. “I had already been feeling very strongly that I wanted to stay, but I didn’t want to tell you unless I was sure.”
“I certainly appreciate that,” I told her.
“I know. I feel so bad that I couldn’t make up my mind, and I was afraid of hurting either my mom, or you,” she continued. “But in the end, I know I have to do what’s best for myself. And that’s to be with you. But, what really tipped the scale in your favor is when I started feeling nauseous. I’m not sure, but I really think I might be pregnant.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out. I’ll head to town and pick up a test.”
I turned to go, even though I really wanted to be with her right now.
“No need,” said Hope. “I already have one. I bought one the moment that I agreed to come live in this house, because I knew the reason why. I knew how important it would be. At the time, I was thinking about the money, but now, I’m thinking about… us. Our future. So, I have a pregnancy test. It’s right here.”
I turned to see her with a box in her hand. It was an unopened pregnancy test.
This was the moment of truth.