Page 34 of CEO's Baby Scandal
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Dad joked. “I’ll get your bag. You help Mom finish supper.” He slammed the car door and pulled my bag out of the bed, and Mom opened the door on our side and let me out.
“You don’t have to cook. You can just sit and watch. You look exhausted.” She led the way, and I trailed behind her.
It was still light out, but growing dusky. The sun setting over the large barn out back where Dad kept his boat cast beautiful rays of colorful light in the sky. I noticed they’d cut down the old oak tree in the backyard. They’d been talking about it for years. I guess things did change around here a bit.
The porch still creaked when I stepped on it, and the corner drooped a little, sinking into the weeds that grew up around it. The awning sagged in the center, showing its age. Dad was so busy with work all the time that he never got around to house repairs, and it appeared to me that situation hadn’t changed a bit.
“You can freshen up if you want,” Mom said as we walked into the kitchen.
My stomach was upset again, probably from not having eaten all day. Morning sickness was worse when I abstained from food. I should have learned my lesson and at least had a snack, but I was too emotional. After Evelyn said all those things about Daniel at dinner yesterday, I couldn’t think straight, let alone eat. I pressed my hand to my belly and sighed.
“Not feeling well?” she asked.
“Yeah, honestly, if you don’t mind, I’d like to just go to bed tonight. I’m not feeling well.” I leaned on the door jamb and rested my head on the wall.
“Oh, no. I hope you’re not coming down with something.” Mom pressed her hand to my forehead. “You don’t feel warm. It’s probably just motion sickness from the flight. You go on to your room and lie down. I’ll bring you some soup after a bit.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
I turned and headed up the hallway where light streamed out of my open door onto the worn yellow carpet that had almost lost its nap. The carpet in my bedroom wasn’t as worn, a light blue that Evelyn always made fun of because it was a “boy color”. I didn’t mind it, never did. I collapsed onto my bed and kicked my shoes off, burying myself beneath the covers. My heart was as heavy as my stomach.
The longer I thought about what my sister told me, the more I believed her. A man with that much power and money had to have so many women he didn’t know what to do with. And a manthat age should have found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with by now, unless he had no intention of settling down, anyway. Either way, I was just another notch in his belt and I had been played.
Tears came hot and fast, drenching my green pillowcase. I had to reach into my suitcase, left by the side of my bed by Dad, to get a tissue from the small travel pack I stuffed in the outer pocket. One tissue turned into two, then another, and after a while, the entire pack was crumpled and snotty, lying in a heap on my nightstand. My eyes were heavy and ached from crying so much, and I was about to doze off when Mom shuffled in carrying a tray table and a bowl of soup. She set them on the bed next to me, and I sat up.
“That smells really good.” I adjusted myself in bed so she could position the tray table over my legs and nervously glanced at the pile of soggy tissues.
“You’ve been crying?” she asked, perching carefully on the edge of the bed. “Honey, is everything okay?”
My shoulders slumped as I picked up the spoon and stirred the steaming soup. Ham and potato was my favorite. It always had been. But I didn’t know if I could eat a single bite without throwing it up. My stomach wasn’t kind about that. It didn’t matter how much my tongue loved the taste. My belly didn’t agree with anything I put in it some days.
“I’m okay, Mom.”
“Emily, you stop lying to me this instant. You girls have always known that you can tell me anything. You’ve been crying. A lot, by the looks of it. Now tell me why you’re crying.”
It was now or never. If I didn’t tell Mom, she’d find out soon enough, and then she would not only be upset that I was pregnant, but she’d also feel hurt that I didn’t trust her enough to be honest with her in the beginning. I swallowed theconstrictor that wrapped his slithery body around my throat and took a deep breath before I started.
“Mom, I know that you and Dad expect me to do things a certain way. I understand why you have expectations and hopes for me. And I’m sorry that I probably failed in your eyes.”
“What do you mean, honey?”
“I’m pregnant.” I couldn’t look her in the eye. Shame washed over me—not because I was ashamed of being pregnant or because I didn’t want this baby so badly. It was a shame because I knew they wanted me to have my degree, then my career, then a husband, and finally—most importantly, last on the list—a baby.
“You’re what?” she asked, almost in a whisper.
“It was an accident, obviously. I wasn’t careful like I should have been and I?—”
“It’s that old man’s?”
I looked up at her, hurt at the attempt to slander Daniel by calling him old. “Mom, you realize you’re older than him.”
“You know what I mean, Emily. Don’t avoid the question.”
“Yes, Mom, Daniel is the father.” Annoyed, I took a bite of soup, a bit larger than I should have, and it was hot. It burnt my tongue and I whimpered.
“Well, doesn’t that just take the cake. He got you pregnant and now you’ve come home too. What did he do, dump you? What a real piece of?—”
“Mom, stop.” I spoke with my mouth full of food, and it forced her to stop speaking. She scowled at me while I chewed and swallowed. “He didn’t dump me. I came home for a visit because I missed you guys and I needed some time to think about how to tell him.” I stirred the soup and blew on it, hoping to cool it off enough to eat. It was a delicious distraction from my emotional wreckage.