She made it through the meal by the pool though she denied any drinks. Jimmy informed Kat and her boyfriend that they got the pool house that night with the summer cocktails that they were consuming even as he cast a worried glance at Brie. Jimmy was following her inside as the other couple made their way to their beds for the night, drunk and laughing. “What’s wrong?” His voice sounded laced with concern, and she took a deep breath before she turned to face him.
“I was on antibiotics this summer, baby. I didn’t think to use condoms and…I am late by a couple of months.” Brie slowly admitted as she stared at him. She had just called him baby, and that hit her harder than the words that explained her situation.
“We need to test,” Jimmy told her as she nodded. He looked thoughtful for a moment before he urged her upstairs to his room with his hand on the small of her back. “I have some here. Let me check to see if they’re good.”
Brie sat on the bed as the realization of why he might have some hit her and he went to look in the bathroom. “Did I almost have a sibling?” She asked as he came back into the bedroom holding a box in his hand.
“There was a scare once. Here, use this. It’s still good.” Jimmy rushed through his sentence, and she took the box with shaking hands. “I think it’s easy to do.”
Brie went through the motions behind the closed door as everything hit her. Pregnancy. Stepfather. This was a bad movie, and she set the stick on the counter as she pulled her shorts back on and sat on the floor. Jimmy tapped on the door, and he moved to sit beside her as a tear slid down her cheek. “I am so sorry. You didn’t want this.”
“Nothing is final yet.” Jimmy took her hand and stroked it softly. “I want to tell myself that this is wrong. I want to know that I am older than you, and you deserve someone young and in the same part of life that you’re at.” Jimmy sighed. “I want to feel the need to go back to a different woman every night, but I did that to work you out of my system. I did that, and it got me here, and I don’t want anything else.”
“I want to tell myself similar things, but I have fallen in love with you, Jimmy. I am scared to death right now, but I love you so much.” Brie softly admitted as she looked up at him.
“I love you too. I am sure that I am going to hell for what I’m doing, but I love you and I kind of like the idea of a baby. I never wanted that before, even with Nat. I was all about business and taking care of the two of you, but there’s something more here.” Jimmy was almost thinking out loud as he glanced up. “Is it time?”
Brie sighed and stood up to pick up the stick and look for the word that told them what their future was.
PREGNANT.
“Holy shit. We’re having a baby.” Brie said as Jimmy stood and pulled her into his arms. They stayed in his room, talking and making love until Brie thought it better to go back to her room.
She knew that there would be a lot of judgment on the choices that they were making, but Brie prayed for some support along the way as she curled up under her covers and closed her eyes. Brie apologized to her mother in soft whispers as she stared at the picture of the two of them from a BBQ. She heard something across the room, and Brie looked over to see another picture had fallen over.
She got out of bed to see that it was one of her mom holding her as a baby. Brie frowned. There was no way that it would have just fallen with the weight of the frame and the lack of air in that corner. “Is that you showing me your approval?” Brie whispered as she set it back up. She returned to bed and fell into a restless sleep as she mentally prepared to tell Marie and her friends what she was planning.
DADDY’S GIRL: NICOLE
Chapter one
“It looks like you have a lot on your mind. People have told me that I’m a pretty good listener and I don’t mind being treated like a bartender at some club. You’d be amazed at how many confessions I here in the run of a day inside my taxicab. If you don’t mind me saying so, you don’t look exactly happy to be here.” I was looking out the window watching the scenery go by and twirling my hair in a nervous habit that had become something of a staple in my life. I was in no mood for idle chitchat and this was not what I would consider a pleasure visit.
I was wearing a black leather jacket kind of short and a black sports bra underneath that. I liked to give the boys something to think about, even though I would never do anything to get myself in the family way. I had lived through that mistake and I saw what it had cost my mother after she got pregnant unexpectedly with me. She treated me like I was that dirty little secret to be swept underneath the rug. She informed me when I was old enough to know better that she didn’t want anything to do with me. She was happy to provide me with everything that I needed, but there was no place in her life for a daughter that was conceived in the back seat of a band members van.