“Okay, so maybe I do have…sorta feelings for him, but you yourself showed me those tabloid pictures, Mama. The man is a total player.”
“There’s whores and then there are men who don’t take to love without a struggle. If he fucked that model, cut him loose. But if he didn’t…”
I watch her shrug prosaically and swallow back a startled giggle.
“Did y’all just say fuck?”
“You think I was born this old, little girl? I’ll have you know I had a whole life before I married Beau Bennet and had you and your siblings. Lord, when I remember those days…but don’t try changing the subject, Cecelia. What’s going on?”
Shoot.
“I’ve been sick—”
“Is something not healing right? Come on, we’ll get you straight to Doc Bear’s.”
“No, Mama,” I say, pulling her back down and staring into my now melted milkshake. Just the thought of all that thick, gooey cream hitting my stomach makes the thing turn with disgust. “I came into town to get one of them home tests.”
She frowns for a second, and then I see the light dawn in her eyes before a delighted squeal assaults my ears.
“Oh, Sissy!”
“Christ, calm down. You’re squealing like a cheerleader,” I mumble, picking at the fries with a grimace.
I’m so hungry all the time, but I know that if just one of those fries passes my lips I’ll be ear deep in the porcelain, so I push them away and flop back with a huff.
“You’ll still need to go get a blood test, and then you have to call—”
“Don’t even say it, Mama.”
Telling that asshat—cheating ball of handsome slime—that I’m knocked up with his child will only make him that much more determined to have me back under his thumb.
Oh, really? He hasn’t even called you once since he watched you get in that limo with your parents. Face it, Sis, the guy has obviously moved on.
“But, honey, he deserves to know.”
“And I’ll tell him. After the test and the holidays. I just need some more time.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Thanks for getting me out of jail.”
I laugh at Bee’s eye roll and pull her down onto the sofa with me, enjoying the slightly cushiony feel of her arm when she falls down beside me and stares out at the patio and the pool beyond.
I’d called her parents and even Jeffrey yesterday after the results of my blood test had come back. Yup, positive. I love my mama, really I do, but if I have to listen to her gush about babies in that covert way—I’d made her swear not to tell Daddy yet—which is as obvious as a wart on a witch’s nose, I was gonna scream blue murder.
I need Bee and her level head, not to mention how truly terribly I’d missed her these last few weeks. Thanksgiving is in two days, and that’s keeping Mama busy—thank you, Jesus—so I’d swung a mutual agreement between our respective families.
The whole Parker clan have joined us for the festivities.
“You’re most welcome. So how are you feeling?”
“Fine, I guess. Better. I picked up four pounds, thanks to my mother’s feeding habit, and the stylist says she saw some regrowth of hair, so I won’t be bald come Christmas.”
We both look at each other a beat before we start laughing hysterically. This is why I’ve needed her here; her sense of humor has gotten me past some really gloomy times.
“How you feeling about…”
We haven’t spoken about what had happened that night because, honestly, I know exactly how fragile she must be if I’m still struggling to get over the horror.
She pales and looks away, but not before I see a tear track slowly down her right cheek.
“Honestly? I feel like this whole thing is my fault.”
“Oh, Bee, no.”
“Yeah. I knew that something was really wrong when he started getting so controlling, but I made excuses for him. I told myself he was just stressed with his job, that yeah, I had put on a little extra weight, and that if he wanted to spend more time with me it was a good thing. I let it all go so far.”
“Bee—”
“No. That night? He called me, crying about how much he missed me. God, I was so weak! I missed him too and…”
Please don’t tell me—
“I let him in,” she says in a rush, her eyes spilling over with fat tears of misery. “I just wanted to talk to him and—”
“I warned you how dangerous he was, Bee! I had the codes changed and everything because I knew he meant it when he said he’s hurt us!” I yell, slamming my fist into the cushions.
“I’m so sorry.”