It has been six weeks since Daisy told her mom that she is pregnant. It's Fall Break at her school. She, Karen, Kimberly, and Rebecca decided to have a girl's weekend, because Penelope was on a trip with her friends. They were all going to pack a bag, and load up Kimberly's SUV, and drive to Orange Beach, Florida. Rebecca had been filled in about the pregnancy, with Daisy's permission, and she had been given specific instruction NOT to say anything about it to Penelope.
The reasoning behind this trip was not only for Daisy's benefit, but also for Kimberly's. Steven was having a difficult time with accepting the fact that his daughter is pregnant. Daisy was very scared, but she took it as though nothing was going to change. She was very comfortable talking about her body around Rebecca, Karen, and Kimberly. She had matured very much.
Even though Daisy wasn't fully coping with the pregnancy, none of the women said anything about it to her yet. For about a week now, Daisy had been having severe morning sickness. She had very early morning sickness, such as four or five a.m. Daisy stayed with Karen a couple of nights, in order to let Kimberly catch up on sleep. Daisy was excited about the trip. She bought a new swimsuit, since she know it would be a while before she would get to wear it again.
It was early Saturday morning when they left. "I'm so excited!" Daisy exclaimed. "Aunt Karen and I went and bought matching bathing suits!" She added. "You did?" Kimberly asked. "Yeah. We did. I told her I would buy her a new swimsuit, since she wouldn't be able to show off her cute little figure much longer." Karen said. "Okay. What's it look like?" Kimberly asked. "It's an aqua blue bikini, with a fringed top." Daisy said. "I should've known it would have fringe on it somewhere!" Kimberly said. "Typical Karen." Rebecca added.
It was almost an eight hour drive, but nothing that the four of them weren't used to. They had been on the road for about two hours. "Mom, are all three of yall in different hotel rooms?" Daisy asked. "No. You and I will be in one room, and Karen and Rebecca will be in another." Kimberly said. "I was wondering if I could stay with Aunt Karen." Daisy said. "Well, it doesn't matter to me. That's if she and Rebecca are okay with that." Kimberly said. "Aunt Karen?" Daisy asked. "It's fine with me." Karen said. "Rebecca?" Daisy asked. "It doesn't matter to me." Rebecca said. "Okay then. I'll share a room with Rebecca, and you and Karen can share a room." Kimberly said to Daisy.
They were now about an hour from the hotel. Daisy had fallen asleep, and Kimberly and Rebecca had switched seats. So Rebecca was driving, Kimberly was in the passenger's seat, and Karen and Daisy were both in the back seat. "I don't know about yall, but I'm going to make the most of this vacation, and I am going to go down to the beach as soon as I get checked in, and put my bags in my room." Karen said. "That sounds like a good plan to me." Rebecca said. "I'm in." Kimberly agreed.
They finally got to the hotel. Kimberly woke up Daisy. "Daisy. We're here." Kimberly said, tapping Daisy's knee. They all got out of the car, grabbed their bags, and went to the front desk. They checked in, and headed up to their rooms. Daisy and Karen got ready, grabbed a couple of towels and went down stairs to wait on Rebecca and Kimberly in the lobby. While they were waiting Karen asked Daisy, "So. Have you and your mom talked about anything?" Daisy looked at Karen with a confused look on her face. "Like what?" She asked.
"Well, nothing specific. I was just curious if you two had talked about anything." Karen replied. "Well. She talked to me some the day I told her. I just told her some of the stuff that he'd been saying to me." Daisy said. "You've talked to him. I thought he moved schools." Karen asked. "He did. But he sends me texts sometimes." Daisy said. "Have you told him?" Karen asked. "NO!" Daisy said sternly. "Why does he text you then?" Karen said. "Well, I don't text him back. It's just usually rude comments. That's what I told my mom about." Daisy said. "Rude comments? Daisy, is he being mean to you?" Karen asked. "It's fine. It doesn't bother me." Daisy said. "What kind of things has he been saying to you?" Karen asked. "I don't want to talk about this. We are on vacation." Daisy said.
"I didn't mean to upset you. I just want to know, because depending on what he's saying, it may be more severe than you realize. Just tell me one thing." Karen requested. "He said I was the ugliest girl he'd ever done, and he only screwed me because he thought he would get good gifts and other things since my mom was famous." Daisy said. "Daisy. You know that isn't true. You are a beautiful girl." Karen said. "Says you." Daisy mumbled under her breath. "What?" Karen said. "Nothing." Daisy answered.
"What did you say?" Karen asked playfully. "I said, 'Says you'" Daisy said. "What do you mean?" Karen asked. "Nothing." Daisy said. The elevator doors opened. Kimberly and Rebecca stepped out. "Yall ready to hit the beach?" Kimberly asked. "Yes!" Daisy said. She started walking towards the door. Karen just watched her walk away, still wondering what she meant by 'says you.' Karen followed. They walked down to the beach. Daisy tossed her cover up and her towel onto a chair and ran straight for the water.
Karen, Kimberly, and Rebecca laid out their towels on the chairs, took off their cover ups and lied down in the sun. "Kim?" Karen said. "Yeah." Kimberly answered. "While Daisy and I were waiting on yall, she told me that you two talked the night that she told you." Karen said. "Yes we did." Kimberly said. "Well, she said that she talked to you about things that Hunter had said to her. Did she tell you that he didn't SAY those things to her, but he was sending her mean text messages?" Karen asked. "What? No." Kimberly exclaimed. "Well, that what she said. She told me what he said about her being ugly, and I made the comment that she was beautiful, and her response to that was 'Says you.' Do you have any idea what that's about?" Karen said. "Uh. I don't know." Kimberly stuttered.
"Kim?! Is she mad at me about something?" Karen asked. Kimberly said nothing. "Kim?" Karen repeated. "It's not you. She's not mad at you. She couldn't be mad at you. It's just something Hunter said to her, about you." Kimberly said. "About me?" Karen asked. "Yes. Don't think anything of it." Kimberly said. "What did he say?" Karen asked. Again, Kimberly said nothing. "Well?" Karen said. Kimberly sighed. "He told her that he may have actually enjoyed it, if…" Kimberly stopped. "If? If what?" Karen asked. "If she looked like 'that hot chick from her mom's band.'" Kimberly said.
"What?" Karen exclaimed. "Look, Karen, she's not mad at you. She's past it." Kimberly added. "I feel horrible." Karen said. "Why do you feel horrible? Because you're extremely pretty? Karen, you have no control over what you look like! Daisy knows that." Kimberly said. "I know. But I don't want her to think that she's not, just because some stupid, teenage boy said so." Karen said. "She's really not mad. I don't know why she wouldn't have wanted to tell you." Kimberly said.
"Because she's probably embarrassed. You know that when you were her age, you would believe anything a boy that you were into said. If someone I was seeing or someone I liked told me that he'd want to sleep with someone 35 years older than me, before me that would be humiliating!" Karen said. "Well, now you know." Kimberly said. "Yeah. I'll just drop it." Karen said. "Okay." Kimberly agreed.
"You two having on matching swimsuits really is cute." Rebecca said to Karen. "Thanks. All her idea." Karen said. "Yeah. When she goes places with her friends, they all try and look as much alike as possible." Kimberly said. "I'm glad to know she sees you as a friend." She added. Daisy came running out of the water. "Are yall going to get in the water?" Daisy asked. "I think I'm about to for a minute." Karen said. She got up out of her chair. "You two go stand in the water and let me get a picture of yall." Kimberly said. They walked into the water about knee deep. Daisy wrapped her arms around Karen, just like she would do to one of her friends. Karen put her arm around Daisy. "That's cute." Rebecca said.
Kimberly and Rebecca walked to the edge of the water. "You having fun yet?" Kimberly asked Daisy. "Uh, DUH!" Daisy exclaimed. "I love the beach." Karen said. They had been out there for a few hours. The sun was starting to go down. Kimberly said, "Daisy we're about to head up to the room. Come on." Daisy got out of the water and dried off. "What are we going to eat for dinner? Eating for two makes you twice as hungry, twice as fast." Daisy said, laughing. "We were all talking about going upstairs and changing, and then walking across the street to Cracker Barrel." Kimberly said. "Okay." Daisy said.
They all went back to their rooms and changed. "Daisy was getting dressed next to her bed while Karen was in the bathroom. "Dammit." Karen said. "What?" Daisy asked. "My period." Karen answered. "Will you look in the small pocket of my suit case and get me a tampon?" Karen added. "Yeah." Daisy said. She did just that. Karen finished getting ready and came out of the bathroom. "That is the only good thing about being pregnant." Daisy said. "What?" Karen asked. "You don't get your period for nine whole months." Daisy said. "Oh. Yeah, that is true." Karen said.
They went down to the lobby and Rebecca and Kimberly were waiting on them. "Yall ready to go?" Kimberly asked. "Yep." Daisy answered. "What took you two so long?" Rebecca asked. "Aunt Karen had a 'problem.'" Daisy said. "What problem?" Kimberly asked. "I started. It's not a problem, it's a fact of life." Karen said. "Oh. Okay." Kimberly said. "Thanks for bringing me on this trip. I know yall didn't have to do this." Daisy said. "You're right. We didn't. But we wanted to. And you are very welcome." Kimberly said. "You're a woman now. You get to 'hang out' with us." Karen said. They all laughed.
The young man at the front of the restaurant just so happened to be an LBT fan, and recognized Karen and Kimberly. They didn't have to sit through the 30 minute wait for a table. He led them to their table. "I usually hate getting special treatments, but tonight, I am really glad we were recognized. I am hungry, and did not want to wait 30 minutes." Karen said. They ordered their drinks and their food. "I'm going to the restroom." Kimberly said. "Me too." Daisy added. They walked to the bathroom.
Karen and Rebecca were talking, when Daisy's phone started ringing. She had left it at the table. It was only a text message. Karen reached to turn it off, and couldn't help but notice who it was from. It was from Hunter. Karen was trying to read the message, but the screen blacked out. She reached to turn it back on, and Rebecca said, "Karen. Are you reading her text messages?" "It's from Hunter. I just want to make sure he is not bullying her." Karen said. Rebecca didn't say anything.
Karen read the message. It said, "So have you seen that hot aunt of yours lately? Is she even your aunt? I have a really hard time accepting that YOU are related to HER!" Karen was appalled. She read it aloud to Rebecca. She unlocked Daisy's phone, and deleted the message. She locked the phone, and put it back in Daisy's chair just in time. Daisy sat back down and the first thing she did was check her phone for any new messages. Rebecca just looked at Karen, and saw her take a deep breath, as if she had done something terrible.
"My stomach is killing me." Daisy said. "Yeah. When you're pregnant, you might be really hungry, but some smells will make you feel extremely nauseas." Rebecca said. "I have a question." Daisy said. "After Elijah, Penelope, and I were born, did yall ever get to still go shopping, or hang out with any of your other friends?" Daisy asked. "Well, Daisy, if you are asking because you want to know if you'll still be able to go out with your friends after you have the baby, then the answer is yes, sometimes. But the thing about when we had all of yall, we had husbands. I had Phillip, your mom had your dad, and Karen had Jimi. You will have all of the above." Rebecca said.
"Okay. I mean, I want to be a good mom, but I want to still be a kid too." Daisy said. "I know." Kimberly said. Kimberly noticed that Karen wasn't saying anything. "Karen, something wrong?" Kimberly asked. "Huh? Me? No. I'm fine. Just… cramps." Karen replied. "Are you sure?" Kimberly asked. "Yeah." Karen answered. "Okay." Kimberly said. Kimberly still wasn't convinced that the only thing bothering Karen was cramps. She took out her phone and was going to send Karen a text, thinking that it was just something she didn't want to say out loud.
She sent Karen a text that said, "I have known you long enough to know that 'just cramps' isn't enough to get you to stop talking. What's wrong?" "I'll tell you when we get back to the hotel. It isn't something that is urgent." Karen responded. "Are you sure?" Kimberly replied. Kimberly looked at Karen. She nodded yes. They finally got their food. They ate, and then paid, and then they left.
They got back to the hotel, and Daisy asked if she could go swimming at the hotel pool. Kimberly still wanted to talk to Karen, so she didn't object. Daisy put her bathing suit back on, got her towel and headed for the pool. Kimberly was in the hall, about to go to Karen's room, and said to her, "Be back up here in an hour." Daisy continued down the hall and gave her a thumbs up. Kimberly went in Karen's room. She was taking off here earrings. "Hey. I didn't forget about our texts. What was wrong with you tonight? You hardly said two words at dinner." Kimberly said.
Kimberly sat on Daisy's bed. "Look, I promise I wasn't trying to invade her space." Karen said. "Who?" Kimberly asked. "Daisy. She left her phone at the table when yall went to the bathroom. It started ringing, and I couldn't help but notice it was from Hunter. For her safety I read it. It said 'So have you seen that hot aunt of yours lately? Is she even your aunt? I have a really hard time accepting that YOU are related to HER!'" Karen said. "Oh Goodness." Kimberly said. "I deleted it. I didn't want her to see it, and I'll tell you what Kim. As soon as we get back, I'm going to find out where he lives, and his mother and I are going to have a talk." Karen said
"Karen you don't have to do that. If anyone should be doing it, it should be me." Kimberly said. "I want to do this Kim." Karen said. That little girl is helpless. "Karen, I think that we need to sit down, and she needs to know, that you know what he said about you" Kimberly said. "Are you serious? That will humiliate her." Karen said. "You know what, you might be right. But you do know, and now, you feel bad. I don't know why you feel bad, but you do. And I know that she has to be able to go someone, preferably you, when she can't talk to me. But unless it is SERIOUS, we ALL need to tell each other EVERYTHING." Kimberly said.
Karen and Kimberly debated on this for quite some time. Karen said, "Kimberly, I just know how embarrassed if she knew that I know." "I know. But you've got to realize, she knows that it's not like you purposely tried to attract the boy she liked. That's ridiculous!" Kimberly exclaimed. Right as she said this, Daisy walked in the door. "Oh my God. You told her?" Daisy exclaimed.
"I can't believe this. I didn't want her to know about that. I tell Aunt Karen everything. You should know that if I don't want HER to know, I REALLY want this kept secret! But you told her." Daisy said. Kimberly didn't know what to say. She had betrayed the trust of her daughter. Karen could see the fear in Kimberly's eyes. "She didn't tell me." Karen said. "Then how the hell do you know?" Daisy shouted. "Daisy Pearl Schlapman, you watch your mouth." Kimberly said. "You left your phone at the table at the restaurant tonight. It started ringing and I noticed it was from Hunter. I read it for your protection." Karen said.
"You read my text messages?" Daisy yelled. "What did it say?" She added. "That doesn't matter."" Karen said. "WHAT DID IT SAY?!" She demanded. Karen took a deep breath. It said, "So have you seen that hot aunt of yours lately?" Karen said. There was silence. "Is that all?" Daisy asked. Karen could see the tears forming in Daisy's eyes. "No." Karen said. He said. "Is she even your aunt? I have a really hard time… I can't." Karen said. Kimberly stepped in. He said. I have a really hard time accepting that YOU are related to HER!" Kimberly said.
"I can't believe this. He's still on this. I don't even care that he thinks you're prettier than me. I know that is true. You're gorgeous. But it bothers me that he continues to talk about it!" Daisy exclaimed. Karen started crying. "Why are you crying?" Daisy asked. "I'm so sorry." Karen said. "For what? Reading my text? Well, I'll just have to put a password on my phone." Daisy said.
Daisy went and sat on the bed next to Karen and put her head on Karen's shoulder. "Tell your Aunt Karen that you don't blame her for anything that Hunter is saying." Kimberly said to Daisy. "What. Of course not." Daisy said to Karen. "It's not your fault that you're attractive. And I know Uncle Jimi would agree with me." Daisy said, giggling. Karen laughed, trying to dry the tears in her eyes. "So you mean you don't hate my guts?" Karen asked. "Hate your guts? What? Aunt Karen, you've been there for me when I got my period, when I needed birth control, after I had sex, finding out I was pregnant, and you've kept most of my secrets, that I couldn't tell anyone else. I could never in a million years, hate you." Daisy said. "I told you!" Kimberly said to Karen.
Rebecca knocked on the door. "Can I come in?" She asked. "Yeah." Karen said. "Okay. From now on, we don't keep any secrets from each other. We can keep them from Daddy, and Uncle Jimi, and Uncle Phillip, and Elijah, and Penelope. But we don't keep any from each other." Kimberly said. "Okay." Daisy said. "Well, if we are telling secrets right now, I need to tell you something." Daisy said. "What?" Karen, Kimberly, and Rebecca all said simultaneously. "Uh. Well, there's this boy—" Karen then interrupted her. "A boy? Daisy, I don't mean to state the obvious, but you are pregnant. Boys aren't usually turned on by that."
"It's not like that. He's the only one who believed that I didn't do all the things Hunter said I did. He knew Hunter and knew how big of a liar he was. He was there for me. And he stood up for me for two whole weeks, EVERY time someone called me a slut, or a whore. He's sweet, and he has promised God that he's not going to have sex until he's married." Daisy said. "Wait a minute. There were people calling you a slut? A whore? Why didn't you tell me?" Kimberly asked. "Because. Trey was handling it!" Daisy said. "Okay… so now there is Trey." Karen said.
"Baby. I know that this boy might be a good kid, but when he finds out you're pregnant, he's going to know that he was standing up for you, but you really did do some of that stuff." Rebecca said. "No. I told him that we had sex. We just didn't do all the other stuff." Daisy said.
"He still won't be happy when he finds out you are pregnant. Daisy, you are just too young to understand. A baby is a LOT bigger deal than you realize at the moment, and that's okay. But pretty soon, you're going to have to go back to Dr. Robertson, and you'll get your first sonogram. Then you'll need to start getting food, diapers, clothes, bottles, etc." Karen said. "This baby is going to drastically change your life. You just don't know everything there is to know, and therefore you don't realized what is about to happen to you. Your world will be turned upside down." She added.
Daisy said nothing. "You know what. We are on vacation. Let's not worry about this right now. Daisy, go get ready for bed. Rebecca and I are going to go back to our room. We will see yall in the morning. Okay?" Kimberly said. "Okay." Daisy said. Kimberly and Rebecca went back to their room and got ready for bed, while Karen and Daisy did the same. Kimberly came back to say goodnight to Daisy. "Let's meet in the lobby for breakfast around 8." Kimberly said to Karen. "Sounds good." Karen replied. Kimberly left. Karen turned out the light.
It was about 4:15. Daisy was in the bathroom throwing up. Karen rushed to the bathroom and pulled Daisy's hair back. She put her other hand on her back. This lasted for about 5 minutes. Karen went to the vending machine down the hall and got her something to drink. "You okay Daisy?" Karen asked. "Yeah." Daisy replied. They walked back to bed. Daisy got back in her bed. Karen sat beside her, and pulled the covers back over her. She kissed her forehead. "Goodnight." Karen said. "Aunt Karen, can I just tell you something." Daisy asked. "Sure." Karen answered. "I don't want this baby. I know how much it's going to change my life, and I don't want my life to change." Daisy said.
"What's your opinion on abortion?" Daisy asked. "Well, I think, that a woman has a right to choose. It's her body. It's her decision. But you know that is not your mother's opinion." Karen said. "Daisy, I know that you are scared, but I don't think that you want an abortion." Karen added. "Yeah. You're probably right. Look, can we not tell my mom about this conversation. I know we aren't going to keep secrets anymore, but this isn't something I did, or I am going to do. This was just a conversation." Daisy said. "I think that we can keep this between us, but Daisy Pearl, you don't run off and doing anything stupid. Do you understand me?" Karen said. "Yeah." Daisy replied.