A.N: More new stuff I shouldn't really be writing until I finish old stuff. Oh well. If anyone could suggest a title, I'd be very grateful.
Juliet Girardi struggled down the steps of the bus with her suitcase, catching the toe of her sneaker on a step and tripping to the ground. After steadying herself, she stopped to watch as the bus pulled out from its stop.
Arcadia looked much the same as it had 5 years ago, when she was just 18. A small parade of shops lined the road, some new and unfamiliar, some instantly recognisable. The coffee shop she used to go to when she skipped Advanced Chem, (her mom had forced her to volunteer) and the bookstore her mother used to work in.
The walk to the house passed fairly quickly, rain drops dripping down her nose as the heavens opened and the daylight faded. Juliet expected to find her mom home alone. Grandma and Grandpa had both died when she was around ten years old. Her Grandpa took a bullet to the chest during a police raid, and her Grandma died in her sleep just a few months later, proving you really could die of a broken heart. Uncle Kevin was living in Florida with his wife and Luke was lecturing at MIT.
She'd stopped at a phone-box in New York to tell her mom she was on her way, and Joan had sounded surprised to say the least. Juliet didn't blame her, a few months ago they had discussed her flying over New York to see her because Juliet couldn't leave her job right now.
As she turned the last corner and her eyes set on the house she'd grown up in, Juliet found herself wondering if her life wouldn't have turned out differently if she'd known her father. He never even dated her mom, from what her uncle Luke had told her. Just one night and then he upped and left, never to be seen again. Joan had tried to find him again once she found she was carrying his child, but it just never happened. Juliet put the suitcase down by the door as she placed one hand on her barely swollen belly, hardly believing that after all that had happened, she had found herself in such a similar situation.
A few seconds after the doorbell sounded, the sound of footsteps could be heard on the doorstep. Then laughter, and more than one voice. Who was her mother with?
The door opened and a blur of pale skin and slightly greying brown hair flew towards her. A pair of arms wrapped tightly around her and she took a deep breath in, smelling her mother's perfume. 'Hey Mom.'
'Juliet, honey. It's so great to see you!' Joan pulled back slightly to study her daughter's face. 'God, you're soaked. Come in, quickly.'
Juliet walked through the house, following the voices to the kitchen.
'Juliet!' Cried her Godparents.
Juliet studied them as they got up to greet her. It really had been a long time since she's seen them. Grace looked more or less the same as always. Same leather jacket, same hairstyle, and same vibrant bright eyes. Adam had aged, perhaps more than the two women had. The sharp features of his face had softened somewhat with time, loose grey strands of hair blending in amongst the darker patches on his head. He was still as handsome as she remembered him from her childhood though. Their hugs were soft and comforting, like the chocolate ice cream Joan used to give her whenever she was sick.
'Honey,' Joan said, breaking the comfortable silence, 'Why are you here?'
'Emmm,' Juliet had almost forgotten why she was really here. She pulled her sweater down further; making sure it didn't cling to the slight bulge already developing. 'I just missed you guys a lot.' The truth could wait.
'We missed you too,' Joan replied, stroking her daughter's hair in a maternal fashion. 'Sit down, I'm just about to dish out food.'
Dinner passed slowly for Juliet, an endless stream of questions about her life in New York thrown at her. Many were about her new job. The job she had quit last week. They didn't know that though, obviously.
Finally, Grace pilled into the passenger seat of Adam's land rover for a lift, and the duo set off home.
'Mom?' She asked once they were alone and comfortably seated in the living room.
'Yes Juliet?'
She tried to think of the best way to phrase what she had to say, but her brain was refusing to work. 'I didn't just come home because I missed you.'
'I know sweetie. The question is, why did you really come home?'
'I… I…'
Joan reached out and patted her daughter's arm. 'Come on, you know you can tell me anything.'
'I know. Mom, I'mfour months pregnant.' The words came tumbling from her moult in quick succession, knots tying in her stomach as she waited for her mother's reaction.
'Oh.' She murmured after a few seconds.
'That's all you have to say? Oh?' Juliet's eyes started to water slightly.
'Oh Juliet,' Joan pulled her close and ran her fingers gently through her hair. 'I didn't mean it like that. Will you… Are you going to keep it?'
'Yeah,' She whispered softly against her mother's shoulder.
'Okay.' She wrapped her arms around her tighter. 'It's okay, we'll work this out.'
'I love you.'
'And I love you. I'm a mom, it's what we do'
'Thank-you.' Juliet whispered once more.
'One thing, Juliet… Who's the father?'
'His name was Daniel,' Juliet replied in a pained voice.
Was. That one word told Joan what she really wanted to know. Poor baby, I know how she feels. 'Okay. Daniel who?'
'Hunter.'
Joan gasped, pulling Juliet up from her shoulder so they were face to face. 'Hunter? You're sure?'
'Positive,' Juliet replied, startled. Suddenly, her mother looked incredibly pale.
Possibly TBC.