I DO NOT OWN THE TWILIGHT SAGA
Autumn's P.O.V.
"Honey, there's something I need to tell you," Mom says as she walks into the kitchen on Sunday morning. I stop mid-sentence, I had been having a conversation with Paul on the phone while I ate my oatmeal. I debate on if I should ask her if we can talk later, or tell it to Paul. But the look on her face tells me that I should go with the latter. She looks anxious or something.
"Hey, I have to call you back," I say to Paul.
"Oh! Okay. Talk later," he answers.
"Talk later." I hang up and put my phone down, and turn back to Mom. She slowly walks over to me and sits across from me at the table. For a few minutes she seems to struggle on how to say whatever she has to say.
"Mom, can you please just spit it out? You're starting to worry me." She takes a deep breath and lets it out.
"Okay," she starts, "So, a couple of weeks ago, when we first found out you were pregnant… I contacted your father, Mark." I raise my eyebrows at her, feigning surprise. I already knew she contacted Mark, as I walked in on their phone conversation. But she doesn't know that.
"Why? How do you even have his number?"
"He's this big, fancy lawyer, so his phone number isn't exactly that hard to find. But I contacted him because I thought that now would be the right time to start supporting you financially." I snort loudly as I stare into my mostly empty bowl.
"You really think he's gonna give us a dime? After he was so horrible to you? After he told you to get an abortion?" I look her in the eyes and try to see into her head. What had she been thinking? "He's as likely to give us money as he is to step up and be an actual father to me. He's especially not gonna want to give us money when he finds out that I'm pregnant." Mom sighs and runs a hand through her hair.
"I know that you have no reason to trust him. He didn't want anything to do with our lives. But you have to look at it from his point of view for a second. He was seventeen at the time. He had had plans to go to college and play football. He didn't want to be held down with a baby. And men… everyone one does stupid crap when they're young. If we didn't, you wouldn't be here and neither would that baby that's inside you." I give her a look. What is that supposed to mean?
"What I'm trying to say is: please just give him a chance. I don't like it much, either, but we don't have much of a choice. Don't be afraid to ask him for help. He owes you a lot for not being there all of these years." I give her a look. "Please? Do it for me?" I sigh loudly. I really, really don't want to do this. But I can't deny my mother when she's giving me those puppy-dog eyes.
"Okay! Fine. But don't expect me to be happy about it." She snorts.
"I won't. Promise." She stands up. "He should be here in about an hour, so get ready." My eyes widen as she walks out of the kitchen.
"Wait, what?" Why the hell does she do that? I only have an hour to take a shower and get dressed. Which, is more than enough, but still. She could have given me a heads up days ago! Whatever. There's no used dwelling on it. I put my bowl in the sink, take my prenatal vitamin, and then make my way upstairs. I shower, allowing the hot water to sooth my nerves. After, I get dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. And then brush my hair and leave it down. I don't do anything too fancy because this is the guy who abandoned me before I was even born. He doesn't deserve for me to dress up for him.
By the time I finish brushing my teeth, I hear the doorbell ring downstairs, and my heart speeds up. Voices rise up to where I am. I take a couple of deep breaths to prepare myself. Okay. I can do this. I don't know who I'm trying to convince.
"Autumn!" Mom calls from downstairs. Guess that's my cue. I leave the bathroom and take my time descending the stairs. And then I'm in the living room, and I'm greeted by a new face. Sitting on the love seat, is a man around Mom's age with blond hair and green eyes. He looks very formal, like he's about to go to court or something. Mom and Nana both look very uncomfortable right now.
"Autumn," Mark says as a way of greeting. He's looking me over, taking in every detail of me. I raise my eyebrows at him.
"Hey," I say back. I don't know what else to say. He seems to sense that and clears his throat.
"I don't know if your mother told you about me, but my name is Mark Anastas. I'm your father." I give a sarcastic laugh and nod.
"Yeah, I know who you are." My words are bitter. He nods stiffly.
"I can't believe that I'm finally meeting you. You're just as beautiful as you mom."
"Great. Nice to meet ya." I look to Mom, pleading. "Can I go now?" Mom gives me a sour look.
"Autumn, please. You told me you'd play nice."
"You gave me an hour to prepare for this meeting so I guess neither one of us is happy." She rolls her eyes.
"Look, Autumn," Mark starts, "I know that I've been absent from your life since before you were born. There's no excuse for it other than the fact that I was seventeen. I had my whole life ahead of me. I wanted to go to college and play college football. I wouldn't be able to do any of that if I had a kid. Can you really blame me?" My eyes narrow, and so do Mom's. Nana quietly leaves the room, as if she knows what's about to happen.
"You've got to be kidding me!" I exclaim. "You had your whole life ahead of you? You were only seventeen? That's no excuse! Look at that woman, right over there." I point to Mom, who's trying to keep her silence so I can say what I need to get off my chest. Mark turns to look at her. "That woman was just sixteen when she had me. Like you, she had dreams of going to college. She had dreams of becoming a photographer. But instead of acting like a fucking petulant adolescent, she took responsibility for her actions, and she gave up everything to raise me. And ya know what? When I started school, she was still able to go to college to become a nurse. All while supporting me and helping my grandmother pay the bills." Mark looks ashamed. Of himself, hopefully. "So, tell me again why you couldn't step up and help her." He takes a deep breath.
"I know that you're mad at me. You have every right to be. And I know that I messed up. But please, let me make it up to you." I raise my eyebrows. Where the hell is this going?
"Why don't you, your mother, and your grandmother come to our house for Thanksgiving?" There's a knock on the door suddenly. I look out the window and see Embry's car. Thank god he's here. I need an excuse to leave.
"Excuse me," I mutter. I go and open the front door, where Embry stands. "Hey. What's up?" He takes a deep breath.
"Can I come in? I need to talk to you and you mom and grandma," he says. I frown, and hesitate.
"I dunno. I have a guest over…" I trail off. But then I get an idea. If Mark were to see what a good example of a responsible person is, maybe he'll stop giving bullshit excuses as to why he was never in my life. "Ya know what? Come in. I want you to meet someone."
"Um… okay…" His face turns confused, but he follows me into my house (the first time he's actually been inside) and into the living room. Mark's eyes widen when Embry walks in. While he's not as bulky as the rest of his friends, he still has muscles, and he's unbelievably tall.
"Who is this boy?" Mark asks, looking at Embry with a stuck up look on his face. Here we go.
"This is Embry Call. He's my baby daddy." Mark raises his eyebrows.
"You're the one who knocked up my daughter?" he questions Embry. Embry looks confused.
"Who are you?" Embry asks.
"This is the man who contributed sperm to my existence," I explain. Embry's eyes widen.
"Oh. Well, nice to meet you. I just came to talk to Autumn, her mom, and grandma."
"Don't mind us, talk away." I can tell Mark is brewing something up. It's written all over the shithead's face. Embry looks to me, and I nod.
"It's fine. What do you need?" Embry takes a deep breath and lets it out.
"Today, my mom brought it to my attention that she's never met you or your mom and grandma. So she wanted me to come over here and formally invite you to dinner at our house tomorrow night. All three of you." I raise my eyebrows and smile.
"She wants to meet us?" I ask. He nods.
"Yeah. Her exact words were "I want to meet the mother of my grandchild." I think she's been going through a mid-life crisis or something because she recently started to baby proof the house even though you're not even in the second trimester yet."
"We'd love to come, Embry. Thank you," Mom answers with a smile. And that's when I realize that Embry hasn't even met Mom or Nana yet.
"Oh! How rude of me. Um… Embry, this is my mother, Angela," I gesture to Mom who's smiling up at Embry. I think she's loving this because I've never brought a guy home to meet her before.
"Call me Angie," Mom tells him. I roll my eyes.
"And this is my grandma, Andrea."
"Call my Andie," Nana says with a small smile. She's not as enthusiastic as mom.
"Angie and Andie, got it. It's nice to meet you both. Are either of you allergic to anything? Just so my mom knows when she's cooking."
"Nope. None of us are allergic to any food," I tell him. "We can eat anything." Embry smiles at me.
"Good to know. Also, Paul told me to tell you something about your upcoming binge-watching session of Total Drama Island. That he needs to push it back by an hour because his mom is making him study for an upcoming test." My eyes widen.
"Damn! Now we're not gonna get the whole experience!" I exclaim. Embry throws up his hands.
"Take it up with Paul and Elle. I'm just the messenger." I roll my eyes.
"Wait, who's Paul?" Mark asks, looking confused.
"He's this guy I've been hanging out with. Embry's friend."
"Don't you think it's bad enough you're pregnant?" Mark starts. "Now you're going out and spending time with other guys doing god knows what?" He turns to Mom. "Angie, I don't know how you've raised her, but it's clear that she's running around like some harlot. You don't want people getting the wrong idea." Mom's friendly demeanor changes into one of anger and annoyance.
"Ya know what, Mark? Maybe if you'd bother to stick around to help raise her, you'd be able to have an opinion, but since you weren't, I'd appreciate it if you shut your damn mouth. She's a smart and sensible young woman. Yes, she made a bad choice. But so did we, so we have no room to judge her," she growls. But Mark isn't giving up so easily.
"You're the one who let her go out and get pregnant in the first place. Now she's attached to this… this hoodlum for the rest of her life!"
"What do you mean by 'hoodlum?'" Embry questions angrily.
"You know what I mean. People like you are always trouble." Oh my god.
"No, we don't know what you mean," I tell him. "People like what? Teenage guys? Lower class people? Or… don't tell me you mean people of color."
"All three." I bark out a humorless laugh and go to remove his ass from our house, but Embry takes ahold of my hand. His own hand is trembling slightly.
"Please," he whispers into my ear. "Don't leave my side. You're the only thing keeping me from bursting out of my skin right now." I squeeze his hand. And luckily, I'm able to stand by his side because Nana quickly bust out those "Asian ass kicking roots" she's always bragging about, and rips him a new one. She yells at him and gets in his face. And by the time she's done, Mark is red-faced. He stands up, fixes the tie that he's wearing, and turns to me.
"Autumn, I'll make you a deal. I'll give you all the money you need—more than enough to support both you and the child. But you have to cut Mr. Call here out of your life. I'll make sure he pays child support, but he won't be allowed to be near or see the child or you." This fucking racist prick.
"Or, how about you get the fuck out of my house," Mom snarls. Gets in his face, and the look on her face is one I haven't seen in a long time. It's her mama bear face. "You disgust me. It's clear now that you're going to turn out just like your parents. It's a wonder how you ever wanted to be with me considering how racist you are. And you can bet I'm going to be taking you to court and sue you for the money I never got while Autumn grew up."
"Don't, Mom. He's not worth it," I tell her. "We've gotten along fine without his help. Plus, I'll have Embry to help me with expenses and stuff." I turn to Mark. He looks highly annoyed.
"You'll be in my prayers, Autumn. I hope you ask for forgiveness from God. Hopefully you won't go to hell for the stuff you're doing." I give him a sarcastic smile, happy knowing that what he's saying has absolutely no effect on me and does not make me feel one ounce of remorse whatsoever.
"I know that was meant to hurt me. But, unfortunately for you, I'm an atheist. So I couldn't give two fucks if I'm in your prayers or not. Now get out of my house." He huffs and stomps out of the house. A minute later we hear his car speeding away.
It's quiet in the house for a moment before Mom sighs loudly and comes over to give me a hug.
"I'm so sorry, honey," she mutters into my hair. "I'm so sorry he was such a dick." She pulls back and Turns to Embry. "And I'm sorry, Embry, for how he acted towards you. I had thought that he had changed after all this time. But it looks like I was wrong." Embry shakes his head.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Angie. It was his fault. And as mad as I am, I know that what he thinks doesn't matter. Especially since I'll most likely never see him again. And he won't be allowed near our child." He directs that last part to me. I smile.
"Agreed," I say. "Now, let's celebrate Mark's defeat by going out for some ice cream. I've been craving it like crazy." Embry laughs lightly.
"I'm down for that. You guys want to come?" Mom and Nana shrug.
"Why not?" Nana says. "I could go for some cookie dough ice cream right about now. I use a lot of energy when I break out my Asian ass-kicking roots." I snort a laugh.
"Whatever you say, Mom," Mom says. And then we all go out to the diner, where we each get a sundae. And I can honestly say that it was the best sundae I've ever had.
A/N: What did you guys think? I decided to give you guys a longer chapter since it's been two months since I last updated the story. Please review!
~Gina