As promised, this chapter will continue with Brooke from chapter seventeen. Please review!
NINETEEN
"You know, it's not too late for you to change your mind, Brooke. You can still come with us if you want."
Chase and Amanda stopped by my apartment before they headed off to the airport. He was taking her home to California with him for the holidays to meet his family.
"Yeah, you should come," Amanda added. She and I had gotten to be really good friends in just a couple of months. "It'll be fun…warm even."
I laughed. "No, thanks. You two go and have fun."
As much as I didn't want to be alone on Christmas, I also didn't want to be a third wheel, or get in the way of their time alone together.
"Come on, Brooke," Chase pleaded as he walked closer to me. "I feel really bad leaving you here alone for Christmas."
"No, don't feel bad. It's okay, really. My friend Amy from Lamaze class invited me over to have dinner with her and her family. And then for New Year's Eve, I'll probably go down to watch the ball drop. I won't be alone, I promise."
"You're sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," I said smiling. "Now go on. You're going to miss your flight."
Chase pulled me in a hug and kissed my cheek. As he lifted his and Amanda's luggage, I hugged Amanda. After he came back inside, Chase said, "I'm going to call you on Christmas and New Year's. And we will be back around noon on the second, so I'll be back in time to be here when that little girl comes."
I giggled. "Okay."
He hugged me again and said. "You be careful, okay?"
"I will. Now get going!"
I pushed him out the door and I waved to him and Amanda both as they climbed into the taxi.
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So it had been kind of a lonely Christmas for me that year. I did spend it with my friend Amy and her family, but it still hadn't felt very much like Christmas to me. I had no family and none of my close friends with me, which made Christmas really hard for me to get through.
I guess I could have avoided being so lonely if I had just taken Chase up on his offer and gone with him and Amanda, but I really hadn't wanted to travel so far so late in my pregnancy. Plus, if I had gone to California, I probably would have run into my parents since Chase's family lived in the same area, and I really did not want to see them after my last conversation with them.
I had called my parents the day after Thanksgiving and finally told them about the baby. I got a lecture from both of them, all the while I cried my eyes out. My mother had basically called me a slut, and my father…well, he practically disowned me. He said I couldn't be the daughter he raised because he did not raise me to be so stupid to get myself pregnant. His words and my mothers had hurt me, but I had tried not to think about what a disappointment to them I was for too long. I decided instead to remember that they were a bigger disappointment to me because they had failed me, and I was never going to be like them. I was already a better parent than they were by loving my child and wanting to be there for her before she was even born.
Anyway, I didn't want to go to California and risk running into them, or going into labor so far away from home. So instead, Chase had promised to call me on the twenty fifth, and wish me a happy new year around midnight of January 1st, 2008. And I reminded him before he left that I would be expecting that call from him on Christmas and New Years. What I hadn't been expecting, however, was…well, what I hadn't planned for.
Okay, there it is. Tell me what you think. You guys are really going to love the next Brooke chapter I think. Many surprises in store…and knowing you all, you can probably guess at least one of them, the biggest one. But I will let you ponder the surprises while you review and while I go and get Chapter 20 finished. I'm hoping to have 20 up relatively soon. I'm thinking maybe this week. I'll try to get it done before Saturday, but most definitely next week! Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter guys. They were awesome. And if you review as much for this one, I promise some shout outs. And if any of you here are reading my other story, What Life is This?, I just want to let you know that I almost have the next chapter for that one ready too. And it, too, is a big chapter with a big surprise…well too big surprises actually. So please be sure to check that out when you see it up. Thanks again guys!!!
--Maureen