Series: Snapshots of the Past
Story: The Candidate's Daughter
Chapter 25
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Previously: Shocked by Liz's news, Jed stormed out of the house while Abbey put the pieces together and confronted, then comforted Liz; desperate to fit in, Ellie was thrilled when she met three eighth graders who invited her to have lunch with them (Chapter 21)
Summary: The fallout from Liz's news is the backdrop to Ellie's birthday party; Abbey isn't comfortable with Ellie's new friends
Ellie's birthday came at the worst possible time that year, only days after Elizabeth broke the news of her pregnancy. There was a cloud of tension in the house. Liz was on a self-imposed exile in her room for most hours of the day, Abbey worked her usual 14-hour shifts at the hospital, and Jed had stacked his schedule with campaign events and office work that kept him out until she got off work. Busy with school and extracurricular activities, Ellie and Zoey were relieved to be with their friends during the week. But it was the weekend now and the plan was for everyone to come together for the first time in days in preparation of Ellie's slumber party.
The day began with Abbey's mother baking a two-tiered birthday cake in the Bartlet kitchen, humming along with the music that blared out of a portable stereo Abbey had set up. Mary loved to bake. When her two daughters were little, she baked daily, whether it was for school bake sales, Friday night dinner parties, or just casual snacks for the family. Cookies, brownies, cakes, and pies, every treat in the Barrington house was homemade and she took great pride in that. But her girls were grown now, with families of their own, and her husband, James, didn't have the sweet tooth she did. So, she jumped at any chance to show off her baking talents, first by volunteering to bake a cake in honor of Liz's 18th birthday, and then, when she realized Ellie was in awe of that cake, promising to bake one just for her.
"It's beautiful, Mom," Abbey praised her. "Ellie will love it."
Ellie's cake was chocolate and iced with vanilla buttercream. Two marshmallow fondant ribbons crisscrossed the top. They were satiny red and looped to form a bow while a sprinkling of ruby red candy trimmed the bottom. Abbey watched Mary put the finishing touches on it, flashing back to her childhood and remembering all those days as a young girl, baking a cake with Mom. Mary had bought her a step-stool when she was little so the two of them could bake for hours at a time.
"What's wrong?" Mary asked now, seeing a sad look in Abbey's eyes.
"I was just thinking about how we used to bake together every afternoon when I was in grade school. Remember?"
"Of course I do." She smiled.
"I wish I had made those memories with my girls."
"What are you talking about? You did."
Abbey shook her head. "We baked now and then, but not like you and I did."
"It's not about the baking, Abbey. It's the quality time that matters. You spend quality time with Lizzie, Ellie, and Zoey whenever you can."
'Whenever you can' was the sticking point. There was no denying the life that Abbey had built for her family wasn't nearly as simple as the life she had growing up. She started 'Girls' Day' when Lizzie was young. It was meant to be a special day of bonding for mother and daughter, but over the years, there had been fewer and fewer Girls' Days. A career in surgery was so demanding, so intrusive that even weekends were gone during training. And now that she was revamping the residency program at the hospital, things weren't much better. Some of her weekends were gone now too, and with them, went a slew of unmade memories. Somedays, she thought about that. Today was one of those days.
"Where's Jed?" Millie asked as she helped Abbey dip apples into the cinnamon candy mixture they'd made.
"Campaigning."
"On Ellie's birthday?"
"He'll be here for the party."
"I swear, it'll be a miracle if one of these days the two of you are here together to get ready for one of these things," Mary teased, remembering that last year, it was Abbey who was called away to the hospital and Jed who had to prepare for Ellie's party by himself.
"We're doing the best we can, Mom," Abbey replied in a much more serious tone, one that got even Zoey's attention. The six-year-old looked up from her seat at the table, where she was decorating gift bags for Ellie's guests.
"Of course you are. I didn't mean anything." Mary had noticed something different about her daughter. She assumed it was just a hectic weekend, but she was starting to wonder.
"Mom?" Ellie called as she charged into the kitchen in an outfit that looked like she'd just stepped out of Teen Vogue. "Can I borrow your gold chain belt?"
Abbey eyed her up and down. She had strappy nude sandals on her feet and she wore a pair of blue lace leggings, an oversized turquoise ribbed sweater, gold bangle bracelets, and a pretty gold necklace with a large heart pendant. "Who are you?"
"Mom."
"Where did you get that outfit?"
"It's my friend Lacy's. She let me borrow it."
"I don't buy you enough clothes?"
"Come on. I like it."
"It looks lovely on you," Abbey agreed. "I'm just surprised. I took you back-to-school shopping in August and all you seemed to be interested in were jeans and tennis shoes."
"My tastes changed. So what?" She saw the cake on the counter. "Grandma, that's for me? Thank you!"
Mary opened her arms as Ellie jumped into them. "Nothing's too good for my favorite granddaughter."
"You said I was your favorite granddaughter!" Zoey pouted.
"I have three favorites," Mary told her.
"Way to cover your bases." Ellie's sweater fell slightly off her shoulder then. She fixed it, but not before Abbey caught a glimpse of what was underneath.
"Is that a bra strap?"
"Mom!" She lowered her voice and whispered, "You don't have to announce it to everyone!"
"Ellie got a bra?" Zoey had a mischievous glint in her eye.
"Shut up, Zoey!"
"Hey," Abbey interjected.
"She's making fun of me."
"Where did you get the bra?"
"Lacy's mom took us to the mall last week."
"When you were supposed to be studying?"
"After we studied. What's the big deal?"
"Nothing, you're just full of surprises." Abbey didn't admit that her feelings were hurt. When she offered to take Ellie to buy her first bra, she was outraged by the thought of needing one.
"Can I borrow your belt please?"
" 'May I' and it's in my closet."
"Thanks!"
She tore out of the room and Millie saw the forlorn expression on Abbey's face as she watched.
"Uh oh."
"What?"
"Last year, I came to you when Chloe was driving me crazy," Millie started. "You excused it as normal adolescent behavior. Sounds like someone needs to have her words repeated to her."
"That's not it," Abbey assured her. "Ellie's great. Straight-A student, involved in clubs, sports, she's even talking about student council. I couldn't be more proud of her."
"Then what's going on?"
"She's on the brink of those dreaded teen years. She's growing up...a little too fast."
"Maybe, but it's something more than that that's got you rattled. You've been on-edge all morning."
"No, I haven't."
"Yes, you have," Mary countered, picking up on the same thing Millie did. "Is something else going on with Ellie?"
"No, of course not. Ellie's a dream."
"Well, something is definitely troubling you. What is it? Is it Jed? Did you two have a fight?"
"Jed and I are fine."
"Then what? What's happened?"
"Lizzie's pregnant," Zoey informed them from the table.
"ZOEY!" Abbey could have shaken her. Her youngest daughter was never big on discretion, but she assumed Zoey would have known that this was too big to blurt out just like that.
"Was it a secret?" Zoey asked innocently.
Exasperated, Abbey replied, "Your grandfather's getting the wagon ready for the hay rides. Do me a favor and go help him."
She dodged Zoey's question, and for a second, she wondered why. But she knew the answer to that. A secret? Not exactly. She was just too embarrassed to tell her mother that Elizabeth was pregnant. She dreaded Mary's reaction after Zoey scampered off to help James. Mary wasn't the judgmental type, but for some reason, Abbey felt judged when something went wrong with the girls, especially now, when she found it hard not to judge herself. A daughter was a reflection of her mother, after all. Liz's mess was as much her responsibility as it was Liz's, she thought.
"Abbey?"
She took a deep breath, then turned to meet Mary's gaze. She said softly, "It's true."
"Pregnant?" That was Millie, as shell-shocked as Mary.
"She told us a few days ago."
"Doug's the father?"
"Yes," Abbey said, turning to Millie.
"When did it happen?" Mary prodded.
"She's two months along." Abbey went back to her apples, careful not to make eye contact with either one of them.
"What are you going to do?"
"What can I do? She's not a child anymore; she's an adult. All Jed and I can do is support her and love her."
"What does she say?"
"She wants to take a leave from school to have the baby. There's been talk of adoption, but no clear plan yet."
"Maybe Doug will marry her." Mary was an old-fashioned soul.
"Mom, that's the worst thing that could ever happen." Abbey looked up. "I don't want her getting married just because she's pregnant. It's the '80s. She has goals and dreams for herself and she can accomplish them without Doug."
"Yes, she can, but she can also accomplish them with Doug at her side. It's so much easier when you have a husband, someone to help you parent. Raising a child isn't easy."
"She has us. Jed and I can help her. In the meantime, she needs to go back to school, get her degree, and apply to law school. If she wants to get married, she can do it after that. Her education comes first."
"I know that's what you want for her, but what does she want for herself?"
"She used to want that very thing. Now she doesn't know what she wants."
"Maybe she does. The last time I talked to her, she was deeply in love with Doug. Have you asked her if she still loves him?" Abbey remained silent. "Where is she, in her room?"
"Leave it alone, Mom."
"Leave what alone?"
"She broke up with Doug."
"Why?" Mary persisted. "Did you ask her why?"
"Because they're not right for each other. He's not good for her."
"Are you sure that's why? I don't want to interfere..."
"Then don't." Abbey didn't mean to lose her patience, but Mary and Millie were right - she was on-edge. "I know you love Lizzie and you're just looking out for her, but breaking up with Doug was the smartest thing she's done in months. Please, when you talk to her, don't encourage her to call him."
"I won't." If Abbey felt that strongly about Doug, Mary wasn't about to doubt her maternal instincts. "But I would like to talk to her. I'd like to see how she's doing with all this."
"We shouldn't get into it today. It's Ellie's day. We should all just focus on that."
"Why can't we do both?" Mary reassured her daughter with a squeeze of her arm as she took off her apron and left the kitchen on a path toward the second floor.
Mary treasured her relationship with Liz. She was there in London when Liz was born, pacing the waiting room while Abbey was in labor and waiting for Jed to arrive at the hospital. She was there when the doctor told them that Abbey had delivered and she was there in the days after Liz's birth, helping Abbey care for the infant and adjust to being a new mother so far away from home. When Abbey began medical school back in the States three years later, Mary often babysat Liz during exam weeks. She enjoyed that private time with her eldest granddaughter. The bond they forged only grew stronger over the years and today, they were every bit as close as they were back then.
It was that closeness that tempted Liz to turn away from her grandmother when Mary knocked on her bedroom door and let herself in. Sitting on her bed, she directed her gaze out the window. Mary knew, there was no doubt about it. It was obvious in her expression when Liz first saw her. That expression, a mix of shock, concern, and disbelief, was nearly identical to the expression she saw in her parents' eyes when she told them. She couldn't bear to see how she'd disappointed yet another person she loved, so she looked away and hoped that Mary would leave.
But Mary didn't settle for being ignored. Instead, she sat down beside Liz.
"I don't want to talk about it," Liz pleaded with her.
"Okay," Mary agreed. "I just want you to know that I love you...and I always will."
Liz needed to hear those words. And when she did, she crumbled in her grandmother's arms.
"How is Jed taking it?" Downstairs, Millie was still stunned by the news.
"Not well," Abbey said sadly. "He hasn't talked about it."
"With Liz?"
"Or me...not since the night she told us."
"He's ignoring it?"
"Avoiding it is more like it."
"He can't do that for much longer. She'll start showing soon and people will start talking about it, asking him questions during press events."
The campaign. Abbey had already considered that. "They'll ask me too whenever I do an event for him. Can you believe it? I run a sex ed program and I had no idea that my own daughter was not only sexually active, but she was also pregnant."
"You can only know what Liz tells you." Millie wanted to console her, remembering how she felt when she found out her daughter Chloe had fallen in with the wrong crowd.
"It's just hard to come to terms with it. Jed says she's changed. In a way, I think he's right. I never would have guessed that she'd end up pregnant at such a young age."
"It happens with girls you'd least suspect."
"It wasn't supposed to happen with Liz. You brought up Chloe earlier. When you had problems with her, you asked Liz to talk to her, hang out with her in hopes of turning her around. Liz was the good influence. She always had been."
"And she still is, Abbey. One mistake doesn't take away from everything else."
The front door opened and shut and Abbey glanced out the entryway to see who it was.
"We're in here, Jed," she called out when she saw him.
"The pumpkins aren't done," he said.
"I thought we'd let the kids draw their own design and we'd all carve them later, like last year." She handed him an apple, which he refused. "What do think about giving Ellie her ski boots now?"
"Why not at the party?"
"She has a lot of other presents to open at the party, and her friends are so impressed that she's saving up to buy them with the money she's earned on her paper route that I thought we might want to surprise her with them in private and let her tell them she got them herself."
"Yeah, fine."
"So you think it's a good idea?"
"They're hers, Abbey. Give them to her now or later, I don't really care." He headed for the back door. "I'm going to set up outside."
Millie watched him leave and when he disappeared, she turned to Abbey. "Ouch."
"That's how he's been for days."
"With Liz too?"
"He and Liz don't talk. They've been skirting around each other all week. They've barely crossed paths."
"That doesn't sound like Jed." Anyone who knew Jed Bartlet knew that he hated conflict with his kids.
"Not the old Jed. Liz's news threw him for a loop."
"So what's the real problem, that she had sex outside of marriage, that she got pregnant, or that it was with Doug Westin?" Jed's dislike for Doug was also well-known, even outside the immediate family.
"All of the above."
"He's going to have to work through it."
"You're right, but it's more than just the obvious. He's disappointed about the pregnancy and there's no doubt he's angry that she wants to leave school, but what's really bothering him is that she didn't come to us right away. She didn't tell us about her troubles at school or the pregnancy. She shut us out completely."
"Looking at it from the outside in, I can't say I'm surprised. Come on, Abbey, what college freshman wants to come home from school and tell her devout Catholic parents that she's pregnant, oh and by the way, it's by a guy they already hate? Ideally, she would have told you, but can you really blame her for being scared?"
Logically, Millie was right. The problem was, she didn't understand what was happening inside Jed's head the way Abbey did. It wasn't fatherly disapproval of Liz's choices that had him so upset; it was his own insecurities resurfacing after years of building a rock-solid bond with his eldest child. Her secrecy stung him to his core and it was going to take time for the sting to subside.
"DADDY!"
Something always changed in Zoey when her father came home from work. Jed walked out to the backyard and Zoey's eyes lit up. She ran just as fast as her little feet could take her to jump into his arms and command his attention.
Jed lifted her up. She was getting too big for this, but he didn't dare tell her that. "How are you, sweetheart?"
"Mommy's mad at me," she told him, big green eyes drooping sadly.
"Why is she mad at you?"
Zoey whispered in his ear softly enough so that James couldn't hear, "I told Grandma Lizzie was pregnant." She said a little louder, "I didn't know it was a secret!"
Jed shifted his weight uncomfortably, looking to see if he could read James's expression. Did he know too? "It's not a secret, Zoey. And I'm sure Mom's not mad at you for that."
"She is!"
"I'll talk to her, okay? In the meantime, do me a favor and pick up your toys from the family room so Ellie's friends can drop off their sleeping bags when they get here?"
"Okay."
Jed set her down and Zoey scampered off to the house.
"Is everything okay?" James asked, noticing his son-in-law's awkward glance and uncomfortable swagger toward the wagon he was preparing for Ellie's hay rides.
"Fine," Jed answered unconvincingly. If Mary knew Liz was pregnant, James would know soon enough. But still, he hesitated.
"Abbey's upset about something." Jed gave a nod of acknowledgment. "Are you two having trouble?"
"No."
"I don't want to pry, Jed, but if I can help in any way..."
"We're not fighting. Abbey and I are fine." He lifted a hay bale to stuff into the wagon.
"Then what is it?"
"It's Elizabeth," Abbey said from behind them. She had come outside to tell Jed that Mary knew when she overheard the conversation.
"Lizzie?" James was alarmed. "Is she sick? Is it serious?"
"She's not sick, Dad." Abbey paused for a beat to allow Jed a chance to stop her. But he didn't. "She's pregnant."
"What?" His mouth dropped open.
"She told us the other night."
"How could she be...are you sure?"
"A doctor confirmed it. We're sure."
James transferred his gaze over to Jed. The younger man refused eye contact and James now understood why. "Is she upstairs?"
Abbey nodded. "Mom's talking to her."
"I'm going too," he said, headed toward the house.
As the door to the house closed behind him, Abbey kept her eyes on Jed. He hadn't even acknowledged her since she interrupted them. All he did was lift another hay bale. "You're not going to say anything?"
"What's there to say?"
"A lot more than what you're saying. Are you embarrassed that people know?"
He turned to face her then. "I just don't think we should be shouting it from the rooftop like it's something we're happy about."
"Who's shouting from the rooftop? I didn't want to tell anyone, not now. Not today. Zoey told Mom. Someone had to tell Dad and I preferred that he hear it from me." Jed started to walk away, but Abbey grabbed his arm to stop him. "When are we going to talk about this?"
"We've already talked about it."
"I mean the three of us - you, me, and Liz. We need to sit down and figure out what we're going to do."
"I'm not ready to have that conversation."
"When will you be ready?"
"I don't know," he snapped. "I just can't, Abbey. Not yet."
"She's going to Wellesley tomorrow to fill out the paperwork to drop her classes. You and I have to sign off on the financial aid."
"I'm not signing anything."
"Jed."
"She's 18, she can drop out if she wants to, but don't expect me to endorse it. You can sign. And while you're at it, tell her to get a job. Let her go out in the workforce for a year without a college degree. She'll be begging to go back to Wellesley!"
"You can't keep doing this."
"What?"
"This. You can't keep up this confrontational attitude. What's done is done. We need to figure out a way to deal with it...together."
"Don't you think I know that?"
"You have to talk to her. Once you do, you'll both feel better."
"I'm trying to get to that point, Abbey. I have so many questions, but every time I think about knocking on her door or pulling her aside when we pass each other in the hall, all I can do is wonder why. Why ask her all the things I want to ask when all she's going to do is lie to me anyway?"
"She's won't..."
"She already has! She's gotten very good at telling us what we want to hear. I used to be able to tell what she was feeling just by looking at her face. I look at her now and she's someone I don't even know."
"You don't look at her, Jed. You avoid her as much as possible."
"She avoids me too. I walk into the kitchen, she walks out. I come home from work and she locks herself in her room all night."
"Only because she doesn't know what to say to you. She feels just as awkward as you do. That doesn't mean she doesn't love you or want to talk to you."
"If she wants to talk, she knows she can come to me. She's always known that, but when things get rough, she conveniently forgets it. She'd rather go to Jack than me."
"You know that's not true. That's a bruised ego talking."
"You think that's all it is? Ego?"
Abbey saw Ellie approach behind Jed, who turned to follow her stare.
"Mom, can I borrow your rusty red lip gloss?" the birthday girl asked.
"No."
"Why?"
"You're too young for make-up."
"It's not make-up, it's lip gloss."
"Ellie, you know the rules. No make-up until you're 15 and that includes lip gloss."
"Please? My lips are really pale."
"Your lips are not pale. They're beautiful, just like the rest of you."
"You're just saying that because you're my mom."
"I'm saying it and I'm not your mom," Jed interjected.
"You're my dad. Same thing."
"Not exactly the same thing."
Ellie addressed Abbey again. "Can't I borrow the lip gloss? Please?"
"I said no."
"Dad?"
"What's with the sudden emphasis on primping?" Jed admired his middle daughter, so pretty in her blue outfit. But at the same time, she looked so different from what he was used to.
"It's not primping."
"You sure don't look like the Ellie of last year. You know, the girl who insisted that leggings and high-top sneakers were the height of fashion."
She shrugged. "I grew out of that. Most of the girls in junior high dress like this."
"I suspect that includes her new friend, Lacy," Abbey informed her husband.
Jed nodded. He'd already been through this with Liz. "Now I understand."
"It's not because of Lacy. I like the way I look in these clothes." Ellie reminded Abbey, "You and Lizzie dress up all the time."
"True, but that's because we like it, not because it's what everyone else is doing."
"And I'm dressed this way because I like it."
"Whatever the reason, you look great, Ellie." Jed smiled, his first smile of the day. It was like the mood completely changed between him and Abbey. It was Ellie's birthday and her presence forced them to shove their trouble with Liz onto the backburner.
"Thanks, but I'd look better if I could wear lip gloss."
"Tell you what," Abbey started with a compromise on her mind. "Drop the lip gloss and I'll give you one of your presents to open now."
She headed toward the house, knowing that Ellie would never turn down a gift. Smiling impishly, the 12-year-old turned to follow.
"Is it lip gloss?" she asked as she clicked her mother's heels.
"You're not that lucky."
That evening, the backyard was taken over by 7th graders. Most of them were Ellie's friends from elementary school, girls who Ellie hadn't seen in a while because they had been zoned for a different junior high. But among the guests was a girl who stood out in the crowd - eighth grader Lacy Nichols. Abbey had heard a lot about her, though she'd never met her. It occurred to her now how strange that was. In the past, Ellie had always brought her friends over, but for some reason, when she and Lacy made after-school plans, it was Ellie who boarded Lacy's bus to follow her home.
Abbey watched the girls interact with subtle concern. Lacy was nothing like the others. In a red mesh top over a black tank, a black miniskirt, and high heels, she looked to be 13 going on 21. Her hair had been crimped and teased into a side ponytail and she had enough make-up on to star in her own punk rock video. The perfect example of a young girl with a baby face trying so desperately to catapult herself to adulthood. Abbey might have overlooked it if it had been just a wardrobe issue, but she overheard them talking and listened from a distance as Lacy bragged about her defiance of her mother's rules at home. She threw in a couple of curse words for good measure and it was easy to see she had everyone's attention, including Ellie's.
Abbey tore herself away from the scene and gathered some used paper plates to toss into the trash.
"There's something strange going on," she said to her sister Kate as she joined her in the kitchen.
"In what way?"
"Don't tell me you haven't noticed how Ellie's been glued to Lacy all night."
"They're best friends. That's what best friends do at this age."
"I wouldn't go that far. Ellie hangs out with her, but Wendy's still her best friend."
"Hate to break the news sis, but Ellie has more than one best friend." Kate chuckled, unaware of how much it disturbed Abbey. "Lacy gave her one of those best friend necklaces when Jed was grilling."
"The ones with the heart split in half?"
"Yeah, but it's a four-way. Two other girls are part of the group. Nicole and..."
"Celia. Ellie talks about them all the time. They're not here yet."
"You don't approve?"
"Look at Lacy and ask me that question again."
"You know what they say about judging a book by its cover. So she's a bit of a show-off and a little outlandish..."
"A little?" Abbey questioned. "She's desperate for attention."
"I'll give you that. She's one of those girls who's used to hogging the spotlight."
"That's an understatement."
"I'm sure she's a lovely girl on the inside. Otherwise, why would Ellie give her the time of day?"
"That's what I keep asking myself."
Mary walked in then. "Should I prepare the cake?"
"They're not finished eating."
"And some of us haven't even started," Kate said, a jar of mayonnaise in her hand.
"The girls don't need mayonnaise," Mary replied.
"It's not for the girls, it's for Jed," Abbey told her. Jed couldn't eat anything without mayo on it.
"And Bob." Kate shook her head, disapprovingly. "Your husband is not a good influence, Abbey."
"Tell Bob to quit being a follower," Abbey teased.
"I'm sure that'll go over well," Kate called out behind her as she left the kitchen.
Mary grabbed the cake from the fridge while Abbey pulled out a book of matches from the drawer.
"So Mom, how old was I when I outgrew slumber parties?"
Mary glanced at her older daughter. "Did you ever outgrow slumber parties?"
"Very funny." It was true, Abbey had to admit. She still had slumber parties with her girls now and then.
"Cherish these times, Abigail. They grow up way too fast."
"Tell me about it," Abbey said. "Thanks for getting Lizzie to come down and enjoy the party."
"It wasn't difficult. She'd do anything for Ellie." Mary donned a more serious look suddenly. "She's having a hard time, Abbey."
"I know."
"I asked her to come to Boston with me."
"What?"
"She can move in with me and your father for as long as she wants."
"Mom, I asked you to stay out of it." Her interference annoyed Abbey.
"You asked me not to encourage her to call Doug, and I didn't. But things are tense around here and the stress isn't good for her or the baby."
"Things are tense because it just happened. Jed and I have had less than a week to deal with this."
"In the meantime, your daughter is struggling just as much as you are." Mary never intended to upset her. All she wanted was to comfort her granddaughter. "I'm sorry if I overstepped the bounds here, but things are rough and you and Jed are so busy right now..."
"A dig about my job?"
"It's not a dig. Where did that come from?"
From Abbey's own insecurities. "Forget it."
"Abbey?"
"I know you're trying to help, but encouraging her to move out isn't the way to do it."
"Then what can I do?"
"Nothing, just let me handle it."
Mary was startled by her defensiveness. After several seconds, she conceded, "If that's what you want..."
"It is."
"Done," she replied, cutting the exchange short when the phone rang.
Abbey rushed to answer it. "Hello?"
The response she got came from a voice she never expected - Doug. She recognized it in a heartbeat, and anger she'd been suppressing instantly bubbled up inside her, anger not only directed at him, but at Liz too, for getting themselves into this mess. What did he want now, she wondered. To get back together with Liz? To ask about the baby? It didn't matter. Whatever he wanted, she didn't care. He was already gone from their lives and as far as Abbey was concerned, breaking up with him was the best decision Liz had made in months. Impulsively, she hung up the phone without uttering a word.
"Who was it?"
"Wrong number," she said, weaving through a wave of guilt for hanging up without calling for Liz. Doug was a jerk, he'd gotten Liz pregnant, and it was because of him that the whole family was in turmoil. But the baby Liz was carrying was his baby too and it wasn't up to Abbey to dictate what happened next. Her response was a testament to the stress she was under, and for the first time, she acknowledged that maybe she was in over her head.
"Let me know when you want to do the cake." Mary turned to leave, but Abbey stopped her.
"I didn't mean to snap at you."
"It's okay."
"No, it's not," she said, ready to stop hiding her true feelings. "I've been snapping at you all day. The truth is, it's not you I'm mad at. It's me...and Liz...and Jed. I don't know what to do. Liz is a wreck. Jed is too. He's not making this any easier. And I'm trying to keep things together, but it's just so overwhelming sometimes. I don't know if I can do it."
Mary saw the unshed tears shining in Abbey's eyes. She took her hand in hers, threading their fingers. "Those are the times when you ask for help. Your family doesn't end with Jed and the girls. Your dad and I are here for you too."
Deep down, Abbey already knew that. But she appreciated the reminder. "I need you to tell me what to do. I have no idea how to fix things."
"Things can't always be fixed, sweetheart. Sometimes, they just have to run their course."
Mary wrapped her up in her arms, comforting her by stroking her back the same way Abbey always did with Liz. She then released a silent prayer from her lips that soon, the Bartlet family would be at peace again.
TBC