CHAPTER 35

One week later:

Andie answers the door. The delivery person hands her a bouquet of a dozen red roses sprayed with glitter. Andie reads the card. "I still love you-Nicky." Andie puts the flowers down on the kitchen table and rips up the card into tiny little pieces. She drops them in the trash can. This is the second bouquet of flowers Nicky's sent her this week. Charlotte breezes in the kitchen for a cup of coffee. "Nice flowers. Who are they from?"

"I don't know." Andie answers. "More sympathy flowers cuz grandma died I guess."

"Who sent them?"

"I don't know." Andie shrugs.

Charlotte looks through the bouquet for a card. "That's odd." Charlotte says.

"The card probably fell off in the delivery truck." Andie lies.

"No, I mean it's odd that someone would send red roses sprayed with glitter for a sympathy bouquet."

"Maybe you have a secret admirer, momma." Andie teases and walks back into the living room.

The doorbell rings again. "Not more flowers!" Andie gripes as she gets up to answer the door. "We have enough flowers and fruit baskets in this house to last a year." She gripes to herself. She opens the door and is surprised to see Tyler standing there with a fruit basket. "Are you working as a delivery man now?" She asks him.

Tyler laughs. "My mom asked me to bring these over for your family. It's a decent basket. There's a lot of fruit but there's also chocolate bars and cheesecakes and other goodies."

"Great but my dad can only eat the fruit." Andie rips open the cellophane wrapper and grabs a candy bar. She breaks it in half to share with Tyler. "That means we get to eat the goodies."

Charlotte comes out of the kitchen. "Hi Tyler. How's your mom and dad doing?"

"Good, I guess." Tyler shrugs. "This fruit basket is from my mom." He hands the basket to Charlotte.

"Isn't it from both your parents since they're married?" Andie asks.

"They split up. My dad's been living at the hotel for over a month." Tyler tells Andie.

"That's a bummer."

"Tell your mom I said thank you for the fruit basket. It looks like a good one." Charlotte grabs a banana out of the basket and peels it. "I have to go to the hospital for a little bit. Daddy's resting in bed if you need anything." Charlotte takes a bite of the banana before walking out the door.

"I can't believe your parents split after all these years." Andie tells Tyler.

"Yep. My life sucks." Tyler leans back on the couch and bites into the chocolate bar. "My parents are separated, Danielle dumped me...-"

Andie interrupts. "Danielle broke up with you because she's going to Yale. It's kind of hard to have a relationship living on opposite sides of the country."

Tyler swallows the chocolate bar and answers,"Danielle wanted to get into Yale to be near Lucas. As soon as she gets there they'll hook up again. She was using me for the time she couldn't be with Lucas."

"I don't know about that, Tyler. She's going to Yale because she's taking pre-med classes, not because of Lucas."

"One time she called me Lucas when we were having sex."

"Ouch!" Andie screws up her face.

"I would look at her when we were having sex and she always had her eyes closed. She was pretending I was Lucas."

Andie snickers. "She never told me anything like that and I'm her best friend. I think she would."

"When's the last time you hung out with Danielle?" Tyler asks.

"Probably two weeks ago at my birthday party."

"She's hanging out with Alison Greene now since they're both going to Yale next semester. She's at her house now."

"She better not try to replace me as her best friend."

"Join the club." Tyler says. "Are you doing anything later?"

"Nope, Just hanging here."

"You wanna go to a movie or bowling or something since we're both single losers?" Tyler asks.

"Hey! We are not losers. We're just going through a rough patch but yeah I'll hang out with you tonight instead of sitting home painting my nails on a Friday night."

The doorbell rings again. "Oh please, not more flowers or fruit baskets." Andie gets up and tells Tyler. "No offense, your fruit basket was the best."

Tess is standing at the door." Is Chase home?" Andie can see that Tess's eyes are red from crying.

"He's up in his room." Andie lets Tess in.

"Hi Tess." Tyler calls out.

Tess ignores him and runs straight up the stairs to Chase's room.

"What's wrong with her?" Tyler asks.

"She's probably pregnant." Andie plops down on the couch. "I can't wait to see how my momma reacts. Chase is her favorite but she's a sexologist,she preaches safe sex in her seminars. She's gonna be so mad at Chase"

"Poor Chase." Tyler groans. "He'll be tied to Tess for the rest of his life."

"Who knows? Maybe she won't keep it."

Tess bursts through the doorway into in Chase's room crying.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm late. I was supposed to get my period yesterday and I didn't get it yet."

"Oh crap! What should we do?" Chase jumps up out of his chair.

"We should do one of those home pregnancy tests, I guess." Tess wipes her eyes.

"Did you get one yet?"

"I don't want anyone to see me buying it. My parents will kill me if they find out. I thought maybe your mom or sister has one I could use."

"I don't think so. I think my mom's too old to get pregnant anymore and my sister doesn't have a boyfriend. We'll have to buy one."

"Can you just go and buy it?" Tess cries. "I'll wait here."

"I'll be back in ten minutes." Chase gives her a gentle kiss on the head before leaving.

Charlotte's sitting in her office at St. Ambrose. Cole walks in with a bouquet of yellow and white lilies.

"Those are pretty."

Cole hands them to her. "They're for your family. I'm sorry to hear about Cooper's mother. How's he doing?"

"As well as can be expected after having major heart surgery and having his mother suddenly die a few weeks later."

"That good huh?" Cole quirks an eyebrow.

"I think he's depressed. He just mopes around the house since the funeral."

"Give him time. He's grieving."

"I know. Thank you for the flowers Cole."

Cole turns to leave the office. "Cole?" Charlotte calls out.

"Yeah?" Cole turns back around to face her.

"How are things with Jolie?"

"I'm still at the hotel."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Oh ...and Cole?"

"Yeah?"

"You didn't happen to send roses to my house earlier, did you?"

"No. Why?" Cole asks.

"Someone sent flowers without a card and we're trying to figure out who they're from."

"Not me. These are the only flowers I've bought in a long time." Cole leaves.

Charlotte finishes up her paperwork before heading home for the day.

Chase arrives home with the pregnancy test. He passes by Tyler and Andie who are watching TV on the couch without looking at them. He runs up the stairs with it hidden under his jacket.

"He's acting strange today." Tyler comments.

"I told you Tess's pregnant and they're freakin' out."

"I feel sorry for your brother."

"What about Tess? Don't you feel sorry for Tess?" Andie asks.

"Not really." Tyler shrugs his shoulders

"Why not?"

"For some reason, I don't like her."

Andie snickers.

Chase bursts through the bedroom door. "I got it." He hands it to her. They read the directions. "It says it works best if you use it first thing in the morning." Chase tells Tess.

"I can't wait that long to find out. I need to know now." Tess grabs the stick out of the box.

"There are two sticks in the box anyway so you could always do it again in the morning." They walk down the hall to the bathroom. Tess urinates on the stick while Chase waits in the shower with the curtain pulled shut.

"I'm done. You can come out now." She tells Chase.

Chase sets the timer on his phone and they wait. "What should we do if it's positive?" Tess asks.

"We should tell my mother. She'll know what to do." Chase looks at the time on his clock.

"My parents scowled when I told them your mom was a sexologist. They must think she's horny to pick that field."

"My momma gets that from a lot of people. They don't understand it's a medical specialty. But it redeems her that she's Chief of Staff at St. Ambrose. People respect her a lot for that."

"Yeah my parents were impressed when I told them that about her." Tess nods.

"K, times up." Chase tells her. "It's do or die."

Tess looks at the test. "I think it's negative." She smiles.

Chase looks and compares it to the directions. "Yeah, it's negative." He breathes a sigh of relief. Then he warns Tess. "But, don't get too relaxed about it. It said in the directions its best with the first pee in the morning. This test might not be accurate. You better do it again when you wake up tomorrow morning to be sure."

"Okay." Tess sighs and nods, beginning to worry again.

"Call me in the morning as soon as you do it." Chase puts the directions back in his pocket. Tess sticks the test stick in her pocket, afraid that someone might find it in the bathroom trash can. They walk out of the bathroom together. Charlotte passes them in the hall.

"I didn't know you were home, momma."

Charlotte looks at Chase and Tess suspiciously. "I just got home from work now." Charlotte screws up her face. "Are you two attached at the hip? You can't even go to the bathroom alone?" Charlotte teases, thinking it's odd that they came out of the bathroom together.

"No, ma'am." Tess looks at the floor.

"I was showing Tess the new shampoo you bought." Chase tries to think of a reason for them to be in the bathroom together.

"Why?" Charlotte asks.

"She likes the way it smells and wants to buy some but I forgot the brand." Chase thinks quickly.

"Yeah, I wanted to know the brand and now I do." Tess hurries back to Chase's room. Chase follows her.

"The door stays open!" Charlotte calls out to Chase. "You know the rules, if you have any friends in your room the door must stay open."

"Yes, momma, I know." He turns to Tess. "We have to leave the door open so we might as well study for the science quiz next week."

Tess sighs. "Where was your mother last week when we were in your room with the door closed?"

"She was in Ohio at my grandma's funeral."

"I know that. I didn't mean it literally, I meant that I wish she was here so I wouldn't have to worry about being pregnant."

"Shhh! The doors open. Someone might hear you and besides the test was negative."

"I'm not convinced until I do another test in the morning."

Chase sighs. "Can we just be happy for now that this one was negative?"

"Okay." Tess wraps her arms around his neck and presses her lips into his for a lingering kiss.

Chase pulls away after a minute "This is how we got into this boat in the first place."

Tess smiles. "I just thought of something."

"What?" Chase asks

"If I am pregnant, we don't have to worry, we could have sex whenever we want." Tess kisses Chase again. They end up pressed up against each other on his bed with their arms wrapped around each other and their legs intertwined.

Charlotte walks by Chase's room and pokes her head in just as Chase is putting his hand up Tess's shirt. "Whoa! Separate Now!" Charlotte commands. Chase and Tess roll away from each other to opposite sides of the bed.

"Sorry, momma." Chase says.

"Sorry ma'am." Tess says.

"Are you two having sex?"

"We were just fooling around." Chase tells his momma. "We have our clothes on and the door's open."

"I asked you; are you having sex?" Charlotte makes herself clear.

Chase looks at the floor while answering. "Yes ma'am, but just once."

"Are you using birth control?" Charlotte asks Tess.

"No ma'am." Tess looks at the ceiling.

"Did you use any kind of protection?" Charlotte looks at both Chase and Tess. "Tell me you at least used something."

Tess and Chase stay quiet.

"Did you use condoms?" Charlotte asks and gets no answer. "Did you use spermicide?" She still gets no answer. She raises her voice. "Did you use anything?"

Chase takes a deep breath. "No ma'am."

"Chase, You know better. Why didn't you use anything?"

"I didn't have anything. We didn't plan to have sex. It just happened." Chase answers.

Tess covers her face with her hands and starts to cry.

Charlotte looks at Tess. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just don't want you to end up pregnant. You kids don't understand how it will change your lives forever."

Tess sobs even harder now.

"I said I was sorry. You can stop cryin' now." Charlotte tells Tess. "But if you're gonna continue to have sex you need to use birth control."

Tess blurts out. "I'm late and we think I might be pregnant."

"Good God." Charlotte rolls her eyes and looks at Chase.

"Sorry, momma." Chase looks down.

"How late are you?" Charlotte asks Tess.

"Just one day." Tess answers.

"When did you have sex?"

"It was last week when you were in Ohio." Chase answers.

"Your period was due yesterday?" Charlotte asks Tess.

"Yes." Tess answers, "but we did a home pregnancy test and it says negative." Tess pulls the test stick out of her pocket and hands it to Charlotte. Charlotte looks at it.

Chase adds, "the directions say you're supposed to use the first urine in the morning. We just did the test this evening so we're not sure if it's accurate."

"That's what you two were doing in the bathroom together?" Charlotte looks at the negative test stick in her hand

"Yes ma'am." Chase bows his head.

"You were lying to me about the shampoo?" Charlotte asks her oldest son.

"Yes ma'am."

"If you want me to trust you and you want to drive my car, then I suggest you don't lie to me." Charlotte warns in a firm voice. Charlotte turns to Tess. "In my opinion, I think you're okay Tess."

"What?" Tess wipes her eyes.

"By the timing of when you had sex and when your period was due, you shouldn't be pregnant. You could be late from the stress of worrying about being pregnant or stressed out from all those exams you had at school this week."

"Really?" Tess sniffles

"If you were a week late or more I would be concerned but one day late is nothing. We're all a day late from time to time. I still want you to do that test in the morning to double check and if it does come out positive I want you to come talk to me. I'll go over your options with you."

"Yes ma'am."

Charlotte sits on the bed next to Tess and gives her a hug. "I love your accent." Charlotte pushes a strand of Tess's hair behind her ear, trying to cheer the sixteen year old up.

Chase looks on. "That's cuz it sounds just like your accent momma." Chase smirks.

"I know." Charlotte shrugs and smiles.

"Tess and I better get back to studying now." Chase tells Charlotte.

"For now on, I want you to study in the living room." Charlotte tells them.

"But momma, Drew's always jumping around making noise in the living room."

"You make him sound like a monkey." Charlotte scolds Chase gently. "Your brother is not a monkey."

Chase shrugs. 'You could've fooled me."

Tess laughs. Chase smiles that she's lightened up about the pregnancy scare. He's happy Charlotte talked to them and feels better that his momma knows everything.

Charlotte gets up to leave the room "Those are the new rules. If you want Tess to be able to come over to study with you, it has to be in the living room or kitchen. I'll send the monkey outside to play." Charlotte teases.

"Yes ma'am." Chase and Tess pick up their books.

"One more thing." Charlotte turns to Tess. "My advice is for you to get on the pill if you're going to continue to have sex. You should use condoms also. If you need me to write a prescription I can do it for you."

"But my parents will find out. I'm covered under their health insurance plan."

"You should talk to your momma about this, but if you can't, I can give you some samples for now. You can also go to the parenthood clinic near the hospital and they'll give it to you."

"Thank you, Dr King." Tess hugs Charlotte.