Chapter twenty-two Truth telling
Racheal's POV
Things were going well between Marco and me. We had been sleeping together for over a week. To my delight, I was late on my period. I tried not to get my hopes up. But I couldn't help but feel excited. If I was pregnant already, my plan will have worked perfectly. A part of me was going to miss sleeping with Marco. Although he shouted out Elle's name and kept his eyes mostly closed when we did it. He was gentle, loving and tender, everything I had ever wanted from a boyfriend – minus the obsession with another girl. My parents hadn't spoken to me since the day I told them I was pregnant. But as I lay on my bed, googling how long I would have to take before doing a test, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in" I said distractedly. My mother came into my room and sat down on my bed. I looked at her, irritated that she had disturbed me in my research. She had a plate of cookies with her. She held out the plate to me. But I stared at what was in her lap.
She had a large pile of leaflets, all of them, I could tell from glancing the covers, were centred around abortion. I looked at her, disgusted, and she cleared her throat looking determined.
"Get out" I said quietly. I didn't have the time or the patience to humour her.
"Please Racheal, just hear me out" she said approach fully. I shook my head at her and pointed at the door. "Out!" I shouted and she flinched.
My father came through the still open door. He looked cross, but I stood my ground. "Whatever you were planning to say to me. Don't waste your time" I said, looking back and forth between them.
My mother held onto the stack of leaflets and she shook before bursting into tears. "You're so young Racheal. You are still a child yourself. And I...I don't want you to throw away your life like this" she sobbed.
"I'm not throwing away my life. I am making it complete. I want this baby." I said dismissively.
"You can barely look after yourself. You won't be able to look after a child" my dad said, his voice was strained, like he was trying hard not to shout.
"I can and I will. Besides, I won't be doing it on my own." I said. I didn't really like lying to them, but it was easier this way. If things went well, I would be pregnant with Noah's child before too long and he and I would bring up the child together. So, it was pointless to tell them, that I wasn't actually pregnant – well at least not with Lee's child anyway. If they knew what was really happening, they would probably try and stop me. They had never understood me, no one ever did.
"You plan to do this with Lee? A boy who has been hiding ever since he knocked up our daughter!" my dad shouted.
My parents had wanted to go and confront Lee. They had gone on and on about how irresponsible he was. In their eyes, Lee had gotten me pregnant, then hidden from my parents, so that he didn't have to start taking responsibility for his actions.
"Lee isn't hiding" I insisted.
Luckily, the whole family had gone on vacation. I had only found out from Marco, who had found out from someone else.
No doubt, it was all Elle's idea to go away as a cosy little family…
"Then why hasn't he come round? You always go over to him. He should be treating the mother of his child better" my mother said, keeping her voice low and calm, as if I would see her as a friend if she didn't start shouting.
"I always go over to his house. Because his family supports me having our child. They aren't trying to talk me into an abortion" I said and I was pleased when my mom winced as if I had hit her.
"We aren't trying to talk you into it, we just want you to know you have options." My mom insisted.
My dad sighed and shot my mom a look. He seemed to think that her approach was getting them nowhere.
"Where are you going to live? What are you going to do for money?" he said in a low growl.
"Lee's family will take care of me" I shot back at him confidently.
"Well, I don't think they should. You are having all of this far too easy. It's giving you a false sense of security. When me and your mother had you. It was a constant struggle, and we were older and had jobs" he said. But I just shrugged at him. It didn't matter to me what it was like for them. It wasn't going to be like that for me. When I got pregnant with Noah's child, I was going to be treated like a queen. I will never have to worry or want for anything for the rest of my life. I could do whatever I wanted and finally be happy.
"In fact," my dad went on, clearly irritated that I didn't seem in the slightest concerned by what he said. "I am going to tell Lee and his family exactly what I think. They must think that we aren't concerned about this and I think they have a right to know exactly how we feel about this" he finished and turned from the room.
Panic seized me, "You can't" I said quickly. Standing up and following him. He paused in picking up his car keys. "And why not?" he demanded. I thought quickly, and decided that it was best to tell half truths to be as convincing as possible. "Because they went on holiday. They will have left by now" I said, and my dad frowned at me. "They went away? Without you?" he said in disbelief. "I didn't want to go. I heard that flying isn't good for pregnant people" I said, and placed a hand on my belly for effect.
My mom had followed us out, she looked between me and dad with a frown. "I've never heard anything like that before. I know pregnant woman can't fly when they are so many weeks, but it should be safe now. You can't be that far along" she said and glanced at my belly.
"Yeah well, I read it online and thought it was better to be safe" I said with a shrug. "How long are they away for?" my mother asked kindly. She seemed to like that I was finally talking to them, instead of just ignoring them like I had been.
I had no idea how long they would be away for, so I thought about what would be the quickest way to drag them away from asking too many questions.
"It wasn't just what I read online that made me not go." I said, looking at my mother and willing myself to start crying.
She put her arm around me in concern. "I wanted to have a look at adoption" I said in a whisper. This did the trick and my dad put his keys down, while my mom hugged me. "Oh Racheal. Why didn't you say anything? We would have helped you" she insisted, starting to cry herself.
"Are you scared about what Lee's family might think?" my dad said in concern. I nodded and he looked angry. "I knew it, they are trying to force you to have this baby aren't they" he growled. "No, having the baby is what I want. But…" I said, trailing off.
My mom sat me down on our sofa and held me like I was a little girl again. My dad went back to my room, and returned with the leaflets and the cookies. He sorted through the leaflets and held some out to me. "You don't have to be afraid. We are on your side; we will handle Lee's family." He assured me, and I pretended to look through the leaflets on adoption.