You would not believe how incredibly scared out of my mind I was. Rich and I talked on the phone every night. We had sworn not to tell anyone until Christmas dinner. We tried to plan how we would tell everyone. "How about this," Rich said "Guess what? I'm pregnant. Please pass the potatoes. How does that sound?" I laughed. "Well, it's the best idea we've come up with." We grew more and more nervous as the day of the Christmas dinner came closer. I was nearly two months along when the day finally came. I only wore jeans and sweatshirts in the winter, and more appropatley now since my stomach was starting to pudge a little. Since this was a special day, Paris and me had bought new dresses. When I woke up that morning I slipped old clothes on. No one was due to be there until about 4:00. We would eat at 6. Ace and I prepared the house and the Chambers were the first to arrive. As soon as they got there, Rich pulled me aside and whispered he needed to talk to me as soon as possible. The other guest began arriving soon after that and I quickly excused myself from the kitchen, where the women were all getting the food ready. Rich and I met in the back room and he told me his idea. "Instead of telling everyone today, why don't we just elope? Then we can explain when we get back." He said. "Richie!" I exclaimed," That's a fabulous idea! Wonder why we didn't think of it before?" Before he could answer, we heard a noise outside the closed door. We opened it to see Shelly running down the hall. "I hope she didn't hear what we we're talking about." I said. Rich shook his head. "She wouldn't understand it even if she did hear." Too soon we were all sitting down to eat. Aunt Polly said grace and we began. Everyone was stuffing their face's when Shelly asked a question that almost made me spit out the bite of ham and cranberry sauce (hey, I was pregnant!) I had just took. "Daddy, what's elope mean?" Mr. Chambers stopped chewing. "Shell, where did you hear that word?" She frowned. "From Richie and Marti." All activity going on around the table stopped and everyone looked at me and Rich. "Do you two have plans the rest of us don't know about?" Aunt Polly asked. I decided to take our original route. I looked around and said, "Guess what? I'm pregnant. Pass the potatoes, please." Nearly everyone's mouth dropped open. Mr. Chambers was the one to speak first. "You little harlot! If you'd been taught to keep your legs together, this wouldn't have happened!" I felt my face get hot. Rich grabbed his eggnog and threw it in his dad's face. "Don't you ever talk to her like that again, you filthy drunk!" he yelled. Mrs. Chambers screamed and little Shelly started to cry. Mr. Chambers grabbed Rich by the collar. "I'll teach you, ya little punk!" I'd had enough. "Stop it! Stop it all of you!" They all stopped and looked at me. "Me and Rich we know we made a mistake, but were willing to take it. We want to get married and have this baby. That's what were going to do. If you all forbid it, then we'll run away. We're taking our plan through all the way whether you like it or not." Once everyone saw how determined we were, they relented and agreed to help us with our wedding. Ace finally spoke up. "Eyeball, man, how do you plan to support her?" I hadn't thought of that. How were we going to get by? Rich quickly answered that question. "Well, I haven't told anyone this, but I've been working a job. I've been roofing in Chamberlain. For the past four months. That's what I do all day, while the others are in school." I have to say we were all surprised. I know I was.