Five weeks later, Lucy and Kevin were having a heavy make-out session in his apartment when there was an unexpected knock at the door. Reluctantly, they pulled away when they heard the sound. Kevin stood up, kissed Lucy one more time on the cheek, and then answered the door.
"Um, hello Kevin."
"Hi…"
Lucy heard the voice at the other side of the door and ran over, nearly knocking Kevin onto his backside. "Mary?"
"Luce?"
"Mary, what are you doing here? Where are Wilson and Billy?"
"Uh, back in Maryland," Mary said looking down at her yellowed tennis sneakers.
"Uh, I think I'll going to go into the house now," Kevin said as he walked down the stairs.
"Kevin, please don't tell them I'm here," Mary pleaded as he attempted to walk past her.
He nodded and left the two sisters alone in his apartment.
"Did you and Wilson have a fight or something?"
"No, nothing like that," Mary said dispelling Lucy's thoughts.
"I don't mean to be rude, but then why are you here?"
"I have to tell you something- you and the rest of the family."
"OK…but why couldn't you have just told us over the phone?" Mary suddenly started to cry. "What's wrong?" Mary just continued to sob and Lucy put her arms around her. After Mary eventually calmed down, Lucy looked at her strangely. "Why didn't Wilson come with you?"
Mary started to cry again. "I didn't tell him I was coming back here."
"Oh Mary," Lucy said in a low tone of voice. "Why didn't you tell him?"
"I'm not ready to talk about this yet; give me at least another hour or so, Luce, please."
Lucy could tell by the tone of Mary's voice that this was something big, maybe even life changing, that Mary was keeping inside her.
"Ok, um, are you staying?" Lucy asked her.
Mary nodded. "I'm leaving Saturday though. I should be ready to go back home by then."
Lucy really wanted to know what was going on with her, but didn't press Mary on it. "OK. So why don't you call Wilson first and tell him you're here, then go inside and tell the rest of the family."
"Ok," Mary agreed standing up, "but in reverse order."
"Jeez," Lucy said under her breath.
"What was that?" Mary said turning around.
"Nothing, its just that whatever it is has got to be bad if you'd rather see Mom and Dad than call Wilson."
"If you only knew," Mary whispered silently to herself as the two of them made their way to the Camden compound.
"Mary!" Annie said following a meek greeting from her daughter. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I was kind of hoping to camp out here until Saturday," Mary explains, being careful not to let the words "hide out" slip out of her mouth. "Can I? I'll take my old bed."
"Oh don't be silly," Annie said placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder comfortingly. "You and Wilson wouldn't both fit in that bed."
"Actually, Wilson didn't come with me," Mary told her mother.
Annie glanced at Lucy, who was standing beside Mary, for help. Lucy just shrugged. "Is everything OK with you two Mare?"
"I was just about to call him and find out," Mary said shifting her eyes from her mother to Lucy.
"Come on Mary," Lucy said taking her away from Annie. "I'll take you upstairs."
Once inside the bedroom, Mary picked up the phone. She could picture Wilson's reaction already; first he would be shocked, then enraged. Looking back, she should have at least hinted at coming here, but it was too late for anything like that. She carefully dialed her home telephone number, and listened attentively into the handset.
"Hello?" Wilson said after only one ring. Mary could tell by his voice that he was frantic.
"Wilson?"
"Mary? Where are you? It's past 8 o' clock."
"GlenOak."
"What?! What are you doing there?"
Mary had planned ahead for this question. Needless to say, it was a long plane ride to the other side of the country. "I'd been feeling really stressed lately and I missed my family."
"Well why didn't you tell me? We could have planned a trip or a day away or something Mare," Wilson said to her, all annoyance gone from his voice.
He was acting so sweet Mary couldn't lie to him anymore. She was going to spill her guts, happy that he wasn't at all angry with her, but caught herself just before she spoke.
"Look, Wilson, I have something to tell you- something important, but I can't tell you over the phone. I'm going home on Saturday at four. Could we plan to talk then?" she asked him hoping by then she would be ready to explain everything to him.
"Sure, I'll pick you up at the airport and have my aunt watch Billy so we can spend the whole night together- alone. How's that?"
"That'd be great. You're being so wonderful about all of this; thank you."
"Well, as long as you come home on Saturday, everything will be fine."
Mary smiled. "I'll definitely be home. I love you."
"With all my heart," Wilson countered, then hung up the phone.
Mary stared blankly at Lucy sitting in front of her. "So, if you're not having problems with Wilson, then what is it?" Lucy pried.
"I'll tell you after," Mary said sounding exhausted.
"Oh my gosh, are you pregnant?"
"I wish…" Mary muddled.
"What?" Lucy said.
"No, I'm not pregnant."
"Ok, is it something bad or something good?" Lucy asked Mary literally at the edge of her seat.
"Luce, I'm not 12, OK?"
"Oh," Lucy said quietly as her eyes darted down to the floor. "Ok."
"I'm sorry," Mary said getting up and sitting next to her. "I'm just so upset I don't know how to act anymore."
"You sure you don't want to just tell me whatever's wrong and get it over with?"
"Actually, I'm really tired. So I have to go to sleep."
"Sleep? Its ten past five. And what do you mean 'have'?"
Mary got up and went over to her bed. Turning down the covers, she smiled politely at Lucy before getting in.
"5:10!" Lucy screamed as only she could. "Can't we talk?"
"What do you ant to talk about?" she asked rolling over to face her younger sister.
"What's going on with you? I know something major is up. You wouldn't have come without a good reason."
"Later," Mary said rolling toward the wall. "Right now, I have to rest."
Hours later, Mary awoke to find only Ruthie in the room with her.
"Finally, you're up."
"What time is it?" Mary mumbled, still not fully awake.
"Quarter to ten."
"Really?" Mary asked sounding shocked.
Ruthie nodded.
"So, you know everything that's going on in this house. What have I missed?"
"First off, you missed dinner. Other than that, Simon went out on a date with Cecilia, the boys are asleep and so is mom, dad's working on Sunday's sermon, and Peter came over for me before."
"What about Lucy?"
"She went out with Kevin. She should be home soon."
"Oh, ok. Thanks Ruthie."
"Oh," Ruthie said sounding as though a thought just popped into her head, "I forgot the most important part. Wilson called. Don't worry though, I answered the phone."
"What did he say?"
"Well, he called to say good night, but I told him you were already asleep."
"That's not all he said is it?" Mary asked, knowing Wilson wouldn't hang up with such minimal information.
"He's really worried about you. And frankly, so am I."
"Frankly?" Mary said. "When did you start using words like that?"
"Don't try and change the subject." Ruthie said sternly. "Are you OK?"
Thankfully, Lucy walked through the door at that precise moment.
In a split second decision, Mary was forced to choose one sister over the other in order to protect her secret. Ruthie could outwit anyone, even her parents, so she chose Lucy. "Hey Luce, want to go downstairs with me?"
"Um, OK," Lucy said, caught completely off guard.
Mary and Lucy ventured downstairs to the kitchen. Neither of them spoke a word- not wanting to say what they really were thinking.
"Remember when we stayed down here all night when Matt got engaged?" Mary asked suddenly. Lucy nodded in reply. "I miss that."
"What, Matt getting engaged?" Lucy said smiling.
"No, us talking together. I mean, Wilson's great, but he'll never replace my best friend."
"Thanks." Lucy said sweetly.
There was a long pause before Mary spoke again. "You know, if you really want me to tell you I will."
"Nope. I don't want to know."
"What?"
"I don't want to know. Kevin and I were talking tonight, and it's probably something bad. I don't want any bad news."
Mary smiled. "Ok then, you sure?"
"Yup. I don't want to know."
"Fine." Mary let out a heavy to sigh. "I'm going to call a family meeting tomorrow and break the news to everyone."
"Ok, well, good luck," she said Mary sympathetically.
"Thanks," Mary said with wet eyes. "I think I'm going to need it."