Love Conquers All
Chapter 1: The Results Are In
Lucy dashed up the stairs to the bathroom where she hid the home pregnancy test she'd recently taken. She took it back out of the box and prepared herself to read the results. "Ok, red- negative, I'm not pregnant, blue- positive, I'm pregnant," she whispered to herself and closed her eyes. Lucy swallowed hard and opened her eyes. It was blue. Lucy was going to be a mother in nine months.
"Oh my God, I can't believe I'm going to be a mom. Why can't this wait? I'm not even out of school yet. I wanted to start my career before a child came along. How am I going to tell Kevin? What if he doesn't want a child yet?" Lucy thought over and over again.
"Lucy?" Eric called while knocking on the bathroom door, "please come downstairs. I want the whole family downstairs. Detective Michaels just arrived." The unexpected knocking nearly gave Lucy a heart attack.
"Okay Dad, I'll be down in a minute." Lucy put the test back in the box and hit it in the cabinet under the sink where she hoped nobody would look. She took a quick drink of water and then proceeded to head downstairs. Detective Michaels and Eric were seated on the couch. Once most of the family had gathered, Detective Michaels gave the news. Simon had been involved in a car accident that resulted in the death of a boy named Paul, who was riding a motorcycle at the time. The Camdens were in utter disbelief when they heard the devastating news.
Simon watched as the heavy rain pelted the window. Gray, gloomy clouds blanketed the sky. He sat there motionless, watching each raindrop plunge into the glassy surface of the window. Deeply lost in thoughts, he didn't hear his mother calling him for dinner. "Simon?" called Annie from the doorway.
"Oh, sorry. I was lost in a daydream. I didn't even hear you call," replied Simon, toneless.
"Simon, honey...are you okay?" asked Annie, gently.
"I'm fine Mom, just fine. Can't everyone stop feeling sorry for me? It's my fault. I'm just going to have to live with it, stop trying to comfort me and make me feel better," he said with anger. He left the room, leaving Annie in silence.
Annie returned to the kitchen where Kevin had just arrived, home from another day of police duties. "Hi Mom. Need any help with dinner?" Kevin asked politely.
"No, but thanks for offering. It's very nice of you. Oh, well there is one thing you can do for me. Go and talk to Simon. I've tried over and over again. He's worrying me." Kevin nodded and headed upstairs to find Simon.
Simon heard a knock on his door. "Who is it?" he asked.
"It's Kevin." Simon got up and opened the door.
"Please tell me you didn't come here to give me a talk just like everyone else. I don't need you or anyone to tell me it's all going to be okay. It's not. It's never going to be okay. I killed somebody! Nobody will ever forgive me." Kevin tried to think of something to say to ease Simon's anger but he could think of nothing that would do just that.
"Look Simon, I know it's not going to be easy to cope with all of this, but you've got to try and take your mind off it for a while," Kevin said.
"You don't even understand. You never will. No one ever will. Just leave me alone," he said crossly. He grabbed his car keys and stormed out of the room. Kevin sighed deeply and went to his room. On his way there he ran into Lucy, who seemed unusually flustered.
"Hey Luce, how's it going?" he asked.
"What? Oh, uh, it's going great. I'm fine," she said quickly, heading in the direction of the bathroom.
"Are you sure?" he called after her.
"Yes. Positive." She swallowed hard after she realized what she had just said. She avoided Kevin's gaze and hurried downstairs. Kevin stood there with a curious look on his face, shrugged, and headed to his room.