Chapter Seven
Jake looked concerned when I stormed in ten minutes later. Jenny, thankfully, was with Karen as I charged into his arms and began to cry. This was Haley's mess-not my own. We had always been so careful… They had been too…
"Peyton? What's wrong?" he asked, sounding concerned but completely baffled.
"I love you, you know that right?" I said, edging on hysteria.
"Yeah… And I love you," he said soothingly.
"Always?"
"Forever, no matter what," he said.
"Good. I needed to here that," I said.
"Just tell me, I know I'll be okay with it," he said.
"You won't."
"I will. Talk to me," he said.
"I'm pregnant."
Jake's arms stayed around me and tightened, as I knew his thoughts turned to terror. Jake had been through all this before, but that didn't make an unexpected baby less terrifying. Nothing could.
"How sure are you?" he asked shakily.
"I skipped. At least once," I said.
"By how much?" he asked.
"I don't know. I don't generally count."
"How could this possibly happen?" he asked.
"I don't know. We've always been so careful," I said.
"You're not on the Pill, right?"
"No. The first time I tried it I had a bad reaction to it. That's why we've always been so careful about condoms," I said.
"Ninety seven percent affective. Wait, about two months you think? Prom night, Peyton," he said. I thought back.
"God, we hadn't done for so long-is that why we forgot? Did we? How is that possible?"
"We'll never know if we forgot or if it was a fluke or just too much… passion, I guess. If you're just late, maybe we should go take a test?" he suggested.
"No-I want to be sure. Let's go to a clinic? Like now?" I asked. He nodded.
"Okay. Jenny can stay with Karen, we'll go to the walk in place by the restaurant. Come on, I'll drive you," he said, looping his arm around me.
"We'll have your results in two days, Mrs. Jagielski," said a tired looking doctor an hour later. I looked at him.
"What? Two whole days?"
"I'm sorry, I know it's hard but it takes a while to process the results. We'll be in touch as soon as we know," he promised. I nodded and reluctantly slipped off the table.
"God, how can this be happening to me? This was supposed to be happening to Haley, and only Haley. I was going to help her out, teach her stuff and now I'm going to be too busy too. And I can't go to school, and we don't have enough money…"
"Pey, you didn't even want to go to school. I hate to admit this, but you make plenty with your Tric nights alone, Haley and you will help each other and as hard as this is going to be, I know that neither of us are going to regret a second," he said soothingly.
"I guess you're right. Jenny is going to hate it," I said, laughing dryly.
"So I guess we go home?" he said. As we walked out, the drugstore caught me eye. Subconsciously I shook my head. "What?"
"No. I changed my mind, I can't wait two days. Come on," I ordered. Sighing, he walked with me to the store as we purchased two tests.
"Such deja-vu," I commented as we sat, waiting for the test to be over.
"Haley?"
"Yeah-as soon as Brooke left we started talking and she was too scared to tell Nathan, so we went out and of course she was positive. It was just so agonizing, waiting for those three minutes to be up," I said. My cell rang, shocking the both of us. I answered it, and Karen's voice spoke to me.
"Peyton? Are you coming to pick Jenny up, or Jake?" she asked.
"Oh, do you need us to right now? I can be there in ten minutes," I said hurriedly.
"No, come whenever. Just make sure you come, or the two of you. And bring Haley with you, or get her to meet us," said Karen. I detected a note of unconstrained excitement in her voice.
"Why?"
"I have something to tell the two of you. Peyton, what's wrong? You sound nervous," she said in concern.
"I'm fine. I'll be there," I promised. Jake looked questioningly at me.
"Karen has a surprise," I revealed. He nodded, and I wondered if he'd truly heard me.
"Okay. Um, time's up," he said.
Slowly I stood up and walked to the sink where they both lay innocently on the counter. In the screen of one I saw two bold red lines, in the other a small plus sign.
"Both positive," I said tonelessly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I'm always going to be here. You know that, right?" he asked.
"I'm going to have a baby. I'm eighteen, Jake," I said.
"I know. Nikki was too. But this is going to be so much better," he said.
"Because it's going to be the both of us," I said, assuring him and I at the same time.
I didn't trust myself to drive, so I ended up walking to Karen's and calling Haley en route.
"Mommy!" came Jenny's call as she jumped off the chair from the table she'd been coloring at to throw herself at my legs. I knelt down and hugged her, smiling as she hugged me tightly. Karen came up behind me and smiled. As she did so, I heard the bells on the door chime and Haley's voice greet us. I pulled Jenny onto my hip and looked expectantly at Karen.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Sit down, girls," she said. The four of us sat around a table.
"Spill," ordered Haley. Karen blushed and smiled.
"Keith and I are getting married," she revealed. Haley shrieked. Forgetting my troubles for a moment, I grinned.
"Seriously? How'd it happen?" demanded Haley.
"Like it often does-he just came over, we had breakfast and he asked. It was incredible," she said. I thought of how happy he'd most likely be-she'd turned him down once before.
"He's been wanting this since high school," I said.
"I'm so happy," she said.
"Me too," said Haley.
"And we're getting married in four months and I want both of you to be my bridesmaids. And Deb," she said. Haley and I exchanged glances-she opened her mouth.
"That's great Karen, and I'd love to, but I don't think I'm going to fit into a dress by then," she said. Karen stared, and then realization struck her. Her eyes grew wide.
"Really? That's incredible!" she said, sounding truly happy. I took a deep breath-it was now or never.
"Me too." Karen and Haley both turned to stare at me.
"What?" they said simultaneously.
"Pregnant. Me," I said. Karen shrieked.
"Oh, I'm going to be a grandmother!" We heard Deb's laugh and saw her exit the kitchen.
"Congratulations Peyton. And actually Karen, that's me," she said. I nodded and turned to look back to Karen who shrugged.
"Come on, you're both daughters to me. This is incredible. How did Jake take it?"
"Beautifully, like I knew he would. I just don't know how this one will," I said, tickling Jenny's feet, who was oblivious to the happy news.
"So if Dan's daughter-in-law and his wife are both bridesmaids and his brother is getting married to the mother of his child I guess you're going to have to invite him, hey?" I said. Luckily, even Deb laughed.
"Oh, like he'll come. Have you told Luke?" she asked. She was looking at Haley, but I knew she really meant me.
"Neither of us have-I just found out about Peyton about a minute ago. We'll tell Brooke and Luke then they come for Thanksgiving," she said.
"What did Larry say?" asked Deb, coming over to join us.
"Oh, I haven't told him. I found out about two hours ago," I said breezily.
"You're much breezier than I was when I found out about Lucas," admitted Karen. I wanted to tell her that it was because Jake and I were married and I trusted him to do the right thing, but there was no way that that could end well.
"Or me," added Deb. I realized suddenly that we would all be teenage mothers. What did that tell you, if anything?
Author's note: Now that we're into this story, I'm going to share what's coming up next. Possibly a third in the series based around their kids and the original five, and after that an unrelated Nathan and Haley series, probably with different pairings. And in this story-look forward to some ghosts from the past and a wee bit of tragedy.
