We Used To Be Friends

Chapter Twenty-Seven

A/N: I hope everyone is still enjoying this story:)

Barbara was only on the porch for about ten minutes before she saw Lucy slowly approach. She took one look at her daughter and then went to sit on the porch swing, motioning for Lucy to join her. She had never wanted her daughter to go through the kinds of things she herself had gone through. Raising a daughter alone was, and still at times like these, the hardest thing she's ever had to do. But she knew that she couldn't be mad at Lucy because what her daughter needed right now was support.

Lucy joined her mother on the porch swing and sat there with her hands clasped together in her lap. "I'm sorry mom. The last thing I've ever wanted to do was disappoint you." She whispered.

"I love you Lucy," Barbara put her arm around Lucy, "and you haven't disappointed me. I'm very proud of you."

"How can you say that? I'm single and pregnant! You've spent my whole life warning me against being in this situation, but here I am anyway!" She started to cry.

"Lucy, I'm not disappointed in you. I'm just worried about you. Raising a child is hard work. I worry about what's going to happen to your medical career."

"You went back and finished your education after you had me. I figure if you can do it, then I can too." Lucy sniffled. "I know it's not going to be easy but I had a great role-model."

Barbara smiled. "I have no doubts in my mind that you are going to be a great mother. You're smart, strong, determined, and compassionate. I just…this wasn't the way I had envisioned you telling me I would be a grandmother."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be. Don't ever be sorry about a child. Even though some children aren't planned, every child is a blessing from God—a pure gift sent from heaven." Barbara replied. "So you and Carter…how long have you been dating and why didn't you tell me?"

Lying to her mother was proving to be harder for Lucy than she originally thought. "We aren't exactly dating."

"Oh?" She looked over at her daughter. "Then how…?"

"A one-night stand." Lucy replied, keeping her gaze on the ground.

"I see." She looked at her daughter. "Do you love him?"

"Mom!" Lucy rolled her eyes. She didn't want to have this conversation with her mother…especially right now.

"Don't mom me! Do you love him?" Barbara asked, already knowing the answer. She could see it written on her daughter's face. She loved Carter. Now she just had to get Lucy to admit it.

"I love him as a friend, mom—only as a friend. Anything else would be too complicated." Lucy replied. She really hated lying to her mom, and this was lie number two today. But lying to her mom was something she felt she had to do.

She could sense that her daughter was uncomfortable talking about this with her. "Well I see that I need to have a little conversation with Carter then." She stood up and started walking towards the door.

"Mom! Wait!" Lucy called, rushing over to block the door with her body before her mom could enter the house. She knew what that look on her mother's face meant, and she didn't really want to subject Carter to her mother's interrogations.

"Lucy, please move out of the way. I would like to talk to Carter privately." Barbara calmly said. She noticed the look of concern on her daughter's face. "Don't worry. I'm not going to kill him or anything. I would just like to talk to him."

Lucy wasn't sure it was a good idea, but relented. There really wasn't any way that she could stop her mother anyway. Once her mother set her mind to do something, she always followed through. She moved out of the way and let her mom back inside the house.

Barbara smiled at her daughter before going back into the house. She found Carter sitting patiently on the couch. "So, how are things going for you lately Carter?" She sat down in a chair that was across from the couch and stared intently at him.

Carter was confused by the question. He would have guessed that Barbara would have come in here yelling at him about Lucy's pregnancy. He was also thrown by the way her mother was staring at him. "Things are…good." He replied hesitantly. Turning his head to the porch he asked, "is Lucy ok?"

Barbara was thrown by this question, although she shouldn't have been. She hadn't expected one of the first things out of Carter's mouth to be about Lucy's welfare; however, she could remember a time when they were children. Carter was almost obsessed with making sure Lucy was always ok. "She'll be fine." She started concentrating on her next question. "What do you intend to do now that you know Lucy is having your child?"

"I intend on being a part of both Lucy's and the child's life." He reassured her.

"Both Lucy and this child deserve much more than a part-time father." Barbara pointed out.

"Then I guess it's a good thing that I don't intend on being a part-time father." Carter replied, quickly realizing that he was going to have to work hard in order to convince her mother about this. "I'm in this for the long haul; I can assure you of that. I plan on supporting them financially and emotionally. Lucy's not going to have to be a single parent."

Barbara could tell that he was being sincere and meant every word of it. His sincere words did nothing to calm her anxiety over the situation though. When she told Lucy's father about the pregnancy, he too had agreed to be a part of Lucy's life. He had agreed to many of the same things Carter had just assured her of. But Lucy's father was gone from her life by the time she reached her third trimester. Plus, Carter had a track record of abandoning Lucy. Her fears resulting from her own experience and Carter's penchant for ditching her daughter only bred wariness over Carter's proclamations.

He could see that Barbara was still not convinced about his dedication to Lucy and the baby. "I'm not the type of man who would just leave his…" What was Lucy to him? She wasn't really his girlfriend and definitely wasn't his wife. She was just the woman he loved. "I wouldn't leave Lucy or the baby."

She noticed that he hesitated when he was about to clarify his relationship with her daughter. It intrigued her that he didn't call her his girlfriend, but he also didn't call her just his friend. Her eyes narrowed. "Just what is your relationship with my daughter?"

He should have expected this question, but it still caught him slightly off-guard. "I…uh…Lucy is my best friend." He wasn't sure how honest he should be with Lucy's mother.

"But you must have had some kind of attraction to her or else she wouldn't be pregnant." Barbara pointed out. Something wasn't right with this situation, but she wasn't sure what it was.

"Well, of course." Carter stumbled. "But we haven't exactly discussed having any kind of relationship other than a friendship."

"Why not?" Barbara asked.

He was desperately trying to come up with an answer. "Because it would complicate things."

She thought it was interesting that Carter seemed to use the same words as Lucy. It would complicate things. What things would it complicate? She decided to accept their answers…for now. She would have asked another question but she saw Lucy entering the house.

"Is it ok for me to come back in?" Lucy asked, looking first at her mother and then at Carter.

"Sure. I was done talking to Carter for now." Barbara smiled. "Why don't you two go up and get settled? Lucy you can show Carter to the guest room, right?"

"Sure." Lucy nodded.

"Great. I have to go take care of something at the office but I'll be back shortly." She picked up her purse and her keys from the end table near the door. "Why don't we go out to dinner tonight? My treat? We'll go someplace nice to celebrate."

"Sure." Lucy nodded, wondering why her mother was going to the office all of a sudden.

"Bye." Barbara replied, leaving the house. She had someone she needed to call.

Lucy stood in the living room looking at the door. "She seemed to be acting odd. What exactly did you two talk about?"

Carter stood up and walked over to her. "She was interrogating me about my intentions towards you and the baby."

"Do you think she knows that we're lying?" Lucy asked.

"I don't think so. I think she's just still a little caught off guard about the announcement." Carter replied. "Why? Do you think she knows somehow?"

"I don't know." She shook her head. "She's just acting weird. It's like she's up to something."

Carter laughed. "What could she possibly be doing?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm being too paranoid." Lucy laughed. "I'm sorry that she interrogated you, but you were the one who wanted to come today."

"Yes, I brought it on myself." He laughed.

"She's very good at interrogating." Lucy pointed out.

"Yes she is. She could be a great detective if she ever decided to leave the real estate business." Carter laughed.

Lucy chuckled. "Yeah, she would be a good detective. She's definitely unwavering in her line of questioning. But seriously, how bad was it?"

He grinned. "I'll live. It wasn't that bad."

"I'm glad. I'd hate for her to scare you off." She laughed.

"Nothing could scare me off." Carter replied in a serious tone.

Lucy knew she needed a way to change the topic because he was looking at her in a way that made her blush and made her feel uncomfortable all at the same time. "Why don't I show you to the guest room?"

"Ok." Carter replied. He grabbed his bag and followed Lucy up the stairs. Once they reached the top of the stairs, he noticed a long hallway with four doors. Lucy pointed to the first door on the left. "This one is my mom's." Then she pointed to the door on the right side of the hallway. "This one's mine."

"Do I get to see it?" He asked, suddenly having the urge to see where she had spent her teenage years.

"Maybe later." Lucy replied, continuing down the hallway. She pointed to the room next to hers. "This is the bathroom. We'll have to share it."

"That's no problem." Carter replied.

She walked into the guest room across the hallway from the bathroom and waited until Carter was in the room also. "This is the guest room."

Carter nodded, taking a look at the room. It was painted a light gray, but the room was not plain. There were paintings all around the room. All of them were of countryside landscapes. He walked over to one and stood there for a few moments, admiring it. "These paintings are very good."

"My mom will be happy to know that you like her work." Lucy told him as she stood next to him.

He looked at her with disbelief. "Your mom did these?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "Everyone needs a hobby. Hers is painting."

"What's your hobby?" Carter asked.

She was surprised by his question. After thinking about it for a moment, she had an answer. "I guess I don't have a hobby. What about you?"

"I don't really either." He replied.

"I don't agree with that!" She laughed. "I think your hobby is finding new and interesting ways to make me laugh."

He chuckled. "No, see you're wrong. That's not my hobby. That's my goal in life. There's a big difference."

She shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. I still think it's a hobby."

"Maybe we could find a hobbies together." He suggested.

"Hate to break it to you, but in a couple of months I don't think we'll have time for hobbies." She pointed out.

"I know." He nodded. "That's why we need to find a hobby quickly and enjoy it while we can."

She laughed again. "You can go looking for a hobby if you want, but don't drag me into this. I don't want a hobby."

"We'll see about that." He grinned.