"Daddy, why can't I go to practice with you?" Eva Brown asked, tugging on the end of her father's dress shirt.
Ephram knelt down to his daughter, looking into her green-gray eyes, the eyes she had gotten from him. "Because if you go, then Mommy won't have anyone to help her bake those chocolate brownies."
"But, Will gets to go." The little girl's face faded into a sad frown. Ephram had a practice session with the Colorado symphony that day, and he often brought Will along to listen. Eva loved to go as well, but she got restless very easily, being only eight. Ephram would've liked to take her, be he couldn't risk the orchestra losing practice time just because Eva was bored. While he hated to be unfair, he couldn't punish the symphony, either.
There was only one way to fix this now. "Eva, if you stay home with your mother, and Will comes with me, then who gets to lick the bowl by themselves?" He whispered into her ear, pretending that he was telling her something that only the two of them were allowed to know.
"Oh, I get it." The smiled returned, and now there was only one thing on Eva's mind. "Are you leaving soon? I want to start making the brownies."
"As soon as Will gets ready, then we'll go." He told her.
"I'm gonna go tell him to hurry." Ephram smiled, andafter she gave her father a hug, Eva was up the stairs in the direction of her older brother's room.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to come into my room without knocking first!" Ephram heard Will shout, and just then Amy entered the room.
"Did you tell her to rush Will along?" She asked, holding one of her dessert recipe books.
"Actually, I didn't have to. She did that on her own, I think I must be rubbing off on her." Ephram said, he noticed then that both their faces were solemn.
"Are you going to tell him?" Amy asked. They both knew that today's trip had a hidden agenda, as it would be the perfect time for Ephram to tell Will the truth.
Ephram nodded. "Hopefully I'll maintain the ability to speak."
"Don't worry, Ephram. It's better this way. It's better that he knows." They'd decided a few days ago that Ephram should be the one to tell Will everything. He'd wanted Amy to be there, but she declined. This was between Ephram and Will.
"Okay, we can make the brownies now!" Eva announced, half-pulling Will down the staircase (much to his displeasure).
The four Browns said their respective goodbyes, and Amy gave Ephram one final kiss of secretive encouragement.
Afterward, Eva and Amy went into the kitchen to start baking.
"Oh, wait." Amy said as Eva was about to put the electric mixer into the batter. "Let me move this out of the way, I don't want any batter to end up on it." She was referring to the wedding picture that was sitting on the counter. The frame had broken yesterday, and Ephram had put it on the counter to dry.
"Is that when you and Daddy got married?" Eva asked, now in batter up to her elbows.
"Uh-Huh. That picture was taken in front of Grandma and Grandpa Abbott's house." The dancer said.
"Was I there?" The little girl questioned.
Amy shook her head. "No, you couldn't have been, sweetie. This was a long time ago." Amy smiled, remembering the events leading up to the photo.
"Dude, I still don't get it. Isn't "Willingham" kind of, you know, . . . old?" A nearly twenty-one-year-old Bright asked his sister as they walked into the Abbott home.
"I told you Bright, It's Jewish tradition.You name your kids after a dead family member or friend." Amy said. They had just gotten back from the Brown house, where Bright had seen Will for the first time.
"So, out of all the dead people he knows, Ephram had to choose his ancient piano teacher?" Amy sighed. She gave up. Bright was referring to the fact that Ephram's former piano teacher, Willingham Cleveland, had died of cancer only a few months prior, and Ephram had named Will in his honor.
"Bright, I don't have time to explain the whole thing. I've gotta talk to Dad about something."
"Whatever, Songbob's coming on in a few minutes anyway." Bright said, shrugging. He went into the living room while Amy went to find her father.
"Dad?" She called, sticking her head through the door of her father's home office.
"How is it that neither you nor your brother has ever picked up the common courtesy of knocking before you enter a room?" Dr. Abbott wondered aloud.
"I'm not sure. It's probably genetic." Amy replied, walking into the room and sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"Is there something you needed?" He asked her over the rims of his reading glasses.
"I wanted to tell you something." Suddenly she wished she hadn't rejected Ephrams' offer to be with her when she talked to her father. But no, It was better she talk to him alone.
"Yes?" Dr. Abbott looked up when his daughter's sentence trailed off.
It was now or never. "Ephram and I want to get married."
The doctor nearly spit out the sip of coffee he had just taken. Had he heard correctly? Had his daughter just told him she wanted to get married?
"Amy, you can just-" Dr. Abbott started to say, but Amy's words ran into his.
"We know this is kind of sudden, but we decided It'd be easier to get married now rather than later."
"Easier for whom exactly? And, Amy you're only nineteen years old, you have your whole life to get married!"
"Dad, Will's going to be two in a few months!" Amy shouted "If we don't get married now, Will might remember that I'm-"
"That you aren't his mother." Dr. Abbott finished for her. "Is that what the two of you want to do? Tell Ephram's son that you're his mother?"
"You don't understand." She responded, her anger rising. "We don't want him to grow up thinking that Madison didn't want him!"
"Do you mean "We" or, do you mean "Ephram"?" Her father prodded.
She wanted to smack him. "How dare you think that Ephram would force me into this! He loves me, and I love him. And If loving him means loving his son, too, then that's what I'll do."
"Amy Nicole, you gave up some of the best schools in the country to stay in Everwood with Ephram, and now you want to give up your youth to be his wife? Harold was gripping his coffee cup so hard that it was nearly cracking in his hand.
The blonde stared holes into her father's forehead. "Yes."
"You both really think It's wise to lie to him? Would it really be so bad if you and Ephram waited for a few years to get married and he knew that his biological mother wasn't there?" Harold asked, slamming his coffee mug onto the desk.
The tears were beginning to fall from her eyes now. "What is Ephram supposed to tell him? That Madison gave Will up for adoption without even telling him that he was a father? How do you think a kid would feel if they knew that their own mother tried to keep them a secret?"
"And, what if, in a few months, you should decide that you're bored being a wife and a mother before your even twenty years old? How do you think young Will would feel if Ephram had to explain that two women had walked out on him?"
"I would never walk out on him. I love him, Dad, I want to marry him." Amy's voice was cold. She had nothing left to say.
Harold Abbott was at a loss, and he realized that the wedding would probably happen with or without his blessing. "Fine. But, If your going to get married, your going to do it correctly. Your mother and I both have reputations in this town, and I won't have my only daughter getting married in some twenty-four hour wedding chapel."
Amy nodded, knowing that if they were to end this peacefully, she would have to settle on him terms."Do you want to tell Mom, or should I?"
"I think it would be best to have a family meeting.No doubt you mother will need more than one person to catch her when she faints." Harold stated. "Has Ephram told Dr. Brown anything?"
"He's going to tell him tonight." Amy said, and she turned to exit the office.
"Amy." Dr. Abbott called as she reached the threshold. "I love you, too. Remember that."
Please Review:)-Tessie