Mac walked her into the house. Eric and Annie were waiting for them at the kitchen table. Mac knew they were eager for him to leave so that they could finally talk to Ruthie...alone. He tried to make a quick exit - but Ruthie would have none of that.
Mac said sincerely to Eric and Annie, "Well, I should get going now. Thanks for letting me bring Ruthie home."
It was hard to miss the eager looks on both of their faces.
Ruthie immediately pleaded, "No - don't go yet. You just got here."
Eric interjected, "Ruthie, if Mac says that he has to go..."
Ruthie countered, "But he doesn't HAVE to go."
Annie calmly added, "Ruthie, Mac's been with you all day and it's getting late. You still need to rest while you're recovering."
Mac felt beyond uncomfortable.
He put a gentle hand on Ruthie's shoulder and said, "I'll call you in the morning."
With disappointment, Ruthie just nodded.
Mac let himself out.
Ruthie, Eric and Annie had their first real discussion about Martin.
"We know you're upset that we didn't tell you." Eric began.
Annie added, "We wanted to tell you but we knew Martin wanted to tell you himself."
Ruthie was calm when she said "It's not just that you didn't tell me. It's that I confided in you about how I felt about Martin - and you still didn't say anything. I walked around here for months totally infatuated with him...telling you all my hopes and dreams for OUR future...and you didn't say one single word. Was everyone just laughing at me behind my back?"
"Ruthie, NO!" her mother insisted. "We'd never do that."
Ruthie looked away and then looked back at them and asked, "Why did you let me go on and on about him?"
"I guess," Eric soothed, "We didn't want to take away your dreams."
Ruthie sarcastically snapped, "Well, they're gone NOW! You HAD to have known that it was just a matter of time before I found out. What did you think was going to happen then?"
Eric explained, "I guess we were hoping that by then you would have been interested in someone else."
"Ahhhh..." Ruthie said suspiciously. "That doesn't make much sense SINCE you did everything that you could to get me NOT to go out with Jack!"
Eric relented "Well, from the rumors we had heard about him, we just thought that..."
Ruthie corrected him, "You mean the rumors that you heard from MARTIN, right?"
Eric just shrugged.
Annie suggested, "You know, Ruthie, I think that Martin just had your best interest at heart. Even if you don't believe us...we all did."
Outraged, Ruthie asked, "How can you say that he had my best interest at heart? I thought he was my best friend and then he went and did THIS...and didn't even tell me! I can't tell you how many times I asked him about Sandy. I KNEW something was going on - and he denied it everytime. He LIED to me. He LIED right to my face. What kind of friend would DO that?"
Eric said compassionately, "Maybe a friend who was really scared...maybe a friend who was trying to hide from the truth...maybe a friend who was afraid that he'd lose your friendship."
Annie asked her daughter, "What are you going to do now? Now that you know about him and Sandy?"
"Avoid them like the plague!" Ruthie chuckled. "I don't want anything to do with either one of them again."
Eric questioned, "And you can just turn your feelings on and off like that - for Martin?"
Ruthie said sharply, "What choice do I have? He doesn't need me. He's got Sandy and the baby. There's no room in his life for some high school girl."
Annie countered, "You're hardly just "some high school girl" to him!"
Ruthie shook her head. Her parents were in such denial.
She casually explained, "He's been nice to me because he lived here. He's grateful that you took him in. He's told me that he thinks of me as a sister. Well, you know what? I have four brothers already - I just don't need or want another one."
It was clear to Eric and Annie that they weren't going to get very far with Ruthie tonight.
"It's been a long couple of days." Eric said softly. "Let's just sleep on this and talk about it in the morning."
Ruthie announced, "I'm going to get some air."
"Oh Ruthie, it's late. You need to get some rest. Fresh air can wait until the morning." Annie responded.
"No, it can't." Ruthie answered. "I'm just going to go for a short walk. I'll take Happy with me. I need to clear my head."
Eric took one look at his daughter's hands and asked, "Won't it be hard to hold the leash?"
Ruthie had momentarily forgotten about her injuries. The stitches wouldn't come out for another ten days. There wasn't much she could do independently.
She rolled her eyes and relented "Okay, I'll just sit on the porch...is THAT okay?"
Eric and Annie kissed her on the cheek before heading off to bed.
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Martin paced in his room for five minutes. He kept replaying it. What HAD he just seen? Why was Mac with Ruthie? Why was Ruthie KISSING Mac? Why did Mac have his hands ALL OVER Ruthie? He had to calm himself down by reminding himself that Mac's hands really weren't ALL OVER Ruthie - but, in his mind, they might as well have been. Not knowing what was going on at the Camden's was killing him. He decided that he couldn't wait any longer and quickly headed downstairs. If he had waited just one minute longer, he would have seen Mac quickly exiting the Camden home.
Martin's heavily pounding feet on the wood stairs got his father's attention.
"Where are you going?" Bill casually asked his son.
Bill looked at his son and recognized the distress on his face.
"Did something happen to Ruthie?" he asked with alarm.
"I don't know." Martin answered angrily.
"What do you mean...you don't know?" he responded.
Martin hostilely revealed, "She's home."
Confused by his son's tone, he asked "And isn't that a GOOD thing?"
Martin tried to be casual when he said, "Mac just brought her home."
"Mac?" his father asked with surprise. "I thought he came here to visit you. I didn't even know that they knew each other. How did he get her out of the hospital?"
"I don't know." Martin snapped.
His father countered, "I don't understand any of this. And what I really don't understand is why you seem so angry that Ruthie is home. That should be a reason to celebrate, right?"
Martin said through clenched teeth, "Celebrate? She won't even talk to ME!"
Bill Brewer was beginning to see where this was going.
He said to his son placidly, "Well, somehow Mac got her out of the hospital. Be grateful for that. I take it to mean that she admitted everything was an accident."
"Yeah," Martin said sarcastically, "I wonder how he got her to admit that?"
"Martin, what's that supposed to mean?" his father asked curiously.
Infuriated, Martin replied "You know Mac - he's always been a player."
Bill stifled his laughter when he remarked, "And you think...what? That Mac hit on her and that's why she came home?"
Martin yelled back "Well, that's what I just SAW!"
Bill really felt for his son. He knew he must have misunderstood whatever he saw.
Trying not to be patronizing, he asked Martin "Well...What did you see?
Not able to contain his anger anymore, he blurted out "I saw Ruthie KISSING him! And I saw Mac with his hands all over her!"
Bill put his hand to his head finally realizing the magnitude of the dilemma his son was in. He had one girl pregnant that he couldn't stand - and he had just realized his complete infatuation with the girl across the street - who was now with one of his best friends. He felt for his son but knew it was his son's own actions that caused this situation. His sympathy only went so far.
Realistically, Bill commanded, "Tell me what you saw."
Martin told him about seeing Ruthie kiss Mac on the cheek and how Mac helped get her into the house.
Bluntly, he asked Martin, "Don't you think you're exaggerating...just a little?"
Martin shrugged and looked away.
"Do you want to know what I think?" his father asked.
Martin shrugged again.
He didn't want to stress his son out even more. But he knew it was imperative that he tell Martin that now was NOT the time to get involved with Ruthie. He knew that would just further complicate the already impossible situation.
"Okay, well because you're so enthused...I'm going to tell you. I think that you and Ruthie both need friends around you now. You're both going through things and you need some support. I think you're upset because usually you're the one to support her - and you can't now - and it bothers you that Mac has stepped in." he explained.
Bill paused briefly and then continued, "I know you don't want to hear this - but you have to. You need to focus on Sandy and your baby. I've let you slide long enough by pretending to be in denial. But you're not a kid - you're an 18 year old man. You need to come up with a plan with how you are going to deal with this."
Martin barked, "You mean you want me to marry her!"
Bill immediately responded "No, that's NOT what I mean. To be honest, I DON'T want you to marry her. If you did, your marriage would surely fail. You don't love her and she doesn't love you. You're strangers to each other. What I DO want you to do is take responsibility for your irresponsible behavior."
Exasperated, Martin asked "HOW?"
He answered with agitation, "By BEING a man. That means getting a job and having money to help Sandy and support your child. That means being available to Sandy emotionally while she goes through the rest of the pregnancy. That means being a FATHER to your child the moment that child is born. It's time to stop hiding, Martin!"
Martin buried his head into his hands.
"I'm just so ANGRY at her!" he scowled.
"Why? Do you think she planned this? Do you think she tried to trap you?" his Dad asked seriously.
"I don't know." Martin answered seriously. "It was ONE night. I took precautions - and she told me that she did TOO. If that was true...what are the odds that she'd end up pregnant from that ONE night?"
Bill Brewer was caught off guard. It was the first time Martin had disclosed any details about that night. He was right. It didn't make that much sense. But he also knew that nothing but abstinence was 100 effective.
"I think you need to stop dwelling on that and deal with what is. The fact is that Sandy is having your baby. No anger or regret, on your part, is going to change that. It's time to just accept it." he lectured.
Martin just nodded. He knew his father was right. He knew this problem was not going to go away. He knew that in a matter of months he WOULD be a father.
Bill regretfully had to add the warning about Ruthie.
Hesitantly, he said "I know you and Ruthie are friends. But, you can't lean on her, for support, about Sandy and the baby."
Martin logically concluded, "Because you're worried that she can't handle it emotionally?"
Bill tried answering it another way.
"Because I don't think you and Ruthie should get any closer - right now." he responded.
Martin didn't understand his father's point.
"You don't think Ruthie and I should stay friends because of Sandy and the baby? That doesn't seem fair that you think I should have to give up my friends because I'm going to become a father." Martin stated.
Bill wondered when his son was going to fall out of denial over his feelings for Ruthie. He just had to be blunt to get his message across.
Firmly, he stated, "Don't get romantically involved with Ruthie Camden. Focus on the baby."
Martin was taken aback by his father's order.
He defended, "Ruthie and I aren't involved and..."
His father cut him off.
He didn't want to hurt his son. But the truth needed to be said.
Forcefully he stated, "And you WON'T be! She's only 16, Martin. She thinks she LOVES you. She's still innocent. She doesn't need to get wrapped up in this drama."
Bill could see the devastation on Martin's face.
Martin stormed out without another word to his father.
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Martin walked around the block, at least a dozen times, trying to sort the whole mess out. He didn't understand so much of what he was feeling.
Despite his father's unwanted advice, he couldn't get Ruthie Camden out of his head. He couldn't erase the image of Mac and Ruthie together - and it was driving him insane. He finally admitted to himself that he was completely jealous. He told himself he was CRAZY to feel this way.
He had told anyone that would listen that he and Ruthie were just friends. But there had been subtle things along the way that should have told him differently. There was the time when Ruthie went out on her first date - and the time when Mac showed a lot of interest in Ruthie - and he discouraged it because of age - when he knew it was really because it would freak him out if Mac and Ruthie were together. There were the hugs that they shared...that always made him feel something unexplainable. He had always pushed those feelings aside. He wasn't sure why though.
Now, none of this mattered. Everything had changed. He had Sandy and the baby to contend with. And Ruthie had Mac to comfort her through it.
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He turned onto their street, for the last time, and that's when he saw her. She was sitting on the front porch with her head tilted back - resting it on the oak post. As he got closer, he saw that her eyes were closed. Her hair blew softly in the wind. She looked so peaceful. He knew he should keep on walking. Every fiber in his body told him that he needed to keep on walking. But his heart made him turn left and go straight up the Camden's driveway.