Chapter Fourteen

The Confessions Part One

Freddie couldn't bring himself to pick Ruthie up for doctor's appointment until he'd at least confessed. He pushed the curtain back and took a seat.

"How long has it been since your last confession?" the priest asked.

"Three days." Freddie replied, "Father, I have something to confess."

"Then confess it."

"My friend Ruthie Camden is pregnant with Martin Brewer's baby. The clincher is Martin doesn't even know that they well you know…" Freddie said.

"Freddie is that you?" the priest questioned leaning forward and breaking the rules.

"Yes." Freddie replied.

"Fredrick, how many times must I tell you not to use names and what exactly does this have to do with you?"

"I had to tell someone or I was going to burst." Freddie said stepping out of the confessional, followed by priest Mcguffy, "I didn't want to tell the wrong person so…"

"Here you are." the priest summarized.

"Yeah."

"Again Freddie you can't keep coming to me with gossip." Mcguffy said.

"I know…but it's better then spreading it." Freddie said.

"I suppose your right, Son." the priest said smiling, "Send Miss Camden to me if she needs to talk or help telling her parents. I assume she hasn't told the reverend or his wife?"

"You've assumed correctly." Freddie said with a sigh, "I'm glad I told you and not someone else. That way Ruthie can decide when she's ready to tell the world."

"What do you mean Ruthie's pregnant?" Mac asked spitting out his orange soda and getting it all over Olivia's sweater.

"She's pregnant as in having a baby." Olivia said grabbing a napkin out of the dispenser and wiping her cashmere sweater, "I think it's ruined."

"You must be mistaken!" Mac said.

"I'm not do you know how hard it is to get soda out of cashmere?" Olivia said scrubbing it hard with her napkin.

"I'm not talking about your sweater. I'm talking about Ruthie. You must be mistaken." Mac repeated, "It's impossible."

"I assure you it's not impossible because she is." Olivia replied giving up on her poor sweater, "You can't tell anyone I told you. Remember you promised."

"I won't."

"Good, because I only told you because you were so mad I cancelled are date." Olivia said, "I didn't want to but she needed me."

"I understand." Mac said now shaking his head. He was shocked. Utterly shocked.

"Ruthie's been waiting for you." Eric said when Freddie came in the back door.

"I know. I'm sorry. I had to go to confession. It wasn't about Ruthie or anything." Freddie said and then covered his mouth, "It was about me. All about me."

"Freddie?" Eric questioned, eyeing him. Eric was now very curious and a little worried but before he could interrogate Freddie, Ruthie walked into the kitchen and dragged him away. Eric was really worried, so he decided to pay a visit to priest Mcguffy. He grabbed his keys off the wall and headed to his car.

Eric walked back into the kitchen and sighed taking a seat at the kitchen table. Annie came in with a look on her face, he'd seen many times. It wasn't a good look.

"Eric Camden you went down and harassed poor Mcguffy." She said, "You tried to get him to tell you what Freddie had confessed."

"How did you…."

"He called, Eric. He asked me to talk with you." Annie said taking a seat next to her husband, "What were you thinking? The man is almost eighty and you went and tried to bully information out of him."

"I had a good reason." Eric replied.

"What possible reason could you have?" Annie said, "You wouldn't want someone trying to get confidential information out of you."

"Freddie told him something about Ruthie."

"I'm getting my keys." Annie said flying up.

Martin was sitting in silence across from his father, Mac had made him come with him to Glen Oak but once their, he had ditched him with his dad.

"Look we need to talk about Michelle and the wedding…" Beau began smiling.

"No we don't." Martin replied frowning.

"Martin…" Beau began but Martin's cell cut him off.

"Hey Mac." Martin said answering. After talking to Mac for a few minutes he hung up and turned back to his dad, "Mac needs me to met him he's got a flat. Can I borrow your car?"

"Sure." Beau said grabbing the keys off the counter and handing them to Martin.

"Thanks."

Martin found Mac five minutes from the Glen Oak Mall, after helping him replace the flat with the spare tire Martin sighed, "You're hopeless. You can't even change a tire."

"So?"

"So you need to learn how." Martin said with a laugh, "This is the fifth time I've changed your tire."

"Did you just realize that you laughed for the first time in weeks?" Mac said causing Martin's face to sober up.

"Damn I ruined it." Mac said.

"I don't have a right or a reason to smile and I defiantly shouldn't laugh." Martin said, "I popularly broke Ruthie's heart."

"You didn't break her heart!" Mac declared, "She's pregnant!"

"WHAT?!"

"Pregnant! Olivia told me. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone else but I'm sick of you beating yourself up." Mac said putting a hand on Martin's back, "At least now you can move on."