Chapter 7: Take Me How I Am

"Are you okay?" Violet implored as the two walked into the apartment together.

Emily had been quiet the entire trip home. She sighed as she closed the door behind her. "Yeah," she answered. It was weird having even Violet ask her if she was fine. That was how she knew that her disappointment and hurt must have been obvious.

Violet stood there at the door with her arms crossed as she watched Emily walked over to the kitchen. "There's no possible way for your kid to end up like me. You know that," she mentioned.

Emily grabbed a glass and began to fill it with water. "I know that," she replied. "I just wish Bob did."

"Do you think it would help if I explained that to him?" she offered. Now, after seeing how this all affected Emily, she felt guilty over the remarks that she had made to him the other night. This was all happening because she decided to be cute.

Emily turned to face her. "You could try if you want, but something tells me that he needs to figure this all out on his own," she informed her. "Like he said, he just has to adjust."

Violet nodded as she dropped her arms to her sides. She slowly walked over and sat down on the couch, curling up in the corner.

Emily studied her, wondering what was going through her mind. It had to be something interesting, the young girl looked like she was really thinking about something. Maybe it was time that she tried talking to this girl.

She took a final drink from the cup and set it down in the sink before joining her on the couch. "So, are you excited about moving?" she inquired.

Violet looked up to her as if she had to be crazy. "No!" she quickly responded.

"Why not?" Emily was a little surprised by such a reaction. She didn't think that she would be thrilled, but she never expected her to hate the idea.

Violet shrugged. "Would you wanna have to move and make new friends and everything right before you start your senior year? When I get there, I'll have a week before school starts back up."

"It won't be that hard to make new friends. You just have to open up a little. Let people get to know you," she explained.

Violet laughed. "Yeah, that's a great idea. My mom walked in on me opening up and letting my boyfriend get to know me and she was thrilled," she scoffed.

Emily just stared at her for a second. She quite honestly, had no idea what to say to that. "That's not what I meant," she said. Sex in no way bothered her, but listening to her baby cousin mention doing it, that bothered her.

Violet laughed at discomfort. "You wanna know the worst part? Half the reason I did it was to hurt my mom. I did it in her bedroom to hurt her the same way that she hurt my daddy when he walked in on her doing it with her boyfriend in their bedroom."

Emily's uneasiness turned to concern. "Honey, you can't do that! First off, its a complete misuse of something that's meant to show someone how much you love them. Second, You just used a boy. You can't just use people like that," she told her.

Violet sighed. "You're obviously too naïve and innocent to talk to about this," she stated as she stood up.

"Wait," Emily called. "You can talk to me. It was just something I felt strongly about. It was wrong of your mother to cheat, but that doesn't make what you did any better."

Violet stopped and looked to her. "You're more naïve than I thought. How wrong could it have been if neither of the two of us got hurt? And how bad is it that my mom got hurt after she blatantly went out and cheated on my dad? You're talking about right and wrong as if there's this clear cut line between the two," she explained.

Emily sighed. "I know that there's never just right and wrong. Believe me, I understand that, but you have to keep in mind that you're a kid making adult decisions," she replied.

"Right, and I found out that I'm more of an adult than my mother," Violet informed her and then continued to the den.

Emily sat there and sighed. She wanted to go after her and try again, but something told her that Violet was the type who would come back out when she was ready. Besides, it gave her the chance to think about what to say to her.

Ooo

Bob came through the door with a dozen roses. "Hi Emily," he greeted.

Emily walked out of the bedroom and smiled. "Hi Bob," she replied, eyeing the roses. She walked over and accepted the flowers as she gave him a kiss.

"I uh, I have somewhere I want to take you tonight," he told her.

"Well, all right," she responded. "But, aren't you forgetting something?"

"Right," Bob said and then turned towards the den. "Violet? Valerie? What ever your name is? Can you, can you come out here?"

Violet came out and joined the two by the door. "Yes?" she questioned.

"We're leaving. So uh, you're going to have to feed Howard when he comes over here in a few minutes," he instructed, causing Emily to softly laugh.

"Got it."

"Can we trust you to behave? Just for a few hours?" Emily nearly begged. She wanted to be able to go out without having to worry about Violet getting into too much trouble.

Violet let out an over exaggerated sigh. "I guess so," she answered.

They said their good byes and assured her that they would be back before late. She was pretty sure that they were just letting her know that she didn't have enough time to sneak out anywhere and come back without getting caught.

Ooo

Bob held Emily's hand as he lead her down to the end of the Navy Pier. It was busy, and it was crowded, but he wasn't about to let that ruin what he was doing.

Once they stood at the end, they both leaned on the railing and looked out over the lake. "Do uh, do you remember what, what happened here?" he implored, looking to her.

Emily smiled to him. "I got a very expensive piece of jewelry," she answered with a laugh, looking down and playing with her engagement ring.

"And uh, do, do you remember what I uh, what I said?"

"Remind me," she replied, enjoying this.

"Well, I, I told you that uh, that no matter what, that I would be there for you. I remember promising that I would never leave your side. I would make you happy, no matter what it took. And, most importantly, that, that I could never love anyone as much as I love you," he said.

Emily completely turned to him, a small tear forming in her eye. She watched with interest as he pulled a box out of his pocket, waiting until she absolutely had to speak. She knew that the second she started talking, she would cry.

"I, I went and get this the first time that we were trying to have a baby," he began, holding out the box.

Emily accepted it and open it. On the inside lay a small, simple gold charm bracelet. There were three charms on it, a rose, a bow and a pair of baby shoes with a little diamond on them.

"I guessed that the baby was, was due in April, so I took the bracelet down today and asked what the birthstone would be," he explained.

"Bob, it's beautiful," she softly told him.

"I wanted to let you know that, that even though I'm scared and nervous, I, I want to be there. I want to be a father to our baby. I love you, and I know that no matter what, as long as it's our baby, I'll, I'll love it."

A lone tear rolled down her cheek as she smiled to him. "Thank you," she shakily responded. She planted a kiss on his lips.

He kissed her back. "How about we get out of here and go get dinner?" he offered, starting to get annoyed with the crowd around him. He just noticed that there were a few witnesses gathered around. He figured that they must have been waiting for a proposal.

"Sure," she replied.

He put his around around her and lead her back to the car.

Ooo

Violet was alone in the apartment. She stood in the bathroom before the mirror. Just staring at herself. Today there were a lot of things on her mind. It was all the things that she had forced herself not to think about.

"Nora!" Peter yelled.

Violet, who was laying on her bed reading, jumped up. Those were the days when her room was kept a little clean. She rushed to the door, but decided not to open it as she heard the yelling out in the hall.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

"You weren't here enough Peter," Nora cried.

Violet slid down to the floor and leaned against the door as she continued to listen. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes.

"Just get him the hell out of my sight Nora," he ordered.

"Fine."

Peter huffed. "I can't be here right now. I'm going out," he stated. His heavy, stern footsteps could be heard. He slammed the door, causing Violet to flinch. That was the last she had ever heard of him.

She looked down, holding onto the sink.

Violet stepped into the living room to see Nora casually reading a magazine. She stood there, staring to her with a red, puffy face, stained from crying. "You bitch," she spat.

Nora looked up to, unaffected by her words.

"I lost it," she informed her.

"I know," Nora flatly replied and then went back to her magazine.

"Fuck you," Violet angrily hissed and then stormed out the back door where she sat on the porch. It was dark out, so no one could see her bawling her eyes out. Her room would have worked just as well, but she was further away from her mother out here.

Violet stood there, staring down to the sink. She looked back up, her make up smeared under her puffy eyes. She desperately tried to wipe the tears away, but it didn't matter. There were still more coming, just quickly enough to replace them dried ones. She grabbed a fist full of tissues and headed back to the den where she closed the door behind her.

There was no telling when Bob and Emily would get back, and she wanted to make sure that they wouldn't be able to tell that she had been crying. Bob had already seen her cry today, and had heard enough about her home life.