Life continued on in the typical fashion. With Maria calling Eli and Eli calling Maria back. There were dates, along with dinners spent on his couch watching trashy TV followed up by a make out sessions. Basically it was like every wonderful whirlwind older teen to early twenty something romance that anyone could have possible had, minus regular arguments and wild, passionate, drunken makeup sex.
Basically it was a practical dream come true.
Or at least it would be if it wasn't for Ivan's regular passive aggressive phone calls, though he hadn't shown up at her building again. Maria was pretty sure that was Katya's doing (the girl was a total saint and was one of two people with the ability of controlling Ivan somewhat… the other was his younger sister but she was terrifying). Caller ID existed on phones for a reason so all of those calls that he made were easily avoidable, and the messages he left could easily be deleted.
It was as if Maria's life was getting as close to perfect as she could ever hope it to be, while still maintaining a level of realistic expectations. After all she was in love, and that love wasn't manifesting itself in bruises and ridiculous fights over nothing. She was starting to feel pretty smug about the whole having a baby situation. Heck, she was even at the point where if Eli asked her to move in with him she'd totally say yes. Hell would probably totally let him marry her and all that shit. And the most insane thing about it all was that Maria was OK with that. She was perfectly fine with the fact that somehow she had managed to settle into a life with standard gender roles, monogamy, and using words to resolve one's feelings rather than fists, nails, knees, and teeth.
Here she was for the first time in her life that she would actually feel comfortable enough bringing a guy she was seeing home to meet her father. And it was at that moment when she had that particular thought that her phone rang. And once again as if her life were a script written by studio hacks working on a sitcom; her father was calling.
Maria squinted at the screen trying to decide whether or not she should pick up. After all he had raised her. At the same time though he was always hyper critical when it came to Maria's actions and unlike the majority of people in her life voiced those criticisms… but he said what he thought of her actions when they were wrong because he loved her; and she knew there was no way he could stay mad at her for long. The phone let out another ring, she was running out of time. She could ignore his call… but the two hadn't really spoken since she'd announced to him that she was pregnant, and he'd taken that news well (or well he really hadn't said anything, like at all). And well he was her back up plan if things didn't work out the way she wanted them too (she could take little Ludwig back to his place and live off of all that cushiony money he had saved up through hard work, inheritance, and being a responsible adult).
She clicked the phone on just before the fourth ring and held it up to her ear, "Hallo, Vater!" Maria said in an overly cheerful voice, it was an over compensation for the fact that she was so tense. In person her father was super intimidating, tall, long straight blonde hair, steely blue eyes, and a gaze that could strike fear in the heart of even the most hardened criminal. She could see him standing in front of her with a disapproving look on his face.
There was a pause on his end of the line before he replied, "How have you been?"
A typical way to start a conversation, Maria allowed herself to relax. "I've been fine… how about you?"
"Well. How have things been with the child?"
"Uh… good… I'm having a boy."
"I'm glad to hear the health of both of you is good. Maria, what are you doing this weekend? I would really like for you to come for a visit."
"Maybe…. Why?"
He let out a long sigh, "For some catching up. I haven't seen you in over a year which is ridiculous. You don't live that far away."
Maria did have plans to spend the weekend over at Eli's place, it was her favorite hangout spot after all. While she didn't really like the idea of sitting in her dad's living room as the two discussed the weather before her would inevitably begin to lecture her on her life choice; he was still her father and in no way was she in the mood to burn that bridge down. Plus if she were to cancel on Eli and tell him it was because her dad wanted her to come over he would basically encourage her to. And Maria didn't need to put up with that kind of guilt tripping on two ends.
"I'll need a ride." She said with a small sigh of defeat, "The buses don't go that far out on the weekends."
Her father made a noise of agreement, "I'll come and get you around ten in the morning then?"
"That's so early though!" Maria whined out the last word. Seriously ten in the morning on a Saturday was like the same as being woken up at two in the morning on a regular week night or something.
"You're going to be wishing that you could sleep in that late in a few more months." he said with a little laugh at the end. Maria was shocked, had her father really just made a joke, did he really just laugh? She wasn't able to dwell on that thought for long though, "I will see you on Saturday then."
"Yeah see you on Saturday." She waited for him to hang up first before pressing the little red phone and slipped in into the pocket of her gray sweatpants. What on earth does he want to talk about? she thought looking down at her finger nails carefully picking the dirt underneath them as she brainstormed.
Maybe he was dying or something and this was like his final test to determine how much money he should leave her. Maria would guess that since he loved his house so damn much she would at least get that… it was paid off and everything and she was pretty sure being a teacher would get her out of having to pay someone the taxes because of however the heck those laws worked. She supposed he would leave a decent amount of money for her, after all her job didn't pay so well (it was amazing how when it came to education parents didn't give a flying fuck how much money the people expected to mold their young children's minds but the moment one of them showed up to work drunk there was an issue). Hopefully there would be something she could set aside to ensure that Ludwig would have the money to go to a decent school. And if she were really to wish as hard as possible he would leave her everything. Hell maybe she could go get one of those hideously think pairs of glasses and learn how to drive or something then blow a huge wad of cash on a fancy new car.
Or maybe he just, you know maybe he just wanted to speak to her or something. Maybe he just missed her and wanted to bond with her before the baby came. This could be the beginning of a beautiful reuniting of father and daughter; the two of them could begin a happy friendship full of love and wonder and whatever the fuck else there was in a happy father-daughter relationship. It could be something that cheesy tv movies were made of; she could practically see the lonely, morbidly obese cat ladies wiping the tears from their eyes with old fast food napkins.
She finished picking at her nails and did a quick inspection of her handy work. Satisfied she slumped into the couch and pulled her cellphone out from her pocket to text Eli.
sorry can't chill this weekend. hangin' wit dad.
She set the phone on her stomach and waited for his answer as she flipped through the channels for something worthwhile to watch. The channel surfing was in vain so she just settled on a documentary on the evolution of military technology through the twentieth century. The phone vibrated and Maria grabbed it before it could fall off of her bulging belly.
Cute. Are you two going to a father daughter dance?
Her reply was swift (after all she spent a lot of time around preteens and had mastered their technique via observation):
ha ha ha sounds like a sissy-ass date ud do w/ ur dad. i dunno wat he wants
His reply came quicker this time.
Fine then maybe he just wants to talk. It's cool though you should spin some more time with your dad.
She sighed before thumbing out her own message:
ur 2 understanding. y can jerk?
Saturday morning came and Maria forced herself out of bed at the ungodly hour of just a little after nine thirty in the morning. There were birds chirping, the sun was shining and it was just awful. Her father hated lateness, and honestly Maria did too. Sure she seemed like a slacker but being prompt had been so engrained within her that even if it caused severe physical pain she was one to not make people wait for her (especially when she was getting a ride, after all that was just rude).
She took a quick shower and went through all the typical motions of making herself presentable before changing into a clean pair of gym shorts and a tshirt just before ten. She only had to wait a minute before her father's black Mercedes Benz pulled up to the curb. Wordlessly Maria climbed into the passenger's seat and clipped her seatbelt on. She folded her hands in her lap and glanced towards her father.
Mr. Beilschmidt glanced towards her and gave his only child and awkward sort of lip twitch that was his way of smiling (the corners of his mouth never really turned upwards, they just sort of slid back) but there was a warmth in his eyes. His long blond hair wasn't pulled back into a sleek professional ponytail, even though the outfit he wore (khaki slacks and a dark green polo) screamed business casual. She would feel like a chump if it weren't for the fact that it was summer break, the heat was hot, and everything Maria owned other than loose fitting gym shorts would lead her to a near homicidal rage.
"Good Morning." He said in his low voice before turning his eyes to the road and pulling out from alongside the curb.
"Morning." Maria replied in a quiet voice straightening up her back, "Are you dying?"
He raised a brow, "Why would you think that?"
"Because we haven't really seen each other in a while and I don't know isn't that how things go in the movies. Estranged father only contacts his daughter after he finds out he's terminal and only has a couple of months to live so that the two of them can rekindle their relationship. You know that heartwarming shit with a total bummer ending just for the lulz."
"What is 'lulz'?"
"Don't worry about it. Just are you dying?"
"Not that I know of." Maria let out a breath of relief before he continued: "I just think that the two of us need to talk about some things. Especially since you're going to be a mother in a few months, and you don't have the most stable of situations."
Oh so he just wants to lecture me after all. she thought feeling her relief morph into mild annoyance. "Don't worry about that. I've got a job, an apartment, and Ivan and I broke up so there won't be any more fist fights and calls for bail money."
Mr. Beilschmidt made a noise of mildly happy surprise, "I'm well, frankly I'm glad to hear that you had the maturity to make that decision. Though we still need to make sure he takes responsibility for the child and pays some kind of child support. I normally don't deal in that kind of case but I have a friend that does—"
"Yeah well I kind of don't want him to. I just want him as far away as possible with little to no communication. I mean I spoke to his sister and she's got something in the works to keep him as far away from me as possible. Which is awesome… so yeah."
"Do you have any idea how expensive children are? Being a single mom is tough and you need all the financial stability that you can get. On top of it why should you have to take care of all things money wise on your own?"
"Because I want to."
"Don't start your sentences with 'because'. So you're just going to let him go off completely free of all responsibilities because you don't like him? Have you even thought of what you are going to do if this child ends up with albinism? That's more money you're going to have to spend and there is no question that you're a carrier for the gene, if he is too… you're looking at a 50% chance and that's more bills."
"I'm not too worried about bills and things."
"You should be."
"I'm not really the sort of person that concerns themselves with bills, and money, and well anything really. That sort of stuff just brings me down. And if this whole thing is going to be a lecture on fiscal responsibility then I'd rather you just take me back home."
"It's not going to be just that Maria." He said before falling quiet again.
The two of them sat with just the sounds of other cars and the air blowing past their windows. Maria found herself regretting the choice to cancel bumming out on Eli's couch all day even more then she thought she would. Of course spending the day with her father was going to be him telling her she needed to prepare for the worst. Luckily it seemed that he was taking the whole longer being with the father of her child thing much better then she was expecting him to. But she supposed that had to do with him raising her to be an independent human being.
She began to fiddle with her nails as they turned off of the highway and down towards the house. It was a brief ride but the city Maria inhabited turned quickly from an urban scape to suburbs. The house she had grown up in and her father still occupied was in a rather upscale neighborhood,. There were large homes built mostly in the federal style with good sized yards and huge trees lined the streets. The kind of quiet area, that still somehow maintained a certain kind of personality and charm, despite having been built in the sixties to accommodate the growing population.
They pulled up into the drive way and made their way to the large brick building. The moment she walked through the door the memories of a childhood spent running through the house came flooding back. She was half tempted to run up the stairs and into her old bedroom just to through herself on the bed and blast rock music as loud as she could. But she was supposed to be spending time with her father not reliving her teenage years (which were basically spent as isolated from him as possible while still living under the same roof).
"Are you hungry?" Mr. Beilschmidt asked from the arch between the foyer and the kitchen, "I'm going to guess you pulled yourself out of bed as late as possible so breakfast wasn't at the top of your list."
"You know me well daddy don't you." She half sang skipping the three steps until she was just behind him before following her father into the kitchen, "I just, seriously ten on a Saturday during summer break is crazy! This is my time of year to slack off even more then I usually do."
"You really shouldn't slack at all."
"I know that." She rolled her eyes placing her hands on her hips, "But I don't really give out tests and quizzes so unlike most teachers my day ends once that sweet last bell rings."
He was busying himself in the refrigerator pulling out vegetables and meat. "You live with a chef now there is really no excuse for you to be skipping meals."
"Yeah there is. Francis works late and half of the time he ends up bringing home a girl or a guy and they two of them (sometimes more) get it on. And after a night of love making no one feels like doing anything except for taking a long hot shower and getting the bedding cleaned." She leaned onto the counter top propping her body up on her arms.
"You are far too comfortable saying things like that in front of me."
"Don't worry I feel completely uncomfortable letting you know anything about my person… yeah that personal stuff."
"Like the fact that you're dating Rue's most recent ex?" he turned to face her and raise his eyebrow.
Maria could feel the heat rushing to her face. Unsure watch to do she just shoved her forehead hard into the counter top. Well that was one way to hide the blushing for now but she could already feel the bruise forming dead center about her eyebrows (another perk of being pale!).
"Wow you're being far quieter about that then I was expecting. Also, sit up, act like an adult."
There was a muffled cry that came out from beneath her head before she sat up and gave her father a pathetic look. "How the hell did you find out about that?"
"I have my sources. You told Antonio, Antonio told Rue, Rue told her father, and her father told me. Really is it that shocking I would find out."
"How pissed are you though?"
There was a pause as Mr. Beilschmidt considered the question. "The two of you were friends back in high school so it's not like you met him through her. It is a bit weird but I honestly don't have problem with it because he was married to your cousin but because you have yet to even give birth to another man's child. And correct me if I'm wrong but I believe their divorce has yet to be finalized."
"No they're done on the legal front. Rue may be awkward as hell when it comes to physical activity but she's at least fast at that kind of thing. And hell she had her new man way before Eli and I got together… she had her new man before the two even signed the papers."
"I only have on objection then." He fixed her with one of his just-the-mouth-moving-back smiles.