Chapter 3

Lily lay sideways on her bed wrapping her arms around her flat stomach. If she was indeed pregnant, it would eventually get bigger, and soon she would look like she was carrying around a bowling ball; that is, if she chose to have the baby. She and Granger were not ready to be parents; all they ever talked about was what they were going to do together in a week, a month, a year. They never talked about marriage, and they definitely did not talk about kids. Why would they? They were both still in high school. "Granger would not have to worry about it if he were not the father," a voice out of nowhere echoed through her head. "Granger is not the only person you have slept with; he's the only person that you voluntarily slept with." She shot up like a bullet piercing the air; no, Granger had to be the father. He had to. Richard Patterson had raped her when she was just a little girl.

"A good buddy of mine is a doctor. I figure we get that little baby growing inside of you, and we can transplant it into my wife. She won't know the difference, and you'll be nothing but a memory."

"The masked man," Lily slowly breathed. She slowly recalled the events of the previous year when her psycho stepfather had kidnapped her. The original plan was to kill her, but his associate had been promised a child; and Lily was going to give him one. She remembered being drugged and knocked unconscious; that must have been when it happened. The next thing she knew, Bo and John were bringing her out of the house, and she was taken out of the hospital. The only time that she mentioned the rape was when Bo was taking her statement. After that, no one mentioned it. When Viki suggested that they got her checked out, she would shrug off the issue. When Sarah asked if she wanted to talk about it, Lily answered no; she did not feel like there was anything to be said. She was unconscious through the whole thing, and she could not remember it. Still, that does not mean that it did not happen, did it?

Lily did not know what happened to that man after that. Richard had been killed, but the man was never found. Was he waiting all along in Llanview for this to happen? No, he could not; this was a year ago. How would that man know that she would get pregnant in a year? That is, if she was pregnant.

Ding-dong!

Lily sprang from her bed and quickly ran down the stairs as fast as her feet could carry her. She flung the front doors opened revealing Paige Miller. "Oh, thank God you're here! I'm so sorry that I just called you over, but I don't know what to do!"

Paige put her arm around Lily. "Shh, it's okay. You know I'm here for you whenever you need me. You know that." She looked around the vast foyer of La Boulaie. "I take it that your parents don't know?"

"No, and you can't tell them," Lily replied in a rush. "If anyone would find out that I thought that I was pregnant…well, let's just say that we'd be lucky if Granger's head wasn't mounted over the fireplace."

"Gotcha; my lips are sealed," Paige promised. "Okay, well why don't we sit down? I want to ask you a few questions, and then we'll get you checked out."

"Where?"

"There's a clinic outside of town that we can go to. We can check you for STD's and to see if you really are pregnant."

"Granger doesn't have STD's," Lily replied quickly. Paige opened her mouth to speak, but she shut it.

"All right, but I still want to have you checked out just in case. Trust me, okay?"

"You're the doctor." She leaned against the wall and let out a huge, long sigh. One thing she forgot was dealing with her family if she was pregnant. As if David and Tina were not enough, she still had to deal with both sides of her extended family. She could just see their faces if she were to tell them…

Lily looked at everyone who she summoned to Llanfair: David, Tina, Dorian, Asa, Renee, Bo, Clint, Viki, Todd, Adriana, Jessica, Natalie, Kevin, Kelly, Blair, Starr, Sarah, CJ, Jade, and most of all, Granger. All were squeezed into the library looking at her expectantly.

"So, Lily, why did you call us all here?" Viki inquired; everyone nodded in agreement. Lily clasped her hands nervously.

"Umm…I need to tell you all something. There is really is no easy way to say this. I'm pregnant."

There was no response from anybody at first. Finally, Granger looked up and whispered, "You're pregnant?"

"It's hilarious!" Todd spoke up clapping his hand on Granger's shoulder. "That chick is my niece, and she has a little bun in the oven! That is so freaking hilarious!"

"That is not hilarious! This is an outrage!" Lily glanced at David, whose face had turned beet red. He stomped over to Granger and knocked him down with a powerful punch. "You got my daughter pregnant! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

Tina, meanwhile, had burst into tears. "Lily, how can you do this to us? I'm not fit to be a mother, let alone a grandmother! How could you ruin our lives like this?"

Lily backed up to a wall. "Everyone, stop! Dad, don't do that to Granger! Mom, stop making me feel worthless! I can't handle this!"

"I can't handle this!" Lily ran into the living room and slammed herself onto the couch.

"Honey?" Paige cautiously placed her hand on Lily's shaking shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Lily shook her thoughts out of her head. "Yeah…I'm sorry, I was just…daydreaming. God, if I'm pregnant, then my whole family will be screwed up. Granger and I haven't really been talking for the past day, and he is grieving for his friend. And there is definitely no way that either of us are ready to be parents! I should've known better than to have jumped in bed with him without protection!"

"Umm…Lily?" Paige slowly sat down on the couch and took Lily's hand. "I know you probably don't want to think about this, but remember the thing that happened last year? You don't think that—?"

"The bastard who raped me when Richard kidnapped me could have fathered the baby? Yeah, I thought about that, but what are the odds? Granger and I had sex two months ago, and that guy raped me last year...or so I think. I can't really remember, and I never got checked out."

"Okay, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Okay, let me just ask you a few questions, and—"

"Paige? Umm…can we just get to the clinic? I want to find out as soon as possible."

"Of course. I'll start the car while you get ready." On that note, Paige left.

Lily slowly got up and looked around the living room of La Boulaie. If she was pregnant, this would be one of the places that she might raise her son or daughter, should she choose to keep it. Everything seemed to be spinning out of control. She was sixteen! This should be the year where she should be sneaking off to parties, drinking, and coming back home drunk trying not to get her parents to find out instead of popping kids out! She shook her head; the answers were just fifteen minutes away, and it was now or never. Taking one last look at her home, she hurried out the front door closing the door behind her.

For Granger, shooting darts at Rodi's was the best way to unwind. Not a lot of people were around at ten thirty; it was that block of time between the morning and lunch rush, and it was definitely the best time to go and think.

As he continued to shoot darts, he began to think about the events that took place the previous day; he had to revisit the painful memories of his best friend, George. Why did he have to die in the first place? He had too much to live for; Granger remembered Farah almost shutting down when she found out. She loved him, and he loved her, and Granger always had a mental image in his mind of them getting married ten years into the future; but George was dead, and maybe Farah was finally trying to get her love life back in order.

"Happy birthday, George," Farah said wistfully blowing out the '18' candle on the cake that she and Granger had baked. "I hope you're celebrating up there in heaven. I love you and miss you so much." She looked down at her hand but remembered that she had taken off the gold band that would always be on her right middle finger.

Granger put his arm around Farah. "You're not in this alone," he reminded her. "I miss him too. But you know what? I'll bet that if he were alive right now, he would be so proud of you."

"Really?"

"Really."

Farah stared into Granger's coffee colored eyes; she had never noticed how much sparkle they had in them, like a twinkling star. She looked away quickly. "Umm…I don't think he would be proud of me at the moment. I mean, he would hate it if he knew that I was still hung up on him! Ugh, I don't know what to do!"

"Hey, hey!" Granger took Farah's hand, sending an electrical shock through her body. Why was she feeling this way? The last time she felt like this, it was because of George. Slowly lifting her head, she pressed her lips onto Granger's.

"Damn it!" Granger chucked a dart at the board, but in his fury, it had missed and was now implanted in the wall. What has he done? He and Lily had been together for a year, and now he was going off and kissing his friends.

"Hey," a familiar voice called. Granger turned with a start to see Jade coming towards him. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Granger said with a shrug, "just throwing darts."

"Which you only do when you need to think; so cough it up. What are you so upset about?"

Granger looked at his friend's goofy face. No matter how funny Jade was when he wanted to be, he always was a good person to bounce things off of. Still, though, he was Lily's best friend, and if he had ever found out that Granger kissed Farah, then he would personally strangle Granger and take Lily out of the country.

"I was just thinking about George. I miss him so much, and I wish you could have known him."

"Well, I think I can see some of his good qualities in Farah," Jade grinned. "Ginny told me that Farah used to be a tramp before she met George, and now look at her; she's such a wonderful person."

"Yeah," Granger said in a distant voice. "Very wonderful."

After what seemed like an eternity, Granger pulled away from the kiss. "I cannot believe that I've just done that!" he exclaimed. He looked at Farah, who had put her hand on her mouth and was taking rapid breaths.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried burying her face in her hands. "I shouldn't have done that! You're with Lily, and she's my best friend! Oh, God, I should not have done that!"

Granger took a second to regain his composure. "Farah, no." He pulled her hands away from her face. "No, don't beat yourself up about that. You're grieving for your boyfriend, and I was trying to comfort you. It's my fault too."

Farah fanned herself quickly. "Let's just pretend it never happened." Secretly, though, she wished that it could have lasted one extra second.

"You know what? Let's not talk about Farah. Let's talk about Lily."

Jade gave a low whistle. "Well, we have a lot to talk about there, man."

Granger looked alarmed. "What do you mean?" Did Jade find out that he and Farah kissed? Did he tell Lily?

"She's been acting…strange lately," Jade confessed. "She got sick a couple of times yesterday, and I was at her house this morning, and she really started going at it with David and Dorian.

Granger mentally let out a sigh of relief. "Well, she's probably tired," he pointed out. "She's been working at Lindsay's Art Gallery more than usual, and her sophomore year of high school is starting soon."

"Yeah, but I'm still worried about her," Jade frowned. "Did you talk to her at all last night?"

"No, I didn't get a chance to?" "Nor could I even think of it with all of that insanity with Farah," he thought to himself.

"You know what? This has been fun, but I think that I'd better be going." Farah grabbed her purse. "Umm…I'll talk to you later, I guess."

"I guess." Granger walked Farah to the door. "Umm, Farah? Can I ask you something?"

Farah smiled warmly. "Anything."

"The kiss…look, I know that we agreed not to talk about it, but—"

"You don't regret it?"

"Well, I do in a way. I mean, I'm with Lily, and I love her…look, what I'm trying to say is…you're a good kisser, and I think that you'll make someone happy someday. Just because George is not here doesn't mean that your life is over."

"Where is the doctor?" Lily jumped off of the table and started to pace around the cubicle. "She went to get the test results, like, forever ago! Why isn't she back yet?"

"Honey, I need you to calm down," Paige said gently. "The doctor will be back in a few minutes, and then we'll decide what to do from there."

"You're making it sound like I am pregnant!" Lily cried. "I don't know if I am yet, but if I am, there is that little problem of figuring out if Granger is the father."

"Let's cross that bridge when it comes, okay? Come on, sweetie, why don't you sit down? You're going to make yourself sick if you keep worrying yourself with 'what ifs.'"

Letting out a huge sigh, Lily finally gave in and sat back down on the table. "I hope that doctor hurries up, though, because this is killing me!"

As if she was psychic, the door opened, and the doctor, a matronly looking red head, came in with a clipboard. "Miss Vickers, Dr. Miller," she said warmly, "I have the test results back."

Paige calmly nodded, but Lily felt as if she could attack the doctor. "So? Am I pregnant or not?" she asked shakily. For a millisecond, she felt like she did not want to know the answer. Still, she needed to know.

"Well, Miss Vickers, we ran the tests, and they are 99.9 accurate," the doctor replied. "I'll let you see the results for yourself."

Lily reached out to take the clipboard and to read the single piece of paper that would determine the rest of her life.