Chapter 5

The next morning Bay stared in the mirror looking at her bulging stomach in the fifth shirt she had tried on. It was becoming impossible to hide the changes that were happening in her body. Bay placed her hand on her eleventh week belly. She still could not feel her child but she knew he was in there. Or maybe she, Bay smiled to herself as a curly little brunette danced in her imagination. Or maybe she will have dark red hair like Emmett. She smiled even bigger thinking of a little Emmett running around in their little home. Perhaps Emmett… Bay tried not to go there. She was still scared to tell Emmett about the pregnancy.

Finally Bay slipped on an oversized tank top and a t-shirt hoping it might give her a few more weeks before she had to tell her parents. If she didn't tell her parents her body soon would.

Bay walked into the kitchen to make herself a piece of toast.

"Toast again?" Katherine said when she came around the corner.

"It has 12 grains." She said with a sarcastic grin holding up the bag of bread.

Her mother laughed.

"But you've been eating nothing but toast in the morning for two weeks." Her mother said suspicious. "I can make you something if you'd like."

"Mom, I'm fine." Bay said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Have you talked to Daphne?" Katherine said changing the subject.

"Not in a few weeks." Bay said looking at the glass of orange juice she probably wouldn't drink intensely.

"She said she's tried to call you."

"I've been busy with work." Bay had intentionally been avoiding most of the people she knew but she had also been putting in over 60 hours a week at the restaurant. Though today was her day off.

"You should call your sister." Katherine pleaded. "I'd hate to see the two of you disconnect."

"I will." Bay stood up and cleared her place. "But I have to go. I have an Everyday Heroes project I need to get done."

Bay had not had as much time to focus on her art but she was trying. She knew that being pregnant meant that a part of her life would be on hold but that did not mean that she had to put everything on hold.

Forty-Five minutes later Bay was at the site of the same billboard Emmett had tagged over two years ago just for her. Bay smiled half-heartedly at the memory. Bay walked towards the contractor that had volunteered to help her put up the billboard for her Everyday Heroes project. If this were a few years ago Bay might be putting up a piece of her own illegally but this time the project had been funded by some rich millionaire that had fallen in love with her first piece.

A few hours later Bay stood a block away admiring her beautiful piece. She stared at the vivid colors and took it all in. To the regular eye it looked like a generic advertisement but if you looked closely you could see an outline of a girl standing alone on a beach as another outline of a boy walked away another girl leaving her alone as an impending storm laid on the horizon. To the right of the painting was a long quote about how everyday heroes are not always recognized and that they are not recognized like someone in a uniform might be but they stay even when difficult times.

Bay closed her eyes, the last six words burned into her memory.

There is beauty in the storm.

Bay took her phone and took a picture of her beautiful piece. Then she opened up her messages and attached the photo.

In the caption she wrote, "Do you recognize the place?"

Bay hovered her thumb over the send button and contemplated hitting the delete button.

With a deep breath she hit send.

An hour later Bay was sitting in the kitchen of the guesthouse talking to Regina clinging tight to her phone. Just as Bay was beginning to lose hope her phone buzzed. Bays face lit up and she grabbed her phone. It was a call from an unknown number.

"Hi," A voice said when she answered. "Is this Bay Kennish?"

"Yes." Bay responded. "This is she."

"This is the nurse from Mission Hills Hospital Lab at the prenatal testing clinic." The nurse cleared her throat. "Is this an okay time to talk?"

"Yes, just a minute."

"I'm going to step out and take this call." Bay said as she walked out the door.

Regina raised an eyebrow to which Bay noticed.

"Hi," Bay said after she had closed the front door.

"We got an order for a DNA test, would you like to go ahead and schedule it?"

"I would." Bay took a deep breath. "But I still haven't told either of the possible…" Bay trailed off.

"I'm sorry." The woman on the phone said sympathetically. "I know that has to be difficult."

"You have no idea." Bay said. Vomit rose in her throat.

"You could call back to schedule something but this particular test has to be done in the next three weeks."

"No, no," Bay closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. "Can I just schedule something at the latest possible date." Hopefully… Bay closed her eyes again. Hopefully I can tell one of them by then.

After Bay had scheduled her appointment she went back in to the guesthouse.

"What was that about?" Regina asked Bay.

"It was nothing." Bay said putting her phone down on the counter.

"You know," Regina laughed. "You're just like me when I'm lying."

"I told you it was nothing." Bay said irritated. Was she just bluffing? Bay thought.

"Well if you ever need to talk about anything," Regina sat on the chair next to Bay. "I'm always here. There are so many people who are here for you."

"Thanks." Bay said. "I'm just not ready to talk about it yet."

Bay closed her eyes. She really wanted to tell Regina but she was afraid. Not only was she afraid of Regina being disappointed in her but she also didn't want her John and Katherine to be upset that she had been told before them. There had already been enough wedges between them. She didn't want something that was supposed to bring them together to drive another wedge between them.

"Well as soon as you are ready." Regina said reassuringly.

A few hours later Bay sat alone by a lake at a park an hour away from home. She stared intensely at the water. Why does Emmett have to be so cold? She had still not heard from Emmett. She had hoped he might send her something back but he hadn't. It had become obvious to her that she had to tell him so that they could get a DNA test done. Bay breathed deep and opened up the video call app.

With another deep breath she hit his picture and pressed call. She closed her eyes and crossed her fingers. A few seconds later she opened her eyes to see an error message that read "Error: Caller Blocked".

Emmett seriously BLOCKED me? She screamed. Tears of frustration swelled in her eyes. No! I'm stronger than that. Bay scrolled down to Daphne's contact picture and hit call.

"Bay! Hi!" Daphne said when she answered.

"Hi" Bay signed. "Sorry it's been so long."

"It's ok." Daphne shrugged.

"I've just," Bay hesitated. "I'm pregnant." Bay burst out and tears ran down her eyes.

"Oh Bay." Daphne looked like she wanted to hug her. "It's going to be okay."

"There's just so much." Bay choked up. "I haven't told anyone."

"You haven't told Emmett?" Daphne wondered. "Or…" Daphne trailed off not wanting to mention that it might be Tanks.

"He blocked me." Bay said frustrated.

"I got to go to my next class." Daphne said with an apologetic look. "Can I call you later?"

Please don't tell anyone." Bay pleaded.

"Of course not Daphne reassured.

Bay hung up and hit call on the contact that read Myles Conroy. There might be two possible fathers but she only needed one to find out.

"Hi," She breathed in. "Tank?"

"Bay?" Tanks asked surprised.

"I'm going to need you to do me a favor." She closed her eyes she could hear her own heart beat. "Please don't be mad."

"What is it?" Tank sounded worried.

"I need you," She paused and let out a deep breath. "I need you to meet me next week for a prenatal paternity test."

"What?" Tanks loud voice thundered into Bays ear. Bay almost dropped her phone.

"I'm not asking you to do anything," She paused her heart was about to explode. "If you are the father, I just need to know who the father is."

"What if it's mine are you going to not keep it?" Tank sounded offended.

"No," Bay was suddenly irritated. "I just need to know. Meet me next Friday at the Mission Hills Hospital and we can go from there."

"Fine." Tank said, "I'll be there."

Bay breathed one last sigh of relief.

At least that was done, she thought. Emmett might be mad he wasn't the first to know. But whose fault was that?

Bay stood up and walked through the long path through her car. Everything was a mess but she felt like she could figure it out. Now that her secret was out, even if it was just to two people she felt like she had finally taken power over her life back.

When Bay got to her car she pulled out her phone in one last attempt to contact Emmett.

"If you get this there's something important I need to speak with you about."

With ease this time she hit send.