The drive home was a silent one. Robbie didn't speak to Amy again until they were home and had reached the top of the stairs.
"We'll talk tomorrow," he stated and then walked into his bedroom and shut the door. Amy knew it wasn't a request or a suggestion and if she tried to avoid him he'd simply hunt her down. She laid awake for a couple of hours processing what Ricky had revealed to her and then imagining different scenarios of what raising a child with Ricky might be like, how it would work. Finally tiredness simply overtook her and forced her brain to quiet so she could go to sleep.
When Amy awoke bright and early at 6:30 the next morning, she quietly and quickly got ready for her orientation. She and her siblings often slept in on Saturdays and if Amy didn't have an orientation that morning, she'd still be asleep as well. Her parents were in the kitchen when she came downstairs.
"Morning, sweetie," her dad greeted her from a seat at the kitchen table. When she sat down next to him he leaned over to speak to her stomach. "And hello to you too, grandbaby," he added, causing Amy to smile. Anne placed a plate of breakfast in front of Amy and she dug in. The kitchen was filled with companionable silence and Amy and her parents enjoyed their meal. The meal finished, they all headed out at the same time, George locking the door behind them. He kissed his ladies goodbye and then headed to the furniture store while Anne drove Amy to the nursery.
"I'll be here when you're finished," Anne told her as she put the car in park and then took a paperback novel out of her purse. Amy nodded and then headed inside for her orientation. An hour and a half later, Amy came out carrying several pamphlets of information and then climbed into the car, a huge smile on her face. "All set?" Anne asked. Amy nodded.
"This job is gonna be great, mom!" Amy said excitedly. Anne chuckled as she drove her rather excited fifteen year old back home. When they walked in the house they were greeted by the site of Robbie and Ashley eating their breakfast, which Anne had left warming for them in the oven. Anne's son and youngest daughter looked up in acknowledgment of her presence before returning their attention to their food while Amy went up to her room to skim through her pamphlets again, and wait for her conversation with Robbie. Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on her bedroom door. "Come in," she called out and then looked up. Robbie walked in, shut the door behind him and sat down on her bed. Amy rose from her desk without a word and joined him on her bed, sitting cross legged in the middle.
"So what happened?" Robbie asked, giving Amy a steady stare; she shrugged.
"He explained what happened that night from his point of view and it turns out I didn't have the whole story."
"Meaning?" Amy bit her lip and tried to decide how much of what Ricky had told her she would tell her brother since she'd never asked Ricky if she had his permission to tell anyone else.
"Basically he's a typical guy who doesn't deal well with his feelings and when he realized he might like me like me he got scared and ran, not literally I mean, but he wasn't avoiding me just for the heck of it. It was more like he was trying to hide from his feelings and I just felt avoided." Robbie arched an eyebrow questioningly for a moment and then his face became pensive. Being a guy, he got that some guys have a hard time telling a girl they like that they're into them but Ricky took it too far.
"Okay, I can get that. What I'm not okay with is that he had sex with you before he got his head on straight and figured out how he felt about you. That definitely deserves a beat down." Amy's face became alarmed as she remembered that Ricky had been abused. She also knew that the only way to save Ricky from her brother's wrath was to tell Robbie a little bit of his childhood story.
"You can't!" Robbie looked at Amy with his face full of surprise at her sudden outburst.
"And why not?" he asked calmly, not understanding why any person who'd hurt his little sister in any way didn't deserve to be pummeled. Amy licked her suddenly dry lips and stared down at her bedspread. "Well?" Robbie asked with slight irritation.
"Robbie, he told me he has a hard time letting anyone get close to him because he was abused as a kid." Robbie's eyes widened in surprise. "He's in foster care because both his parents drank and his dad was the abusive kind of drunk." Amy suddenly looked up at her brother with tears in her eyes. "Promise me you won't beat him up? Please?" Robbie's one weakness was the tears of his little sisters, the genuine tears anyway. Ashley had figured this out years ago and had tried to use it to her advantage as she grew up but Robbie had developed the ability to tell Ashley's fake tears from her real ones. Amy, on the other hand, never learned how to cry on cue and when she got teary eyed, her tears were always real. Robbie sighed and pulled Amy into a hug. She nestled against Robbie's side as he held her head firmly but gently against him.
"Alright, gummie. No beat down, unless it's warranted." Amy pulled back to protest. Sensing her oncoming rant and plea, Robbie kissed her forehead with a smile and pulled her back towards his chest and hugged her tight. "He knows you're pregnant with his baby and now that you two talked, he also knows how much he hurt you. I won't rough him up for all that but if he does anything to hurt you again I'm gonna have to lay into him. It's my duty as your big brother to protect you, and avenge you when necessary." Amy pulled back to look at Robbie.
"I'm not a little girl anymore, Robbie. You don't always have to look out for me." Robbie laughed and Amy looked at him like he'd lost his mind.
"Amy, when's the last time you didn't worry about someone picking on or messing with Ash?" His question caught her off guard and Amy had to stop and think about it. When she couldn't come up with an answer Robbie chuckled. "Exactly. Looking out for your younger siblings is hardwired into an older sibling's DNA or something. I know you and Ash are old enough to make some of your own decisions and keep yourselves out of trouble but you'll always be my little sisters and so I'll always be looking out for you two and going after anyone who hurts you guys." Amy smiled and nodded in understanding.
"You know, when we were in middle school, I used to get so angry at you sometimes for scaring guys away from me. I thought no guy would ever be interested in me because of it. But even though it's annoying sometimes, I am happy that you care enough about me to look out for me." Robbie smiled and kissed the top of her head.
"Anytime, gummie. Anytime." Robbie released her and she settled in next to him more comfortably, leaning back on her arms.
"So does this mean you and the boys are gonna be nice to Ricky from now on?"
"No." Amy looked at her brother with a mixture of irritation and exasperation, causing Robbie to laugh.
"He got my little sister pregnant before he married her or was even her boyfriend. Then I find out he avoided you after doing the deed." Amy opened her mouth to say something but Robbie cut her off. "Even if it was because his childhood left him afraid to let anybody get too close to him emotionally. He's in the doghouse with me until I see him treat you the way you deserve to be treated. 'Til then I don't care how much he apologizes and says the words 'I'm sorry'. I promised not to throw punches his way for now but that doesn't mean he's gotta become my new best friend just because he's the father of your baby." Amy smiled and shook her head at her brother. "Underwood gets a pardon for stealing your virginity and making you cry, this time, but it's a one-time pass."
"Okay, okay. I get it." Robbie smiled back at her and kissed her temple.
"So how was orientation?" Amy's smile got even wider.
"Great! This job actually looks like it'll be some fun. The paperwork I get to file is for all the kids in the nursery so from time to time I'll get to see the little tykes. And during orientation I got to tour the whole place and learn some of the ins and outs of running a daycare center so when people call with questions I can answer them. And you wanna know the best part?"
"What?"
"Caroline, that's my boss, she said employees can enroll their kids at the nursery for half the cost of a regular year-long enrollment so I've got at least one daycare center that I know will be a good, safe place for my baby while I'm at school." Robbie smiled at Amy's obvious enthusiasm. He suddenly jumped up and held out his hand to her with a smile.
"Let's go."
"Go where?" Amy asked, taking his hand and letting him pull her to her feet. He didn't answer, just dragged her out of her room and down the hallway towards Ashley's room. He knocked on the door quickly.
"Yeah?" came Ashley's bored replied. Robbie opened the door and poked his head in.
"Let's go."
"Go where?"
"Just come on." Ashley rolled her eyes but got up from her desk to follow Robbie anyway. He led the way downstairs, still dragging Amy behind him. Anne looked up as her children filed into the kitchen. "We're going out for a bit mom."
"Okay. Be safe." Robbie opened the door and ushered his sisters outside, shutting the door behind him with his foot. Once they were all piled into his car and buckled up, he started the car.
"So are you gonna tell us where we're going now?" Ashley asked, slightly curious now.
"Shopping." There was a moment of silence in the car. Amy looked into the rearview mirror from the front seat and caught Ashley's eye. Seeing the same look of disbelief the two girls burst into laughter.
"Robbie, you hate shopping with us," Amy told him, trying to contain her laughter.
"Not this kind," he answered with a smile, turning down a street and heading for their dad's furniture store.
"Meaning?" Ashley pressed.
"Meaning," Robbie started, turning down a street a couple of blocks from their dad's store "that Amy's getting all fired up about working to take care of our niece or nephew and looking at daycare centers and I think we should get a start on buying stuff for the kid." Robbie pulled into a parking spot and the girls looked at where they were. Robbie had driven them to a baby boutique that they'd driven past countless times on the way to visit their dad at work. Robbie walked to the door and held it open for Amy and Ashley to walk through. The three sibling stopped just inside the front doors, not sure exactly where to start. They shared a confused look before Robbie took charge. "Let's just start at one end and go up and down looking at everything." It sounded like a good plan so they headed for aisle number one and started looking.
While Ashley was surprised at everything people needed and wanted to buy for a baby, Amy's face lit up the more they browsed and she began cooing over practically everything she saw. The three siblings shared some laughs at objects such as a basinet set that was violently pink and literally covered in pink bows and a baby bathtub that resembled a rubber ducky. Amy vehemently vetoed a mobile Ashley wanted to buy for the baby that was various shades of black and grey and featured cartoony bats while Robbie saw the cutest little green onesie that said 'Party, My Crib, 2AM' across it and decided his little niece or nephew just had to have it. Amy decided to buy several books about what to expect during pregnancy and her baby's first year, which Robbie bought for her.
"Just consider them gifts for the baby," he told her. Ashley settled on a cute little stuffed frog and they all headed to the checkout in high spirits. Unfortunately for Amy, a girl who attended Grant High had seen them and overheard Robbie tell Amy the books were gifts for the baby. She had also been at the dance last night and witnessed the exchange between Ricky and Robbie. Putting two and two together, she began texting like mad.