AN: Ugghhh...first 3 days in last year of my Master studies and I already hate every single one of my course. It's like they plan these courses so that students would fall out! I hate it, hate it, hate it! It will be a miracle if I pass this semester. If I don't update a chapter (all of my stories) just know that I am probably either:
1)getting drunk because of University
2)bawling my eyes out because of University
3)writing/doing my homework/group works/programs while bawling my eyes out and drinking strong booze (wine won't do this time)
Most likely it will be option #3! So, if I miss an update, please be understanding.
Hope you enjoy :)
Amy POV
January 8th
I was sitting on the last step of the stairs, petting the hell out of Duke, while I was waiting for Callie to come down. Duke was on his back, he was showing me his tummy. One of his back leg was moving as I was scratching his tummy, he was enjoying the belly scratching a lot.
"That's enough, bud!" I stop petting him, when I hear Callie's footsteps from upstairs. Duke jumped up on his feet and with his snout he poked my palm, that way asking me to pet him some more.
"You are so needy," I tell him, with a huge smile on my lips, as I resume petting him. I simply couldn't resit. The way he was looking at me. Those puppy dog eyes - they get me every time.
Duke was home alone for most of the time, so I also kind of felt guilty for leaving him alone for so long. I did come home during lunch time to let him out, but 30 minutes for a puppy is not enough. He still was missing us badly. Another negative side of leaving a puppy alone for so long -he had left a little puddle in the kitchen. But he was improving. The first time Duke had to spend few hours by himself, while I was at work, but Callie at school, he left 3 little puddles.
I am also pretty sure he thinks we are going to leave him for good whenever we leave the house. When we return home, he is jumping up and down and sometimes from the excitement he is running small circles around us, while at the same time peeing. He just can't contain himself.
"I'm ready," Callie announces, when she walks down the stairs
"Jude's not here yet," I tell her looking over my shoulder. Callie called Jude to come watch Duke, while I take Callie to her first gyno appointment. From what Callie told me, he had agreed at once and seemed excited about it.
Duke stepped away from me and with his front pawns he took the first step up, when he saw that Callie was coming down the stairs. He once again made a sound that resembled a bark. His tail was wiggling hard.
"Miss me!" Callie says as she walks pass him and grabs the toy from the ground "Wanna play tug of war?" she crouched down and held the other end of toy to him. Duke ran to her and bit in the toy.
"Wow! You have such a hard pull!" Callie says to him, while I go to kitchen to wash my hands. I hear Callie and Duke playing while I clean my hands. When I walk back to hallway, the doorbell rings.
"I will get it," I tell Callie so she doesn't have to interrupt their play time. I pull open the doors and stand aside. This was not the first time, so I already knew what was going to happen.
I gently tap on Frankie's head, who walks in first "1!" I count out
Mariana walked right behind Frankie, she flashed me a big smile, when I tapped on her head "2!"
They were walking in by height, next in line was Jude "3!"
Then came Brandon "4" I had to hold my hand up higher for him
"And 5!" Jesus was really tall "They are all here!" I say with a huge grin
"How long will you be out?" Mariana asks me, when Callie finally stood up and walks to the front doors, where her shoes stood
"Not too long," I glance to Callie, who was no2 putting on her left shoe "Hour, maybe little bit longer. Two hours tops,"
"You don't have to hurry back!" Frankie informs us, she was already sitting on the floor petting Duke "We can take good care of him!"
"I know, sweetie!" I smile at the mini-Lena. Her hair was getting crazier by every day. It's like even Lena doesn't know how to contain it.
"Has he been on his evening walk?" Brandon asks me nodding to the leash that hang by the coat rack
"Not yet. You can take him," Callie answers in my place as she ties her other shoe "Jude, you have the house key, right?"
"Yep!" He nods back, reaches in his left side front jeans pocket and pulls out the key to show us "Got it right here!" He places his key back in his pocket and smiles at Callie and I "Thanks for calling us!"
"You will always be on our top list, when we need someone to watch our little rebel!" I reply to Jude and then turn to Jesus, who stood by my side. I place my hand on his shoulder "I refiled food in the fridge and cupboards today! I hope you won't eat everything!"
Jesus grins back "I will try not to eat everything. Mama gave me two sandwiches, when we drove out...I think I am good for another hour or two," he places his hand on his stomach
"Ready?" Callie stands up straight
"Okay, we are heading out!" I say gesturing Callie to walk out first
"Bye!" They all call back at the same time
It took us about 20 minutes to get to the clinic, because it was right in the traffic time. Callie had an appointment at the very end of the work hours, at 5:40 PM. The city always has the biggest traffic around the pike hour, when everyone is driving home from work. I had taken a bit shorter day today, so that I could drive Callie.
Callie was holding up till we sat down in the waiting room. Then she became extremely nervous. She couldn't sit still, she was constantly looking around, chewing her lower lip, touching her face, her right leg was bouncing up and down quite often.
When I grip Callie's left hand -her leg instantly stops bouncing, she glances to me, but she was still nibbling her right hand thumb nail with her other fingers.
"You are going to be okay," I tell her calmly, gazing to her eyes "I'm going to be sitting right here! If you need me – you can ask the doc to come get me," Callie gazes right back at me and slowly nods her head, showing me she understood and acknowledge what I told her
Callie looks away from me to the doors that lead in the doc office "And she knows that I was-" Callie swallowed a lump in her throat, when she glances back at me
"She does, I informed her," I squeeze her hand gently. I had asked Callie before I went to set up the appointment if she wants me to tell the doctor that she was raped, so she would now before hand and Callie doesn't have to tell her.
"It doesn't hurt?" Callie asks me in a whisper, I noticed the scared look in her eyes. We already went over this before, but I am not surprised she asks me these questions once again. She is scared. I was the same way, when I was her age. Mom probably had to answer the same questions 3 times at least.
"No, no it doesn't!" I reassure her, rubbing my thumb fondly over her palm
Callie opened her mouth to ask me something else, but the office doors opened and the previous patient walked out. Once she saw the doctor, Callie gripped my hand tighter. I saw how her whole body tensed up. The doctor smiled at us, recognizing me, and then she walks to the front desk to take Callie's file.
"Callie?" Dr. Reed smiles at Callie, Callie stiffly nods back and fakes a smile back "I'm . You can come in now,"
Callie looks at me "I'm right here if you need me," I remind her and give her hand a little squeeze before she leaves. Callie smiles back at me, even though looking at her eyes I see how scared and nervous she was. She lets go of my hand and follows the doctor inside reluctantly.
The minutes go by incredibly slow. Maybe I shouldn't have looked at the clock on the wall. But still, 5 minutes slowly turn to 10, and 10 minutes slowly turn to 20, 20 minutes slowly turn to 30.
When the doors to the office open, I straighten my back and sit up. I knew there was a chance that maybe Callie couldn't go through with it and needed me inside. But no such thing. Callie walked out with the doctor and she looked much more relaxed than before.
I jump up from the seat, when Callie says goodbye to the doctor. In two seconds I am by her side and we walk out together. When we sit in the car, I place my key in the ignition, but don't start it. Instead I turn to Callie.
"Well...how did it go?" I ask carefully as I eye her closely
Callie shrugs and looks down to her lap "It was normal,"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm...I think I'm good. Not that I liked it, but...but Dr. Reed was very friendly and kind, and understanding. She was easy to talk to, like you mentioned she was. Dr. Reed explained everything before doing it and she asked me if I was ready. She even asked if she should go get you..." Callie looks down to her lap
"I'm glad you liked her and that you felt comfortable around her," I smile at Callie and reach for her hand to grip it "What about your health?"
"All good," Callie smiles at me
"Good, that's good!" I pat her knee "So, listen, what do you say about ice cream?"
Callie looks to me, I could tell she was curious about my intent "I like ice cream…why?"
"I was just thinking we could go buy ice cream and...hang out. We haven't done anything outside the house for a while," I reply leaning to my seat and starting the car "
"I'm in!" Callie says enthusiastically pulling over her seat-belt
Callie POV
"Here, take these, while I pay," Mom says as she hands me our ice creams in cones to me. While mom pays , I already take a lick out of both of the ice creams – moms vanilla and mine chocolate.
"Did you just eat mine?" Mom catches me in act, when I take another lick out of her vanilla ice cream
I look down to the ice cream and then up to her "No?" it sounded more like a question
"Give me that!" mom reaches and takes her ice cream away me "Unbelievable!" Mom shakes her head at me, hiding a grin. I simply grin back at her.
We start to walk towards the beach, with out ice creams in our hands. At first mom starts small talk about beaches and the nice weather. If I know my mom at all, she will tell me something in the next few minutes. And it's going to be something big.
"How are you and Gavin doing?" Mom asks, before she eats the last of her ice cream cone
I shrug my shoulders a little "We are good,"
"No drama?" Mom smirks at me
"Nop, we are good! I'm happy, he's happy, we are happy together," I say happily and toss the very end of the ice cream cone in my mouth. We are good. I feel like we are even more closer after we had sex. It feels like we have connected on another level.
When I glance to mom, I see that she was walking next to me with her head down, looking down to her own shoes "How are you and Cooper doing?" I ask mom back in the same manner
Mom tilts her head up and takes a deep breath in. When she looks to me, she smiles at me, but she doesn't say anything. Moms lack of answer in the first few seconds, makes me slightly worried.
"Um...something happened few days ago," she speaks up after a little while "that I believe you should know about..."
"Should I be worried?" I ask warily, when mom slowed down her pace a bit
"No...it's nothing like that," Mom reassures me as she shakes her head. Still, even with moms reassurance, the worry didn't leave me.
"...okay. I'm listening," I say quietly watching mom and waiting for her to continue as we continue to walk down the trail that goes by the beach
Mom scratches her temple "Remember, when we were visiting Adams Fosters around Christmas and I wasn't feeling so great?"
"Are you sick!?" I blur out the first thing that was on my mind
"No, no, no...nothing like that!" Mom instantly responds "I'm not sick! No one is sick!"
"What then?" I ask slowing down the pace even more
"I was pregnant," mom says keeping her eyes up front. When the words left her mouth, I stopped walking. Mom took one step and only then she stopped and turned to me.
"You are pregnant?" I had mixed feelings about it, but right now the dominant one was – surprised.
"Was," mom clarified in sadder tone
"Y-you..you had-"I stuttered badly not wanting to even think abortion. Just imagining that mom went through something like that was not a nice feeling.
"Very early miscarriage. I was under 4 weeks pregnant," Mom explained before she turned and walked to the closest bench by the trail on the beach that we were walking
I felt tears coming to my eyes, after I heard the news. Mom must have been devastated. She lost another kid. Okay, this one hadn't been born yet, but still. It must have hurt a lot. That explains why she was so down and sad few days ago.
I walk to the bench, mom sat down, and take a seat next to her "Mom, I...I am so sorry," I say placing my hand on hers trying to console her. Mom manages to put on a small, sad smile on her lip.
"Do you know why…why it happened? What caused it?"
"Nothing caused it. It wasn't anything I did or didn't do. It simply wasn't meant to be," Mom explains looking between me and my hand that was gripping hers. There were tears in her eyes and her voice was quieter than usually.
"Were you and Cooper trying?" Her last statement made me ask this. The way she said it, sounded like they were trying to conceive.
"No. We sort of freaked out ourselves, because we had used protection all the time," Mom chuckled a little "A reminder to you that condoms are not 100% safe!" she manages to teach me in the process as well. A small chuckle leaves my mouth.
I relaxed after that and leaned back to the bench, still holding moms hand in mine. Mom was moving her thumb fondly over my palm as she sat and watched the ocean in the far.
"There is more," Mom spoke up after a little while, taking me by surprise. I turn my head to see her, mom looked right back at me "Cooper proposed to me!" mom says and waits for me to react.
I blink back at her, my mouth parts a little. Mom just kept dropping bombs after one another. My initial thought - mom is getting married, Cooper is going to be my step-father - I was so sure, she had said yes.
"Callie, can you say something?" Mom asks scooting a bit closer to me
"Did you say yes?" I ask looking down to my lap, expecting to her her say - yes
"I didn't say anything,"
"What does that mean? Did you broke up?" I swallow a lump in my throat
"Cooper proposed to me only because he thought I was pregnant. I didn't want him to do it out of obligation, so...I guess you can say, I talked him out of it." Mom detains a little pause "We did not break up. Nothing has changed,"
"So, your answer was – no?" I ask to clarify
"I didn't answer," Mom says, but when she sensed that that kind of answer was not what I was looking for "My answer was – not now, now like this,"
"But you want to marry him?"
"I love Cooper, I am not going to deny that – yes, one day, in future I would like to marry him," Mom replies honestly " How would you feel about that? Cooper and I getting married?"
I shrug and avert my look down to lap "Not sure...I have never thought about it" I sigh and start to dwell in the subject "I like him, he's an okay guy. I know you love him, it's quite obvious he loves you as well. He makes you happy..." I take a deep breath in "I think...I would be okay,"
"You will always be my number one person," Mom reassures me. She spoke with a lot of certainty, thus making me believe every word she says "You will always be my priority. If I would marry Cooper in future - I need you to know, that it would not change how much I love you and how much you mean to me!" Mom cups my hand in her hands "No one will ever step between us!"
"I know, mom!" I nod back "Cooper is a good guy. You deserve to have someone like him in you life. I don't love him, but I respect him...and I trust him. I would be okay if you would marry him"
Mom smiles at me and leans closer to me to place a kiss on my cheek "I love you!" she then leans back to bench, still holding my hand. The Sun will set in some hour or so, it was quite the amazing look. Wind was moving my hair lightly, keeping us all cool at the same time.
I lower my head to moms shoulder and look out to the horizon "I love you too, mom!"