Jonathan"s mother"s hand flew up to her mouth, and her shocked eyes looked from Jonathan to Sarah and back to Jonathan again.
Jonathan"s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Pregnant?" He wasn"t sure that he"d heard right.
"Yeah, dumbs.h.i.t, pregnant. You know how that works, right?"
"Dad, stop." Sarah had moved forward to put her hand on his arm, to stop what was about to come flying out of his mouth next.
"Get off me!" he yelled as he angrily brushed her arm off.
Jonathan instantly lost his cool. It was one thing to be a rude jerk; it was a whole other thing to be abusive to someone he cared about, who was pregnant for crying out loud.
"HEY!" Jonathan yelled, jumping down the last couple stairs and striding over to the front door. "That"s enough, Mr. Peterson. You can"t come over here to my house and talk to my family that way. And you certainly can"t talk to Sarah the way you just did or treat her like that." He paused for a second s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up his eyebrows. "What"s wrong with you? Can"t you see you"re upsetting her?" He gestured towards Sarah.
"Oh trust me, I"m going to do a lot more than just upset her."
"Um, no, I don"t think so," responded Jonathan, matter of factly.
Jonathan stepped over, pushing Frank out of the way and walked up to Sarah. "Come here." He took her hand and pulled her into the house while Frank worked to right himself. He had tripped over a rocking chair that was near the front door.
"Sarah, get your a.s.s back out here."
"Nope, sorry, not happening Mr. Peterson. She"s staying here until further notice." Jonathan glanced over at his mom who was standing frozen in place. She gave a slight nod of her head, giving her approval, but she wasn"t able to find her voice quite yet. The shock of what she was hearing and seeing was too overwhelming.
"Over my dead body," Frank said as he moved towards the doorway.
Jonathan stepped forward and met him toe to toe. Jonathan had him by at least two inches. "That can be arranged."
Jonathan"s mom looked at her son"s face and nearly fainted. What had happened to her little boy on that island? He looked like a killer right now; she could see he was serious. She knew that look. She just had never seen the threatening part of it that was definitely something new.
She looked up at Sarah, who had moved to stand on the second stair of the staircase inside the house. Sarah was staring at Jonathan, pride shining in her eyes.
Well, I"ll be d.a.m.ned, thought Candace. Not only did they, well, make a baby together they actually have feelings for one another. Candace had to be honest with herself, she never saw that one coming although she should have guessed it. Jonathan had come back a man from the experience. It"s only natural that Sarah would have been drawn to that.
Candace let out a long sigh. "Okay, guys. I appreciate the whole testosterone thing and all, but this is not the way we handle things here, and I don"t think this is the right time either. Frank, you need to leave, and I need to call Glen and get him home from work. We"ll call you later at the house."
Frank stepped back to the edge of the porch. "You"re going to hear from my lawyer, lady."
Jonathan grabbed the edge of the door. "Bring it."
Then he slammed the door in Frank"s face.
"Jonathan!" scolded his mother.
"Sorry Mom, but that guy is a serious douchebag."
Jonathan turned his attention to Sarah and took a deep breath. "Hey Sarah. So ... " Words failed him. For the first time in his life, he had no factoids to help him over the hump.
"Hey, Jonathan." Sarah was also feeling uncharacteristically shy.
They all heard Candi clear her throat at the top of the stairs and turned to look at her as she began speaking, "So, let me get this straight I"m going to be an aunt?"
Sarah looked at her and shrugged. "Guess so."
Candi stomped down the stairs, brushing past Sarah. She grabbed Jonathan by the hand, dragging him to the staircase.
"Where are we going?"
"Shut up, Jonathan."
Then Candi reached the second stair where Sarah was and used her other hand to turn Sarah around so she was facing up the stairs, urging her forward by gently pushing on her back. "Up you go."
"Where are we going?"
"Shut up, Sarah."
Candi dragged and pushed the two of them up the stairs until they reached Jonathan"s room. She let go of Jonathan"s hand and gently guided Sarah to his bed, sitting her down. Then she pulled Jonathan into the room until he was standing in front of her. "Sit!" she ordered, pointing to the s.p.a.ce next to Sarah.
Jonathan did as he was told.
Candi stood in front of them, hands on her hips.
"You two have some serious talking to do. That includes talking about why you, Sarah, are blowing Jonathan off and not returning his calls ... "
" ... but ... "
" ... no buts! And Jonathan, that includes what you are going to do with Sarah about this baby that you two made together. Obviously Sarah can"t go home, so figure this all out. I"m giving you an hour."
She turned and left the room, carefully shutting the door behind her.
The silence descended, neither wanting to be the first one to speak.
Then Sarah burped. Jonathan"s eyes nearly crossed. In all the time he"d ever been with Sarah, he"d never heard her burp before.
She started to giggle.
He couldn"t help but smile too.
"I burp all the time now for some reason."
"Is that normal?" he asked.
"For me it is, I guess."
"Interesting."
"You would say that."
"Sarah, why didn"t you answer my calls? You must have known you were pregnant for a couple of weeks ... "
"You called? Because you could have fooled me. Maybe your phone is broken."
"Seriously Sarah, stop messing around. I"ve called you every day since the day we got back. I"ve left a million messages. I didn"t have your cell number, so I called your house."
Sarah got a very angry look on her face. Then tears started to fill her eyes. Jonathan misunderstood. "Listen, I"m sorry it bothered you. I did kind of feel like I was stalking you, but I thought ... I thought ... Oh well, I guess it doesn"t matter what I thought."
"Jonathan, I never received one message from you. Who did you talk to?"
"Your mom and dad. Or I just left a message on the voicemail."
"Well, that would explain why the phone has never rung more than once at my house for the past month. I was wondering why my mom was suddenly so interested in answering it. She said she had a charity function coming up and that she was on the planning committee. She said that"s what the calls were for. And I believed her. That lying bi ... "
"Hey, hey, hey, there Sarah, she"s your mom. She was probably just doing what your dad told her to do, and he was probably just worried about you."
Sarah gave him one of her threatening looks.
"Okay, so he"s still a douchebag, and we can"t guess what his motivations were. It doesn"t matter now. What matters is that we talk about this, figure things out." He reached over and took her hand in his.
"So let"s figure it out then. I"m pregnant. I can"t live at home anymore. I will soon become a major cliche "pregnant unwed homeless teen"."
"First, you can live here. If I know Candi, she"s not going to let you live anywhere else now anyway you know how she is. Second, you can be pregnant or not. It"s your body, and it"s your choice. Either way, I will be there for you one hundred percent. And last, the unwed part, um, well, we could get married." Jonathan"s heart was about to explode. He was afraid to look her in the eye.
"A-hem. Okay. So. We"re talking now. Okay, um, so as far as the living here goes, I guess that would be a good temporary solution. Then you can help me figure something more permanent out. Second, I think we"re on the abortion issue and I"m sorry if this totally f"s up your life Jonathan, but abortion"s not really my style. And last, the unwed part, holy s.h.i.t. Don"t ever ask me to marry you like that again or I"m gonna have to punch you in the nose. The day you ask me it better be on one knee and with one h.e.l.l of a ring, you get my drift?"
Jonathan laughed in spite of the gravity of the situation. He grabbed her in a spontaneous hug. "G.o.d, I"m so glad you"re here!"
Sarah started crying.
"Now what"s wrong?" asked Jonathan, confused all over again.
"Nothing, I just cry all the time. Deal with it."
Jonathan just smiled. "You know Sarah, your estrogen and progesterone levels are going to be very elevated, which will probably cause all manner of issues starting with your moods and ... "
Sarah smacked him gently on the back of the head. "T-M-I, babe. T-M-I. By the way, did you know that I even went to the math club and the chess club looking for you after school?"
Jonathan released her from his hug. "No way."
"Yes way. I kept going every week, hoping you"d show up so we could talk. I never saw you in school. You"re not on Facebook. I think I met all your friends though. Someone name Albert showed me some chess moves."
Jonathan smiled wryly. "I"ll bet he showed you some moves. Man, a guy can"t turn his back for a single second at chess club. They"re so compet.i.tive there ... "
Just then the door opened. Candi stood in the doorway. "We all square up here?"
"Not quite," said Sarah, standing up and walking over to her. "Why have you been hiding here at your house instead of coming to school?"
Candi shrugged her shoulders. "I"m not ready."
"Well get ready, sister, "cause you"re going tomorrow. Show me to your room so we can pick out an outfit."
"Sarah, I"m not sure ... "
"Bullfarts. Now move. I"m pregnant and you do not want to mess with me right now. Did I mention I get morning sickness when I don"t get my way?"
Candi looked at her incredulously. "Bullfarts?"
"Yeah, well, I"m going to be a mother soon, so I have to stop swearing so much ... "
Their voices faded as they walked down the hall and went into Candi"s room.
I"m going to be a father? Jonathan couldn"t wrap his brain around the idea. He did the calculations. That meant his child would be his age when he would be ... thirty-four. Geez, that"s old.
He got up and went to his computer. He needed to research family housing at the colleges he had planned on applying to. He had scholarship offers from some already. Might as well see if they still wanted him if he was bringing two others along.
"Listen, Sarah, I appreciate your help and all, but I don"t think I"m ready to go back to school tomorrow."
"You"re right. You aren"t thinking. You"re sitting here like a little mouse in a hole instead of going to school and kicking Kevin"s a.s.s ... I mean b.u.t.t."
Candi"s face dropped, and Sarah saw it.
"Listen, I know you"re sad. I know he"s been a total ... t.u.r.dmonkey. But trust me when I say this: Kevin loves you. He"s just scared to death. You rocked his world on Peanut Island. Everything he thought he knew about himself changed. Everything he thought was important changed. You got shot, and believe me that scared the ... doody ... out of him. He cried you know."
"No he didn"t."
"Yes he did. Like a baby. When he thought you might die, he was freaking out. That"s why he wouldn"t let Jonathan drive the boat he was afraid Jonathan would screw it up, and the Coast Guard wouldn"t be able to find us. In the hospital our dad wouldn"t let us see you guys. Then Kevin got back to school, and he just got overwhelmed with all the attention. But I know he thinks about you all the time. He sits in his room, holding his stupid bamboo cup all the time."
Candi was skeptical. "Well that doesn"t explain why he"s not here now, why he hasn"t called."
"No, you"re right, it doesn"t. He"s an idiot, but he"s a guy. So come with me to school. Do your thing. Show those boys your new look. If it"s time to move on, then move on. But don"t stay in your room every day feeling sorry for yourself. That"s not the Sugar Lump I know."
"Don"t call me Sugar Lump."
"I can do what I want, I"m pregnant. Now, let"s look in this lamefarts closet of yours and see what we can find."
"G.o.d, lamefarts Sarah? Really?"
"Have you ever tried to stop saying "a.s.s" and "s.h.i.t" before? Don"t judge me, I"m doing the best I can."
Candi smiled. Sarah was going to be a great mom, even if she wasn"t that great at making up rated PG swearwords.
Within ten minutes Sarah had put together a really cute look for Candi and had her swear she would wear it. Then they found something for Sarah to wear since she had arrived with nothing. They called her mom and asked her to pack Sarah a bag that they would come get tomorrow when her father wasn"t home.
The next day they all woke up bright and early. Mrs. Buckley gave them a ride to school. They got out of the car and headed into the school together, Jonathan holding Sarah"s hand. Candi was smiling on the outside but nervous as h.e.l.l on the inside. She didn"t know what she was going to do when she saw Kevin.