“Fine, you’re coming inside with me, and we’re leaving at the first opportunity.”
“I think your brother is there as well,” Linda said.
“Great, now I’ll have my parents and Evan berating me. My life is about to end.”
She leaned back in her chair and put a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. Seeing her parents after having been told by the doctors she was pregnant was daunting. She wanted to get a movie, curl up on the sofa, and eat ice cream. Her parents wouldn’t allow her to get a job, and she had an allowance deposited into her bank account. Linda could work if she wanted. Her friend was currently writing a book in her time at home.
Jennifer pressed a hand to her stomach. “You don’t think they’ll make me get rid of it, do you?”
“Even your family couldn’t do that.”
“They’d cut me off.”
“Would that be a bad thing?” Linda asked. “You’d be free to do what you wanted without fear of them demanding something from you. They’ve got a lot of hold over you.”
Jennifer couldn’t argue with her friend’s assessment. When she’d left college she’d had so many plans, which had soon been nipped in the bud because her family refused to let her work. None of their friends’ daughters worked. The women got married and raised a family.
“When we get home I’ll order pizza and ice cream. We’ll veg out on the sofa and watch soppy love stories,” Linda said.
“You’re such a good friend.”
Linda smiled.
Jennifer climbed out of the car when Linda parked the car in her parent’s driveway several minutes later. Several of the staff were preparing for the summer ball her folks liked to host. The garden was being turned into a garden fit for a queen.
She passed them, nodding her head in acknowledgement.
Linda walked by her side with her arm linked through hers. “We’ll get through this. Do you remember when you climbed out of your bedroom window to my house?” Linda asked.
“This is more serious than escaping the bedroom, Linda. I’m coming home pregnant by a man I bet they don’t approve of.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Jen,” Linda said.
“Why? What do you know?”
They walked up through the entrance of the house. She turned to the left and made for the family sitting room. Linda tightened her hold on Jennifer’s arm.
Jennifer saw her mother and father standing by the fire place. Her mother was on the phone while her father glared at the person sitting on the sofa.
“Hi,” she said, gaining their attention.
Evan, her brother, sat in the chair in the far corner. The man on the sofa turned around to face her. Patrick Thompson was staring at her. His green eyes looked deep into her soul.
She stopped in her tracks. His green eyes were all she could make out before everything went black.
****
“Crap, she’s fainted,” her friend said.
Patrick reacted. Jennifer had hit the floor before he caught her. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her onto the couch. She looked as beautiful as he remembered. In fact, she was more beautiful without the make-up and the artifice she’d been wearing that night.
“Linda, language. I know your own home may not be strict, but you’ll keep your cursed language out of my home,” Jennifer’s mother said.
“Sorry, Mrs. Dixon.” Her friend didn’t leave Jennifer’s side.
“You may leave, Linda,” Jennifer’s father said.
Patrick couldn’t believe how rude they were being.
Linda turned to him. “She doesn’t want me to leave her alone.”
Patrick stared at Jennifer’s best friend. The woman was pretty with blonde hair and blue eyes. In another time he’d have found her beautiful. Now, all he had eyes for was the woman on the sofa. “Is she?” he asked, resting a hand on Jennifer’s stomach.
Nibbling her lip, her friend nodded her head.
He didn’t know what to expect.
“Her friend stays,” Patrick said.
“Mr. Thompson, this is my house, and I’ll excuse the people I don’t want,” Edward Dixon said.
“Your daughter has just fainted. She doesn’t want her friend to leave.”
“This isn’t happening,” Jennifer said.
He gazed down at the woman he’d spent the most amazing night with. She rubbed her eyes looking from Linda to him and then back again.
“He’s real, isn’t he?” Jennifer asked.
“That’s enough. Linda, move out of the blasted way while I talk to my daughter.” Helen Dixon pushed Linda aside and then stood glaring down at Jennifer. “You have some explaining to do, young lady.”
“No, I don’t. You shouldn’t be talking to my friend like that,” Jennifer said. She suddenly began to move.
He noticed she pushed her dress down past her knees. Patrick also noticed the fact she refused to look at him.
“Don’t talk to me like that. You’ve put this family through the works, Jennifer. Throwing up in a seafood restaurant and causing a scandal everywhere you go. There is nothing you can say that can defend what you did. You make us look like fools.”
“I couldn’t help but throw up, Mom.” Jennifer stood up. Her face was red, and Patrick saw the anger blazing in her eyes.
“What excuse can you come up with now? You’re not allergic to anything. Look at the size of you. When will you go on a diet and lose those extra pounds? All the men would be begging for your hand in marriage,” Helen said.
“For God’s sake, Mom. I threw up at that place because I’m pregnant. You’re going to have to deal with me being fucking fat a little longer, okay. Please, just leave me alone,” Jennifer said. In the next instant she covered her mouth looking horrified.
“What? Pregnant?” Helen asked.
Patrick felt his heart hammering against his rib cage. He’d known she was, and Linda had confirmed it. They hadn’t seen each other since that night, but it was a night he’d never be able to forget.
“Yes, pregnant, and guess what? He’s the father.” She pointed in his direction.
“We need to calm down and talk about this,” Evan said.
Patrick knew her brother. They’d been to a lot of parties together and hung out a few times.
“Talk? There is not going to be any talk. Patrick and Jennifer are getting married, and that is the last of it,” Edward said.