Maggie nods, her brown eyes wide.
“Wow,” she breathes. “I never would have guessed.”
I chuckle.
“Well, as long as you don’t move to an ashram, then we’re good. But go easy on Corey, okay? The divorce was only two years ago, and now you know what a crazy time it was for him, with his mom taking off for another continent. It hasn’t been easy.”
The beautiful brunette nods, squeezing my hand.
“I’ll be nice,” Maggie promises in a soft voice. “Of course. He’s your son, Ed, and I want what’s best for him too.”
With that, my heart swells until it feels like it’s going to burst because this young woman is everything that I want in a partner. Her consideration for others, not to mention her kind and gentle heart, have me over the moon with happiness. Now, more than anything, I’m determined to figure things out because Maggie is the woman for me, and come hell or high water, I won’t let anything or anyone part us.
7
Maggie
Three months later.
I watch as my parents’ car leaves the driveway. Victoria and Malcolm are dressed in their usual natty country club outfits, and they’ve got their golf clubs with them. Good because it means they’ll be gone for a while. I’m familiar with their rituals and I know that nine holes means they’ll be gone for two hours, while eighteen holes means four hours. Hopefully, they’ll get lunch at the club too and then I’ll have even more time to myself in the house.
It’s especially important today because I have something pressing to do. Yesterday, right after school, I drove over to a pharmacy two towns over so I could buy a pregnancy test without anyone finding out. I felt like such a gum shoe, sneaking around the aisles before quickly snatching two boxes off the shelf and throwing them into my shopping cart. Then, I put a large package of cotton balls and a bottle of shampoo over them just to be safe. It’s crazy, but I was so nervous that my hands were shaking as I brought the tests to the counter to checkout. I couldn’t look the clerk in the eye, but it turns out there was nothing to be nervous about. The cashier rang up my things with boredom plastered all over her face and honestly, couldn’t have cared less.
But now, my parents are gone and I run to my car and take the package out of the glove compartment. I haven’t had many symptoms of being pregnant per se, but I’ve definitely been a bit queasy lately, and my breasts are tender. Then again, Ed likes to suckle my tits every time we make love, so maybe that’s the cause for their sensitivity.
After all, Ed and I have been making love non-stop. I go over to his house every night and we usually do it two or three times a night. Hell, more often than not, he wakes me up in the middle of the night and urges me to take his shaft again. I love when that happens and would never want to stop, but there were a couple of times during our midnight shenanigans when he didn’t use protection. It was only a few times though. In the big scheme of things, the probability that I’m pregnant is low, but still, it only takes once.
Nervously, I make my way into the bathroom and sit on the edge of the tub while I read the directions on the first test. It’s simple enough but I want to make sure I’m doing it right. I scan every line, making sure to include the fine print. This is too important to mess up.
Then, I pee on the stick and wait three minutes. Nervously, I re-enter my bedroom and flop down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. If I’m pregnant, what will it mean? It’s scary to even contemplate the thought. What kind of mother will I be at the age of eighteen? Of course, women have been having babies at the age of eighteen for eons, and I can do it. But what does Ed want? Even more, he just told me about how he married too young, and how Sabrina changed over the course of their long relationship. Is this basically heading down the same path?
I scold myself. It’s too early to even think that, and besides, the alpha male’s different now. Ed’s a forty-five year old man, and no longer a recent college grad. Even if I’m still in my second decade of life, he understands himself much better now, and will be able to guide the course of our lives with a firm hand.
Then again, now wouldn’t be such a bad time to have a baby. School will be over soon and I’ll have my high school degree in hand. I didn’t really have any concrete plans after graduation either, so this could be that next something, even if it’s unexpected.