“I’ll have him do that.”
“He really asked you to marry him?” her dad asked.
“Yes. He thinks that it’s the right thing to do.”
“Didn’t expect that from a guy named Wolf...”
“Well, it’s what he thinks is best.”
“You don’thaveto get married,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not... I’m just glad he thinks that way. That he has a sense of responsibility. But I don’t want you married to somebody that you don’t want to be married to.”
“I won’t. I promise that I will think everything through. But that’s the thing. I have to do it by myself.”
“How old is he?” he asked.
“Thirty-two.”
“Fuck,”her dad said.
“What? It’s not like...”
“Just...”
“It’s going to take him a while to process this,” Alison said. “Please, call us every day.”
“I don’t know if I can do that,” Violet said, feeling guilty. “I can text you. And I will call. But this has to be... I was so stressed about it. I couldn’t even bring myself to take a pregnancy test for a couple of weeks, even though I did... I suspected it.”
“Thanksgiving,” her dad said. “You spit the cheese out.”
“Yes.”
“Clara knows, doesn’t she?” His tone went hard.
“Yes. But please don’t be mad at her or Alex. She’s my friend. And she’s been my friend this whole time. And she was highly concerned with my safety, believe me. She...”
“She knew about him, too, did she?”
“Don’t be mad at Clara,” Violet reiterated. “Frankly, Dad—” she steeled herself to say the next words that were about to come out of her mouth “—my sex life isn’t any of your business.”
He practically gagged.
“Well, you had me when you were younger than I am now,” she continued. “So you’re not really in a position to lecture me. On age or responsibility or anything. You know these things just happen sometimes. And I’m at least old enough to sort out how I want to handle it on my own.”
“She’s not wrong,” Alison said.
“I just didn’t want you to have to have it hard like I did,” he said. “That’s all. You want what’s best for your kids, and you want better than you had for them. I was... Your mother was stuck with me. We... We did our best, but we didn’t do a great job. Our marriage wasn’t good. And I don’t want that for you. I don’t want you to get married quick because you’re going to have a baby. I don’t want... What I want for you, Bo, is for you to fall wildly in love, and have a life that you choose.”
“How many of us get to have a life we choose, Dad?” she asked, tears filling her eyes. “Mostly we’re just trying to get by.”
“I want better than that for you,” he said, his voice rough.
“Well, I have what I have. So that’s it.”
She hung up, feeling... She didn’t know. It was a relief that they knew in some ways, but in another way she felt absolutely defeated.
She worked the bread, and then set it up for a second rise. Going over the phone call with her dad the entire time. And by the time she took the bread out of the oven, Wolf was home.
“Hi,” she said, affecting a faux cheer to her words. “I got to tell my dad I am pregnant. How was your day?”