Page 14 of Forever My Boy

It takes every ounce of courage to knock on the Westburys’ door. I pray it’s Bianca who answers because she’s the lesser evilof the two of them, but it’s Sterling who looks down at me, even though I’m close to six feet tall.

He makes me feel like I don’t matter when I know I do.

“Is Mrs. Westbury home?”

“Bianca,” he yells, and she comes toward the door. I look at her when I pull out the ultrasound and hold it in my hand.

“I’m looking for Liam,” I tell them. “It’s important I talk to him.”

Sterling scoffs. “No one likes a stage five clinger. Move on.”

I hold out the image of the baby growing inside of me. “It’s important that Liam call me. I’m pregnant and?—”

“You listen to me to you little tramp. My son is too good for you. I told him you’d try and do this once he left for college and well, would you look at that? You went and got yourself knocked up. Get off my property and don’t come back.”

Liam always told me to never listen to anything his father says, to ignore every word Sterling spews but it’s hard. I look at Bianca and implore with my eyes and mouth to please hear me out, but she doesn’t move. She doesn’t even flinch.

Sterling steps out of the house, forcing me to step back. “Get your trashy ass back to where you belong. The best thing my son has done since he chose to follow that idiot to Texas was dump you. No go and don’t come back and don’t even think about asking for child support. That thing you carry isn’t a Westbury. It’s not welcome here, and neither are you.”

Sterling slams the door in my face and I stand there for a second, before leaving. On the bus ride back to campus, I tell myself it doesn’t matter what Sterling says. He’s a hateful man. What matters is Bianca. She should protect me from the likes of her husband, but she instead she stood there and allowed him to say those things to me and about her grandchild. Bianca knows this is Liam’s baby. So does Sterling. No one in their rightmind would show up on their doorstep with this claim and put themselves through what I just did.

My hand rests on my stomach as I think about Liam. As much as I want to talk to him, I really just want to know he’s okay. My last message to him was mean and I can’t apologize because he’s changed his number. In hindsight, I should’ve told him on his voicemail he was going to be a dad.

Would he care?

Who knows.

I like to think he would. He hates his father and would never want to be like him, so yeah, I think he’d come around and be a father.

When I get back to my dorm, I crawl into bed and face the wall. Katelyn tries to force me to eat but nothing sits well in my stomach. I eat crackers, drink water and juice, but that’s about it. My doctor says the feeling of being uneasy will pass, but that’s because she has no idea the reason I feel like this is because of a broken heart. The morning sickness reminds me of the last parting gift Liam gave me. That I can deal with.

Katelyn comes in and lays next to me. “How’d it go?”

I tell her and she cries for me. I don’t have any tears left. They’ve dried up. She tells me how evil Sterling is and how I shouldn’t believe anything he says. His words are there though and he’s not wrong, his son left me and I’m pregnant. I’m every cliché you can think of and there isn’t a thing I can do about it. They know where he is and unless Bianca is willing to do something about it, my child will never know their father.

But this child will know love. I’ll move mountains to give this baby the best life possible.

Liam and his parents be damned.

chapter 7

. . .

“Good morning, Josephine. What can I do for you?” Mrs. DeFasio says when I enter her office. I have met her once before, during my official school visit, but other than that I haven’t had a need to see her.

Her office is like all the others, with a desk, hard chairs for students to sit in, a small sofa, and a view of the campus bowl, where students hang out. On her walls, she has artwork of the beach, along with photos of her family.

That’s why I’m here, because of my growing family. I can’t keep my pregnancy a secret for much longer and I don’t want to be expelled from school or kicked out of my dorm room.

“Good morning.” I smile softly and sit down on the sofa. She joins me. It’s funny how you never think you need a guidance counselor, until you have no idea what you’re doing with your life. Yet, here I am, pregnant, feeling rather depressed, and muddling my way through classes.

Clearing my throat, I cross my arms over my mid-section. It’s a habit I’ve developed since I started showing. But then I tell myself I’m here for help, and I can’t hide this anymore.

“I’m pregnant,” I say, holding her gaze. Her eyes do nothing. They don’t widen in shock or turn to slits like most people whotend to judge me. “It happened before I started school and . . .” I trail off because there’s nothing left to say.

“Anyway . . .” I rub my hands over my pants legs and look anywhere but at her. “I guess I’m here for some options.”

“Am I allowed to say congratulations?”

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