Page 57 of Forever His This Christmas

“You love Christmas on the beach too,” Lisa said meeting her gaze.

“True but you weren’t there, and I missed you the last few years.”

“Never again, I promise. The safest place in the world is right here with us,” Lisa said sliding her arm over Abby’s lap while Corey brought them both closer to him.

“Right here you’re both safe, always baby,” he said kissing Lisa making Abby smile.

“Okay, child in the room,” Abby teased them when it lingered the slightest bit longer than necessary.

“We know sweetie,” Lisa said resting her head on Corey’s shoulder wanting nothing but the peace and ease that was surrounding them in this moment to stay but she knew it wouldn’t, not if Benton saw or heard about Abby. She knew it would make it necessary for Meredith to know why they were going to be extra cautious about the wedding, but she didn’t want to have to tell her the truth, she didn’t want anything to tear Corey away from her.

“Why don’t we give Lisa and Corey a few minutes with his mom honey?” Elaine suggested holding out her hand to Abby. “We’ll make sure they added an extra setting for dinner tonight and take care of this plate,” she added taking Abby with her and Lisa slid her arm over Corey’s stomach holding him the tiniest bit tighter knowing his mother likely had questions.

“Mom,” he began but Meredith shook her head no, stopping his speech.

“I don’t care how, that’s all in the past. Seeing the two of you together is all I need to know that this is real, this is right,” Meredith said giving them a smile.

“Thank you but…you do need to know part of it,” Lisa said taking a deep breath to get through it. “I was sixteen when I had Abby and until this past May, she was living with my Aunt Diane in California, so I could try to keep her safe. My parents and brothers didn’t know about her until we got here two days ago.”

“What?” Meredith said as her eyes widened with her full surprise.

“Lisa was forced to do things she didn’t want and never should have happened and was scared of the person who did it. She was scared that if he knew about Abby he’d be in trouble because she was only fifteen when she got pregnant,” Corey said, knowing by the way that Lisa breathed in that she couldn’t say it again, at least not right now.

“You’re saying…oh my,” Meredith said covering her lips. “When did you meet Abby then? Your brother said that you had broken up with your girlfriend last May.”

“Lisa broke things off with me in May when Abby left California to come be with her, ran away from California to be with Lisa. She’d been in New York away from Abby for a few years and I had no idea she even had a daughter until I arrived here to meet Lisa for Christmas. We ran into each other on the one-year anniversary of when we met, I went to Chicago because it was where Lisa was living but I didn’t know where. She walked into my bar there and I had to find a way back into her life, I’m miserable and useless without her.”

“I take it that means that was when Lisa got pregnant?” Meredith asked and he nodded.

“We made plans to see one another; Lisa chose a date that would let her keep Abby’s presence from me still, because she knew that if I found out about Abby, the truth about her paternity would come out when I came back here to kill the SOB that hurt her.”

“You’re saying he still lives here?” Meredith asked and he nodded again.

“He’s threatened her, sent photos of her around here to her, as well as some of us from last year in New York to her while we were here last year. It’s why she kept Abby from me at first and when Abby was feeling insecure in their relationship due tosome jealous girls at her school, Lisa ended our relationship in order to keep Abby with her and safe. We had a couple weeks where we weren’t able to see each other as planned and then Lisa cancelled the last couple, and I swore I was losing her again. I’d plans to storm Chicago to find her when she called me and asked me to meet her here. When I saw Abby…I knew something bad had happened to her. If she’d simply slept with a boy and gotten pregnant, she would have admitted it, at least introduced Abby to her parents by now. When she told us, I’ve never felt so helpless in my entire life,” he said holding Lisa to him further never wanting to feel that again.

“I don’t know what people will say tonight when we go to dinner,” Lisa finally managed to get out as he held her. “I don’t want questions as to how she’s here. I won’t let the people here look down on her. Finding out I was pregnant…it’s the only thing that would have made me do this, admit the truth to Corey and my family.”

“I didn’t know until after I’d asked either, I knew something big had changed her mind about us, at first I thought it was just Abby’s insistence that she tell me, but this news,” Corey said covering Lisa’s stomach with the gentlest of touches, “this is the best news. It might have taken us a ton of pain to get here but I’m not about to let anything hurt us going forward. I have someone who is watching my girls, discretely, and he’ll make sure the sick bastard doesn’t get near them ever again.”

“Why not tell the police who he is?” Meredith asked gently.

“Abby…I don’t want people whispering that she’s a child of rape, or anything else they’re likely to throw at her. My past behavior in this town isn’t exactly the squeakiest. I purposely made people uncomfortable and did things that would never let them guess the truth,” Lisa admitted knowing if Colin said anything, she’d wonder.

“What does that mean?” Meredith asked.

“I didn’t want to leave Abby, not for a minute or a day. At first, I thought if I behaved abhorrently then my parents would let me go live with my Aunt Diane, but they didn’t, they just tried to ground me more. So then, I made people focus on one thing, my personality because it kept them from asking me about me, from figuring out just how much I missed my daughter. I didn’t deny it when guys claimed they’d hooked up with me no matter how untrue it was and I dated the most popular guys, got myself elected as head cheerleader, and let the party persona be my front.”

“It was convincing enough that her brothers bought it, so much in fact that when they saw Abby, they started asking her how many of the guys here they’d have to test to figure out who her father was,” Corey said, and Meredith fully understood what they meant.

“There was never any question of how she came to be mine, but that’s all she is…until now at least,” Lisa said sending Corey a smile. “We just want to keep her safe. I won’t let him hurt her; I’m no longer a terrified pregnant fifteen-year-old. I’m now a terrified pregnant thirty-year-old, who’s surrounded by her family for the first time ever.”

“So Abby is…thirteen?” Meredith said and she nodded.

“She’ll be fourteen in April. I don’t regret keeping her in my life; I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Yes, I likely would change the rest, tell my parents up front about what happened but…I didn’t think anyone would believe me over him. I figured they’d think I managed to seduce him before they would ever believe the truth. A couple of my friends now realize what the situation really was but even they at one time thought I had a crush on him,” Lisa admitted surprising Corey. “It’s what we talked about last night and they know I’m pregnant too…they had a bottle of tequila out ready for consumption. Said they’d make sure I didn’t run before I walked up the aisle to meet you.”

“I don’t have any worries about that one baby, not any longer,” Corey said lifting her onto his lap as his mother smiled.

“I’m glad you told me, and I won’t say a word to anyone,” Meredith said as she stood. “I know you say it’s going to be small, but I still want to see if I can help with anything. I think I’ll run along and see what Elaine thinks still needs tackled.”

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