Page 30 of Forever His This Christmas

“I see,” he said, and she could tell he wasn’t as impressed with her any longer. “And you have no regrets about not telling anyone about Abby, not even her father?”

“She doesn’t have a father. She has a genetic donor and that’s all she’ll ever have from him. No, I don’t regret doing what I did—keeping her away from the people in the town I grew up in because they’re not the most forward-thinking people on the planet. What I did, was for Abby’s sake and I would do it all over again tomorrow if I had to.”

“I don’t think it’d be wise for Jazz to spend any more time with you. Abby is welcome to come over, but I don’t want my daughter thinking it’s okay to keep secrets from people and I don’t want her thinking that it’s alright to keep a daughter from their father,” David stated as their pizza arrived.

“And I’d rather my daughter not stay with people who judge without knowing the whole story so I’m afraid Abby will not be spending the night with Jazz,” she replied trying to hold downher anger while the girls came back. It was difficult but she managed to make it through dinner although telling the girls they couldn’t spend the night together the next weekend was even harder.

Abby wouldn’t let it go as they headed home, and she did her best to ignore the question, the same way she’d ignored her questions about her and Corey. Each day of the week, she added more and more whining to the questions until she finally sighed and just had to tell her the truth. “Look, David and I had a major disagreement. He is very big on father’s right and I’m not going to just tell him what happened. To be honest, I don’t know if I want you around him if he’s not even willing to concede to anyone else’s judgment over his own when they don’t have a clue as to what happened. I don’t mind you being friends with or hanging out with Jazz, I just don’t think it’s a good idea for us to do dinner with them anymore.”

“Okay, I’m sorry Mom,” Abby said, and she gave her a long hug kissing her forehead.

“It’s not your fault. Some people just jump to judgments rather than think that the person in the situation might know best,” she cautioned Abby, and she was glad to see her smiling again the next morning. “I’ll probably be a little late tonight. I have a meeting at four so it may be six before I get home.”

“Not a problem Mom,” Abby said before heading out to school.

“So did you ask your mom what was going on?” Jazz asked the second she got there. “Dad said it was nothing for us to worry about.”

“Yeah well, it’s something for me to worry about, and I’m sorry to say but your dad’s a jerk.”

“Hey! Don’t call my dad a jerk. I didn’t say anything when I found out your mom was only sixteen when she had you.”

“Well, I’d rather be the daughter of a sixteen-year-old than the daughter of a guy who thinks that fathers should have rights no matter if they deserve them or not. Your dad doesn’t know what my mom went through and to judge her because she didn’t tell the person whose DNA I share isn’t right. It’s her business not his.”

“Wait, what?” Jazz said in shock. “What are you talking about?”

“Your dad got mad at my mom because she never told my genetic donor that she was pregnant with me. He doesn’t know the rest of the story but he’s not getting away with treating my mom like crap,” Abby warned, and Jazz was still completely confused but let it go seeing how angry Abby was.

Abby let it fester until school let out and she headed over to Jazz’s house at four-thirty knowing her dad got home around then. She rang the doorbell and held her tongue when he opened the door, surprised to see her there she could tell.

“Abby, I didn’t know you were coming over. Come on in and I’ll let Jazz know you’re here,” David said, and she moved past him into the house, stopping him before he could go get Jazz.

“Jazz didn’t know I was coming over. I’m actually here to tell you something.”

“Tell me something? If this is about the argument your mother and I had…”

“You’re damn right it’s about the argument you had with my mom about a subject that doesn’t concern you in the least—you know that, don’t you? What my mom went through is her business but because Jazz has been the best friend I’ve ever known, and I don’t want to lose her because you’re too pigheaded to see beyond your own feelings then I thought I’d stop by and tell you why I don’t have a father and why I don’twantto have him.”

“Abby, I think you should leave,” David stated seeing and hearing her anger.

“I will after this,” she said, her mother’s daughter inside and out. “My mom was fifteen when she got pregnant with me, sixteen when she had me. Thatfatheryou’re so concerned with wasn’t her boyfriend, wasn’t a friend, and wasn’t even remotelycloseto her age. He was someone that I never want in my life—someone who hurt my mom in ways I can’t even imagine, but she still kept me—loved me entirely. I was mad when she moved to New York, furious that she could leave me, but she did because she wanted to keep me safe. The person who got her pregnant—was someone she should have been able to trust—someone who made her do things she didn’t want to do. You chose to have sex with your girlfriend and got her pregnant—my mom’s only choice was to have me and protect me. She kept me quiet because that man who did all of that to her would have killed her or us rather than anyone find out about me so don’t stand there and say that you don’t want Jazz around my mom because she didn’t tell him. I’d rather have my mom love me enough to make sure I was always safe than have a father that can’t see past his own crap and a mother who ran away and never looked back.”

“Abby,” David said as she turned on her heel and headed to the door. “Abby wait please,” he said seeing the tears on her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten angry with your mom. That’s my issue, not yours or Jazz’s. I had no idea that your mom…”

“And that’s supposed to make it better? Do you have any idea what my mom’s given up for me? To begin with, she left me with my Aunt Diane when she didn’t want to be away from me for a minute, but she did, for me, to keep me safe. She moved to New York, so the person whose DNA is the other half of mine wouldn’t find me because he wasfollowingher. And if all of thatwasn’t enough—when I showed up at her apartment because I couldn’t stand not being with her anymore, she told me the truth—the whole truth. She gave up the last bit of pride she had to make sure I knew that everything she’d ever done was to keep me safe and love me. But she didn’t stop even there—she gave up the one person I know she loved even though she denies that she did, but she gave up him in order to keep that disgusting jerk fromeverfinding out about me. That’s what a mother does—that’s what my mother did for me. So, if there’s someone that Jazz shouldn’t be around, it sure as hellisn’tmy mom,” she said before leaving the house and running down the sidewalk crossing the street to get to the bus stop.

“Abby!” Jazz shouted, catching sight of her as she left the house. “What the heck was that?” she asked her dad as they headed after her.

“It doesn’t matter honey,” he said as the sound of screeching tires hit them.

“Abby, no!” Jazz screamed as the car came around the corner, cutting it short, and jumping onto the sidewalk as Abby began to go around the corner the other way.

“Abby!” David shouted, racing across the street as the car began to reverse and Abby fell off the hood. “Abby…Abby…” he said over and over as they reached her. “Someone call 911,” he said taking his hoodie off and wrapping it around Abby.

“Dad,” Jazz said, and he looked up at her unsure of what to say at all. He’d never felt so unsure of anything in his entire life, and he still had to face Lisa.

Chapter 10

Lisa ran into the ER heading to the desk as her heart pounded and she swore she was going to pass out. “My daughter…Abby…” she said when the desk nurse looked up.

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