Page 6 of Pucking Secret

“You’re horrible! How can you say all this to me?!” I’ve never felt so much fury before. Everything that I’ve been holding back for the last twenty four hours is just unleashing itself… no, morelike everything I’ve been holding back for the last seventeen years. “I hate you!”

Turning, I storm up the stairs, but she’s not about to let me have the last word.

“You hate me now, but when that baby comes, you’ll understand what I’ve had to put up with!”

My tears continue to flow, hot and angry, blurring my vision as I make it to the second floor and run to my room, slamming the door shut behind me.

Two weeks after my epic fight with my mom, I’m making my way through the arrival terminal of Denver International Airport, looking through the crowd to try and find my grandma. Mom decided to ship me here instead of dealing with me herself. I’m glad. I don’t have to deal with her, or face the embarrassment of being pregnant around all of my and Owen’s friends.

Especially after finding out that Owen did, in fact, move to Canada. He left me. He ran away to live with his new rich family in his new rich boy life, free from worry.

He never called or texted, but I did get a letter from him.

That letter was the worst part. Every sentence of it confirmed just how much of a heartless asshole he really is, and how little I actually meant to him. The paper is now tucked away in a folder in my book bag. I kept it so I can always remember how cruel Owen was, so I’m never tempted to try and reconnect with him.

A familiar figure pushes through the crowd to get to me. She’s wearing a wide smile, her glasses perched precariously on her nose and her graying red hair cut short and curly around her head.

“There you are!” Gram exclaims, opening her arms and pulling me into a tight hug. “Oh, look at you! You’re so beautiful, sweetheart. I’m so glad you’re here.”

I’m a little taken aback by her warm greeting and look up at her with a frown. “Really? You are?”

She nods, furrowing her brow. “Of course I am. When your Mom called and asked if you could come stay with me, I was overjoyed. I’ve missed you so much.”

I can’t make sense of her cheerful demeanor. Shouldn’t she be disappointed in me, just like Mom is? Angry that I’ve ruined my life? Mom and Gram aren’t close. Admittedly, since Gram moved to Denver when I was little, I don’t know her very well. I’ve only met her a handful of times at family functions. I always assumed she and Mom had their falling out because of Mom’s pregnancy. That’s what Mom always said, anyway. But based on her reaction here, maybe that’s not really the case—maybe there’s something else that went down because this warm and loving response is exactly what I needed after how Mom reacted. I was expecting Gram to be cold and disapproving like Mom, but this… I wouldn’t have dared hope I’d get a reception like this.

“Gram… Mom told you, right?” I lower my voice and look around as my cheeks heat with embarrassment. “I’m pregnant.”

“Of course she told me,” Gram replies. “Don’t worry, I’ve been researching OBGYNs in the city. I’ve narrowed it down to a few highly rated doctors. You’ll just have to pick which one you want to see.”

I blink up at her. Before I fully realize what’s happening, tears are pouring from my eyes. I begin to sob, dropping my head into my hands to try and hide my face.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Gram’s voice is soft and kind, and she wraps her arms around me. I press my face against her shoulder as I continue to cry. “I know you’re going through a lot right now, and things might feel hopeless, but I promise you’ll get throughthis. I’m here for you, and I’m going to help you every step of the way, okay?”

“Why?” I whimper, peeking up at her. “Why aren’t you mad at me? Mom is so angry, she could hardly look at me the past two weeks. She told me you would act the same way, just like you did when she got pregnant with me.”

Gram gives me a sympathetic look and presses a kiss to my forehead. “Your mother is just struggling because she thinks this is all her fault. She’s angry because she, herself, refused my help back then. I wasn’t angry about her pregnancy… I was angry about the choices she’d made that led to it. She wanted to prove she could do it all on her own. You know how your mother is. Always so stubborn. She thinks she messed up somehow, and so she’s lashing out. That’s her problem, not yours.” She moves her hands to my face and forces my gaze to meet hers. “Whatever she might have told you, I want you to forget it. She’s angry and she’s never been good at controlling her temper.”

“She says I’ve ruined my life. That I’ve thrown my future away.”

Gram’s smile is a little sad, but also encouraging. “That’s not true at all. Yes, you’ll have to adjust your plans and reassess what matters most to you, but this baby is not the end of your life. It’s just the beginning! Maybe it’s not the most ideal situation, but there’s no reason you can’t build something wonderful from this. It won’t be easy and it’ll take hard work, but I have total faith in you. You just have to have faith in yourself.”

Her words are like a soothing balm to my soul. Apart from Grace, Gram is the first person who isn’t acting like my pregnancy is a complete catastrophe. Her confidence gives me a little bit of hope… I still have no idea how I’m going to manage any of this.

If I have someone by my side who actually believes in me and wants to see me succeed, maybe this won’t be the disaster I’ve been thinking it will be.

“Come on, sweetheart,” Gram says, looping an arm around my shoulders. “Let’s go get your luggage, and then how about grabbing something to eat? You’re probably starving.”

“I… I am pretty hungry,” I admit, wiping my cheeks with the sleeve of my shirt. “Could we get pizza? I’ve been really craving it.”

“You got it,” Gram nods with a smile. She gives me another kiss on the head. “Let’s get out of here.”

As Gram leads me through the busy terminal to the baggage claim, a sense of calm settles over me and I feel like I can breathe for the first time since the two pink lines turned my world upside down. Maybe thingscanbe okay.

CHAPTER THREE: MORNING ROUTINE

STACEY

SEVEN YEARS LATER

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