Page 122 of Give My Everything
The news of Remmy’s pregnancy doesn’t seem to have spread after Wyatt’s allusion to it during his anger-fueled tirade in the hospital waiting room, which is great news for her since she isn’t ready to tell her parents yet.
But peopleknowwe’re together now.
For sure.
Which is why it isn’t surprising when Remmy tells me she needs to plan a day to go home and talk to her parents about us moving in together.
Whatissurprising is the Sunday morning a few days after she brought her stuff over when Remmy and I wake up to an aggressive pounding at the front door.
“Remington!”
My tired eyes widen when I hear an older female voice calling up to us through the open doorway leading out to my second-floor balcony.
“Remington Wallace, ven acá ya mismo!”
Remmy flies out of bed, pulling on a pair of boxers and a long-sleeved shirt before she books it out of the room, her feet thundering down the stairs before I can even lug my body out of bed.
I’m pulling on a pair of track pants and reaching for a shirt when I hear the upset voice of who I can only guess is Mrs. Wallace as she enters the house and begins shouting at Remmy, her words echoing through the entry and volleying up to me.
“…had to hear it from Sonya Mitchell that my only daughter hasmoved inwith Ben Calloway. I told her she had to be mistaken, saidmydaughter would never, ever make such a stupid choice when she knows what it would do to her mother, and then she told me a few years ago, Ben was involved in some…somescandalinvolving Larry Belton’s wife and prostituting himself to other rich women in the community.”
I wince, realizing just how hard that decision is going to bite me on the ass now that I actually have something I want—someoneI want—and am desperate to keep.
“I return from our trip to Hartford and find that your bags have been packed and things are missing from your room and you’re…here…wearing his underwear and answering the door at seven in the morning.”
“Mom, I can explain, if you’d—”
“I don’t need you to explain. I need you to march your butt upstairs and get your things. The car is waiting out front.”
There’s a pause, both from the two of them downstairs and from me where I stand frozen on the landing, wondering if I should go down and have Remmy’s back or if I should let her fight this battle on her own.
She’s never complained much about her parents apart from her fear that they’d kick her out if they found out she was pregnant without a husband. She didn’t have anything negative to say other than that they’re kind of traditional.
In fact, most of her stories about her family are positive. Great brothers, loving mom, present dad. Apart from the near divorce when she was in high school, they seem like they love and care about each other.
So I don’t know if I should be supporting her in a decision to stay here by vocalizing my perspective or by letting her learn to vocalize it herself.
Ultimately, I don’t have to decide.
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said no. I’m not packing my things and coming home. My things belong here.Thisis my home.”
Something hard thumps in my chest at her words, my awe at her continuing to grow the more I see her coming into herself.
“This isn’t your home. This is a brothel, the home of a…a…”
“A what…a rapscallion? A scoundrel?”
I want to laugh at Remmy’s choice of words but manage to hold it back.
“A man who is only after one thing from you, Remington.”
“For your information, Ben is not after sex from me,” she says.
I hear her mother gasp, and I want to jump down the stairs and say that’s not entirely accurate.
