Page 12 of I Changed for You
They eyed me like they didn’t believe me. That was why I loved them so much. They had my best interest at heart.
“I’m serious, y’all. I’ll be fine. If not, I’ll call y’all. Plus, I have to go face my parents. Do y’all want to go too?”
They jumped up so fast, I laughed loudly. They didn’t like dealing with my parents any more than I did, which was sad.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
They glared at me, but I only smiled at them.
“We’re going to go. Make sure you text us when you have a chance,” Jada voiced.
I smiled. “You know I will.”
We hugged it out, and I walked them to the door. Once they were gone, I went upstairs to my bed to take a nap. From the conversation I had with them, I was drained. I now had to prepare myself for my parents.
My parents stared at me as I turned down the lemon cake that the chef had set in front of me. Since I hadn’t had any morning sickness all day, I wanted to keep it that way. When I woke up from a nap, I found more messages from Melijah, which I chose to ignore. Every time I ignored him, I felt bad, but I didn’t know what to say. At the moment, I was still processing everything.
“You turned down lemon cake. That’s your favorite cake,” my mother pointed out.
I nodded, squirming under their watchful eyes. “It is, but I wouldn’t be able to tolerate it on my stomach.”
I watched as they exchanged looks before they turned their attention back to me. My mother’s lips thinned as my father averted his eyes to his lap. I felt as if I had done something wrong from the way they acted.
“Elianna, is there something you want to tell us?” my mother asked.
Tears welled in my eyes as I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from crying. I sniffed as I breathed out the sob that wanted to escape.
“I’m pregnant,” I whispered. Tear after tear rolled down my face as I sat in complete silence with my parents. I couldn’t even look at them right now. I felt like a child and not a thirty-three-year-old adult.
My body felt hot, with sweat glistening on my forehead. I wiped my eyes as I continued to sniff, trying to stop the tears from falling. I wished one of them would say something to me. Maybe it would make me feel slightly better for dropping the bomb on them like that.
“You’re pregnant? By who? A doctor? A lawyer? I didn’t know you were dating someone. Is it someone we know?” My mother fired off question after question.
I didn’t even know how to answer them. Hell, I didn’t even know the man I was pregnant by besides his name. How did I tell them that?
“Is it Chad? You know? Whoever that man is, you’ll have to marry him. You’re not about to bring a baby into this world out of wedlock,” my father commanded.
I reared back as I shot daggers at him. “Excuse me? Marry the man who got me pregnant?”
He stood up with a nod. “You laid down and did the deed, so why the hell not? You’re not bringing shame to our name,” he growled. “How could you be so stupid to lie down and get yourself pregnant without having a husband in your life? You’re a damn lawyer!”
I was so tired of hearing that I was a lawyer and shouldn’t mess up. From hearing it so much, it was embedded in my head. They made it seem like being a lawyer was being a celebrity. I got that they hung with important people and were on the charity board, but what did that have to do with me? Those people couldn’t look down their noses at me when they probably had their own problems. I wished they were supportive of me at a time like this.
My chest heaved up and down as I tried to control the anger that grew inside of me. This man had clearly lost his mind to talk to me like that. The things he just said rubbed me the wrong way.
My mother stood up and stepped closer to my father. “I have to agree with your father. Who is this man who got you pregnant?”
I didn’t even know what to tell them. That would have them going off more than they already were. It wasn’t as if I tried to bring shame on their name, as they called it.
My father threw his hands in the air. “If you can’t give us a name, just get out. We’ll find a way to handle this when it comes out. You’d better think of an excuse to let others know how you got knocked up out of wedlock,” he growled.
My mother nodded in agreement. “You’re acting like it’s hard for you to let us know who got you pregnant.”
I laughed humorlessly with tears still in my eyes.
“I don’t get how you guys are even my parents. You know I’m not perfect, right? Neither are you. You want to know who got me pregnant? I messed up and got pregnant by someone I don’t know. I don’t know why I thought you would support methrough this.” I shot a venomous look at them. “It’s all good. I just wanted to inform y’all of my situation. You can either be in my life or not, but I will have this baby with or without y’all.”
I lifted myself out of the chair without sparing them another look. They showed me how they felt, so there was no way I’d stick around here.
