Page 88 of Nanny for the Doctor

My mind whirls, and I remember thesomethingthat Mae didn’t want to tell me.

Fuck. Was that it? But we were careful. At least, I thought we were.

“Mae had plans, you ass! She doesn’t have a fancy house and a fat bank account to afford this. But what do you care, right? You know, some people have to work their asses off to get where they are. She was finally getting back on her feet!”

Johnny starts pacing, circling back to me and inching closer with each round. His knuckles are white, and his fists hang in the air like he’s only barely keeping himself from swinging.

I don’t think that restraint is going to last long.

“But you probably don’t know about that, either! Mae took care of our gram all on her own without telling anyone. She put off school to help, and now this? What are you going to do, hmm? How exactly are you going to support her since you couldn’t be bothered to wrap your fucking tool?”

A crack of thunder sounds outside, and the tapping of heavy rain fills the quiet as I stand there like a statue.

My gut pulls like I’ve just been punched, and I can’t seem to catch my breath.A baby.Mybaby? With Mae?

“Don’t just fucking stand there and say nothing.”

Johnny shoves me against the wall, my head smacking the trim behind me. The pain pulls me into the moment, and I glare at him.

“Back off, Johnny. I didn’t know.”

His arm keeps me pinned to the wall. “Like hell, you didn’t.”

I push him off, but Johnny’s right back up in my face before I can move away from the wall.

“You son of bitch. You couldn’t be satisfied with fucking up your own life? You had to pull Mae into this?”

My blood boils, and the panic flips on its head, turning into a rage that burns so hot, my stomach churns.

I’m done taking this shit.

Shoving Johnny back much harder this time, I pin him to the opposite wall with my forearm.

“I didn’t fucking know! You think I wanted to get her pregnant? Of course not! As far as I knew, she was on birth control.”

I can feel Johnny gearing up for something just as the sound of steps on the front porch echoes through the house. Mae flings open the door and hurries inside, dripping rain.

Stevie rushes in right behind her and comes around to pull Johnny away from me. I let her, but he’s quickly walking back toward me, trying to move her out of the way.

“You’re a fucking liar. You just don’t give a shit.” Johnny struggles to move around Stevie’s arm.

“Like I have any reason to fucking lie right now. I told you the fucking truth. So you can screw yourself if you don’t believe me!”

Mae steps closer, trying to speak to Johnny, but he doesn’t even look at her. Her face is red like she’s been crying, and all I can think when I look at her is that she’s apparently carrying my child.

Johnny shouts past her, Stevie straining to keep him back. “I told you! I told you what I’d do!”

His girlfriend can barely contain him, and I get ready to catch his punch when he finally breaks free.

The blow is seconds from impact when Mae yells.

“Enough!”

Her scream cuts through the room like a knife, and I dodge out of the way of Johnny’s fist, sending him careening off to the side.

As he catches himself and spins to face me, we all stop everything and look at Mae, her anger palpable.

“You ruined everything, Johnathan Marrington! This was my news to deliver, not yours. I was going to tell Reed when I was ready. But no, you just had to butt in, like you always do.”

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