Page 233 of The Baby Twist
“Yeah, sweetie. Did something happen?” Penelope took a seat on the other side of me.
“No. I’m just pregnant,” I blurted out.
“WHAT!” They both shouted at the same time.
“You’re kidding, right? Tell us you’re kidding around,” Olivia said.
“I wish I were.” Tears streamed down my face.
“Oh, Marley.” Penelope hugged me.
“Who’s the baby daddy?” Olivia asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I cried.
Her jaw dropped. “No way. Is it McBillionaire’s? You have a baby McBillionaire inside you?”
“Olivia, can you not?” Penelope said. “How far along are you?”
“Five weeks. My life is over. A kid never even crossed my mind. I can’t be a mom. I don’t know how to be a mom. I don’t know shit about taking care of a kid. I can barely take care of myself.”
“You have options,” Olivia said.
“OLIVIA!” Penelope shouted. “I can’t believe you.”
“I wasn’t referring to an abortion. There are a lot of couples out there who can’t have kids.”
“She’s not giving up her baby,” Penelope said. “Right, Marley? You wouldn’t do that, would you?”
“I don’t know.” I cried, covering my face with my hands. “What kind of life could I give this kid?”
“An amazing one with all that money Daddy McBillionaire is going to have to pay in child support,” Olivia spoke.
“How am I going to tell him? He couldn’t even be bothered to call me in over a month.”
“You go over to his place and say, ‘Charlie, I’m pregnant. What are you going to do about it?’” Olivia said.
“No, she is not,” Penelope said. “You’re going to calmly tell him in a nice way.”
“He doesn’t like kids. Hell, I’m not sure I even do.” I threw my hands up in the air.
“She’s right. You should have seen him at the Lake’s birthday party. A little girl walked up to him, tugged on his pant leg, and he shooed her away, telling her that little hands are not to touch his expensive designer pants,” Olivia said.
“Oh shit! How the hell am I going to tell my parents?”
“You’re twenty-seven years old. Your parents are the least of your worries,” Olivia sighed.
“We’re here for you.” Penelope rubbed my back. “Right, Olivia?” She cocked her head.
“You know it, babe. Everyone else in the world may turn their backs on you, but we won’t and never will.”
“I need to find out how this happened. It must have happened the night we were both drunk—the night of his housewarming party.”
“You don’t remember if he used a condom?”
“I don’t really remember having sex with him! But yet, he said we did three times that night.”
“All I can say is that you have to tell him tomorrow and get some answers. You can’t put it off. Like my mom always says, putting off the inevitable makes it ten times worse,” Penelope said.
