Page 10 of Sloth
A loud shriek comes from the bathroom, and when I quickly rush to see what’s happened, I find Mom with a huge, surprised smile on her face.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” She barges past me to get to Erin, throwing her arms around her and almost knocking her off her feet.
“This is the best news. A miracle.” She claps her hands together and looks up at the ceiling. “Oh, Erin…I…I’mspeechless.” Mom laughs through her tears, and when I see the confusion on Erin’s face, I wonder what the hell is going on.
“Mary…I?—”
“I don’t want you to worry about a thing. We’ll take care of you, of both of you.” Mom presses her palm gently against Erin’s stomach, and I know instantly what's got her so happy.
“How many weeks along are you? Is this your first missed period?” she asks excitedly, barely giving herself a chance to take a breath. “Wait till I tell Bryce, he’ll be so happy.”
“Mary, I think there’s been a mistake.” Erin tries to speak, but Mom just talks over her.
“It's very rare to get a false positive, especially when it’s so clear.” Mom presents a white stick in front of her and waves it around like a flag. “This is a gift, Erin. A wonderful, perfectly timed gift.”
She’s right, this is a gift. A part of Matthew that will carry on, so why does the idea of it make me sick to my stomach?
“Mary, I don’t know where you got that, but it’s not mine,” Erin tells her, chewing on her lip awkwardly.
“Of course, it’s yours; it was in the trash. It fell out when I was emptying it. It was at the bottom. So it was taken some time ago. Did Matthew know?”
“I’m sorry, but it’s really not mine. I don’t know how it got there, but?—”
“It can’t be a mistake. The two of you were trying, weren’t you?”
“Mom!” I intervene when she starts getting too personal.
“We’re family, Luke, there needn’t be any secrets. You know how much your brother wanted children.” She looks back to Erin like she’s still expecting her to answer the question.
“Yes,” Erin admits, her eyes looking up at me and seeming guilty.
“Then there's a chance. Even if this test isn’t yours. There’s still a chance.” Mom continues to push her, and I can see Erin starting to panic.
“Come on, Mom. I’ll give you a ride home.” I head over and take her hand.
“I’m fine, I want to be here.” She forces me away.
“Mom, I’m taking you home.” I have to get stern with her ’cause she ain’t budging. Erin looks like she wants the ground to swallow her up, and I really don’t want to hear about how my brother was attempting to knock her up.
“Dad will be coming in, expecting dinner any minute," I remind her, dragging her toward the door.
“We’ll talk about this another time,” she calls back to Erin over her shoulder, still holding the pregnancy stick in her hand as I lead her to the truck and open the passenger door for her.
I wait until she’s buckled up and I’m behind the wheel before I attempt to talk some sense into her.
“Mom, you gotta give Erin a break,” I tell her once we’re on the main road. “I know you're missing Matty and that you want to be close to him, but you're acting a little crazy.” Last thing I wanna do is hurt her feelings, but she’s not being herself right now, and someone has to give her a reality check.
“Crazy, for being excited at the prospect of a grandbaby? A little piece of our Matthew that will live on?” She stares back at me like I just put a knife through her heart.
“There is no grandbaby. Erin says the test isn’t hers,” I remind her.
“I know you know nothing about women, Luke, but surely you can see that she’s in denial. The poor girl’s scared of being a single mom; she’s just lost her husband, for Christ’s sake. She needs to know she has support. I appreciate that I probably came on a little strong back there, but I got overwhelmed. Agrandbaby.” She smiles to herself as she looks back down at the stick.
“You know someone pissed on that thing, right?” I check as we pull up into Mom and Dad's yard.
“Oh, don’t be so negative.” She flaps her hand at me. “This is a good thing, Luke. A good, good thing. It’s just the kinda hope this family needs.”
“Mom, don’t get your hopes up. I’ll speak to Erin when I get back, but in the meantime?—”
