Page 2 of A Very Oceanport Christmas
The facts. Of course. Paps loved his facts. "I don't have much to say," I said with a shrug I didn't feel. "I let myself get knocked up. I tried to hide it for as long as I could. Now I can't anymore. I'm going to lose my scholarship, so I dropped out of school. It's not like I could attend classes with a baby anyway. So there you have it." I was tempted to end my little speech withMerry Christmas, but held myself back. Paps and Dad didn't deserve shit just because I had fucked up.
Next to me on the couch, Rogue gave a little whine. She hated fighting. I scratched her behind her ear.
Dad got out of his armchair. "How did it never occur to you to do something about all of this before it got this far? Why didn't you tell us anything? You always do this, Sam, and it drives me fucking insane!"
"I always do what?"
"Keep shit to yourself until it's too late. Fuck yourself over and then refuse help."
"Nick!" Paps said again, this time more sharply.
Dad ignored him. "How far along are you?"
"About six months," I said, truthfully.
"And how long have you known about this?" Dad demanded next.
"Uh..." How long had it been? A couple of months. I'd taken a pregnancy test when I kept getting sick. That had been about three months after that party. "I don't know," I said. "I guess about half that time."
"So you've known formonthsand yet you say nothing. You just show up here out of the blue to drop this on us and expect us to be fine with it." Dad gestured wildly as he spoke. "In what universe is that okay? We could have helped you! We could have--"
"It's not your problem," I cut him off. Seriously, I was an adult now. I wasn't gonna run crying to Daddy at every block in the road.
"Not my problem?" Dad rose from his chair and gestured. "You're my son, and you're pregnant and you dropped out of college just over a year into your degree. How is thatnotmy problem?"
"It's my problem because I'm the one who dropped out of college and I'm the one who's pregnant."
Paps spoke up now. "None of that changes the fact that you're our son and we feel responsible for you."
"That's because you still see me as a child," I pointed out. This was exactly why I'd kept this to myself for as long as I had. Why I'd never wanted to move back in with my parents. It felt like such a setback. I wanted to be independent and strike out on my own. My parents had taught me that there was nothing that could stop me from standing on my own two feet and leading the life I wanted, not even my omega status.
Ironically my parents were also the people who wanted to shelter me the most.
"Well, you're not exactly acting like an adult, are you?" Dad asked.
I cringed. That was a low blow. I'd made a mistake, yeah, but I'd tried to deal with it on my own, hadn't I? "I'mtryingto act like an adult!"
"You're not doing a very good job of it."
"Yeah, 'cause you're so much better than me, Dad." I stood from the couch and Rogue gave another whine, but I paid her no mind. This wasn't the kind of accusation I could take sitting down. "I know I was an accident too!" My parents had shared the story with me at some point. How neither of them had ever really planned to be a parent, and then I'd come along. They'd told me this in good humor, stressing that I'd been ahappyaccident. But I'd been an accident nonetheless. They couldn't now turn around and claim that I'd been planned. That they hadn't screwed up the same way I had.
"That was different!" Dad claimed. "I was an adult, not a college kid!"
And there it was, more proof that he wasn't gonna get it.
"What do you even plan to do now?" Dad asked. "Have you thought about that? Who's the other father? Where does he live? Does he have a job? Does he know about the baby? Have you seen a doctor?"
Those were a lot of questions. I had to admit, some of them were good questions. Specifically the ones I didn't have an answer to.
Truth was, I didn't know who the other father was. There were too many candidates. My cheeks flushed.
Don't think about,I told myself.It doesn't matter who.
But how could I admit that to my parents? They'd think I was some sex-addict or something. Everyone would think that. "He's..." I racked my brain, trying to come up with a believable lie about the baby's other father, but I'd always been a terrible liar, so I stuck to the truth. "I'm going to raise it by myself."
The baby kicked as if it wanted to voice its opinion on the matter. It had started kicking a few weeks ago. Totally the weirdest thing ever. I rested a hand on my belly as if the gesture could calm the little one.We're going to be fine,I thought to myself.
"You shouldn't have to take on this burden by yourself," Paps spoke up. "Even if the scumbag who did this to you doesn't want to stick around to raise the kid, he should at least--"
