Chapter 10 #2
Eliza put her hand on her growing belly. “The examiner is probably going to take one look at my stomach and automatically fail me. I wish I was still able to hide this thing.”
“If they try to do that, they’re going to be hearing from me. There’s no way I would let them get away with that,” Carter said, her voice fierce.
I loved what a protective mama bear she had become. It was so sexy. “I think we all learned yesterday just how very true that was.”
Luckily, that made Eliza laugh. “You’re telling me. I still can’t believe it.”
“I’ve known this girl since college and I can’t believe it either,” I said.
Our conversation seemed to calm Eliza down, and she seemed okay up until the point we pulled into the parking lot. She shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and blew it out. “You got this,” she whispered to herself.
After getting her checked in, it took less time than I was expecting for her turn to come. We wished her luck then waited inside while she took her test. The next twenty minutes felt like the longest of my life. I stared at the door intently until Eliza finally walked through it.
The big smile on her face told us everything we needed to know. Carter and I both shouted with joy and ran over to Eliza to give her congratulatory hugs.
It only took her a few minutes to get her temporary license and then we were back in the car.
I sat in the passenger seat while Eliza drove.
I brought my fisted hand up to my mouth as if it was a microphone and spoke into it.
“Eliza, you just passed your Maryland Driver’s Test. What are you going to do now? ”
“I’m going to Disney World!” Eliza joked.
Not a bad idea… “You know…”
“No!” Carter interrupted. “Don’t get any ideas. We’re not taking a last minute trip to Disney World, especially not while Eliza is pregnant.”
“Fine.” Disney might not happen, but that actually gave me a different idea. “What about the beach?”
“What?” Carter asked as if she didn’t hear exactly what I said.
“We should go to the beach. I’ll put Tim in charge and we can go for a long weekend.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Carter asked with a laugh.
Instead of answering her question, I addressed Eliza. “What do you say? Should we do a celebratory beach trip to Ocean City? You're driving, of course.”
“Really?” Eliza’s face lit up. “I’d love that.”
“What do you say, Carter?”
Carter glared at me in the rearview mirror because she knew I had given her no choice but to say yes now. “Let’s do it.”
***
Two weeks later, it was finally time for our beach trip. We were somehow able to snag a hotel right on the boardwalk, which was shocking on such short notice. After putting our bags in our hotel room and getting changed into our bathing suits, we headed down to the beach.
“Want me to help you with your sunscreen?” I asked Eliza since I figured it couldn’t be easy to do while pregnant.
“Oh. I’m fine. I’ll probably just keep my clothes on.”
At first, I thought she was trying to be extra careful about the sun, but the look on her face gave away that there was another reason. “Are you worried people are going to judge you?”
“It’s not a very crazy assumption. Most people do.”
It pissed me off how quick everyone was to judge without learning someone’s story. Eliza had unprotected sex at a young age and got pregnant. It was a mistake, but not one that hurt anyone else. I didn’t understand why people couldn’t just mind their own business.
“Those people don’t matter. Do you know who does matter?” I pointed between the three of us. “Just us three. Anyone else can go fuck themselves.”
Eliza laughed and shook her head. “You two are unlike anyone I’ve ever met.”
“I get that a lot honestly.” I tossed my hair behind my shoulder. “Not sure if it’s always meant to be a compliment though.”
“You’re right,” Eliza said firmly.
“That it’s not a compliment?” I joked. Although, I wasn’t quite sure what I was right about.
“No. You’re right that I shouldn’t care about what people think.
” Eliza lifted her shirt over her head and wiggled out of her shorts, then stood proudly with her hand resting on her baby bump.
“I haven’t always made the best decisions, but I’m doing what I need to do for this baby and I should be proud of that.
” She sat back down and sighed. “I guess I need to get more serious about this adoption though, huh? If I wait too long to do anything, the baby might not have a home when they’re born. ”
“They’ll have a home, don’t worry,” Carter reassured her. She gave me a long look that told me she was thinking the same thing I was—we really needed to decide what we were doing about this baby.
After a day at the beach and a big dinner, we went back to our hotel room and watched a movie.
As the three of us sat on my and Carter’s bed together, snuggling close and laughing at the romantic comedy Eliza had chosen, I was pretty sure I had never been happier.
I wasn’t sure what Eliza’s plan was for the future, but I wanted to give her a home for as long as she wanted one.
I hoped she could see us as family one day, because I already felt that way about her.
It was almost as if she was the piece of our family that Carter and I had been missing.
When the movie ended, Eliza went to her adjoining hotel room to sleep.
I rolled onto my side to face Carter in bed. “We really need to decide what we’re doing. I know you needed time to think, but-”
“I don’t need to think about it anymore. I think we should ask Eliza how she would feel about living with us indefinitely. I also think we should ask her if she would be comfortable with us adopting the baby.” Her face turned red. “That is, if that’s something you want.”
“Yes!” I squealed and wrapped Carter in a tight hug. “Yes, yes, and yes. That’s exactly what I want. When can we talk to Eliza about this?”
Immediately sounded good to me.
Carter’s eyes lowered and her smile faltered. “There’s something I think we should do first, but I have a feeling you’re not going to be happy about it.”
“What’s that?” I could honestly say I had no idea what she was going to suggest.
“I think we need to pay a visit to Eliza’s parents.”
What the actual fuck? She was right. I was not happy about that. “Why would we ever give those assholes any of our time?”
“I just think we need to know where they stand with things. The littlest part is because they are her parents and if there is any good left inside of them at all, they should get the chance to see the error of their ways. The bigger reason is to make sure they aren’t going to suddenly decide to rock the boat.
My biggest fear is that we would get this whole plan worked out and they would suddenly swoop in trying to be some sort of saviors and save this baby and their daughter from the evil gays. ”
I sighed because I knew she had a point. The only way to make sure we were on an even playing field was to know exactly who we were dealing with. “Okay. Let’s do it. Let’s see exactly who these douchebags are. But can we please get it over with as soon as possible? I want to do this and move on.”
“Yes. We can do it as soon as we get home, but for now, let’s just enjoy the rest of our vacation.”