27. Haley
27
HALEY
E li chose me.
It filled my heart with relief that he’d said those words out loud, so confidently and without pause to his mother.
But this wasn’t the first time he’d chosen me.
He chose me when he stopped bullying me.
He chose me when he didn’t go through with Preston’s dare to take my virginity at that winter formal.
Eli chose me , the one no one wanted in Marsten.
And with how tightly he hugged me close, not wavering in his stance with me, he proved that he would choose me again and again.
“This is it,” Mrs. Young repeated. “I’ve had enough of you. You can move out of that dorm now.” Tipping her chin up, she sneered at him with such loathing and hatred, I couldn’t understand how she’d view her own flesh and blood like that. I only learned that I was pregnant an hour ago, and already, I was fiercely protective of him or her and I would never, ever treat my baby with anything but love.
“Your father and I signed the dormitory contract, and I will go straight to the office and cancel it.”
She was kicking him out! If I needed another demonstration of how heartless she was, this was it.
What kind of a parent threw their child out like this?
“Fine.” Eli didn’t back down. He didn’t budge or change his voice at all, taking it as she dished it out.
“And you can expect all your things at home to be at the curb by the end of the night.” She leaned forward, pointing at us. “You are disowned. Do you hear me, Eli? You are no longer a son to me or your father.”
“I get the picture.”
She huffed at his blunt reply. “And if—no, not if , when —you have to pay back all those scholarship funds, you’re doing it on your own.”
“I expected nothing else.”
“You’re on your own,” she growled.
“No, I’m not.” He sighed, as if it were a massive relief to say that. He truly believed he wasn’t alone, and I would make sure he never was.
“I’ll never be alone again. Not with her.” He kissed the top of my head. “Not with the family we’ll start.”
I wanted to cry. I was on the verge of breaking down into big, fat tears of pure joy. My heart was about to burst with all that he was declaring right now, and I wanted her to be gone so I could tell him the same.
Me and him.
Forever.
With one last sneer, she gave us both a look that could kill. Then she turned and rushed out of the house, letting the front door slap back and bounce after she slammed it with the lock catching and blocking it from closing.
“Eli—”
He left me, going to close the door so no more cold air came in, but he didn’t release my hand, pulling me to move with him. “It will be okay.”
“I know, but…” I hugged him close, squeezing him so tight.
His arms wrapped around me, not letting me go. He sighed, calming down as we stood together, and I smiled against his chest.
“So, a baby, huh?”
I looked up at him, smiling. “Surprise?”
He laughed once, then lowered to kiss me. “Yeah, it was a surprise, and not how I imagined I might have found out, either.”
I quickly explained how this morning went, and he listened with a lopsided smile at my wonderment and marvel that the pill hadn’t worked, that he and I would be parents.
“They say there’s that point-zero-zero-one chance, right?”
“Yeah, but believe me, I’m more surprised than anyone else.”
He kissed me again tenderly. “It just means that it’s meant to be. Like you and me. I can’t wait to raise our child together, Haley.”
“Even though the timing isn’t ideal?” I winced, picturing how we would be young parents starting a family and our careers in a new place.
“It’s not ideal. It’s perfect. Everything with you is perfect.” He sighed, stepping back to run his hand through his hair. “But speaking of timing, she wasn’t giving me an idle threat. I need to go to the dorm and get my stuff out. I bet she’d have my dad go there and throw my shit out.”
“Do you want me to help?” As I asked it, my stomach tensed and I blanched.
He furrowed his brow. “Are you still not feeling too hot?” He framed my face, gazing at me with concern. “Morning sickness?”
I nodded, recalling how Natasha felt it quickly too. “It should pass within a few months. Hopefully.” I scrunched my face.
He kissed me and led me to the couch. “You relax. I should be here helping you, comforting you, not worrying about getting my things from the curb.”
“And you’ll bring it here.” I nodded once. I had yet to ask Aunt Cindy, but she wasn’t the same breed as his mother. Aunt Cindy would understand. She might frown and nag a little, because she was a parent, but she would let him stay. It went without saying that she would open her heart a little more. She might be shocked that I was pregnant, too, but she would come around. I had faith that she would.
“Maybe ask Cindy?—”
“No. You will not be put on the streets, Eli.”
He sighed, standing and moving back. “Text me. Call her and at least ask her first, and we’ll figure it out.”
We would figure it out. We’d figure it all out.
After I kissed him goodbye and we both agreed to talk more about this news that I was pregnant, I didn’t contact my aunt. Instead, I called my sister.
Natasha answered on the first ring, probably freaked out because I never called her during the work day. “What’s wrong?”
“Well, nothing is wrong , per se. Not according to me.” I bit my lip, nervous to tell her. “Do you have a second to talk, though?”
She nodded. It seemed like she was already walking into another room on her end. “Yeah. What’s wrong?” she asked again.
“I just said?—”
“I know you said nothing is wrong, but you only get a look like that when you think your whole world has been upended.”
I opened and closed my mouth. “You’re good.”
“See? Now cut it out and tell me what’s wrong. Is it Eli? Did he do something to you?”
Again, I opened and closed my mouth, unsure how to word it. I refused to be a guppy. “It’s more like something we did.” Because it took two to tango, after all.
“Something you—” Her eyes opened wide. “You… Are you…?”
I loved that she didn’t ask me if he’d knocked me up. It wouldn’t be like that, and she knew it. We’d texted and called. She was aware of how I was struggling with my feelings for him, getting closer and closer every day.
This wasn’t something that Eli did to me, like that asshole did to her when he drugged her and raped her.
The new life inside me was a product of love. Consensual, mutual affection that had taken root and survived despite Eli being my former bully.
“I’m pregnant.”
She stared at me, her mouth hanging open.
“I woke up sick to my stomach, and when I realized I was only sick to my stomach, I kind of wondered. I remembered how you felt when you figured it out. So I took a test and it was positive, and?—”
“Oh, my God!” She grinned, laughing happily like she couldn’t believe it. “Stop rambling and catch your breath. Haley! You’re pregnant?”
I nodded, smiling right back with her.
“And you’re happy?” she asked.
“Obviously!”
A baby was wonderful news. No matter our ages, no matter the circumstances, Nat and I were the same like that. We loved children, and I knew I could count on her to rejoice in this news with me. But she was also practical.
“What did Aunt Cindy say?” she asked with a cringe.
“I haven’t told her yet. I wanted to talk to you first.”
She laughed once. “I’m honored. And I’m happy for you, Sis, but Aunt Cindy needs to know?—”
“I know. I know. I’ll tell her. But it’s not only good news that I’m calling about.”
She furrowed her brow. “Why? What’s wrong?”
I filled her in on the rest. All of it. I’d already told her a little about Eli’s dare and the pending trouble he could face, but I shared all the details now. How he risked expulsion and paying back his scholarship. I added the newer things too, what happened in the aftermath of Mrs. Young coming to the house and telling him that she and Mr. Young were disowning him.
“My God, she’s unhinged,” Nat replied. “I bet you can’t wait to get out of there.”
I nodded. “Well, yeah. Eli too.” I licked my lips that were getting dry from all this talking nonstop. “We have to figure out a plan, but we’ll both be getting out of here as soon as we graduate. Or I guess as soon as I graduate, if Mr. West manages to get the college to deny him that honor.”
“What’s the scholarship that he got?” She pulled a pen close and was jotting things down as she sat in what looked like a staff lunch room, her phone propped on a table for the video call.
I told her, and she followed up with a few more questions about Eli, like his field of study, his grades, and other academic and financial things.
“Nat, are you asking out of worry that we’ll be screwed financially?” I was aware of how expensive it was to have a baby. I knew through her what it was like to be a single parent. But I wouldn’t be one. Eli would be with me. I’d graduate and be able to get a teaching job in the city. They were always in demand there. And if Eli didn’t graduate, he’d get whatever job he could to help our little family.
“No, no. It’s just…” She shrugged, furrowing her brow at what she jotted down. “It’s just that I might happen to be connected to someone high up at the college. Not directly, but well, someone who might know someone. Like a six-degree thing.”
“Oh. Wow! Through work?” I asked.
“No. Yes?” She seemed unsure. “I, uh, meet him at the office, but…” She shrugged. “Let me ask around.”
I was curious now. She worked at an office as an administrative assistant, but I was sure plenty of important people and clients came in and out of her life there.
“Be patient, Haley,” she advised. “And have faith.”
I did. I had faith in love. Both in the love my sister had for me and her willingness to be excited with me and want to help me. In the love my aunt had for me to welcome Eli into our home.
But most of all, I had faith in the love that Eli showed me.
It was scary to hope, but I held on tightly to the bright glimmer of it that blossomed in my chest.