Chapter 19
“I ’d say my mother’s here,” Corey said as the doorbell rang although he had the text from the man who’d gotten there early that morning to keep an eye on the place to tell him exactly that.
“And what exactly do you think I’ll find her reaction to me and Abby is?” Lisa asked, letting him hold her tightly knowing her mother would answer the door. She and Diane were in the kitchen with Abby showing her the special family recipe for their sugar cookies. She didn’t feel like getting up, her stomach was heaving, and she knew it wasn’t just because of the morning sickness, her worry and tension was getting to her it seemed.
“She’ll love you baby, she absolutely hated Donna, and you are nothing like her, so she’ll adore you,” he promised pressing a kiss to her temple hearing her voice in the hallway.
“Corey, Lisa,” her mom said as she walked Meredith into the room with a smile seeing them still lounging on the love seat together. “Your mother’s here.”
“We see that Mom,” Lisa said letting Corey pull her up from the spot, his arm sliding around her waist as the other woman came into the room to greet them.
“Oh, my goodness, look at you two together,” Meredith said putting her hand over her heart with a full smile. “Here I was worried that you were making the second biggest mistake of your life, but I can see you’ve finally found your brain, Corey.”
“Thanks Mom,” he said with a laugh hugging her with a kiss on her cheek before introducing Lisa to her. “Mom, this is Lisa, the most amazing woman I’ve ever had the privilege to call mine.”
“I’m so glad you invited me,” Meredith said hugging her tightly surprising her slightly while also making her more nauseous thanks to the woman’s perfume.
“Lisa are you alright?” her mom asked once Meredith settled into a chair next to them wanting all of the details of their relationship and the wedding.
“I think I’m going to visit the bathroom,” she said sliding her hand over her stomach, as the nausea grew worse.
“Hey, what’s wrong baby?” Corey asked as he caressed her cheek, worry filling his eyes. She gave him a pointed look and he nodded in understanding; her morning sickness was being aggravating today it seemed. “Do you want anything?”
“No, I’ll be right back,” she said with a smile enjoying him pampering her so much.
“I think I’ll get Lisa some tea,” her mom said once she left the room and Corey nodded waiting for his mother to ask the question.
“Please tell me she’s not getting sick before the wedding,” Meredith stated putting a light smile on his lips.
“No, she’s alright,” he assured her filling her in on the background of their relationship waiting for her to come back. He saw Lisa heading back to them a few minutes later and he hugged her to his side as she took her seat again.
“Now what can I do to help with the wedding?” Meredith asked once she turned to look at her, Corey pressing a kiss to her temple showing his love for her clearly.
“Just be there Mom, I think we have plans finished, it’s not going to be big, and the room is already decorated for Christmas so there’s no need there.” Corey stopped seeing Elaine in the doorway with a steaming cup of tea, Abby behind her with a plate of toast.
“I said I didn’t need anything,” Lisa said giving him a grin before motioning to Abby to come into the room.
“I know you said you didn’t, but I think some tea will settle your stomach,” her mom said slipping it onto the table beside her as Abby crossed over to her side.
“And if not, then the toast will,” Abby said and she smiled up at her, bringing her down onto her lap to hug her tightly.
“Mom, this is Abby, Lisa’s and soon to be my daughter,” Corey said watching her eyes widen slightly in surprise.
“My goodness, don’t you look just like your mom. I think you’ll start driving the boys crazy very shortly, you’d best be prepared Corey,” Meredith said after the initial surprise passed.
“I already am, no one will begin to harm my girls,” he stated with strength behind his words calming Lisa’s newest worries. He wouldn’t begin to leave them because his mother might not approve.
“And I promise that when I’m a few years older I won’t really mean it when I complain that you’re way too strict,” Abby said slipping over to sit on Corey’s knee.
“Oh, I’m sure you will at the moment, but it’ll be with your best interest in mind honey,” Lisa said brushing the hair back behind her ear.
“As is this for you right now Mom,” Abby replied handing her the plate. “Come on Mom, you need to eat something.”
“I ate plenty at lunch,” she said with a sigh as Corey agreed with her.
“For a bird maybe, it’s two against one Mom, so come on or else Dad and I will be forced to do something drastic here and I really don’t think you want us going into town to pick up something that you have no say in do you?” Abby asked with a grin at her that she couldn’t resist.
“Ganging up on me already? What have I gotten myself into?” she teased leaning forward to kiss Corey as the slightest bit of tension mounted in his being. “Fine, will it make you two feel better if I eat this?” she questioned lifting a slice of the lightly buttered toast.
“It’d make me feel better if there were something else on it to make sure you keep yourself full of vitamins but that’s another battle I think,” Corey said kissing her temple.
“Don’t worry Mrs. Cantwell,” Lisa said seeing concern slip across her face as she took them all in trying to comprehend what they were talking about, hinting at but not really saying.
“It’s Meredith or Mom, honey,” Meredith replied. “Is everything alright? You look…but there are so many things nowadays that you just can’t tell…”
“I’m fine, other than this morning sickness,” Lisa said seeing Meredith’s eyes widen in shock and happiness.
“Oh, sweet heavens, I’m finally going to be a grandmother?” she asked, looking between her and Corey.
“Yes and no, that’s not why we’re getting married this week. I’ve wanted to marry her since last year when Lisa and I were here. I would have easily done it no matter the few short weeks that we’d been together,” Corey said holding Lisa to him more while keeping Abby on his knee. “Now I’ve got my two beautiful girls here with me and making it happen this year.”
“I have a feeling it’ll be a much better Christmas than last year,” Abby said turning slightly to curl up on his lap to watch Lisa eat the toast and drink her tea.
“You love Christmas on the beach too,” Lisa said meeting her gaze.
“True but you weren’t there, and I missed you the last few years.”
“Never again, I promise. The safest place in the world is right here with us,” Lisa said sliding her arm over Abby’s lap while Corey brought them both closer to him.
“Right here you’re both safe, always baby,” he said kissing Lisa making Abby smile.
“Okay, child in the room,” Abby teased them when it lingered the slightest bit longer than necessary.
“We know sweetie,” Lisa said resting her head on Corey’s shoulder wanting nothing but the peace and ease that was surrounding them in this moment to stay but she knew it wouldn’t, not if Benton saw or heard about Abby. She knew it would make it necessary for Meredith to know why they were going to be extra cautious about the wedding, but she didn’t want to have to tell her the truth, she didn’t want anything to tear Corey away from her.
“Why don’t we give Lisa and Corey a few minutes with his mom honey?” Elaine suggested holding out her hand to Abby. “We’ll make sure they added an extra setting for dinner tonight and take care of this plate,” she added taking Abby with her and Lisa slid her arm over Corey’s stomach holding him the tiniest bit tighter knowing his mother likely had questions.
“Mom,” he began but Meredith shook her head no, stopping his speech.
“I don’t care how, that’s all in the past. Seeing the two of you together is all I need to know that this is real, this is right,” Meredith said giving them a smile.
“Thank you but…you do need to know part of it,” Lisa said taking a deep breath to get through it. “I was sixteen when I had Abby and until this past May, she was living with my Aunt Diane in California, so I could try to keep her safe. My parents and brothers didn’t know about her until we got here two days ago.”
“What?” Meredith said as her eyes widened with her full surprise.
“Lisa was forced to do things she didn’t want and never should have happened and was scared of the person who did it. She was scared that if he knew about Abby he’d be in trouble because she was only fifteen when she got pregnant,” Corey said, knowing by the way that Lisa breathed in that she couldn’t say it again, at least not right now.
“You’re saying…oh my,” Meredith said covering her lips. “When did you meet Abby then? Your brother said that you had broken up with your girlfriend last May.”
“Lisa broke things off with me in May when Abby left California to come be with her, ran away from California to be with Lisa. She’d been in New York away from Abby for a few years and I had no idea she even had a daughter until I arrived here to meet Lisa for Christmas. We ran into each other on the one-year anniversary of when we met, I went to Chicago because it was where Lisa was living but I didn’t know where. She walked into my bar there and I had to find a way back into her life, I’m miserable and useless without her.”
“I take it that means that was when Lisa got pregnant?” Meredith asked and he nodded.
“We made plans to see one another; Lisa chose a date that would let her keep Abby’s presence from me still, because she knew that if I found out about Abby, the truth about her paternity would come out when I came back here to kill the SOB that hurt her.”
“You’re saying he still lives here?” Meredith asked and he nodded again.
“He’s threatened her, sent photos of her around here to her, as well as some of us from last year in New York to her while we were here last year. It’s why she kept Abby from me at first and when Abby was feeling insecure in their relationship due to some jealous girls at her school, Lisa ended our relationship in order to keep Abby with her and safe. We had a couple weeks where we weren’t able to see each other as planned and then Lisa cancelled the last couple, and I swore I was losing her again. I’d plans to storm Chicago to find her when she called me and asked me to meet her here. When I saw Abby…I knew something bad had happened to her. If she’d simply slept with a boy and gotten pregnant, she would have admitted it, at least introduced Abby to her parents by now. When she told us, I’ve never felt so helpless in my entire life,” he said holding Lisa to him further never wanting to feel that again.
“I don’t know what people will say tonight when we go to dinner,” Lisa finally managed to get out as he held her. “I don’t want questions as to how she’s here. I won’t let the people here look down on her. Finding out I was pregnant…it’s the only thing that would have made me do this, admit the truth to Corey and my family.”
“I didn’t know until after I’d asked either, I knew something big had changed her mind about us, at first I thought it was just Abby’s insistence that she tell me, but this news,” Corey said covering Lisa’s stomach with the gentlest of touches, “this is the best news. It might have taken us a ton of pain to get here but I’m not about to let anything hurt us going forward. I have someone who is watching my girls, discretely, and he’ll make sure the sick bastard doesn’t get near them ever again.”
“Why not tell the police who he is?” Meredith asked gently.
“Abby…I don’t want people whispering that she’s a child of rape, or anything else they’re likely to throw at her. My past behavior in this town isn’t exactly the squeakiest. I purposely made people uncomfortable and did things that would never let them guess the truth,” Lisa admitted knowing if Colin said anything, she’d wonder.
“What does that mean?” Meredith asked.
“I didn’t want to leave Abby, not for a minute or a day. At first, I thought if I behaved abhorrently then my parents would let me go live with my Aunt Diane, but they didn’t, they just tried to ground me more. So then, I made people focus on one thing, my personality because it kept them from asking me about me, from figuring out just how much I missed my daughter. I didn’t deny it when guys claimed they’d hooked up with me no matter how untrue it was and I dated the most popular guys, got myself elected as head cheerleader, and let the party persona be my front.”
“It was convincing enough that her brothers bought it, so much in fact that when they saw Abby, they started asking her how many of the guys here they’d have to test to figure out who her father was,” Corey said, and Meredith fully understood what they meant.
“There was never any question of how she came to be mine, but that’s all she is…until now at least,” Lisa said sending Corey a smile. “We just want to keep her safe. I won’t let him hurt her; I’m no longer a terrified pregnant fifteen-year-old. I’m now a terrified pregnant thirty-year-old, who’s surrounded by her family for the first time ever.”
“So Abby is…thirteen?” Meredith said and she nodded.
“She’ll be fourteen in April. I don’t regret keeping her in my life; I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Yes, I likely would change the rest, tell my parents up front about what happened but…I didn’t think anyone would believe me over him. I figured they’d think I managed to seduce him before they would ever believe the truth. A couple of my friends now realize what the situation really was but even they at one time thought I had a crush on him,” Lisa admitted surprising Corey. “It’s what we talked about last night and they know I’m pregnant too…they had a bottle of tequila out ready for consumption. Said they’d make sure I didn’t run before I walked up the aisle to meet you.”
“I don’t have any worries about that one baby, not any longer,” Corey said lifting her onto his lap as his mother smiled.
“I’m glad you told me, and I won’t say a word to anyone,” Meredith said as she stood. “I know you say it’s going to be small, but I still want to see if I can help with anything. I think I’ll run along and see what Elaine thinks still needs tackled.”
“Mom, you don’t have to go,” Corey said making her laugh.
“I do because we are all going to see that Lisa has a beautiful day. I can’t imagine a more deserving and beautiful person to become my daughter. Plus, I plan to spoil my new granddaughter before this baby gets here. So, you two stay, keep your sweet girl feeling well,” Meredith said moving over to kiss their cheeks.
“Well, perhaps you could go easier on the perfume?” Corey suggested feeling Lisa hold her breath for a moment as she hugged them. “Smells are a little difficult for Lisa right now.”
“Oh my…of course, I just didn’t want to smell like the sweaty man sitting beside me on the plane,” Meredith said before hurrying out the door.
“You shouldn’t have told her that, now she feels bad,” Lisa said lying her head on his shoulder as he held her against his chest further.
“She won’t care, not when she’s so over the moon about becoming a grandmother. She wanted Donna and I to have them, constantly asked if we thought about it,” he said with a sigh.
“And had you?” she asked, meeting his gaze, wondering about that time of his life.
“At first, I had figured we’d take a couple years to ourselves then we’d have kids, but by then I knew she’d never want them, and I didn’t want them with her. When we met, I hadn’t thought about them in years, and then we were together, we came here and I wanted to bring our child back here, teach him or her how to ski. I will never stop wanting this with you Lisa, nothing in this world could change how I feel for you,” he said sliding his hand into her hair as he held her head gently.
“I didn’t believe that was possible. I swore when you learnt who and what happened to me, you’d run so fast that I’d never find you again.”
“Not a chance baby, you’re my only weakness, you know that,” he stated with a smile before claiming her lips in a lingering kiss that soothed bits of her worry and the tiny hint of nausea still present.