Chapter 50
Morgan
Everything is soft and warm. It smells of fresh linen. My vision crisps. The walls warm to a pink hue. This is my old room.
“Hey, hey. Look who’s awake. Welcome back, sweetie.”
I blink as Dad and Mom come into focus, sitting bedside.
An older man leans down.
“Hello, Miss Montgomery. I’m Dr. Sandy. We moved you from the hospital to home for more privacy. How do you feel?”
“Hospital?” I sit up in bed and clutch my head, wincing.
“Yes, you had a fall and hit the back of your head on the tile floor. We did a scan. No fractures or bleeding. It’ll be sore for a day or two.”
A fall is a nice way of putting it. He means I blacked out when I discovered my father is a closeted philanderer and homosexual. It is almost too outlandish to believe. My father doesn’t lie. It was only a nightmare. It had to be. And with Blake! My fiancé.
Former fiancé.
Maybe I hit my head too hard. I need to ask Dad, but not with Mom here. I could be hallucinating and start an unnecessary fight.
Out of nowhere, my heart aches.
I search around. “Where’s Jack?”
“He said you argued. We told him you needed a few days here, to think about things,” Dad grumbles.
“Yes, honey,” adds Mom. “Rest.”
“No, I need to talk to him,” I insist and wrestle with the sheets. A sharp pain stabs my belly, and I suck in a sharp breath through clenched teeth.
“Careful,” says the doctor. “That’s the other thing. You started bleeding badly. We discovered your IUD became displaced and was stuck by your cervix, causing trauma to the area. We removed it.”
“Oh.”
That must’ve been the new pain I felt during sex.
The doctor takes my hand. “Unfortunately, since the device failed, it appears you are with child.”
“What?” I jolt upright, astonished.
“You are pregnant, Miss Montgomery.”
My soul ignites, electrified. My whole body vibrates as the news settles in. Oh, my Lord. I can’t believe it.
Jack.
We made a baby.
A strange, trembling joy floods me so fast it almost hurts. It is not fear or shame. It is joy.
For one breath, nothing else in the room matters. Not my parents. Not Blake. Not the church.
Not even that 'perfect Morgan Leigh Montgomery' is pregnant outside of marriage.
Only this tiny life Jack and I made.
My hands shake at the revelation.
“Wow,” I say, breathless. “How far along am I?”
“About a month.”
My heart drums in my chest. I do the math.
Tybee Island.
A surge of guilt and confusion twists my gut.
I was so mad at him last night. I thought he was lying to hurt me.
I should’ve known. Jack is the least vindictive man I’ve met.
And now I know why. He believes his blackmail suggestion caused his parents’ death.
Oh my gosh. He had so many opportunities to throw my dad’s hypocrisy in my face.
If it’s true... but I saw it with my own eyes.
I clutch the back of my head and cringe, wondering what’s real and imagined.
Either way, I need to tell Jack about the baby. Right now. My heart is begging me to.
I glance over.
I wait for my father to smile. For my mother to pray. For one of them to say this child is a gift from God.
Neither does.
That is when the joy in my chest turns inward.
My parents must already know. Mother leans back in her chair, legs crossed, jaw set tight. Dad doesn’t look at me. He doesn’t even comment. They are too calm for such life-changing news.
The doctor clears his throat. “There are options if this is not good news.”
My palms shoot over my belly, covering it. “No! This is a blessing.”
Mother sighs loudly, but agrees. “She will have the baby. Thank you, doctor. Can you please give us some privacy?”
He leaves the room. Then, she rises and stands beside me. Her short hair hangs by her cheekbones as she glares down, studying me like an experiment gone wrong.
“This situation has reached unstable ground with irrevocable consequences.”
“This baby is not a consequence.”
“You are unwed and pregnant.”
“Well,” I mutter, desperate. “He might marry me when he finds out.”
“Blake will marry you tomorrow. Child and all. Nine months from now, nobody will be the wiser.”
I gasp and look at Dad, who veers his eyes. Still, he chimes in, his voice softer, but no less certain.
“Your mother is right. It is time to put an end to this fallacy that you can be with an atheist. You will marry Blake.”
The words settle over the room like a verdict.
The tone my father uses is not one used for giving a suggestion. Nor is it an idea thrown out in a state of panic. It is a decision already made without me.
I realize my head is already shaking.
The audacity! I can’t believe he just said that.
“No. I will not.” I sit up in bed, swinging my legs over the edge. “I will not be controlled by either of you anymore. And I will marry whomever I choose. Not you.”
“Oh, will you?” she says, but her tone drips with mockery.
“Yes. I love Jack. Period.” I lift my chin, surprisingly proud of myself. “I want to marry him and only him.”
Mom’s face changes. Her eyes widen, bigger than ever before. A coldness ices over her complexion, making her gaunt and haunting. It is not anger etching into her furrowing brow. I’ve seen that.
Into something stripped raw and mean, like she has finally stopped pretending to be my mother and become only the church’s keeper.
A stillness lingers, deafening. Everyone is tense and silent.
Then—
Fire burns my face as her palm cracks against the tender flesh of my cheek.
She smacked me.
No.
Again, her palm connects. So hard, the strikes feel more like punches. I cover my face, both shocked and terrified. My ear is hit. My shoulders. It’s a barrage of powerful hands from a woman who held in her emotions far too long.
“You. Will. Not. Marry. Him,” she roars, her breathing heavy and fragmented.
“Stop!” I scream. “Dad! Help!”
The room darkens. The energy shifts. I’m no longer bedside with loving parents who want what’s best for me. I’m thrust into something much more vile and ugly.