“Oh god,” Sonia said as the tears broke loose and rolled down her cheeks. “More than anything.” Chelsea felt the tears come too as she watched Sonia look down at the baby with new eyes—the eyes of a mother. For a few minutes, the two just cried.
“What are you going to name her?” Chelsea asked.
“I want you to name her,” Sonia said.
“Annette. After your grandmother.” Sonia gasped and reached out her hand to squeeze Chelsea’s.
“I will give this baby everything,” Sonia assured her, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “You can see her anytime you want.” Chelsea nodded, knowing Sonia meant that.
The door opened and Chelsea’s father entered with a bouquet of flowers. Adam was right behind them with a big bouquet of pink balloons.
“Dad!” Chelsea said, happy to see him. He’d arrived that morning from a job in New Orleans. Adam had picked him up from the Amtrak station.
“Did you ask her?” Adam inquired, noticing that both Chelsea and Sonia were in tears.
“She said yes,” Chelsea said, nodding.
“This is the best day of my life,” Sonia said in almost a whisper.
“Congratulations,” Adam said. Chelsea’s father smiled too and then hugged his daughter.
“I’m proud of you, honey,” he said, then turned his attention to Sonia. “I know you’ll take real good care of my granddaughter.”
“You can count on it,” Sonia said, and stood up with the baby. “I’ll let you guys talk.”
“I’ll go with you,” Adam said. Sonia delicately placed the baby in Adam’s arms and they exited, leaving Chelsea alone with her father.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Chelsea said as her father took a seat next to her bed.
“Me too.” He looked around the room. “The last time I was in a room like this, your mother was giving birth to you.”
“I wish she could have seen the baby.”
Chelsea watched as her father teared up for a moment, letting the bottled-up pain of losing his wife bubble to the surface. She placed her hand on his and let him cry. When he finally regained his composure he looked up at Chelsea.
“Your mother was an incredible woman. Nobody will ever compare. But you’re turning into a pretty incredible young lady yourself. How’d I do it? All by myself? I don’t know.”
Chelsea’s heart went out to her dad.
“You taught me how to love, Dad. Liebe überwindet alles.”
“It sure does.”
Fifteen
Love Conquers All
A soft summer breeze lifted little Annie’s fine wisps of red hair as she sat on the blanket Sonia had spread out on the lush grass. Sonia looked so relaxed as she smoothed the wrinkles out of the one-year-old’s sundress and adjusted her little hat.
“Have you talked to Jeff at all?” Chelsea asked, sipping the lemonade Sonia had packed in the picnic basket.
“Nope. Orin said he was fired for showing up to work drunk and he was spending almost every weekend in Atlantic City. I don’t know. I don’t get it.” In the year since Annette was born, Jeff had appeared and then disappeared from Chelsea’s and Sonia’s lives a few times. He’d shown up for the divorce proceedings and called Chelsea once but hung up after she answered. He seemed lost, confused, searching for something that even he couldn’t define.
“Wow,” Chelsea said, dismayed. He was so much different from the man she’d met at the bar two years earlier.
“Let’s just say you’ve traded up.” Sonia smiled and nodded behind Chelsea. Chelsea turned to see Adam parking his car on the street.
“That’s true. I did,” Chelsea mused. Every time she saw Adam, she could feel herself light up. After the baby was born and Chelsea had returned to her father’s trailer, Adam went back to school to finish his degree. He’d encouraged Chelsea to get her GED, and she had. Every night, they’d video chat online; sometimes Adam would help her with her homework and sometimes they would just visit about nothing.
But that was all about to change. Adam graduated college and was in the process of moving back. He’d been staying at Mikey’s until he could find them an apartment. And then they were going to move in together and eventually get married. But that was after one very big event: Düsseldorf. Adam had surprised her with plane tickets when she’d come to see him graduate from the university. They were going for two full weeks, and she’d finally be able to see the town where her mother grew up. As Adam approached, Sonia gave Chelsea a hug.
“Have a great time in Germany,” Sonia said, beaming with excitement.
“Thank you so much. I can’t believe I’m actually going.”
“I can.”
Adam sat down next to them and tickled Annie, making her laugh.
“Ready? We should head out. Looks like traffic’s bad around the airport,” he said. Chelsea nodded and gave Annie a hug.
“Bye, Annie. Be good for your mama.”
“See you in a couple of weeks.” Sonia smiled.
As Adam took Chelsea’s hand and walked with her to the car, Chelsea looked back at Annette. Sonia took the little girl’s chubby hand and made her wave good-bye. Chelsea smiled and blinked back tears. In only nineteen years, so much had happened. She had survived and endured and finally, she felt like she was starting to become the woman she always wanted to be.
The ordeal with Greg Foster was over. Lauren had received five years in prison for her part in the kidnapping. At the trial both Sonia and Chelsea testified on her behalf. They knew that she had been under her brother’s thumb and wasn’t fully aware of his plan. On top of that, she’d lost her brother—though she would have lost him anyway, since if he hadn’t died that night in the woods, he would’ve been sentenced to life for double kidnapping and attempted murder.
The man Chelsea thought she’d loved and who fathered her baby was out of her life for good. She wished him well but was glad that she wasn’t married to him like she’d originally wanted. It would have been a difficult life for her and the baby even without Jeff’s recent issues with gambling and drinking. Instead, she was in love with someone solid, someone she’d admired for years. The playmate she had as a child was now her best friend and boyfriend. She was sure her mother would’ve been proud of that.
Her father was still the same father she’d always had. He still rushed off to various jobs around the country and spent his nights chasing women at the Lucky Lady. That was never going to change. But in the hospital room, after she’d given birth to Annette, he’d had a breakthrough that Chelsea knew he’d needed to have for a long time. He allowed himself to remember her mom, to relive the beautiful memories that had become painful after her death. Even if her father never found love again, he was more whole now than he’d been in a long time.
And then there was Annette. Chelsea had wondered if she’d ever regret her decision to give the baby up. But that moment hadn’t come. Every time she saw little Annie with Sonia, she was reminded that she’d chosen the most loving, doting mother she could and that her child was truly happy. Maybe someday she and Sonia would decide to tell Annie the truth, that Chelsea was really her biological mother instead of “Auntie Chelsea,” as Sonia affectionately referred to her. But that would be when Annette was much older and the time was right. For now, her baby was happy and healthy, the future with Adam was bright, and the world was finally in balance.
About the Author
Photo by Jenn James
Originally from Nebraska, CHRISTINE CONRADT moved to Los Angeles at eighteen years old to attend the University of Southern California, where she obtained a BFA in screenwriting. She worked briefly in development before making a name for herself as a screenwriter, producer, and director. Focused on writing thrillers and crime dramas, Christine went on to receive an MA in criminal justice from Boston University. She has penned more than sixty movies, which have aired on USA, Lifetime, LMN, Fox, and Showtime. She is the primary writer behind some of Lifetime Network’s most successful franchises, in
cluding the At 17 series. When Christine is not writing or directing a film, she enjoys traveling and has been to sixteen countries throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband and their two rescued cats. Visit her online at www.christineconradt.com.
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Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
PREGNANT AT 17. Copyright © 2018 by Christine Conradt. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Cover photography by Mikkel Walle
Cover design and lettering by Jenna Stempel-Lobell
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017962818
Digital Edition JUNE 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-265167-9
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-265166-2
1819202122PC/LSCH 10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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