Forever His Baby

by Airicka Phoenix

  Sloan tried not to laugh at that. “I don’t think I have much say in the matter,” he confessed. “Lily has already decided that she’s not keeping the baby and won’t hear a thing else about it.”

  Mr. Price scrunched his eyes like Sloan had just started babbling in Spanish. “She what?”

  “She has her mind set to give it up for adoption.” He drummed his fingers on the table to keep from slamming his fist instead. “She won’t hear a word I say. She’s just hell bent on doing things her way and I’m too scared to push, honestly. What with her condition and all. She’s already stressed and I don’t want anything happening to her or the baby.”

  “And what exactly did you tell her?”

  “That I take care of what’s mine,” Sloan said without hesitation. “That goes for both of them. I’m not rich, but I make a good living and I would make sure they had everything they needed.”

  Mr. Price eyed him for so long, Sloan wondered if he’d said something wrong.

  “Do you love my girl, McClain?”

  Having already lied about the baby’s true father, he couldn’t bring himself to tell another.

  “Yes, sir. I do.”

  Mr. Price nudged his chair back and rose to his feet. He stood over Sloan and watched him a moment before speaking.

  “Then you better do right by my girl and that baby, do you hear me? I hear otherwise and you and I are going to have words.”

  Sloan frowned. “I don’t understand.” He turned in his seat as the man started for the door. “Lily has already decided—”

  Mr. Price stopped in the doorway and glanced back. “You leave Lily to me. You just remember what I told you.”

  Chapter Three ~ Lily

  “Lily!”

  Having been lost in the tirade of her own mind, Lily started when the sharp voice penetrated her woolgathering. She blinked away from the burn mark scoring the tabletop to peer at the miniature sized woman glowering at her.

  Ma stood on the other side of the table Lily had been scrubbing absently for the last fifteen minutes, bony arms crossed over her thin chest. She had her perpetual scowl twisting her long face, making it impossible to determine whether Lily was in trouble or not.

  “Ma?” Lily straightened.

  Standing at barely four feet, Ma just came to Lily’s midsection, but her aura made her seem enormous. Eyes the color of dirty dishwater narrowed. She pursed her thin lips.

  “My office!” she barked.

  Lily frowned. No one ever got sent to the office unless they’d done something wrong.

  “Did I do something?”

  “Didn’t I say my office?”

  Snapping her mouth shut, Lily followed her through the steamy kitchen towards the cramped little room tucked away in the far corner. The place stank of stale cigarette smoke, dust and citrus air freshener. The latter was somehow the worst. It churned the single spoonful of cereal Lily had forced herself to eat earlier that morning. So when Ma ordered her to shut the door, Lily nearly whimpered.

  The cramped little space was just big enough for the desk taking up most of the room. The rest was claimed by filing cabinets and an ugly picture of Ma playing poker with some of the women from church. There was a single chair and Ma claimed it. She interlocked her long, knobby fingers and tucked them beneath her crocked nose. She eyed Lily from over the knuckles.

  “You know why you’re here, Lily.” It wasn’t a question.

  “I don’t, actually,” Lily murmured.

  “I have been getting complaints.” She lowered her hands away from her mouth so her words were unmistakable. “You’re not pulling your weight.”

  Mouth gaping, Lily stared at her. “What? Who—”

  “That hardly matters,” Ma said sharply. “I can’t have trouble in my diner. I hired you on because you seemed like a sensible sort of person. But I was clearly wrong.”

  “Wait, but—”

  “Here is your last check.” She snatched an envelope off the papers on her desk and thrust it towards Lily. “Return your uniform and apron no later than the end of the week.”

  “But, Ma, I haven’t done—”

  She waved the envelope at Lily. “We’re finished here.”

  Insides cold and hot at the same time, Lily took her final pay and stared at it through a film of angry tears.

  “I haven’t done anything!” she said, spearing the other woman with the full force of her outrage. “Whoever said I—”

  “I don’t need to explain my decisions to you, Price.” Ma got to her feet. “Hell, I don’t need to even give you an explanation if I don’t feel like it. This here is my business and I will run it as I see fit. So if I say you’re fired, you’re fired! Standing here arguing won’t change my mind. Now get out before I get you thrown out.”

  Stunned, Lily wrenched open the door and hurried out with her insides dragging along somewhere behind her. The urge to cry was overshadowed only by the need to break something. More importantly, she wanted to find the person who had complained and dump a pot of hot water over their heads.

  While Lily wasn’t the greatest waitress in the world, she wasn’t the worst. She always made sure to keep a smile on her face no matter how tired she was, or how unreasonable the customer was being. She was quick and never once got a single order wrong. The whole thing made no sense.

  “Everything okay, Lily?” Dawn Pierson screwed the lid onto a salt shaker and turned to face Lily with a look of concern darkening her pretty face. Her blue eyes took in the envelope Lily held and her frown deepened. “What’s that?”

  Lily and Dawn had never really been friends. They never argued, but they were mostly work friends. The sort that laughed over strange orders and grumbled over lousy tips together. Their entire relationship circled around the diner. Yet there was a bond all waitresses forge when they worked nearly every shift together.

  “She fired me.”

  “What?” Dawn gasped with genuine horror. “Why?”

  Lily shrugged. “She said someone complained.”

  “I don’t believe it.” Dawn speared her balled little fists into her hips. “But it’s just like Ma, isn’t it? Firing you now of all times.”

  Lily frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Dawn shifted closer a step and lowered her voice. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? There was no complaint. She just doesn’t want to fork over maternity pay to someone that won’t be doing any work for a year.”

  It was as though the floor had been torn out from beneath her twice in a matter of minutes and Lily wasn’t quick enough to catch herself the second time. The entire diner rolled like the wheel on Wheel of Fortune. Her insides roiled with it and she had to squeeze her eyes closed tight and count to ten before she could speak again.

  “How did you—”

  “Know?” Dawn gave her a sharp little smile. “Oh, darling, everyone knows. It’s all over town.”

  Lily choked on the thin wisp of air she had fought to catch. “What?”

  “Why are you still here, Price?” Ma stomped through the swinging doors and glowered at Lily.

  “Did you fire me because I’m pregnant?” Lily rounded on her.

  Ma’s beady little eyes narrowed until they were thin slits against the folds of her many wrinkles. “Your … problem, had nothing to do with it. Like I said—”

  “You’re lying!” Lily shot back. “There was no complaint.”

  Ma bristled, but even with her trying to reach an intimidating height, she was still forced to tip her head back when responding. “Leave before I call the sheriff.”

  Lily seethed. Her hands fisted around the envelope. Her insides rattled with the fury she could barely suppress.

  “You are an evil little troll!” she hissed.

  “Get out!” Ma roared, her face a blotchy red.

  Customers, those who weren’t already watching the show and whispering, turned to see what was happening. Lily could feel their eyes burning into the rigid wall of her back as she glowered at the w
oman one final time. Ma sneered back, her crooked and stained teeth a gross contrast to her sallow complexion.

  “I hope no one ever treats you the way you treat others,” Lily murmured before whirling on her heels and marching stiffly to the doors.

  She threw herself into the late summer air, her rage a black cloud strangling her. She pulled a greedy breath in and willed her nerves to stop shaking. Her feet moved on autopilot, propelling her down Main Street towards home while her mind spiraled with questions, like how the hell news of her pregnancy got out. She doubted Sloan told anyone and since they were the only ones who knew, besides Dr. Phillips…

  “Georgia May!” The name burst out of her as though it were poison. “That fucking bitch!”

  Outrage coursed down the stiff lines of her frame in rivulets of electricity that fueled the bloodthirsty need to hunt Georgia May down and beat the ever loving God out of her. And she would have. Lily had had all the bullshit she could handle for one day, between Sloan’s threat, Ma firing her and now her private matter broadcasted to the entire town … Lily was ready to take a rampaging bull on, pregnant or not. She even started towards the clinic when something occurred to her; if the town knew, that meant her parents knew.

  Lily swore loudly, causing several people passing her to pause and gasp. She ignored them, her mind on a much bigger problem as she practically broke her neck running home.

  The tiny rancher with its ramp and white shutters was the last house at the end of the dirt road. The squat little building had once been yellow, her mother’s favorite color, but time and weather had worn the paint out, turning it dull even in the bright sunlight. Even the overflowing flowerbeds and the tiny flower boxes she and her mother planted every summer appeared pathetic next to the ramshackle structure. Lily always told herself she would buy paint once they had a little extra cash, but that day hadn’t come yet. The paint was their last worry when the roof leaked and the ramp her mother used needed to be repaired, amongst a hundred other things that needed tending. The place was two seconds away from being considered condemned. But it was home. It was also the reason she couldn’t bring a baby there.

  Careful not to step on the rotted boards, Lily jogged up the ramp to the door. Her hands shook as she reached for the knob. Her breathing wheezed in her ears and she had to take a minute to calm down. Yet even then, her heart continued to jackhammer, pumping fear throughout her entire body.

  “Mom!”

  She pushed the door open and slipped inside. Her shoes hit the plastic mats next to the closet and she crept down the narrow corridor to the first doorway on the left and the sitting room. The place was unnaturally quiet and she wondered if maybe her parents had gone out. It wasn’t normal for the TV not to be on. Her mother never watched it, but she claimed the noise made her feel less lonely when no one else was around.

  “Mom?”

  Lily stepped into the darkened room and jumped.

  Her mom was already there, sitting in her wheelchair. Her face was averted from the doorway, but the dim light filtering through the lace curtains across the room made the tears glisten. She sniffled and swiped her cheeks with the handkerchief clutched in her hands, still not looking at Lily.

  “Mom?” Heart cracking with a vengeance that hurt, Lily darted into the room. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

  In her rush to get to her mother, Lily didn’t see the second figure standing in the corner of the room until it shifted. She yelped in fright before she recognized him.

  “Dad? What are you doing home?”

  He motioned for her to sit. “I took the day off. We were waiting for you.”

  Lily didn’t disrespect them by pretending to misunderstand. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry?” her mother croaked, scrubbing viciously at her nose with the wrinkled square of fabric. “When were you going to tell us, Lily?”

  Lily swallowed hard. “Never?” Her mother’s strangled sob cut into her. “I wanted to. I was going to!”

  “We talk about everything!” her mother moaned, bursting into fresh tears.

  “Mom, please, don’t cry! Please. I’m sorry.”

  “You really hurt us, Lily,” her dad said quietly. “Every person in Willow Creek knew before we did. Do you have any idea how that feels?”

  “I’m sorry!” Lily said again, feeling her own eyes fill with hot tears. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. I … we were careful, but somehow…”

  No one spoke while her mother wept noisily into the handkerchief. Her dad watched Lily, seemingly contemplating what to say next.

  Finally, he spoke. “What are you going to do, Lily?”

  Scared all over again, Lily took a deep breath. She looked down at her fingers as they picked nervously at the hem of her uniform. “I’m going to find it a good, loving home.”

  “What?” Her mother’s cry of outrage was silenced by the gentle hand her father placed on her shoulder.

  “Why?” her dad asked.

  The question threw her. She had been so sure her parents would agree. They were in no position to raise a baby, not when each decision was a coin toss between electricity or food that month. Not when the house was a short few years from collapsing. Not when the rooms were no bigger than closets, especially not when their neighbors were routinely raided by the sheriff for cooking up meth in the basement.

  “Because we can’t afford a baby,” she exclaimed. “We can barely make ends meet and I won’t make a baby suffer because I—”

  “Did you suffer, Lily?” her father cut in.

  Lily grimaced. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “We know what you meant,” he interrupted again. “What do you want to do? What feels right deep in your heart?”

  As though to prevent herself from answering, her teeth bit down hard on her lip, bottling back her answer. But the desire was too strong.

  “I want it,” she blurted and as soon as it was out, something shifted on her chest, like a weight lifting. “I want to keep it.” And she did … so much. “But I know—”

  “What about the father? What does he want?”

  Lily looked away. “He’s not in the picture.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s just not!” she said a little too sharply. “I don’t want him to be.”

  “But, Lily.” Her mother sniffled. “He has a right to make that decision. It’s his baby as much as yours. Keeping this from him is … it’s … cruel! Not just to him, but the baby.”

  “A man has just as much say in the matter as you do,” her father added.

  Guilt wormed through her. “But it’s my body. I will be the one who grows it and raises it and—”

  “Do you think he wouldn’t be there for you?”

  Lily said nothing, because she knew, if Cole knew, he would be in a heartbeat.

  “I think this is something that you both need to decide together,” her father went on. “I think he’ll surprise you.”

  “No,” she said firmly. “I don’t want him to know.”

  “Are you sure he doesn’t already?”

  Taken off guard, she stared at the man watching her too closely. “What do you mean?”

  A soft knock interrupted their response. Her father rose from the sofa.

  “I mean that we are not letting you give that baby away,” he said before leaving the room.

  Her mom peered back at her through the semi darkness, her brown eyes shining. She wasn’t crying anymore, which was a small relief.

  “I can’t keep it, Mom,” Lily whispered, desperately needing her to understand. “It kills me, but I’m trying to do what’s best—”

  “Taking that baby away from the people who love it is not the best for it, Lily,” her mom murmured. “I know we never had much, but we always made due, and that baby will get everything it needs, because your father and I have already decided that we’re not letting your stubbornness take our grandchild away.”

  A cold sort of suspicion crawled through her at the bold defianc
e tilting her mother’s chin.

  “Mom, what—?”

  Low murmurs from the corridor had them turning towards the doorway just as it was filled by her father and a second figure. Her heart tripped in her chest.

  “Sloan?”

  He caught her in the deep confines of his gaze and held her there. “Hello, Lily.”

  She got to her feet. “What are you doing here?”

  “I invited him,” her dad said simply. “It’s only fitting considering he’s a part of this.”

  Confusion swarmed through her, making her head reel and her temples throb. “What—?”

  “You need to talk to him,” her father said sharply. “You can’t make this decision alone.”

  “And I don’t want you to,” Sloan added quietly.

  “This has nothing to do with you,” Lily cried, blinking back the dark smudges hovering around the corners of her vision as the pressure built in her chest. Her heart thumped a little too erratically between her ears, making every breath she took feel thick.

  “How can you say that?” her mother cried, horrified. “It takes two people to have a baby, Lily.”

  “Two people…?”

  Somewhere in the recess of her dilemma, Lily realized something; her parents thought Sloan was the father and he wasn’t arguing the fact.

  The room swayed and she pinched her eyes shut when the effect had her stomach roiling. Her hand flew to her brow. The skin was scalding hot and clammy.

  “Lily?”

  Firm, tender hands grabbed her by the elbows. She was pulled into a chest smelling of grease and soap. Warm breath fanned across her temple.

  “I … I need air.” The bitter tang of bile retched through her. Her body shuddered. Alarm bells went off in her head. “Oh God!”

  She bolted out of Sloan’s arms and dashed into the only bathroom. She collapsed onto her knees in front of the toilet and almost missed when her stomach heaved too soon.

  Blinded by tears and pain and gasping breath, she was only vaguely aware of someone coming up behind her until her hair was gathered up by gentle hands and held back. She heard water running and a moment later, she was pulled away from the porcelain bowl and cradled against a strong chest. The toilet lid was lowered and the lever jerked, flushing the sick away. Then a cool, damp cloth was pressed to her brow. It was dragged lightly over her cheeks and across her mouth and throat.