Players, Bumps and Cocktail Sausages (Silence #3)(56)
“Listen to him, Hol,” Brad said.
The front door opened, and we all froze. Their parents were home. Time to tell them too.
“Alright?” their mum, Sylvie said. “Oh, hi, Jasper.”
“Hey.”
My pulse raced. I didn’t want them to hate me for having a baby with their daughter. A daughter that everyone still seemed to think of as a young girl. She was anything but a child.
“What’re you two up to then?” their dad, Carl asked, referring to me and Brad of course.
Holly licked her bottom lip. “Um. Well, actually Jasper was here with me.”
They both cocked their head to the side, perfectly in tune with each other.
“Oh?” Sylvie asked.
“Not like that exactly.” Holly took a deep breath. “Jasper is the baby’s dad.”
In tune again, their mouths dropped open, and I was sure Carl stopped breathing.
Okay, so she was going in for the kill too.
“What?” Carl asked, staring at us dumbfounded. “How is Jasper the father?”
“We’re happy about it,” she said, hoping to diffuse the situation. “I know it’s sudden and I’m still young, but we can do this. It’s going to be fine.”
“Fine! You’re going into your last year of university soon and now pregnant by a twenty-seven-year-old man that’s not even divorced from his wife yet! How is that fine?”
Holly glared. “I understand you’re upset, Dad, but I’m an adult.”
His eyes teared up, and she leapt to her feet, hugging his waist tightly.
“I know I’ve always been the youngest, and everyone has treated me differently because of that, but I’m a grown woman now, and I can make my own decisions. And I can have a baby.”
They pulled away.
“When’s the wedding?”
My eyes practically fell out of their sockets.
“Very funny, Dad.”
“I’m not happy with you,” he said, his eyes tightening as he looked at me.
“I understand that. But you know I’ll be here for them both,” I reassured him.
He shook his head. “This is…”
Holly shrugged. “I know. Jasper was probably the last guy you suspected.”
Sylvie came out of the daze she’d seemed to slip into, and she hugged Holly.
“You’re not too disappointed in me, Mum, are you?”
“No, sweetheart. Can’t lie; I wish the circumstances were different, but I think you’ll both make wonderful parents. And at least we know where Jasper lives.”
“So I’m not getting kneecapped?” I asked, grinning.
Holly slapped my shoulder. “You have to ruin it!”
I laughed. “Seriously though, you don’t have to worry about an absent dad, I’ll be here so much you’ll be sick of me.” I needed her to know I would never let her down.
“I know,” she whispered, smiling.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Holly
“What do you want, sweetheart?” Mum asked. We’d been going over university and work and baby arrangements for the last half an hour, and I was starting to get a headache. There were so many things to consider.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I used to want a career, but now I’m pregnant I couldn’t imagine leaving the baby all day. Don’t get me wrong, I want to do something, and I’ll need to, but maybe part-time. Until she’s school age anyway.”
Mum frowned. “What part-time career do you want?”
“I don’t know.”
“You need to think about that. I know you want to be a good mum but being a good mum means providing too. You also need to think about what you want. Just because you’re having a baby, doesn’t mean you have to give up your dreams.”
“Yeah, I guess. I want to be a Pharmacist, but maybe when the baby starts school I should be looking at pharmacy in a doctor’s surgery rather than a hospital: The hours are more family friendly.”
“And until then?”
“I’ll see if I can stay at The Centre part-time.”
“Okay.” She looked away.
“What?”
“Nothing, love.” She hugged her mug of tea with her hands. “Look I’m not saying being a receptionist is beneath you – it’s not. A job is a job, and you’ll be providing, which is the main thing.”
“So what are you saying?”
“It’s just hard to watch your child who has worked towards her dream career have to put it on hold. That’s all.”
“I know it’s going to be hard, and I still have a year left to study, but I can defer for a year.”
“You don’t want to work full-time until the baby is in school, but you think you’ll have time for a full-time course when the baby is just a year old?”
I bit my lip, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders.
“Oh, I’m sorry, love”, she said, clearly seeing me sag. “I’m not trying to bring you down. I’m just concerned. Holly, we will do everything in our power to get you that degree, but it’s not going to be easy.”
“I get that. Uni is full on but at least I don’t have classes all day five days a week. I’m sure between me and Jasper we can work something out. You know how keen he is to be a dad.”