her credit card, she’d accomplished her mission. Life was good.
She carried her bag inside and found Raoul standing by the back door. She’d noticed Brittany’s car out front, but didn’t see the girl anywhere.
“Hi,” she said. “I bought an amazing dress. It’s…”
She paused. Raoul looked uneasy, in a trying-to-act-casual sort of way.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Where’s Brittany?”
“In the bathroom.”
She swore under her breath. “Were you two having sex? Raoul, we’ve talked about this. Not in my house. Hawk will kill both of you. You’re too young and this is not something I want to deal with.”
She hadn’t even thought about leaving them alone. Should she have to? Was it her job to monitor them every second?
He flushed. “We didn’t have sex. I swear. She’s just in the bathroom. With all her clothes on.”
As if on cue, water rushed down the pipes from the upstairs bathroom. The sound of footsteps clattered on the stairs.
Raoul muttered something Nicole didn’t quite catch. It almost sounded like a prayer. Then Brittany burst into the kitchen. She looked both happy and terrified and there was something in her hand. Something white and plastic and sort of Popsicle-stick shaped. She held it out in front of her.
“Look,” she said, glancing between Raoul and Nicole.
Nicole felt the floor shift. Blood turned solid in her veins, and she couldn’t breathe.
“I wasn’t sure,” Brittany continued. “I’d sort of guessed because I haven’t been feeling good. Now we know for sure.” She turned to Raoul. “I’m pregnant. We’re going to have a baby.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
NICOLE STOOD in the center of the kitchen, waiting for the shift in the universe to stop and everything to return to the way it was. Her mind raced in four hundred different directions and she wasn’t sure speech was possible. Even more astonishing than the news was the way Raoul and Brittany looked at each other with an impossible combination of love and hope and certainty. Hello, they were talking about a baby.
“You’re sure?” Nicole asked, then shook her head as she eyed the stick in Brittany’s hand. “Never mind. Stupid question. How far along are you?”
“About six weeks. Maybe seven.”
Back before Raoul was living here, Nicole thought, sure it must have happened while Raoul was staying in the abandoned building. Who knows how much time they’d spent alone together with no one to disturb them.
Brittany rushed to Raoul and snuggled close. “This is going to be great,” she said. “Just like we talked about.”
Nicole fought against the need to shake her head. There was no way she’d just heard that. “Great?” she asked, her voice slightly strangled. “Great? On what planet?”
Brittany gave her a comforting smile. “We have it all figured out. You don’t have to be worried. We’re good.”
“You’re pregnant. You’re still in high school. Nothing about that falls under the definition of good.” Nicole sucked in a breath in an effort to keep from getting shrill.
“We’ll be fine. Nicole, I promise, it’s okay. Look, my parents did this and everything turned out fine. They were young and in love and they were totally happy. Raoul and I are going to be the same way. You’ve seen him play. He’ll get a scholarship to college for sure. We’ll get to be together, like a real family.”
Family, huh? Maybe they could move into Cinderella’s castle, next door to the talking mushrooms but in front of the magic forest. “You can’t have thought this through.”
“We’re getting married,” Raoul said, standing tall and putting his arm around his girlfriend.
Nicole tried to ignore her bone-crushing disappointment. Not him, too. He couldn’t honestly think this was going to turn out well.
“Brittany’s not eighteen.”
The teenage girl flicked away that reality with her wrist. “I will be in the spring, but my dad will give me permission. It’ll be fine. I’ll have the baby next summer, which is perfect. Then I can move to college with Raoul and stay home with our child.”
“Supported by?”
“Different people. It happened for Mom and Dad. The boosters, the alumni, they take care of their athletes. Dad talks about it all the time. We’ll have a cute little house and I’ll learn to cook. I’ve kind of been starting with you, Nicole. It’ll be so much fun.”
Nicole grabbed on to her patience with both hands. “Have you had any experience with children or babies? Do you know how much work it’s going to be?”
“Oh, sure. It’ll be hard at times, but we love each other. Raoul and I only want to be together.”
“That’s not going to happen. He’s going to be practicing every day, and studying. He’ll be going to class and traveling to games while you’re home with a colicky baby, far from your family and your friends.”
“I’ll go on the road trips.”
“Who will take care of the baby during all this?”
“I don’t know. Someone. Or we’ll take the baby with us.”
“You know they cry, right? Sometimes all night long. Raoul will need to sleep so he can play or go to class, which means it’s all up to you.”
Brittany glared at her. “You’re just trying to be mean and I don’t know why. I know it works. My parents made it work. They said it was wonderful and you’re trying to ruin all that. I guess you don’t know what it’s really like to be in love.”
The well-timed verbal slap hit the mark. Nicole took a step back. Maybe Brittany was right. It wasn’t as if she’d been desperately in love with Drew and before him, the men in her life had been rare as Bigfoot sightings.
Still, she knew in her gut this was a disaster in the making. No one wants to get pregnant at seventeen and give up her future.
“What about you going to college?” she asked, keeping her voice low. “What about your dreams?”
“I’ll go back later, after Raoul makes it to the NFL. We’ll be rich. Or my dad will pay for it. I’ll get my degree. I still want that.”
Talk about entitlement, Nicole thought grimly. She turned to Raoul. “Is this what
He nodded. “I love Brittany.”
Meaning he would stand by her no matter what. Nicole had to respect that, if nothing else.
She told herself that at least there was still time. No decisions had to be made this minute. Maybe one of them would get a minor head injury and rediscover common sense.
Brittany smiled at him, then looked at Nicole. “I know you’re having a hard time with this, but please be happy for us. I know it’s all going to work out.”
“Sure.”
“I need to get home.” She kissed Raoul and started for the door. On the way she dropped the pregnancy stick in the trash. “Oh. I left the rest of the kit upstairs.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay. Thanks.” She paused, then looked back at Nicole. “My dad doesn’t know. Can you please not tell him? I want the news to come from us.”
Nicole held up both hands. “I won’t say a word.”
It wasn’t a conversation she was excited about having with Hawk. Not when all she could think to say was, “I told you so.”
