Page 255 of The Baby Twist

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m pregnant, Mom.” I yelled out to get it over with.

“Pregnant?” She cocked her head. “I didn’t know you were dating anyone. Is Charlie the father?”

“Yes, he’s the father. And that’s not all. I’m having twins. Thank you very much for telling me that twins run in our family.” I picked up a glass of water and took a sip.

“Twins?” Peter smiled. “That’s wonderful. Congratulations to the both of you.”

“Marley, I don’t know what to say. Are the two of you planning on getting married?”

“Does it matter?” I furrowed my brows as Charlie sat there in awkward silence, eating his dinner.

“Well, no. Congratulations. I can’t believe I’m going to be a grandmother. How long have the two of you been dating?”

“We’re not dating. It happened one drunken night. I just thought you should meet him.”

After we ate, Charlie went with Peter into the living room while I helped my mother clean up the kitchen.

“You know I’m here for you, Marley,” my mother said.

“I know, Mom.” I placed the plates in the dishwasher.

“It hurts me that we don’t see each other very often. I hope that will change when the twins are born. Even after all these years, I know you’re still angry with me. I’m not stupid.”

“I never said you were, Mom.”

“At some point, you have to forgive me. You act like you had such a terrible childhood.”

“Seeing your mother in bed with someone other than your father is pretty traumatic. And then being told not to tell Dad was even worse.” I looked over and saw Charlie standing there staring at me.

My mother turned her back and walked over to the sink. “I’ve apologized to you for that.”

“Thanks for dinner, Mom. It was really good.” I grabbed my purse. “Come on, Charlie.”

“You never told me you found your mother in bed with Peter,” he said as we climbed into the backseat of the car.

“I was supposed to go to Penelope’s house after school, but her mom came down with the flu that day. So, I went home. When I walked into the house, I couldn’t find my mom anywhere, which I thought was odd because her car was there. I heard noises coming from upstairs, so I quietly walked up and stood outside her bedroom door. When I opened it, I saw them in the middle of having sex. My mom’s eyes widened when she saw me. I shut the door and ran to my room, crying and not being able to understand what was happening. My mom came in shortly after and told me that she made a mistake and that mydad could never find out. She told me that if I told him, it would destroy our family, and it would be all my fault.”

“You told him, anyway, didn’t you?” Charlie reached over and grabbed hold of my hand.

“Yeah. I did. But not until two months later. It ate away at me every day I kept her secret. To give your eleven-year-old daughter that kind of responsibility was wrong on so many levels. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt my dad, but he needed to know. So, one day, I asked him if he could take me to the park. I told him what I saw, and I’ll never forget the look on his face. Tears fell from his eyes, and he hugged me tight, telling me it wasn’t my fault and everything would be okay. When we got home, he told me to go up to my room. I acted like I would but sat on the top step as he confronted her. There was a lot of screaming and crying. My dad flew up the stairs, packed his suitcase, kissed me on the head, and left.”

“I’m sorry, Marley.”

“So now you know even more why I don’t have a great relationship with my mother.”

“It’s totally understandable.” His hand squeezed mine.

Chapter Twenty

Charlie

The following morning, I was in the shower when the door opened, and Marley stepped in.

“Sorry, but I need to take a quick shower. I have a lot of things to do today.”

“You do know that you standing there naked is not going to get you out of this shower fast.”