Page 44 of Thorns of Silence

“I don’t want you to be my nanny, but I need to be able to afford one. I want part of my inheritance so I can support the baby and myself and pay a nanny who can live with us and watch the baby while I’m at school during the day.”

She stared at me with her mouth open. I had never seen Grandma in this state. I wasn’t sure whether it was good or bad.

“Are you fucking crazy?” Her hands trembled with fury. “Assuming the media doesn’t tear me apart, your papà will. And then he’ll kill both you and the baby.”

She shot to her feet and started pacing. It was just a shock. It had to be. After all, Grandma got pregnant with Mamma and she was barely eighteen. I'd turn of age before I had this baby.

She came to a stop. “Too young. Too stupid. Too blind.” Then she shook her head. “What did the boy do when you told him?”

“I haven’t told him yet.”

“You might as well tell him your papà will shoot him the minute he learns.”

Worry swarmed my chest, but I quickly squashed it. Dante had had a few dealings with Papà. They could come to terms and move on from it. Besides, I was certain Dante could hold his own against my papà.

Grandma’s eyes moved across my face. “You’re too naive. Too trusting.”

My eyes drifted to the ocean behind her house. Maybe she was right, maybe I was naive, but Dante was trustworthy.

“D—” Almost blurting out his name, I cut myself off right in time. “He’ll come through.”

“He won’t.” The certainty in her voice irked me. “You cannot keep the baby.”

A sharp gasp tore from my lips while piercing pain spread through my chest. “A-abortion?”

“Phoenix, you’re not even eighteen,” she reasoned.

“Soon I will be,” I signed. “Besides, I’m almost four months along,” I lied.

She eyed me suspiciously. “You’re not showing.”

I shrugged. I learned that to lie successfully I had to keep it short. Otherwise, I’d dig myself in too deep.

“Tell him about the baby,” she said, finally concluding our conversation. “Don’t tell anyone else. Once he disappears, we’ll talk about next steps.”

The vibration of a chair scraping against the floorboards had me clutching my chest as I slammed back into the present. It was Reina closing the door to her room and disappearing behind it, probably to try to turbo clean.

“When does the train leave?” I asked the girls.

“An hour.”

“We’d better get going soon,” I signed.

“You know, I could drive us so we won’t have to worry about the schedule,” Raven tried.

“We’re taking the train,” Isla stated with panic in her eyes. “That hunk of metal keeps breaking down.”

Athena glanced at me over the shoulder while she was cleaning up the last bit of a mess.

“Should I make the cake?” Athena asked. “I’m capable of making a simple one. Nothing elaborate.”

“In less than an hour?” I signed. “Is that even possible?”

“Please don’t bake anything,” Raven grumbled. “I’d like to get through her birthday alive.”

“That’s right. We want Reina to survive her eighteenth birthday,” Isla added with a wry expression.

Reina returned with a phone in her hands, her eyes glued to it, and all our conversation regarding the matter ceased. She kept muttering under her breath, but I wasn’t sure what she was saying.