run out of words, she turned gentle blue eyes on me and said quietly, “Lily Rae, I promised you I’d be with you while you broke the news. Virgil has to be at work on Monday, so we have to leave first thing tomorrow morning. Now, unless you want to face your mama and daddy alone, you’d best get it over with.”
So that’s what I’d done. Got it over with.
I shuddered at the memory of those awful moments following my confession, and a new shock wave of grief burst from my aching lungs. Oh, God! I hurt . I’d thought my heart was shattered when Chad broke up with me. But that was nothing compared to what I felt now.
Oh, God ! The looks on their faces would be imprinted on my memory for as long as I lived. There had been no easy way to tell them.
My family had been in the kitchen, just sitting down to supper. Mother was standing behind Daddy, a basket of cornbread in one hand, the black enamel coffee pot in the other. Landry, Edsel, and Norry were busy helping themselves to the food on the table—pork chops, mashed potatoes and creamed corn, I saw. Only Norry looked up when we entered.
“Lily Rae!” she exclaimed, delight crossing her face.
At Norry’s excited announcement, Mother’s gaze fastened on me and her blue eyes twinkled. “Well, looky who’s here.” Without missing a beat, she filled Daddy’s coffee cup, placed the pot on the stove, and reached into the cabinet for more plates. “Sit yourselves down and have a bite of supper. We got plenty.”
“Hey, Lily Rae,” Landry said with a grin. “What you doin’ back down here?”
“Homesick, ain’t you?” Edsel snickered. His freckles looked darker than ever. “I knew you wouldn’t stay gone for long.”
I tried to speak, but my throat suddenly felt paralyzed.
“Hi, ya’all,” Aunt Jenny said. “Lily Rae has something important to talk to ya’all about. But…” Her gaze swept over Norry and the boys. “I think it might be best if we had a few minutes alone with you and Edson, Alpina.”
Edsel’s mouth opened—to object, I was sure, but a look from Daddy quelled him. Chairs scraped on the pine floor as the boys got up and shuffled out of the kitchen. Norry’s saucer-sized brown eyes darted from me to Jenny to our parents as she reluctantly vacated her chair and headed for the door.
Their footsteps thudded up the stairs, Edsel’s plaintive grumble trailing behind them, “Doggone it! I’m so hungry my backbone is scraping my belly!”
Two doors closed, the boys with a slam, and Norry’s with a milder thud.
“Well, girl?” Daddy spoke gruffly. “What’s so important that the younguns couldn’t hear?”
I threw Aunt Jenny a panicked look. I can’t do this! I’d rather die!
As if reading my mind, she grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She fastened her eyes on Mother and said, “Alpina…Edson…Lily Rae has some…disturbing news. I promised I’d stay with her because this isn’t going to be easy for…any of us.”
I felt two pairs of eyes turn my way—one dark, the other light. I tried to swallow, but my saliva had run dry. My hands were clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms. I couldn’t look directly at Daddy. He sat at the table, a big bear of a man with deep-set brown eyes and sun-weathered skin like tanned leather.
Bowing my head, I stared at the tips of the pretty black pumps Jenny had bought me at JC Penney’s just before I’d started school. “I’m in trouble,” I said softly.
Moments ticked by in an unearthly silence.
“What sort of trouble, Lily Rae?” Mother’s voice sounded unnaturally loud in the kitchen.
I kept my eyes on my shoes. “I’m going to have a baby.” The words came out in a soft gush. And then I burst into tears.
Aunt Jenny was right there, holding me, just like she’d said she’d be. I sobbed into her shoulder, terrified of looking at my parents. But in the end, I couldn’t not look. I dragged myself away from my aunt, and turned. “Please
Cathy MacPhail
Nick Sharratt
Beverley Oakley
Hope Callaghan
Richard Paul Evans
Meli Raine
Greg Bellow
Richard S Prather
Robert Lipsyte
Vanessa Russell