More Than Friends (44 page)

"I should have used something," he whispered back, "but I thought it'd be okay."

"I still think the doctor's wrong. I don't feel any different than I ever did."

"Leigh," Teke said, sighing, "you just did a home test. The stick turned blue. That's two strikes for pregnant."

Leigh looked up at Jon, and in a voice that was small and frightened, hardly that of a woman needing to make a momentous decision, she asked,

"What do you want to do?"

He ran a hand through his hair. As he stared off at nothing, his eyes widened. Teke could practically see the thoughts coming to life in his mind, one after another, all with consequences for his future. "I don't know," he finally said, staring at Leigh's stomach now. He didn't touch it. He looked frightened and as premature a candidate for parenthood as Leigh.

He turned to Teke. "Mom would know. I want to ask her." Annie, who hadn't even had the advance warning that the two had been making love, was speechless. Her eyes went from Teke to Leigh to Jon, then back to Teke. "Pregnant?" she mouthed.

Teke felt stronger just with Annie knowing. "Seven weeks, Charlie guessed. That means that if she carries to term, the baby will be born in mid August."

Annie flattened a hand on her head. Her gaze flitted wildly around before landing on Jon. "You promised me you wouldn't!" He shrugged. "It just happened."

"Leigh, you promised."

Leigh looked miserable. Taking pity on her, Teke said, "It's done. There's a baby growing. We have to decide what to do."

"I need Sam," Annie breathed unevenly.

Leigh caught Teke's hand. "Not Dad, though. Don't tell Dad." Teke didn't see how she could keep something as important from him. No matter that J.D. had left them, he was still Leigh's father. "I have to. In good conscience, I do."

"He'll be furious!" Leigh wailed.

"At me," Teke said anxiously, and sure enough, that was his first reaction.

"God damn it, Teke, you were supposed to be on top of things like this. Why didn't you get the girl birth control before this happened?" Teke refused to cower. "By the time I knew it was a problem, the harm was done."

J.D. turned on Jon. "And you couldn't use anything? You didn't have to tell anyone, didn't have to see a doctor, all you had to do was walk into a drugstore and buy a pack of condoms."

"I didn't think--"

"You're right about that!"

"It's a fait accompli," Sam said.

J.D."s eyes flashed his way. "Uh-huh. One more coup for the Pope men. You set a fine example."

"Come off it, J.D. It's a miracle this didn't happen sooner. We all knew we were playing with fire, what with our families being so close. Hell, it's like they were half-married already."

"Well, they're not married, and she's pregnant. What are you going to do about it?"

They were gathered in the Popes' kitchen. Jana and Zoe were at the Maxwells' with Michael. Teke suspected they knew what was going on--they would have to know at some point--but she couldn't handle Jana just then. Handling J.D. was bad enough.

"I can't do anything," Sam was saying. For all his standing up to J.D." he sounded shaken. "It's not my decision to make. It's our decision. In the end, it's Leigh's." He turned to her and gentled his voice in a

way that reminded Teke of what a special man he was. "What do you want to do, honey? Have you thought about it?"

"Every minute since I found out," Leigh cried. So had Teke. She had gone through the options again and again. She had weighed one against the other, had followed each through. Annie put an arm around Leigh and whispered, "It's scary"--Leigh nodded--"but exciting."

That was what Teke thought.

J.D. leveled a gaze at Sam. "I think she should abort it. I don't see any other way."

"There are other ways," Sam argued.

But J.D. gave the tiny shake of his head that said any greater shake of his head was a waste of effort, his point was so obvious. "She's seventeen years old. She still has to finish high school and then go to college. Sure, she can give the child up for adoption, but that would mean either walking around school through a progressing pregnancy or dropping out. In either case she'd be stigmatized."

"I don't want to give the baby up for adoption," Leigh told Jon. "I don't think I could bear knowing my baby was alive and not with me." Teke agreed.

Annie nodded. "I agree."

"An abortion is simple and safe at this point," J.D. said. "It would be a quick procedure, Leigh. You would barely know you had it. Your life would go on just the way it would have if Jon hadn't lost his self control."

"It's not his fault," Leigh said.

"Maybe she doesn't want an abortion," Sam put in.

"Does she want a baby?" J.D. retorted. "She's barely eighteen. She doesn't know where she wants to go to college or what she wants to do after."

"I want to marry Jon and have babies," Leigh said. J.D. scowled at Teke. "Some example you've set." Teke didn't answer. She didn't see the relevance of it. She agreed with Sam, both that the pregnancy was a fait accompli and that the ultimate decision on what to do about the baby was Leigh's. They could try to guide her if they felt she was making a mistake, but first they had to know her thoughts. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to get married and have babies," Teke told her now.

"Women work in this day and age," J.D. barked. "Look at Annie."

"Don't look at Annie," Annie warned. "She's been thinking lately that she's done lots of things not so well. Teke's right. There's nothing wrong with wanting to get married and have babies. It's a question of the timing. That's all."

J.D. had his hands on his hips, pushing back his suit jacket. "Well, the timing here stinks."

"Not really," Teke told him. "Leigh could finish the school year, graduate in June, have the baby in August, and start college in September if she wanted."

"What do you want?" Sam asked Leigh, again in that gentle voice. Jon was standing slightly behind Leigh, suddenly taller, Teke thought, and felt a tiny glimmer of hope. "I don't want Leigh to have an abortion," he told J.D." then looked at Sam. "She may have the final say, but it's my baby, too."

"Your baby," J.D. whined. "You're a baby yourself."

"If he were a baby," Sam pointed out, "Leigh wouldn't be pregnant. Go ahead, Jon."

"I want to keep the baby. Okay, so the timing may be wrong, but all we've been talking about for years is getting married. I knew Leigh wanted babies. That

was part of the deal. I was going to support her while she raised our children."

"Support her how?" J.D. asked. "You don't even have a high school diploma."

"I will in June. I can finish college in three years, and when I'm not in school, I can work."

Teke was thinking that no eighteen-year-old should carry a burden like that, when Sam declared, "You're not working your way through school. We're not poor. We can support you and Leigh and a baby, if that's what you want."

For the first time J.D. looked doubtful. He frowned at Leigh. "Is that what you want?"

She nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"I want the baby. I want to marry Jon. I can go part-time to college and leave the baby at day care--"

"No, you won't," Teke said, because things had suddenly gelled. "You'll leave the baby with me. I love babies. Taking care of them is what I do best in the world. Once Michael is back at school, what better will I have to do with my time than caring for my own grandchild?" Annie came to her with tears in her eyes. "Would you do that?"

"In a minute," Teke said, and found herself smiling. "It's really incredible when you think of it. All the times we joked about Leigh and Jon having Popewell kids--well, that time has come. They'll be the most beautiful kids in the world, don't you think?" Annie hugged her hard and long. After Annie it was Leigh, then Jon. By the time Sam took his turn, they were all grinning, all but J.D. Quietly, while the others were talking, Teke went to his side.

"Be happy for them, J.D. It's what they need most."

"They don't know what they're getting into."

"Do they know any less than we did? And they have us, which is more than we had. If we're there to help, they'll do fine. They love each other. They really do. I'm envious." As she said it, she felt a twinge. She had loved J.D. once. Maybe not enough, but she had loved him. Looking at him now, she felt something still, though she guessed it related to a shared history, shared children, even to a fondness for his strong points, so easy to forget in the anger of parting. He frowned. "This isn't how I imagined it would be. I wanted everything to be right for our kids."

"Who's to say this is wrong? It may not be happening exactly as we planned it, but if Leigh and Jon are happy, isn't that right?" He studied her curiously. "You're surprisingly calm. I would have thought you'd be clinging to Annie in a tizzy."

That was what she would have done once, but she had lost the luxury of it the afternoon she'd opened her arms to Sam. "I can't cling to Annie the way I once did. I'm hoping we're friends again, I think we are, but I can't ask her to carry me emotionally the way she always did. I'm on my own more now. Maybe that's good, too."

"Maybe," J.D. said.

"For you, too?"

"Maybe," was all he said before he went to kiss his daughter goodbye. Sam was sprawled on the den sofa that night, lost in unsettling thoughts, when Jon came to the door. "Where's Mom?"

"Upstairs."

The boy wandered in, looking lost and so young

that Sam felt another of the jolts he'd been feeling for hours. Hard to believe his son was going to be a father. His Jon. Little Jon, now six one and a man.

Jon stuck his hands in the back of his jeans. "Thanks for sticking by me today. You didn't have to." He shrugged. "What with the way I've been treating you and all."

The problems Sam had been brooding about-whether to stay in the firm or leave, and if so, where to go to maintain his family's standard of living with an extra two mouths to feed--fell into the background. Winning Jon back put the mechanics of living into perspective. Jon darted him an uneasy glance. "I guess I fucked up even more than you did."

"Not my first choice of words, but, yeah, you fucked up. Did you do it to get back at me?" The timing had certainly been right.

"No. Yes. I guess, maybe. But I'd been wanting to be with Leigh for a while."

Sam remembered the endless hard-ons Annie had caused when they had first met. He could sympathize with Jon. "You should have used a condom and protected Leigh better than you did. But we all make mistakes. I'm not sure yours was worse than mine. We're getting a baby out of the deal."

Jon, so huge and invincible on the football field, looked suddenly pale and panicky. "Shit, I don't know anything about taking care of a baby."

"You'll learn."

"What if I can't study when the baby cries?"

"You'll go into another room and shut the door."

"What if the baby gets sick?"

"You'll take it to the doctor."

"What if I'm in the middle of finals and can't?"

"You will. Or Leigh will. Or Teke. Or Mom. Or me." Jon ran a hand around the back of his neck. "I shake when I think about it."

"Imagine what Leigh's feeling. She's the one who'll be doing the work for the next seven and a half months. It'll be your job to give her moral support."

"How can I do that, if I'm scared to death?"

For a second, studying Jon, Sam wondered if they were making a mistake. He was young, maybe too young to be a father. "You can still reconsider--"

"No, I want the baby, it's just scary, that's all." Sam pushed himself to his feet and put an arm around Jon. "You'll do fine. You love Leigh, and you'll love this baby. You'll grow into the role of father. And you won't be alone. We'll be right there to help you."

"Boy, did I fuck up."

"We all fuck up. What matters is what we do after the fact." Jon shot him a tentative sideways glance. "Is that why you've been hanging around Mom so much?"

"I'm hanging around Mom because I like hanging around her, and I want her to know it."

"Is everything okay between you two now?"

Sam thought about that. Annie was warm and talking. They were sharing things again, for the most part. There were times when she still seemed wary of him, times when she got out of bed a little too fast after they made love, but they had come a long way. "We're getting there. We still have more to work out, but we're moving in the right direction." He invited teasingly, "You could put in a good word for me."

"Sure thing," Jon said, but he looked troubled. Sam gave him a squeeze. "Spill it."

"It's dumb," Jon mumbled.

"Nothing's dumb if it worries you."

"I'm really new to this."

"Jon."

"Sex. Can we do it while she's pregnant?"

The squeeze Sam had given him seemed to boomerang right back to his own heart. Poor Jon. He really was new to this. "I ought to say you can't. You're only seven. But the fact is that there's no physical reason for abstinence, as long as Leigh is comfortable. Any more questions?"

"When do we get married? Where do we live? Will I be there when the baby's being born? What do I do--"

Sam stilled the barrage of questions with a bear hug. He smiled.

"We'll take it one step at a time, okay?"

It took John Stewart three days to learn of Leigh's pregnancy and then one hour to summon Sam to his office.

"You've done it now," he charged the instant Sam walked in. "You've really done it." He slammed a hand against the window at which he was standing. "First Theodora, now Leigh. For God's sake, Sam, indiscriminate rutting must run in the family."

Sam had been anticipating a negative reaction. That didn't make it any easier to stomach. John Stewart looked uncharacteristically ruffled, but that was small solace for the fact that he was berating Sam and his son. "There was nothing indiscriminate about what Leigh and Jon did. They've loved each other for years."

"Didn't you teach him the facts of life? Didn't he have any idea he could make the girl pregnant?"

"He knew there was that possibility. Like most kids his age, he thought he could beat the odds."