The Unexpected Series (Unexpected #1-3) (6 page)

They play a lot of songs that I hear back home and when Usher’s
Yeah
comes on I find my rhythm and close my eyes, enjoying the beat. Large hands grasp my hips and I have a flashback of Walker. Thinking back to our encounter on the dance floor, I am turned on and hoping to find his emerald eyes staring back at me when I open mine. I’m instantly disappointed. To say he is older would be an understatement. With white hair, blue eyes and large framed glasses, he is probably sixty five or seventy. A denture smile breaks out across his face, and I try my hardest not to laugh. Not wanting to be rude I oblige him with a dance, but once the song is over, I excuse myself to the bathroom and take off towards the bar, desperate for another drink.

A hysterically laughing Noelle beats me there, ordering for both of us. “Did you have fun, Er?”

“Stop it. He was sweet and think of it this way: he can go tell all his friends at the senior home that he danced with a hot piece of ass!” I giggle but bend at the waist as a sharp pain invades my stomach. “Noe, I think we should go. I don’t feel so good.”

“Oh, come on, Erin. He won’t bother you again. You don’t have to make an excuse to leave.”

Another sharp pain hits me and I take off towards the door and practically run to our room with Noelle right behind me. I make it to the bathroom just in time to empty the contents of my stomach into the toilet.

“Jesus Christ, Erin! Are you okay?” Noelle asks with concern in her voice.

“I’m gonna die!” I say between dry heaves. “I shouldn’t have eaten that shrimp. I knew it looked sketchy.”

It’s only been twelve hours on our trip and my body decides to reject the first and only solid thing I have eaten. My stomach tightens and with only the lining left to puke up, I start crying.

“Oh, baby. It’s okay. It’ll be over soon,” Noelle soothes. “It’s probably just food poisoning. Let me help you into the shower.” She tries to comfort me by rubbing my back and pulling my hair to the side.

I allow her to help me up and strip me down the moment I feel the nausea has passed, and she throws me into a hot shower as she sits on the edge of the sink. The steam helps me to breathe right again, and I drop my head so that the water cascades down my back. It feels heavenly on my body after just going through thirty minutes of hell.

“You okay in there?” She asks and I grunt a yes. “Good. I know you hate throwing up. Just imagine when you finally meet prince charming and get pregnant. My cousin had morning sickness throughout her entire pregnancy. She couldn’t eat a damn thing.”

As her words seep into my foggy brain, I snap my head up trying to do the math.
Come on Erin, you’re a math teacher for Christ’s sake
. Hastily I jump out of the shower to go locate my phone inside my purse. What feels like arctic temperatures meet my heated body on the other side of the bathroom door.

“What the hell are you doing?” Noelle’s shocked voice yells at my bare form racing past her.

My mind is whirling at the thought that I messed up.
It can’t be. It’s just not possible.
Putting in my security code and tapping on the app, one look at my phone’s calendar tells me it is. Drops of water drip from my hair and fall onto my phone as reality comes crashing down. They begin to mingle with my tears as I look at Noelle's confused expression.

“You need to sit down, Erin. You just threw up all of that retched food and ran out of the shower like the room was on fire.” She retreats back into the bathroom.

“Oh my God,” I say, barely audible.

“What, Erin? What’s ‘Oh my God’?” Bringing a towel in from the bathroom, she makes her way back to me sounding annoyed.

“Oh my God!” I say, much louder this time. Dropping the phone onto the floor I can’t take my eyes off of Noelle. “I’m two weeks late, Noe. TWO WEEKS!”

Her face falls when she finally realizes what I am saying.

“What? No. Erin, NO! That cheating, lying, ignorant asshole knocked you up?” She rushes to me with the towel, wrapping it around my body and hugging me as I crumble to the floor.

Thoughts race through my mind quicker than I can process them. Remembering back to the day after school was out; I come to the stark realization that it can’t be Robert’s baby. “No, not him. Walker, the guy from the club. It’s Walker’s.”

A
lthough physically I was present for the rest of our vacation, my mind was in a different place. The first few days after I found out I was late were filled with trips to the store buying test after test, but I’d spent the last few watching Noelle drink enough for the two of us as I sat by the pool trying to figure out what to do next.

Searching my memory of that night I try to recollect if he used protection or not. Of course, it won’t do me any good. What’s done is done and a life has been created. Daydreaming about the way his hands felt on my body isn’t helping me see clearly either. The way he instantly transformed me into an outgoing lover, encouraging me to take control and how my body felt on top of him. I lick my lips and squirm in my chair just thinking about how he felt moving underneath me...moving inside me. I find myself wishing, for more reason than one, that I could see him again.

The entire plane ride back to Illinois I am silent. Home will bring a reality that I don’t think I am prepared to face. Noelle knows I need to get it together before we touch down. I am having a hard time believing that I left the state single and carefree and now I am coming back pregnant, with a man’s child whose last name I don’t even know, and the dreaded task of telling my family. Though I’m thankful the baby isn’t Robert’s, it would be easier to deal with than admitting to everyone I had a one-night stand with someone I can’t seem to contact. It’s not for lack of trying. My numerous calls from Mexico to the hotel he was staying at were met with dead ends in light of the fact that they refused to give out guest information. The bar manager tried to help, even though he warned it was illegal to give out personal info of customers, but he still found no credit card receipts with the first name Walker. I just needed his last name and maybe I could track him down. Noelle and I even went as far as using the business center’s computer to scour Facebook for hours in search of any guy named Walker that was residing in Illinois, if that is even where he is from.

Dropping my bag at the front door and earning a huff from Noelle, I race to the bathroom to take the test I forced her to stop at the drug store for. I know it won’t change the result, and that thinking maybe an international pregnancy test could be wrong is dense, but for my sanity, I have to do it anyway. Three tense minutes later, my heart sinks again as two lines pop up, and I’m left slumped down on the floor with thoughts of single parenthood racing through my mind. When my cell rings I crawl over to the vanity, reaching up not caring to see who it is.

Before I can finish saying hello my mother’s cheerful tone fills my ears. “Erin! You’re home! I’m so happy to hear your voice. How was your trip? Was it fun? You’ll have to tell me all about it when you come over tonight. Even Trent and Jason are coming over.”

Crap! Dragging my hands down my face, I realize I forgot about going over there for dinner tonight. With my family’s busy lives, it’s hard to get us all nailed down to one gathering. Knowing there isn’t a chance in hell I can cancel on her, I reassure her I would see them all tonight and share all the beautiful details of the trip along with pictures. It’s going to be tough to keep the baby a secret until I see a doctor. As if the ten pregnancy tests weren’t verification enough the doctor’s tests should do it.

Hoping to cleanse away the awful mood I am in so I don’t alarm anyone, I take a warm bath closing my eyes and letting my body relax. Washing with pear scented body scrub, I stop when my hands come to rest on my stomach, tears break through the barrier of my lids. To my surprise, I speak to my little one for the first time. “We’ll be okay. We’ll make it through. I promise.” And I know we will.

~~

M
y mom lives in Buffalo Grove, a city in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, in the same house I was brought home to when I was born. The three bedroom ranch house sits in a quiet middle class neighborhood. The beautiful park diagonally across the street brings back memories of countless carefree childhood days, long lost and of running around the lake in high school. The driveway is full with my sibling’s cars, forcing me to park on the street and walk up the sidewalk. Over the past year, every time I walk up the three steps leading to the door, I am saddened that my father isn’t behind the glass with his megawatt smile and welcoming kiss to the cheek. Instead, I’m cheerfully greeted by my six feet two brother and his mini me.

“Erin, nice of you to join us finally,” Trent says wrapping me in a hug. One year old Jason takes the opportunity to latch onto my hair and pull himself into my arms.

“Hey, Trent! And how is my handsome fella?” I ask when Jason grabs me around my neck making a face at the taste of my hair.

Screams of my name explode in the house when my sister’s kids come barreling down the hall, knocking me down and pinning me to the floor.

“Auntie Erin!” My seven year old niece Marie excitedly yells into my ear. “Guess what! Nick threw up all over mommy and she said ‘shit’.”

“Marie! Don’t say ‘shit’,” Nicole scolds from the kitchen. Giggling, I pull all the kids off me, give them each their own bear hug and send them back to the basement to play.

The short walk from the front entrance to the kitchen is filled with pictures of all three of us as kids growing up and now yearly pictures of all five, soon to be six, grandkids. A hint of a smile breaks out when I think about having my little bean’s picture up there soon. The unexpected notion shocks me.

The moment my foot hits the kitchen threshold the smell of chicken invades my senses and a wave of queasiness comes over me. Both women twist around just in time to see me cover my mouth and turn to run to the bathroom. I am met with a hard as stone chest when Trent grabs my arms stopping me. “Where ya goin’ so fast, sis?”

Fighting back the bile rising in my throat, I run around him to the bathroom, slamming the door and barely making it to the toilet to void the four crackers I ate on the way here.

My sister’s tiny fists begin to beat on the door just as the dry heaves begin. “Open the door, Erin! Are you okay?”

“Go away!” I bellow, trying to catch my breath.

The door flies open anyway, and Nicole, who looks to be just an older version of myself, bends down feeling my forehead. “Are you sick? You don’t feel warm.”

“What’s going on?” I hear my mother’s anxious voice say from behind us.

“Nothing. Just give me a minute, please.” Reaching for some toilet paper, I wipe the excess saltines away.

Everyone clears out of the bathroom and the looks on their faces tell me they don’t believe that it’s nothing. They shouldn’t. I don’t think I’ll be able to hide it any longer since there is no way I can eat that chicken, or even be anywhere near the smell.

I splash some water on my face and swish some in my mouth hoping to get the wretched smell off my breath and pull my hair back into a ponytail. As I open the door, ready to try to lie to everyone, my mom is standing there crying.

“You’re pregnant,” she surmises. Not able to say it to her out loud, I just nod, giving her the opportunity to continue. “What does this mean for you and Robert? You aren’t going to take him back after what he did, are you?” She asks quietly looking around to make sure no one can hear us.

“It doesn’t mean anything, Mom. There is no reason to get him involved.” Nerves begin to shake my body knowing I’m going to have to tell her what I did and soon. I was hoping to break it to her after I figure out the best way how. But I guess there is no time like the present.

“What do you mean, Erin? Are you not going to tell him?” Alarm is evident from her expression.

“There isn’t a need to.” I can’t figure out why I’m stalling. Air whooshes out of my lungs pushing the truth out just as fast. “The baby isn’t Robert’s, Mom.” My eyes stare at the floor, no longer able to look at her puzzled expression any longer.

“I’m not sure I understand, baby.”

Lifting my head back up, I take another deep breath. “About six weeks ago Noelle and I went out to a bar. I just wanted to forget about what Robert did and I met a guy named Walker there. We slept together. I know it was wrong, and you always say to love the person you give yourself to, but I wasn’t thinking, Mom. I just wanted to let go and forget myself for just one night. That’s all. Just one night.”

“Erin, baby, I would never judge you. Lord knows I had my fair share of indiscretions before I met your father.” The warmth of her arms surrounds me in the narrow hallway. “So, have you told this, this Walker? What did he say?”

This is it; the point where the judgment comes in and disappointment takes over. “No, I haven’t told him. I can’t. I don’t know his last name or even have his phone number. We went back to his hotel and I left the next morning. I’m sure he is from out of town. I’ve tried searching for him, but I can’t find him. And even if he wanted to come and find me I didn’t give him my real name.”