Chapter 10: Adult Consequences

Over the summer vacation, Fiona was acknowledged as my official girlfriend, both at home and now at school when we started back a few weeks ago. So much so that she had even started sitting next to me in class. That wasn’t as big a thing as you might think, lots of us were, sort of, pairing off now. Kelly and Moira were causing a bit of a stir as it was becoming known that they were together.

We were in the middle of a boring double maths class. What a way to start a Monday morning, double maths. What sadistic bastard had come up with that schedule on the timetable. God, I was going to be asleep in about two minutes. Kelly had snuck into my room last night and fucked me senseless. At the moment, she is insatiable and taking more risks than she should. Suddenly, Fiona jumped up from her desk and tried to run out of the classroom, causing all sorts of mayhem on the way. She didn’t make it before she threw up all over the floor.

After she had cleaned up and re-joined the class, she became very quiet. The same thing happened on the next two days until Fiona didn’t come into school on Thursday and Friday. She wasn’t answering my phone calls or texts, and Moira wouldn’t say what was going on. In fact, she would hardly speak to me either.

By the middle of the next week, Fiona still hadn’t shown up to school. I’d just had a text from her when Kelly grabbed me during break time.

“You’re in big trouble, bro. Everyone in my class knows?”

Oh shit, how could they! Fiona had only just told me. She was pregnant! I knew I was the dad, she hadn’t been with anyone else. Now before I had even had a chance to tell mum and dad, the whole school seemed to know.

“What do you mean?” I said, trying to brazen it out, even with my sister.

“Moira.”

“What about Moira.”

“She’s pregnant, and it can only be yours.”

“Oh fuck, nooooooo.” I wailed.

“Hey bro, it’s not that bad nowadays. Not such a big deal. We can sort things out. Mum and dad will go spare for a while but will calm down eventually, you know that.” Then Kelly saw the look on my face.

“Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck,” I kept muttering under my breath.

“What’s up, what you’ve done now?”

“Fiona.”

“What about Fiona?”

“Didn’t you hear about her throwing up every morning in class last week?” The realisation of what I’d said slowly dawned on Kelly.

“Oh my God, no! Fiona’s pregnant as well isn’t she. Oh fuck, Simon, you don’t do things by half, do you? You’ve only gone and got two sisters pregnant at the same time! That must be a record even for this school.”

I’d just finished telling mum and dad that Fiona was pregnant. Kelly was sitting by my side, offering her support. Dad looked stunned, I could see from mum’s look she was thinking, thank God it’s not Kelly. When the front doorbell began to ring incessantly. If you could say a bell was ringing angrily, this one was. Without even opening the door, I knew who was there.

“Where is he? Where’s the dirty Sassenach bastard that’s gone and got my wee bairns pregnant.” Mr Kerr was shouting from the hallway as he tried to force his way into the house.

Dad managed to calm him down before bringing him into the living room. The thing is you wouldn’t want to mess with dad, and as angry as he was, Mr Kerr realised that. I’d still got that to come.

Mr Kerr took one look at me and hit the roof again, shouting all sorts of threats and what he was going to do to me.”

“Shut up, and sit down!” Everyone was stunned as Kelly shouted out.

“Why is it his fault? Why is it Simon’s fault that Fiona and Moira are pregnant?”

“Moira?” Mum exclaimed in horror. “You mean Fiona.”

“No, mum! Super-stud here has got both of them pregnant.”

“Aye, the dirty little sh...”

“I told you to shut up.” Kelly again burst out. I think that although she is still only sixteen but was strong enough to take control of the situation made everyone shut up and listen. They were all so shocked at her outburst.

“Why is it Simon’s fault? Why is it always the boy that gets a girl into trouble? It takes two to make a baby, you know. And as far as I know, he didn’t force either of them into having sex. They both knew about the other as well. Fiona is in love with him. If you looked at her social media profiles, you’d see she is ‘in a relationship and in love.’ And Simon has endorsed that. Believe me, he’s taken some stick at school for that as well. Before that, Moira was his first lover, they were both each other’s firsts.” Not exactly true, but I wasn’t going to argue with her.

Mum looked at me, and I nodded. Kelly was in full flow and continued unabated.

“For ages, we women have demanded equality. That means we should also take responsibility for our actions. Fiona and Moira should have made sure they didn’t get pregnant. I have.”

Now it was dad’s turn to look shocked.

“You can’t trust a boy to pull out, even if he promises to. So use a bloody condom! They give them away in school for God’s sake. Or get on the pill. Both your ‘wee bairns’ knew what they were doing. Simon didn’t force them. In fact, Moira is more than happy with him in bed.”

Now everyone was looking shocked. I thought, Kelly, you’ve blown it now.

“How do I know? Moira told me when we were in bed together. I think you call it pillow talk. You know so much about your ‘wee bairns’ that you couldn’t see that Moira is in a lesbian relationship with me!”

Well done, Kelly! That’s the way to come out of the closet to mum and dad.

“Look Mr Kerr, Simon loves Fiona. He was devastated when she was thinking of breaking up with him a while ago. Here look, that’s him crying his heart out after she’d told him.” Kelly had got her phone out and showed everyone a picture she must have taken. I’m sitting on the floor, and it’s plain to see I’m crying for some reason. “Mr Kerr, he’ll do right by her, don’t worry, and Moira as well. We’ll all stand by them.”

The force and passion of Kelly’s speech made everyone take stock and calm down. Mr Kerr still wanted my guts but had managed to see sense. Over time tempers cooled and the tension eased between us all. A compromise was reached that I would only go around to see Fiona and Moira when Mr Kerr was out.

Kelly still had a lot of explaining to mum and dad about her own declared sexuality, and I paid the price with her for that.

Damn, it’s hard being a teenager.

Nine months later and Fiona has just gone into the delivery room. I’m there as well, but I’m scared to death. I’m sure Fiona feels the same. She looks terrified.

Fortunately, Fiona has a reasonable time of things. There’s lots of shouting and screaming and panting, and Fiona is gripping my hand that tight I think she will crush it. The midwife and doctors are repeatedly telling Fiona she’s doing great and to breathe and push.

After a while, things go silent, Fiona sighs, and there’s the cry of a new-born baby.

“It’s a girl. You’ve got a lovely little girl. Do you want to cut the cord?”

The last thing in the world I wanted to do is cut the cord. But, with the help of a nurse, that’s what I did.

“Do you want to hold her?”

I had no choice as she was handed to me. I didn’t know what to do or say. Or how to hold her. I’m sure I almost dropped her. There she was, in my arms, my firstborn child. A beautiful little daughter! Her eyes opened, and she looked up at me, and my heart broke. She was perfect, beautiful in every way. I rubbed her under the chin, and her tiny hand stretched out, and her fingers tried to wrap around mine. I knew I had to protect her from now on. Suddenly, I realised why Mr Kerr had been ready to kill me. In a few years, if any boy came sniffing around, then he was going to be in big trouble.

In a daze, I walked to Fiona and handed her our little girl. The beautiful life we had created together, even if we hadn’t meant to.

“Do you have a name for her yet?” The nurse asked us quietly. I looked at Fiona, we hadn’t even thought about things like that.

“Paige. Paige Hope,” I said suddenly. She was our little page of hope going forward.

Fiona burst into tears of joy when I explained my meaning for the names to her.

The next day Fiona and I are sitting in the maternity ward, Paige is sleeping in her cot. Suddenly a girl is rushed in, it’s Moira, and she’s just gone into labour. She’s quickly followed by a panicking and breathless Kelly.

“Oh, thank God you’re here. I’ve been trying to phone you all morning,” she gasped.

A nurse and doctor came bustling in after them. They looked at Kelly, who was holding Moira’s hand, then at me.

“Is the father here? Is he coming into the delivery room? We can’t wait, her waters have already broken.”

“Can two of us go in?” Kelly asked.

“It’s not usual, not really, no. It’s either the father or partner. Or in this girl’s case, a parent.”

“Look, she’s young. He’s the dad, and I’m her girlfriend.” You could see the unbelieving look on everyone’s faces. “Her mum and dad are on their way. Her dad was working away, he’s on a flight at the moment.”

“But, he’s the father to this little one,” a nurse said, indicating Paige.

“It’s complicated, but he’s the dad to both. The two girls are sisters, and my brother here has managed to get them both pregnant at the same time. But Moira is also my girlfriend.

The look on the faces of all the expectant mothers and nursing staff was one of disbelief. I didn’t believe it, and I knew it was true.

Moira gave a gasp, and the next thing I can remember is being gowned again up and standing next to Kelly as Moira gave birth to a little boy. When I was asked to cut the cord, I got hold of Kelly’s hand, and we did it together.

Back in the ward, the nurses were trying to transfer both Fiona and Moira to a private sideward, much to Fiona’s annoyance. The nurses, saying that as both Fiona and Moira were so young, it gave them more privacy. Fiona was sticking up for herself and saying they wanted to stay in the main-ward so they could chat and learn things from the other mums. In the end, they remained in the main-ward.