Chapter 6

Oh, she was in trouble. Big trouble with Mom and Dad. The breakfast table was anything but a happy place on Sunday morning. First it was Melody wanting to know just what went on last night, and then not letting Stephanie tell her. And then John threatened to take the boy to court, but Stephanie said she would never let him do that. That was actually a great tactic on Steph's part, except she had no idea what she had done. What transpired was that Melody, John and Sue-Ellyn got into a debate about whether Stephanie could prevent her father from charging the boy with something. The debate lasted almost two hours and the three debaters finally got up from the table and walked off in separate directions, leaving Stephanie by herself. So Stephanie got off with a scolding from her mother and a great diversionary response to her dad.

She knew she was grounded for at least a week, although no one ever brought the subject up again. She did find time to write Kyle, since his letters were still arriving every day. She had not given much thought to their relationship, and after last weekend, she wasn't sure if they even had a relationship any longer. Friday night came and went with Stephanie in her room doing her homework. Saturday was a real drag, and her self imposed exile was beginning to make her grumpy. She knew what she wanted and needed, but ended up having to rely on herself to provide the emotional satisfaction. Oh well, she thought, maybe next week. Except that sometime next week her period would be starting, and she had no idea what boys thought about having sex then. She tossed an idea around in her head about asking one of the other girls that she knew to be sexually active but decided it would be too embarrassing for her to ask that. The week flew by but she still didn't know what to do. She did not have a date so she agreed to go to the football game with one of her girl friends.

Several people sitting around them at the game asked about Kyle, but she had nothing to tell them. The best she could offer was that he was doing well and currently on a survival mission somewhere. To some of her friends, that sounded quite exciting, but Stephanie just shrugged and said "no thanks." To her, it seemed boring and trite, almost childlike. It was getting late, and she still had no answer to her question. If she was going to go out tomorrow, she needed to know what to expect, if anything. On the way out of the game, she saw one of her teachers from last year.

She ran to her and asked if they could talk for a minute.

"Sure, Stephanie. What's up?"

"I have a question that's kind of embarrassing to ask, and probably to answer too."

"Go ahead. Ask away. I won't get embarrassed and I won't embarrass you."

"It's about having sex. Do guys mind doing it if your having you're period?"

"I know a very simple answer."

"What is it? Tell me please."

"Okay. That's why God invented blow jobs. One of those will tide him over until next weekend."

Stephanie understood the message and resigned herself to another boring weekend. Oh well, mid-terms were coming up starting next week so she could spend the time studying for them. Stephanie was a good student. She studied hard, read every book on the reading list, did extra work for more credit and was generally among the top two or three students in each of her classes.

Wednesday was the first of her six tests, but it was in Advanced Calculus, a class that she thoroughly enjoyed. Thursday's test was Physics, one of her least favorite subjects. When she awoke Thursday morning, she felt queasy, but dismissed it as nerves about her test. By noon, when the test was over, she was feeling much better. But Friday morning was more of the same, only this time she actually threw up, once on the way to school, and again as she was walking to her classroom. She thought about skipping the mid-term, but knew that this particular teacher hated make up tests. She went into the classroom, found her seat, and took the test without further difficulty.

Saturday morning Stephanie awoke to the sounds of her stomach growling, recognized the feeling and went straight to the toilet. Unable to move, she spent the next hour with her head over the bowl until she knew there was nothing left in her stomach. Why was she so sick all of a sudden?

Finally her sister came in to see why she had not come down for breakfast. Seeing Stephanie draped across the toilet bowl, Sue-Ellyn was startled. "What's the matter, Stephanie? Are you alright?"

"I don't know, Sue-Ellyn. I'm so sick. Every morning I get up and then I throw up for the next two hours. I don't know what the matter with me is."

Of course, Sue-Ellyn not being the brightest bulb in the pack blurted out, "Well, maybe you're pregnant."

"Not much chance..." Stephanie started to deny it but then stopped in mid sentence. She was supposed to have started her period a week ago. She was a week late, and she was throwing up every day. First panic, then denial, and then anger; she went from one emotion to the next in milliseconds as she considered the possibility. She did not know what to do! She settled on shear panic.

Finally she answered her sister, "I doubt that, Sue-Ellyn." She tried to shrug off the thought, but Sue-Ellyn had seen her reaction, and knew something was the matter. As quickly as she could, Stephanie got dressed and told her mother she was heading downtown to the drug store. Thirty minutes and twenty four dollars later, Stephanie had tried three times. All three indicators had turned out blue, with a plus sign and a "YES" in little letters below it. Stephanie sat in her car and cried. Wiping away the tears, she managed to drive home again, but that was as far as she got until tears poured like a thunderstorm from her eyes.

Melody and Sue-Ellyn were talking when they saw Stephanie drive up the driveway. They could see her still sitting in the car.

"What's the matter with Stephanie?" Melody asked.

"She's pregnant, I think," Sue-Ellyn replied.

"Pregnant?" Melody screamed.

"I think that's why she went to the drug store--to get one of those testers. She has been throwing up every morning this week I guess."

"Pregnant?" Melody said again, to no one in particular. "It can't be. She can't be. Why in the world would she get herself pregnant?"

Eventually Stephanie stopped crying and made her way to the house. One look at her mother's face told her that she already knew the bad news.

"Stephanie," her mother began, in a voice that dripped of criticism. "How in..."

At which time Stephanie burst into tears again.

"How many weeks?" her mother asked.

"I don't know. Two, I guess."

"We need to get you to the doctor. Maybe there is something he can do."

He gave them several options, but not the one they wanted to hear. There was nothing he could do about her pregnancy other than monitor the development of her child.

They decided they would wait for her father to return from an international business trip. Then they would discuss it calmly and make a decision. In the interim, Melody instructed both of her children to tell no one about this. When John returned, Melody said they needed to have a family meeting after dinner, but gave no clue as to the topic. An hour later, they were all in the living room, seated in such a way that they could each look at the other three people easily.

"Well, what is it?" John asked.

No one said anything at first. Stephanie looked at her mother, but Melody felt it was Stephanie's mess. She should be the bearer of the bad news of her own making.

Finally, after a long silence Stephanie said, "Daddy, I'm pregnant."

John said nothing for a long time and then responded quietly. "Sure, welcome home Daddy, we missed you. Hi how are you. Those kinds of phrases from my children would be great. But "Daddy I'm pregnant" does absolutely nothing for me. How about, April Fools, Daddy? Something like that? Do I hear that? No! All I get is Daddy, I'm pregnant. What the hell is this???"

No one dared to speak.

The tremor in his voice was rising as was the volume.

"What do you mean you're pregnant? How the hell can that be? Kyle has been in the military for months."

"It's not Kyle's. We never had sex."

"Then who in the hell is it?"

"His name is Tyler something. He is the guy I went out with two weeks ago."

"Tyler something? You don't even know his last name but you let him fuck you and knock you up? Stephanie, I don't understand this. You dated Kyle for three years. You say that you never had sex with him but you let some stranger into your pants the first night. I thought you were in love with Kyle. What's gotten into you?"