Eric by Jody Kaye (e book reader txt) 📖

I swear my life is an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Waking up this morning, my girl was snuggled up next to me. We’re talking about our future, college, and the graduation ceremony in a few hours.

Then BAM! My mother’s pounding on the door. My girlfriend has hidden from me that she’s pregnant…And the kicker?

After some lame excuse about “meaning to tell me” she tries to tag-team helping make the damn bed as if my whole fucking world hasn’t one-eightied. In sixty seconds, I’ve gone from pole position to spin out on the racetrack.

I pulled up the blankets, but when she touched the sheets, I dropped them as far up the mattress as they’d gone, and I strode into the bathroom, locking the door behind me.

I heard her leave and hoped she’d had the sense to walk down the hall, descend the circular stairway, and kept on going out the front door. My silence should have spoken volumes. But where do I find Gin once I’m dressed? In the kitchen, acting as the extra set of hands my mother needs to make breakfast. And the woman—who should have booted Ginny from this house—informs me she’s set up a family meeting so Ginny’s patents didn’t find out via the town gossip network the way she had.

I can’t believe I’m stuck in the den listening to the things coming out of Ginny’s stepfather’s mouth.

Hell, I can’t believe she’s pregnant.

“…couldn’t keep it in your pants…” Alan Adair has yet to use foul language, but the tongue lashing he’s giving me is horrible. He’s the type who stands up for his good name in public. And in private? Well, it’s likely the things he’s saying about my parents right now he’ll use against his wife later on.

I get why Gin never wanted to be alone at her own house. The stories she confided about when his temper flared. I can’t imagine living the rest of my life with someone beating their bible, acting holier than thou in public, and turning into a hypocrite in his own home.

Ginny’s been upfront that the man who thrust his name on her was never her daddy. She’s said everything about our relationship is the same way she recalls seeing it between her own parents before her real father died. At one point, she told me leaving for college was her great escape. And over the last month, I bought into her line that losing me, us giving up on one another and possibly not finding what we have together with anyone else, scared Ginny.

I held her hand, told her I’d drive her to Beaumont when she moved into the dorms and visit her every chance I got.

How stupid was I? I can’t stand even looking at her. How did I get wrangled into this mess?

Her mother cries silently into her lap. It’s obvious Gin’s been crying too, though, I doubt given the way she’s treated me that she gives two shits about anyone’s opinion but her own.

“You think we’re taking responsibility for his bastard, you got another thing coming.” Her stepfather points a menacing finger at my dad. “You all got enough cash, it can be your goddamned job.” Cue the cursing.

Great. Just. Fucking Great.

Then again, what had Ginny expected with this bombshell? It’s not a far stretch to assume most fathers act upset learning their unmarried daughter is having a baby. So how had she reckoned this jerk was bound to react?

“The kids don’t have any funds for years to come. I’m sure we can work this out, find a way to support them together, but in our own ways.” My dad won’t back down.

Us quints know Ross Cavanaugh’s expectations. He was upfront our whole lives. There’s no reprieve. This is not Monopoly. It’s Life. My father doesn’t hand out two-hundred dollars for passing go, let alone a get out of jail free card.

“I’m not giving one red cent to raise this kid. Ginny’s not even my real daughter.” Alan insinuates no connection between himself and the child of the woman he married six years ago. “Y’all live in a mansion for heaven’s sake. Don’t go telling me your kid is broke and can’t live up to his responsibilities.”

“Mr. Adair, it isn’t like we can break a legal trust. None of the quintuplets have access to the money,” Momma interjects. “I don’t think any of us want our children left high and dry considering the circumstances. Eric’s starting full time with the company and Ginny’s off to college in the next few months. What we’re speaking of right now is how best to assist them in the choices they’re faced with.”

My normally level headed mother is attempting to be logical, even though it looks as if her blood pressure is sky high. Momma doesn’t deal well with demanding men and it’s taking everything she’s got to remain a genteel southern lady.

Good luck with that method, Momma. This situation is out of our control. I’m a legal adult and I’m standing here being scolded like a child for something I hadn’t even known I’d done until two hours ago. Ginny took care of birth control so we didn’t have to worry about being caught with our pants down and, hey look! They’re around my ankles anyhow.

“If you think you’re going to college now, missy, you’re wrong. No way. No how. You got yourself into this mess, letting him talk his way between your legs.” Alan glares at Ginny, eyes full of hatred. I almost feel sorry for her until he lashes out in my direction again. “You know what I should do? I should sue for every penny you got coming to you. Ginny’s hardly been eighteen long enough. I could get you for statutory rape.”

What the fuck?

My mother gasps. “This conversation has gone downhill swiftly.”

I’m so pissed. Never once have my parents said an unkind word about Ginny, yet they also haven’t defended me against Mr. Adair’s tirade. It’s as if everyone believes this is all my fault. I’m pretty sure Gin was there or else how did she get pregnant?

I truly look at her for the first time since finding out. Her eyes are full of sorrow as her stepfather threatens more legal action. She’s scared.

I’m scared. 

She’d put me in this position. She made everyone act hateful towards the one person she claimed to love. Me.

What do I know about babies?

I’m so angry with her. How am I supposed to raise a kid with Gin if I fucking hate her?

“Do you have nothing to say for yourself, boy?”

My tongue is bleeding between my clenched teeth, I have so much to say. None of it is nice. However, Ginny beats me to it.

“I stopped taking my pills,” she admits. An eerie silence fills the room when it becomes obvious the whole situation is her fault. “I’m taking the blame. It won’t fix what’s happened. But Eric deserves honesty. It’s his reputation I ruined, not the other way around.”

“The pill?” her mother, Diana, utters the words as if her daughter taking birth control is shameful.

“Where did you get something like that?” Mr. Adair spits, striding towards her. “Give me that thing, you liar.” Alan wretches Ginny’s arm forward and pulls a simple gold band with a CZ fleck on it off her finger, shoving the ring in his pocket. “Least I know my flesh and blood wouldn’t do something like this.” He says of his daughter, Keely.

“For the life of me, I do not understand why every parent is so sure a promise ring will work.” My mother rubs her temple, sick of the man’s insinuations, and apparently ready to defend someone. His treatment of Ginny happens to be the first opportunity for the incorrigible Miss Rose Kingsbrier to stop biting her tongue.

I get up and leave. It’s unfathomable my mother is sticking up for my whatever-the-hell-she-is. Having had enough herself, Ginny runs after me out of the study and down the hall.

“Don’t you step foot back in my house, you hear?” Adair yells after her.

“Eric, I’m sorry. It was one time. One month. I was scared and made a mistake. I don’t know what I was thinking,” she calls as I step into the light of the open foyer.

“You weren’t thinking, Ginny!” I turn and roar back at her. My voice echoes against the two-story walls and reverberates into my soul. “I don’t want this. We had a plan and it’s ruined. How am I supposed to trust you? You did this on purpose? Is it like he said, do you think all of this is yours now?” I wave a hand at the grand surroundings of my mother’s house and the things I’ve been instructed to never take for granted. Ginny was the one person I never thought I’d have to defend against on account of my family’s money.

“It was never about what you have, Eric. It was who you are.”

A shoulder pushes past her with a shove. “Don’t be thinking we’re showing our faces at the graduation ceremony this afternoon.” Mr. Adair informs his wife, treating Ginny as if she’s a ghost.

Mrs. Adair shoots a crestfallen glance in her daughter’s direction. “I’ll make sure you get the rest of your things,” Diana says, heartbroken.

Even with the kindness in her tone, Ginny understands her mother has taken sides. She closes her eyes, letting tears fall down her cheeks. I wipe mine away on my sleeve. When she opens them, I’m gone and Ginny’s all alone. If I feel this way, then she should too.

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5

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Brier and Daveigh are sitting in the sunroom off of the kitchen listening to Daddy’s baritone voice in the hallway. “Did you eat?”

“Yes, sir.” Ginny chokes out.

I cock my head, wondering why she’s upset. Though, I don’t care enough to investigate.

“Okay then, Rose’s figurin’ where to put you for the interim.”

Daveigh bites her lip, her expression betraying her naiveté before her mouth opens. She leans toward our sister and whispers, “Everyone will be talking about this at graduation. What are we supposed to say?”

“Grow up, Daveigh,” Brier responds bitterly. 

“Say about what?” I scare the bejesus out of them by sneaking up. Not the smartest idea since I’ve been sleeping off a hangover this morning and my sisters scream and throw decorative pillows at me. My head throbs. I need pain killers or more booze. Or the gross egg thing Colton swears by. I slump down in an oversized chair, holding my brain inside my skull.

“Drew’s been ‘round lookin’ for ya,” Brier says at the same time Daveigh remarks loud enough for anyone on the first floor to hear, “How could you sleep through it? Ginny’s pregnant!”

I bolted upright as if the F-word flew out of ultra-conservative Daveigh’s mouth.

Mortified our sister couldn’t be the least bit discrete, Brier covers her eyes. All the while, I’m sure she’s thanking her lucky stars for our sister’s inexperience. Daveigh’s behavior and inability to act like an adult serves Brier’s purpose. Even if a baby seems like a one-way ticket on a roller coaster to hell, by letting Daveigh make a huge deal over Ginny’s pregnancy, Brier’s actions are less scrutinized. So are mine.

“Drew?” I ask, pretending to be unimpressed.