Danielle Steel - Family Ties

“I don’t know that yet, and neither do you. I just met him. Now let’s eat.” By the end of dinner, they all acted like old friends. Tom had spent a considerable amount of time talking to Paul about the beauty of Iran, and he knew more about it than Paul even remembered-he hadn’t been there since he was in his teens. After that Tom and Ted talked football and law school. And he had a lively conversation with Liz about fashion, and he asked Kate a lot of questions about tattoos, and why she felt it was an important form of graphic art. The only one he hardly talked to was Annie, but he stayed to help clean up the kitchen with her, while she dismissed the others to the living room.

“They’re a terrific bunch,” he said with a warm look at her. “You’ve done a great job.”

“No, they’ve always been who they are. I just tried to teach them to be true to themselves.”

“They are. And you know, Kate makes a hell of a case for tattoos as graphic art.” Annie rolled her eyes at that, and he laughed. And then she turned to him with a warm smile as she loaded the dishwasher.

“Thank you for having dinner with us. I’m very proud of them.”

“They’re a real tribute to you,” he complimented her, as they finished cleaning up, and she thanked him and they went to join the others. The young people insisted on playing charades after that, which they hadn’t done for years. Tom was good at it. And it was after eleven when he got up to leave. He said goodbye to everyone, and Annie walked him out, and he thanked her again for a wonderful evening and reminded her of her promise to have dinner with him. “You agreed,” he reminded her, and she laughed.

“I’d love to,” she said warmly. He fit in perfectly. She didn’t know yet if he was a date or a friend, but whatever he was, they had all enjoyed the evening with him, and so had he.

“I’ll call you tomorrow and we’ll figure out what day.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek then, and after that he left. And as she walked back into the room on her crutches, everyone was laughing and talking and smiling at her.

“As the official head of the family,” Ted announced, “I approve. He’s great. He knows everything there is to know about football.”

“And the Middle East,” Paul added.

“He actually knows a fair amount about fashion,” Liz commented, smiling at her aunt.

“And he totally gets it about the social statement of tattoos,” Kate said, smiling.

“I think he snowed all of you,” Annie said, smiling, “but I like him too.”

“You can marry him anytime you want,” Ted added. “I give my consent.”

“Relax,” Annie reminded him, “he’s just a friend.”

“That’s crap, Annie, and you know it,” Kate interrupted. “He looks at you like he wants to kiss you.”

“No, he doesn’t. He just liked all of you.”

“We like him too,” Liz agreed. She’d had such a nice time that she had forgotten the hideous scene with Françoise and Jean-Louis that morning. The evening they’d just spent was simple and wholesome and uncomplicated, right down to the charades. They had all laughed a lot.

Ted took out their old Monopoly board then, and the four young people played until two A.M., and Annie went to bed long before they were finished. But it was easy to see that the evening had been a success. And Paul had fit in too. Annie liked him. And she liked Tom too. And whatever happened, or didn’t, she felt like they could be friends.

Paul and Ted left the apartment after the Monopoly game. Liz decided to spend the night with Kate and Annie, and the two sisters wound up talking in Kate’s bedroom until nearly three. Liz told her what had happened with Jean-Louis. Liz wasn’t too upset, although she admitted she was disappointed in him, and herself: with Jean-Louis for cheating and lying to her, and with herself for picking another loser. She swore she’d never do it again, and Kate hoped for her sake that it was true.

Ted and Paul shared a cab when they left Annie’s, and Paul dropped Ted off at his apartment. It was too late to call Pattie, and he didn’t want to stay there anyway. He had enjoyed the evening with his family and their friends. And he liked sleeping in his own bed for a change. He was sound asleep when Pattie called him the next morning, and it took him a few minutes to wake up and make sense.

“Where were you last night?” She sounded frantic and hurt. “I was worried about you all night.”

“I was with my aunt and sisters and my sister’s boyfriend. We played charades and Monopoly, and it got late,” he said sleepily.

“You could have called.”

“I didn’t want to wake you up.” And besides, he had been having fun and didn’t want to call her.

“I need to see you right away,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Is something wrong?”

She refused to discuss it on the phone, and he said he could be there in about an hour after he got dressed. It wasn’t an emergency, and the kids weren’t hurt. He had breakfast with one of his roommates before he left, and he got to Pattie’s apartment two hours later. He saw that she looked tense and pale. She looked sick.

“What’s up?” He was expecting her to give him hell about the night before. She had a chip on her shoulder about his family and didn’t want him spending time with them. He expected to hear about that but not what she said. What she said next hit him harder than a punch in the solar plexus.

“I’m pregnant.” For a moment he only stared at her, and said not a word. He had no idea what to say. This was a first for him.

“Oh my God,” the words came out of him like a small gasp of air. He was going to ask her how that had happened, but he knew. He had tried to use a condom every time, but sometimes she wouldn’t let him. She said they irritated her, and it felt so much better without them. He had been such a fool. “Shit, Pattie. What are we going to do?” He knew what they had to do, but he had never been in this situation before. He had always been careful, and his ex-girlfriend had been extremely responsible, and on the pill. Pattie had told him right from the beginning that she wasn’t. But he had magically hoped that at her age she wouldn’t get pregnant as easily. Apparently that wasn’t true.

“What do you mean, what are we going to do? Have the baby, of course. Are you kidding? I’m not going to have an abortion at my age. We might never get another chance. Besides, this is our baby, our flesh and blood, the product of our love.” Pattie said it as though it were obvious and she expected him to agree with her.

“No, it’s not,” he said, sounding angry. “It’s a product of our being stupid and sloppy. I was careless, and so were you. That’s not love, Pattie, it’s lust.”

“Are you saying you don’t love me?” she said, clinging to him with tears in her eyes. “How can you say something like that to me? I’m carrying our child.”

“What about the morning-after pill?” he asked her. “I hear that really works.” He had heard about it from one of his roommates. He swore by it; he and his girlfriend had used it several times. You had to take it within seventy-two hours of unprotected sex. “How pregnant are you?” he asked.

“I’m three weeks late.” That meant she was five weeks pregnant.

“Why didn’t you say something before now?” He was beginning to think she had done it on purpose, and he felt trapped.

“I thought you’d be happy, Ted,” she said, bursting into tears. “We’d have wanted it sooner or later. What difference does it make if we do it now?”

“Are you kidding? I’m in law school. I have no money and no job. I live off what’s left of an insurance policy my parents left me, and it’s almost gone. My aunt helps me out. How do you think I’m going to support a child, or even take care of one? I’m years away from making a decent living, and you can hardly support the kids you have. What’s our life going to be like with a baby? What will your kids think? I can’t finish law school and support you and a kid. And we’re not even married. This is an accident. A mistake. This isn’t a baby. It’s a disaster. It’s a tragedy for both of us, and it would be for the kid. You have to have an abortion or give it up for adoption,” he said, his face right up against hers. “We have no other choice!”

“Those aren’t options,” she spat back at him. “We can get married. You can get a job. I’m not giving up our baby, and I’m warning you, if you try to make me, I’ll kill the baby and myself!”

“Stop threatening me!” he roared at her with the full measure of his fury and frustration. She was destroying his life. One stupid mistake was going to demolish everything he had struggled for and built. It wasn’t fair.

“I’m having this baby,” she said quietly, suddenly in total control. “You can do whatever you want, but I’m having our child.” He nodded at her. He had gotten the message loud and clear.

“I need to think,” he said just as quietly, and walked out. He slammed the door behind him and ran down the stairs into the cold air.

Upstairs, in the apartment, after he left, Pattie sat on the couch and smiled.

Nobody heard from Ted for the next few days. He didn’t call Pattie or show up at her place. He didn’t take her calls or answer her texts. He never thanked Annie for dinner, which was unusual for him, and it worried her. She knew that he was in a delicate situation with an unstable woman, although she knew nothing of the pregnancy. But Annie didn’t want to hound him, so she waited to hear from him. And finally after three days of total silence, he called his sister Liz. She was surprised to hear his voice, and he sounded terrible. She knew instantly that something was seriously wrong.

“Can I see you for lunch?” he asked her in a hoarse croak. He had been hiding out in his apartment for three days and drinking too much.