“Who? …stop that! I can't hear! Who is it?”

“It's me, Mom,” Maribeth said a little louder. “Maribeth. I wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Oh my God!” she said, and burst instantly into tears. “Your father will kill me.”

“I just wanted to say hi, Mom.” She suddenly wanted to touch her and hold her and hug her. She hadn't realized until then how much she had missed her. “I miss you, Mom.” Tears swam in her eyes, and Margaret Robertson almost keened as she listened.

“Are you all right?” she asked in an undervoice, hoping that no one would hear her. “Have you had it yet?”

“Not for another month.” But as she answered, there was a sudden outburst at the other end, an argument, and the phone was wrenched from her mothers hand, and a sharp voice came over the line clearly.

“Who is this?” he barked. He could tell from his wife's tears who was calling.

“Hi, Daddy. I just wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.” Her hand trembled violently, but she tried to sound normal.

“Is it over? You know what I mean?” He sounded merciless and brutal as she fought back tears.

“Not yet … I just … I wanted to …”

“I told you not to call here until it's over. Come home when you've taken care of everything and gotten rid of it. And don't call us until then. Do you hear?”

“I hear, I …Daddy, please …” She could hear her mother crying in the background, and she thought she heard Noelle shrieking at him, telling him he couldn't do that, but he did, and as Maribeth cried, he put down the receiver, and the operator came back on the line and asked if she was finished.

She was crying too hard to even answer her. She just put down the phone, and sat there, looking like a lost child, and sobbing. Tommy came back into the room and was horrified to see the state she was in. “What happened?”

“He wouldn't …let me …talk to Mom …” she sobbed, “and he told me not to call again until I'd 'gotten rid of it.' He …I …” She couldn't even tell him what she was feeling, but it was easy to see. And she was still upset when his parents came home half an hour later. He had made her lie down, because she was crying so hard, he thought she'd have the baby.

“What happened?” his mother asked, looking concerned when he told her.

“She called her parents, and her father hung up on her. I guess she was talking to her mom, and he grabbed the phone, and told her not to call them again until after she'd given up the baby. They sound awful, Mom. How can she go back there?”

“I don't know,” Liz said, looking worried. “He certainly doesn't sound like much of a father. But she seems to be very attached to her mom …it'll only be till June …” But Liz had a very clear picture that it was going to be rough on Maribeth when she went back to her parents.

She walked quietly into Annie's room, and sat down on the bed next to Maribeth, who was still crying.

“You can't let him upset you like that,” she said calmly, holding Maribeth's hand in her own, and gently stroking her fingers, just as she had Annie's. “It's not good for you, or the baby.”

“Why does he have to be so mean? Why can't he at least let me talk to Noelle and Mom?” She didn't care if she didn't talk to Ryan, he was just like their father.

“He thinks he's protecting them from your mistakes. He doesn't understand. He's probably embarrassed by what happened.”

“So am I. That doesn't change how I feel about them.”

“I don't think he understands that. You're a lucky girl, you have a fine mind, and a big heart. You have a future, Maribeth. He doesn't.”

“What future do I have? Everyone in town will always talk about what happened. They'll know. Even though I went away, people will talk, someone will tell them. And they'll hate me. Guys will think I'm easy, girls will think I'm cheap. My dad'll never let me go to college when I finish school. He'll try and make me work for him at the shop, or stay home and help my mom, and I'll get buried just like she did.”

“You don't have to,” Liz said quietly. “You don't have to do anything the way she did. And you know who you are. You know you're not easy or cheap. You'll finish school and then decide what you want …and you'll do it.”

“He won't let me talk to them again. I'll never be able to talk to my mom again.” She began sobbing again, like a small child, and Liz held her in her arms and hugged her. It was all she could do, just be there for her. It broke her heart to see this wonderful girl go back to those miserable people. She could see now why Tommy wanted to marry her. It was all he could think of doing to help her. Liz wanted to just keep her there, and keep her safe from them. But on the other hand, they were her family, and Liz knew that in her own way she missed them. Maribeth always talked about going home after the baby. She may not have known what she should do, but she always wanted to see them.

“He'll be better once you're home,” Liz said, trying to encourage her, but Maribeth only shook her head and blew her nose in Liz's hankie.

“No he won't. He'll be worse. He'll remind me of it all the time, just like he does my aunts. He always makes comments about how they had to get married, and they get all embarrassed. Or at least one of them does. She used to cry all the time. The other one told him off, and told him her husband would beat him up if he ever mentioned it again. And actually, he doesn't say anything about her now.”

“Maybe there's a lesson to be learned,” Liz said, thinking about it. “Maybe you need to make it clear that you won't take it.” But she was a sixteen-year-old girl. How could she stand up to her father? It was just lucky for her she had found the Whittakers. Without them, she'd have been completely alone and having this baby.

Liz helped her get up again after a little while, and made her a cup of tea, while the two men talked quietly and sat in front of the fire. And eventually, they went to the movie anyway, and Maribeth was in better spirits by the time they came back. No one mentioned her parents again, and when they got home, they all went to bed early.

“I feel so sorry for her,” Liz said to John, once they were in bed. They were friendlier again, and they talked more openly about things now. There wasn't the same deafening silence in their bedroom.

“Tommy feels sorry for her too,” he said. “It's a damn shame she got pregnant.” That much was obvious, but Liz was just as upset about her parents.

“I hate to see her go home to them, and yet in a funny way she wants to.”

“They're all she's got. And she's very young. But it won't last. She wants to go to college, and her father can't handle it.”

“He sounds like a real tyrant. But he gets away with it. Maybe if someone talked to him …” Liz said pensively. “She needs a way out, an alternative, so if things don't work out there, she has somewhere else to go to.”

“I don't want her marrying Tommy,” he said firmly. “At least not yet. They're too young, and she's made a big mistake and needs to get over it. It's too much for him to take on now, even though he wants to.”

“I know that,” she snapped at John. Sometimes he still annoyed her. Neither of them wanted Tommy married now, but she wasn't prepared to abandon Maribeth either. She had crossed their path for a reason, and she was a remarkable girl. Liz was not going to turn her back on her, or fail to help her.

“I think you ought to stay out of it. She'll have the baby, and go home to them. If she has a problem, she can always call us. I'm sure Tommy will stay in touch with her. He's crazy about the girl. He's not going to just forget her the minute she leaves here.” Even though the distance between their homes would provide something of a challenge for them to continue their romance.

“I want to talk to them,” Liz said, suddenly looking at him, and he shook his head. “I mean her parents.”

“Don't meddle in their affairs”

“They're not 'their' affairs, they're hers. Those people have left her to solve her own problems at a time when she really needs them. They've left her completely to her own devices. As I see it, they've lost their right to dictate the terms, based on their failure to support her.”

“They may not see it that way.” He smiled, sometimes he loved the way she got involved, and cared so much about everything, and sometimes she drove him crazy. She hadn't cared about anything in a long time, and he was glad in a way that Maribeth had sparked that in her again. She had sparked a lot of things, in all of them. In some ways, he felt fatherly toward her. “Let me know what you decide,” he said, smiling again as she turned off the light.

“Will you come with me if I go to see them?” she asked bluntly. “I want to see them for myself before she goes back there,” Liz said, feeling unusually maternal toward Maribeth. Maybe one day, she might even be her daughter-in-law, but whether she was or not, she was not going to just abandon her to unfeeling parents.

“Actually, I'd like that.” He grinned at her in the dark. “I think I'd enjoy watching you give him a piece of your mind.” He chuckled and she laughed. “Just let me know when you want to go,” he said quietly, and she nodded.

I'll call them tomorrow,” she said thoughtfully, and then she turned on her side and looked at her husband. “Thanks, John.” They were friends again, nothing more. But that was at least something.

Chapter Nine

With much regret, Maribeth gave them notice at the restaurant the Monday after Thanksgiving. She and Liz had talked about it again, and she had agreed that she needed time to prepare properly for her exams, and the baby was due right after Christmas. She was going to leave work on the fifteenth, and the Whittakers wanted her to come and stay with them from then until the baby was born. Liz said she shouldn't be alone, in case something happened. And they assured her that they really wanted her with them.