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Chapter
22: Whether You Like It Or Not
“So, this is it?” Darren asked as he pulled up to the tall red brick house
beside the high school. It was huge compared to all the tiny homes around it and
stuck out like a sore thumb with its two regular garage doors and single loading
dock. It should have been a business but the village had never allowed it to
become one.
“Yeah, this is it,” Faith replied as she stepped out of the car and started
for the stairs that led to the main door. She pulled out her old key and started
to open the lock when she heard it click. The door opened to reveal her mother,
a short brown haired woman wearing a dark blue top and khaki pants.
“You’re late,” she bluntly said as she stared at her daughter with a hard
glare.
Faith took no heed to her foul mood and simply replied, “Your point?” Her
mother grunted as she walked away from the door and started up the stairs.
“Hey, you’ve got company! No fighting tonight!” Faith yelled once she was
at the top step.
“Company? What company?” her mother asked.
“My boyfriend is here with me. I wanted you to meet him,” Faith answered as
Darren stepped inside.
“Shit,” Mrs. Somers mumbled as she walked into the living room without
looking back.
“Was that…?” Darren began to whisper.
“My mother,” Faith finished, taking off her shoes and slamming the door shut
behind him. Darren followed her upstairs to the sparsely furnished living room.
There were about three couches and a coffee table positioned in front of a big
screen TV. Beside the living room was the dining room with the six person oak
table in the center. It was already set for three people, but Faith’s mother
was quick to place a forth plate where it was needed.
“Where’s Dad?” Faith asked as she walked up to her mother to give her a
hand with the food in the kitchen.
“He’s in the bathroom. Where else would he be?” Mrs. Somers harshly
answered.
Faith shrugged off her bitchy tone and picked up a bowl of salad, carrying it to
the dining room table and setting it down. Darren was still standing in the
living room admiring the simplicity when Faith waved him over.
“Mom, this is Darren. Darren, this is Mom,” she introduced.
Putting all angry thoughts aside, Mrs. Somers smiled and stuck out her hand.
“Pleased to meet you,” she said as he shook it.
“The pleasure is mine,” Darren sincerely replied. She shuffled away from him
back to the kitchen. He turned to Faith and asked, “She seems like a nice
person.”
Faith forced a laugh. “Yeah, right. Wait until the fireworks start later on
tonight when I tell them what’s happened,” she answered.
Darren raised an eyebrow at her. “Fireworks? Should I be scared?”
“Yeah. I brought you along for moral support, but I warn you, be ready to duck
and run when I tell them about the baby.”
Faith and Darren sat down beside each other at the dinner table and patently
waited for Faith’s parents. It was a long wait, with shouting in the distance.
Faith could easily tell that her mother and her father were having another
fight, and she knew it was probably over her and Darren. They finally walked
into the room, her father red faced and her mother sporting a scowl. Darren
quickly stood up and introduced himself to Faith’s father just before he sat
down across from them at the table.
“Faith, why are you here?” Mr. Somers asked in a deep voice the moment he
sat down in his chair. “I know it’s more than just introducing us to your
boyfriend. It’s always more when you make the dinner plans.”
Faith looked over at Darren, her face somber and scared. Beneath the table, he
reached for her hand and squeezed it then nodded. Faith turned to her parents
once more and said, “There is another reason behind this meeting,” she said
in a low tone.
“Are you asking for more money? Because if you are, I’m not about to give it
to you. I’ve already spent enough on that loft and your schooling. If you want
more money, get a job,” Mr. Somers growled as he glared at his daughter.
“It’s not about money,” Faith nearly cried, her feelings hurt.
“Then what is it? Are you pregnant?” Mrs. Somers took her shot, sending a
painful blow into Faith’s stomach.
“No!” she screamed, almost in pain.
“Then what the hell is it? I can’t sit here and guess the whole night!”
her father yelled.
“For your information, I already had the baby! And I’m getting married to
Darren!” Faith finally exploded.
Both of her parents sat in silence for what seemed like the first time Faith had
observed. She sat in her seat, terrified of what was to come, her heart pounding
like a drum as Darren stared at her, dumbfounded by all the outbursts.
Mrs. Somers threw her napkin down on the table and said, “I should have known
my daughter would turn into a whore the second I sent her off to college.”
“Mother!” Faith screamed. She could see that Darren’s jaw had dropped.
“This is it,” her father added. “I’ve had it with you. My only daughter
having a baby before she even got married. It’s sickening to see that you’ve
turned into your cousin. I never want to see you in this house again, do you
understand me!” Mr. Somers yelled. “As of right now, you’re no longer my
daughter!”
“You know what, as of right now, you’re no longer my father!” Faith
replied.
“How dare you mock me!” he shouted, standing up, his hand raised, ready to
smack her across the face.
“Don’t you dare!” Darren finally stepped into the conversation, her voice
signaling he was ready to put up a fight. He stood up to face Faith’s father
eye to eye. “If you lay one finger on her, I swear on my daughter’s grave
you’re going to pay.”
Faith cowered back, shaking, scared. She had never seen such anger in Darren’s
eyes. Cowering behind him, she watched her father’s face become enraged.
“Darren,” she begged in a whisper. “Don’t. Please, don’t.” He
didn’t listen.
Mr. Somers was already making a fist as he said, “You stay out of this. It’s
between me and that little son of a bitch behind you. Maybe if I beat some sense
into her, she’d realize that talking back to her father was wrong. Now
MOVE!”
“No,” Darren coolly replied, his body standing in between Faith and her
father’s fist. “You’re not touching her.”
“This is my house and I’ll do what I damn please to my daughter. Get out of
my way!” Mr. Somers shouted as he violently shoved Darren aside. He started to
fall towards the floor, but caught the edge of the table and steadied himself
again, his body still protecting Faith from her father.
Faith could feel the tears dripping down her face when she realized what Darren
was doing for her. She couldn’t believe he would actually put himself in
harm’s way just to protect her. She inched out of her chair and slowly stood
up behind him. With her hands on his shoulders, she whispered, “Come on.”
“They’re leaving,” Faith’s mother said, over hearing her daughter.
“Leave them alone.”
Mr. Somers looked back at her with a glare. By the time he turned back, Faith
and Darren had already made it to the stairs. He turned in their direction and
yelled, “You’re nothing but a disgrace to this family! I never want you in
my sight again. And if I do see you, you’re in for a whooping, do you hear me!
I’ll slap you black and blue!”
Faith was already out the door, her eyes filled with tears as she ran down the
stairs and to the car. Darren, on the other hand, stayed behind needing to have
a final say in this conversation.
“I hope one of these days you’ll finally realize what a mistake you have
made,” he said. “Let’s hope its not too late, like after she’s been
buried.”
“Buried? What the hell are you talking about?” Mr. Somers yelled from the
table.
Confused, Darren replied, “She has about two and a half months left and you
decide to disown her now. That’s great timing. You’re not going to be there
when she needs you most. I don’t blame her for not wanting to tell you about
the baby. I don’t think I would have either.”
“Two and a half months?” Mrs. Somers spoke up. “Don’t tell me her cancer
came back.”
Darren finally realized what was going on. Faith hadn’t told her parents about
her prognosis. He stood there at the edge of the stairs contemplating whether he
should say anymore or not. Just as he was about to open his mouth, her heard
Faith scream, “Darren! Let’s go! I can’t stay here anymore!”
Darren looked up to where Faith’s parents were now standing at the top of the
steps, a glare in his eyes, and decided that they didn’t need to know anymore.
After what had happened just a few minutes ago, they didn’t deserve it. He
walked out the door, slamming it shut behind him, and headed to the car where
Faith was sitting on the hood, her hands covering her face as she cried.
“I wish I had never come,” she was sobbing. “I wish I had never told them.
I wish I could go back in time and fix it so that things didn’t happen this
way.”
Wrapping his arms around her, Darren replied, “Shh… It’s okay. It’s not
like you needed them anyway. I mean, yeah, your mother gave birth to you and
your father supported you for most of your life, but you really didn’t need
them to be yelling at you that way, especially right now. You already have
enough stress in you life, you don’t need your parents to be adding to it.”
“But look at everything that happened tonight. They fucking disowned me.”
“And you disowned them.”
Faith looked up at Darren with red-rimmed eyes. “Please tell me I did the
right thing,” she whispered.
Darren wiped her tear-stained face and kissed her forehead. “You did the right
thing,” he replied, kissing her again.
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