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Chapter
25: Underneath It All
"This is NOT happening!" Faith angrily yelled as she paced her
upstairs room as Darren sat on the bed in front of her holding Hope. It was
later on that night and everyone else had already cleared out of the house. The
three were alone with exception of Tracy in the bedroom down the hall. "I
can't believe she doesn't see the resemblance. Your father does. Why doesn't
your mother?"
"I don't know. She's just like that," Darren reasoned. "Everybody
has their doubts."
Faith shot an angry glance over at him when she realized what he was saying.
"You mean even you had doubts that this was your baby?" she retorted.
"No! That's not what I meant! I swear!" he tried to defend himself.
"Bull shit! I know that tone. You're lying to me! You had your doubts in
the beginning. I know you did! I saw it in your face when I told you the first
day at the hospital. You don't think that Hope is your daughter!" Faith was
bawling now, with no intention of stopping.
"Maybe I did have my doubts," Darren sheepishly admitted.
"See! I knew you did! And you probably still do! You knew I was a bed-
hopping whore when you met me, and now you're wondering if I slept around with
anyone after I left you. You don't think I changed my ways after I met
you," she sharply accused.
Darren was beginning to regret ever bringing up the subject. "I don't have
anymore doubts that Hope is my girl," he tried righting his wrongs.
"Bull shit! You still have doubts! I know you think I slept around after I
left. You know what? I knew that this was your baby before I even decided to
leave. I knew I was pregnant the day I had that fight with Spaz. I just couldn't
bring myself to tell you because I was afraid that you would do this to
me."
"Do what?"
"Think that I was sleeping around with someone else, have doubts that it
was even your child. I knew I would get criticized any way I looked at it."
"Faith! That's not true! I would never question you. I knew back then that
you loved me like I know it now. Please, believe me."
"Why should I believe you? You already told me you had doubts. How can I
believe you?"
"You just have to. I swear to God I'm not lying to you."
With a long hard stare, Faith remained unconvinced. She turned sharply and
headed for the door. As she walked past the dresser, she pulled off her
engagement ring and left it on the wooden surface. As calmly as she could, Faith
said, "If you have doubts about the baby, then you probably have doubts
about marrying me. Maybe this is all wrong and maybe it wasn't meant to be. I'm
sorry Darren, I can't marry you." She walked out of the room and added,
"I'll pick the baby up tomorrow so you'll have at least one more night with
her."
"Faith! Stop! I have no doubts about marrying you. I love you!" Darren
shouted as she continued to walk down the hall. "Faith! Come back!"
She gently started to sob again as she made her way towards the stairs. Just as
she was about to walk down them, she heard a voice behind her, a soft, female
voice calling her name. "Faith," the girl said. She turned around to
see who it was calling her.
Out from the door beside Darren's room was Tracy. She stood there, her body
against the frame, on a pair of crutches. Faith stared at her with blurry eyes
as she continued to cry.
"Faith is your name, right?" Tracy asked. Faith nodded. "It's a
very pretty name."
"Thank you," Faith sniffled.
"Come here. I would really like to talk to you if you're alright with
that."
Faith cautiously made her way towards Tracy's room as she hobbled back inside
and sat down on her bed, gently propping her foot up on a pillow. Faith followed
her inside and sat down across from her on the chair beside her small desk. Her
eyes glanced around the room. The walls were light blue with pictures
strategically placed in different places. The furniture was all oak and the bed
sheets matched the walls. Behind her, beside the door, was a tall halogen lamp
turned on to a low setting.
"I like your room," Faith commented as she focused on Tracy once
again.
"Thanks. I decorated it myself," she replied happily. The conversation
somewhat stopped there as Faith waited to find out what this little encounter
was really about. Tracy looked at her nervously and finally said, "I heard
what happened in there, and I just wanted to tell you that when Darren says he
loves someone, he really does. He can't survive without love. Let me tell you a
secret that you must keep. When he came home from the US tour, Darren moped
around for nearly three months before my mother finally kicked him out of the
house and told him to go back to San Francisco because she couldn't stand him
acting the way he was. The night before he left, he came to me and told me
everything about you. He told me that ever since you left, he'd been heartbroken
because he loved you so much. All he wanted to do was see you one more time and
he would be happy again.
"I clearly remember the day when he found you in Chicago. The night that
Hope was born, he called me up and told me all about her. He was so happy and
excited that he had a daughter that he couldn't stop talking about her. It never
really sounded like he had any doubts that she was his. Then he broke the news
that you were dying. I cried along with him as he told me all about how scared
he was. He also called me the day you had your first seizure. He was even more
scared that day than he was when he told me about your cancer. I'd never seen
him this frightened before. He's always been the strong one in the family, and
now he was falling apart. I wanted to be there with him and tell him everything
was going to be okay. It was then that he told me he loved you more than
anything in the world and he would do anything to make you see. He told me about
how he was planning to propose to you and how he hoped you would say yes. He's a
hopeless romantic, you know."
"Yeah, I know," Faith said as she curled up in the chair, her knees
beneath her chin. She could feel more tears drip down her face as Tracy
continued her story.
"Darren called me the day after you two got engaged and told me that it
went better than he had expected. I was so happy for him. Now that I've finally
met you, I know that he found the perfect girl. You're exactly what he needs
right now. Don't break up with him just because of a few petty things. He might
have had doubts the night Hope was born, but they probably disappeared the
second he took a look at her and realized that she was his baby.
"As for my mother, I don't think she'll be happy until she is 100% sure
that Hope is her granddaughter. Take the test and prove her wrong. It'll put her
in her place once and for all. I know from experience. I've had to prove plenty
of things to her, and let me tell you, there's nothing better than getting my
mother, well, in your case, mother in law, to admit that she was wrong and
apologize to both you and Darren. You'll feel pretty good afterwards."
"Really?" Faith asked.
"Yeah. She's that kind of a person. Forgives and forgets. The second she
finds out that she has a granddaughter, she'll be the happiest grandma in the
world," Tracy answered.
"Thank you so much for the talk. I really feel better now," Faith said
as she stood up, wiped her eyes, and started for the door.
"You're welcome," Tracy replied.
"Now onto the hard part, apologizing to Darren."
"You'll be fine."
Faith left Tracy's room feeling confident that this situation would be resolved
quickly. She stopped at Darren's door and took in a couple of deep breaths
before entering. Calm and composed, she opened the door and walked into the
room.
"Darren, I wanna say." her voice trailed off when she looked at the
bed and saw that Darren was asleep with Hope lying on his chest also dozing.
Faith smiled, her eyes tearing up yet again as she looked at the sleeping pair.
It was the cutest sight she had ever seen. Going to her shoulder bag, she pulled
out her video camera and turned it on to capture the moment.
"Father and daughter peacefully sleeping together," she whispered.
"Isn't this just the most adorable thing ever? It just makes me want to
cry. Oh, will you look at that, I already am crying." Turning the camera to
her, Faith added, "It's moments like these that make me wish that this
horrible disease wasn't cutting my life so short. I want to be alive to see my
daughter get older and turn into a young woman. I want to see her dreams come
true, but that's not gonna happen, and I have learned to accept it. I just hope
that she and Darren have many of these moments together before she grows up. I
know, deep in my heart, that he'll do everything in his power to make her happy.
He's going to give her the best life, something I never had."
With that, Faith turned off the camera and put it back in her bag. She gently
picked Hope up and carried her to the portable crib in the corner of the room.
After kissing her forehead, Faith was off to bed herself. She gently snuggled up
against Darren and whispered into his ear, "I'm sorry. I love you."
Chapter 26: Jumping the Hurdle
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