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Chapter 26: Jumping the Hurdle
Darren awoke the next morning feeling an arm around his waist. He turned his
head to find Faith sleeping beside him, her face warm and pink in the pale
sunlight. She had the remnants of tearstains on her cheeks. As he brushed his
hand against them, she woke up. Her bright blue eyes stared deeply into his
communicating without words how sorry she was.
"I love you," where the first words out of her mouth.
"I know," Darren replied. "I love you too."
"I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have gone off like that. I was
under a lot of stress, and it just came naturally. You ought to know that by
now. I hope you can forgive me. I never meant to break off the engagement,"
Faith profusely apologized.
Darren pulled the ring out of his pocket and placed it back on her finger.
"I know you didn't and I forgive you."
Dumbfounded, Faith stared at him with wide eyes. "You forgive me like that?
But I did something really bad! Aren't you gonna punish me or something?"
"No, why would I?" he asked, confused.
"Never mind. I'll just shut my mouth now and be happy that you're so good
to me," she said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes open. Darren pulled her
back down and planted a kiss on her lips. "That was good," Faith
commented. "Real good."
"I know. I meant for it to be good."
Just as they were about to kiss again, Hope began to cry. Faith fell back on the
bed, moaning. She started to get up again, but Darren put his arm across her
chest. "I'll do it. You get some rest."
"Aw, thank you, honey," Faith replied as she lay back down and pulled
the covers over her head. She knew this was going to be a long day.
* * *
"Faith, wake up," Darren said as he gently nudged her awake.
Faith quickly sat up and asked, "How long have I been out?"
"A little over five hours. Don't worry, Tracy and I have been taking good
care of Hope," he replied, sitting down beside her. "I have to tell
you something."
"What?"
"I scheduled the paternity test for this afternoon at three. Is that okay
with you?"
Faith waited for her mind to process the thought before she finally sighed and
answered, "Yeah, I guess so. The longer we wait, the worse off I'll be. I
really don't need all this stress in my life, especially in these last few
months."
"I know, it's just that my mother is going to bitch about this and."
"Stop, you don't have to tell me anymore. I already know," Faith
interrupted. "We don't need to have this discussion again."
"Okay, the last thing we need is another fight like the one last
night."
Together they walked out of the room. The house was empty yet again as they
descended the stairs. In the living room, they found themselves alone with
nothing to do. Hope and Tracy were out with Ben and Morgan and would be back
before Darren and Faith left for the hospital.
"Now what?" Faith asked as she sat down on one of the couches.
"Hungry?" Darren asked, heading for the kitchen.
"Yeah, a little," she called to him.
"What do you want?" he called back.
Faith stood up and walked over. "What do you got?"
Darren opened the fridge and said, "Well, not much. Some salad, a couple of
slabs of chicken, leftover steak, potatoes, pasta with sauce, and a couple of
beers."
"I'll take the steak, potatoes, and beer," Faith said as she grabbed
the items out of the fridge.
"There you go again with the beer. I thought you said you were clean,"
Darren replied.
"This is my first beer in forever so quit bitching at me. Look at you,
you're having one too along with chicken and pasta, the forbidden foods. What's
up with you today? Going buck wild, aren't you?" she joked.
"You know it," he said.
"Hey, you're not alone. We're both going off our usual diets today."
"Big shit. I'm so sick of food that tastes like cardboard."
Faith giggled, "Darren Hayes finally admits that vegetarian food sucks.
Hell froze over!"
"Oh, Lord! I think God's happy now," Darren joined her. By now Faith
was rolling with laughter.
"I love your sense of humor. It's so totally on track with mine," she
finally said after stopping. "And you're on a roll today. What else have
you got up your sleeve?"
"Hold on, let me check," he replied, looking down the sleeve of his
shirt. "Darn, I put on the wrong shirt. I guess I left the one with the
scarves back in San Fran."
Faith could feel her sides begin to hurt as she burst into fits of laughter
again. "Stop!" she begged. "I need to eat!"
"Okay!" Darren mocked. "You eat and I follow."
Faith punched him in the arm. "Quit it before I really get
aggressive," she warned, putting on her game face.
"Ooh. Does that also apply during sex?" he asked.
"You are so gonna pay for that!" Faith growled.
"How? You gonna tie me down, strip me naked, and beat me with a whip?"
Faith thought for a second. This was definitely getting interesting. "What
would you say if I told you I did?" she snidely replied.
"I'd say screw lunch! Let's do it!" Darren enthusiastically answered.
"Sorry to shoot you down, but I'm not in the mood," she replied,
nonchalantly.
"Oh, that hurt. Here you are, building everything up, and then you pull the
plug. That is so not fair."
"Yeah it is. I'm tired, I'm in a bad mood, and I really don't wanna take
that test today. Besides, if we did go upstairs, we'd probably miss the
appointment. It's almost two now," Faith rationalized.
"Okay, okay. We'll finish lunch and as soon as the others get back, we'll
head to the hospital," Darren replied.
"Alright."
* * *
"Good afternoon Ms. Somers, Mr. Hayes. I'm Dr. Michael Darnell," the
man in the white lab coat introduced himself as he held out his hand for them to
shake.
"Good afternoon," Darren and Faith politely replied even though both
were extremely tense about the situation.
"This procedure should only take a few minutes. I'll send the tests to the
lab immediately. After that, it should only take a couple of hours before we get
the results back," the doctor explained. He took Darren and Hope into an
exam room as Faith waited outside. She began to pace the waiting room floor, her
mind in a jumble.
'Why am I so nervous?' she thought. 'I know this baby is his. How can it not be?
It's not like I slept with anyone besides him. But then there's always that
"what if?" What if this is someone else's baby? What if it's the guy's
who I slept with before Darren? What if . . . What if . . . Stop it, Faith! This
is Darren's baby! There's no doubt about it. It can't be anyone else's!'
"Faith?" Darren asked when he saw her pacing the waiting room.
She looked up with a quizzical expression on her face. "Huh?" she
replied.
"We're done," he said.
"Oh, okay."
"Time for the hard part."
"Waiting."
* * *
Faith kept up her pacing at the house. The whole family had gathered around the
living room along with the rest of the band. Daniel, Ben, Karl, Lee, and Morgan
had taken up two of the couches while Tracy, Pete, Darren, June, and Robert took
up the other two. Hope was upstairs in her crib sleeping.
"Faith, will you please stop?" Darren asked, referring to her pacing
back and forth around the room. "You're making us dizzy."
"I can't help it. It's just something I do when I'm nervous," she
retorted.
"Why are you so nervous? I thought you had full confidence that this baby
was Darren's," June snidely replied.
"Oh, you just HAD to say that," Faith shot back, her eyes narrowing
into little slits as she turned to face her.
"Well, if you know that this is Darren's baby, you shouldn't be
worried," June reasoned.
"Mom, Faith, no bickering," Darren cut in before they started a full-
blown fight between each other. He stood up, wrapping his arms around her and
gently kissing her neck. They rocked back and forth to calm her down. It seemed
to be working until the phone unexpectedly rang. Faith nearly jumped when she
heard it. Darren held her back to keep her from going crazy.
"I got it!" Tracy said as she reached over and grabbed the phone.
"Hello? Yeah, he's right here. I'll put you on speaker. Hold on."
"Is that . . ." Darren began to say.
"Yeah. Talk to him as if we weren't here," Tracy whispered as she
turned on the speakerphone.
"Hello Dr. Darnell. Have you got the results?" Darren asked calmly as
he kept a tight hold on Faith. She was squirming, afraid that this was going to
be bad news.
"Yes, I have the results in my hand," the doctor replied.
"Well, what's the verdict?"
Everyone was holding his or her breath by now. Faith had stopped squirming, her
heart beginning to pound as she felt the sweat began to drip down her forehead.
She looked around the room to see that the others were just as tense. Morgan was
even shaking. June was on the edge of her seat, her hands folded in her lap, but
always twitching slightly.
"The results came back positive," Dr. Darnell simply replied after a
long silence.
Faith let out a relived sigh as she relaxed in Darren's arms. A smile instantly
appeared on her face as she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. She turned
to take a look at June, who was also starting to cry. An overwhelming joy had
come over the room.
"Thank you, Doctor," Darren said. "Have a nice day."
"You too," the doctor replied as he hung up.
Darren looked down at Faith and said, "See, you had nothing to be afraid
of."
"I know," she answered as she cried. He gave her a gentle kiss the
lips and pulled away to stare at his mother.
"Well, Mom. You finally got your answer. Is there anything you would like
to say right now?" Darren asked.
"I'm . . . I'm sorry," June stuttered as she stood up. "I'm
sorry, very sorry."
"Apology accepted," Faith replied. She let go of Darren and walked
over to her. They wrapped their arms around each other as a signal this was the
end of all their bickering.
"Welcome to the family," June said happily. "Can I please see my
granddaughter now?"
"Of course!" Faith exclaimed as she ran upstairs to get Hope.
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