“You’re too young,” they’d said. “You’re only twenty-one; you’ve got your whole life in front of you. You’re in the position where you can do whatever you like, and you want to go and get married!”
So what were they going to say when she told them she was pregnant – at eighteen! They were going to be devastated! Distraught! Angry! Horrified! She was meant to be the ‘intelligent one’, the one who’d go on to do wonderful things. The one who’d work hard to make them proud . . .
“Rachel! Rachel come on!” her Mother called up the stairs.
“Just coming Mum,” she called back. This was going to be hard, but it had to be done. She took a deep breath, and ran downstairs.
She stood outside the living room door for a minute, wondering what she could say. She could hear them talking inside. Her Mum and Dad. They were talking about her. They were almost boasting about her going off to university, knowing very well that Melissa had chosen not to go but to stay with Andrew instead – a decision her parents had loathed.
“. . . and of course when Rachel goes off to Oxford, we’ll be going up to visit her quite often. That’ll be different, won’t it? And we’re going to have lots of fun with Rachel, aren’t we Jordan sweetie?” Rachel groaned. Her Mum was going on again. She’d never been to university, neither had any of her family and she was so excited that her daughter was going to one of the top universities in the country – she was acting almost as if she was going herself! How could she ruin this dream? And she could hear Jordan giggling in the background, how was this going to affect her? Oh well, there was nothing she could do about it now!
She opened the door and just stood there. Everyone looked at her.
“Rachel, darling, how long does it take you to change your clothes?” said her Father.
“Rachel, Rachel are you alright darling?” said Mum.
“Rachel, Rachel, look at me! Look what I can do!” said Jordan, twirling around pretending to be a ballerina – but looking more like a wobbly spinning top. Melissa and Andrew just sat there looking at Rachel. With everyone looking at her, Rachel felt her mouth dry up. What could she say? What were her parents going to say?
“I’m pregnant,” she said really quietly, so no one except herself could hear.
“What was that Rachel? I didn’t quite catch it.” Rachel looked at her Mother and Father, sitting there on the sofa,
“I’m pregnant.” There she’d said it now. Loud and clear.
“Does that mean Rachel’s having a baby?” asked Jordan, sitting on the floor totally oblivious to the problems the problems the family were going to have to face.
“Jordan go to your room,” her mother said bluntly staring at Rachel.
“Why Mummy? I want to play with the baby. When will it be here? Is it coming tonight?”
“Jordan do as your Mother says.”
“Oh Daddy.”
“Now Jordan!” Jordan stomped out of the room and up the stairs. Rachel looked at her parents and thought of Jordan upstairs. She was being told off for something that wasn’t her fault. All she wanted to do was find out about this new little baby, even though it would be at least six months before it was born – and she didn’t even know that yet.
“I think we should be going now too,” said Melissa, making indications to Andrew that they should go. Her parents just nodded their heads, not looking up. As she went out of the door, Melissa gave Rachel a hug, and whispered in her ear,
“Don’t worry Rach, it’ll be alright. Keep your head and I’ll speak to you tomorrow.” With that Melissa and Andrew went home, leaving Rachel to face her parents.
