Read Online The Light in the Wound by Christine Brae - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Christine Brae
Tags: Contemporary
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graduation, Jesse and I were sitting in the living room watching a rerun of Beverly Hills 90210. Jesse had practically moved in during the week that my mother had taken off on a shopping junket to Hong Kong with her friends. Alicia showed up unexpectedly, her eyes bleary and swollen as she walked silently toward us, looking at me with a pained stare that never left my gaze.
“Isa, when is Mom arriving? Do we have a way of reaching her in Hong Kong?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse and she was obviously very nervous.
“Nope. She arrives tonight, though. What’s up, Ali?”
Alicia reached into her jeans pocket, pulled out a pink slip of paper, her hands shaking as she passed it to me.
Weird. It was a little strip folded up in sixteenths. I slowly unfurled it. It contained one single word written in blue ink:
POSITIVE
My protective instinct kicked in full blast. Jesse and I were immediately on our feet surrounding her, holding her.
“Ali, don’t cry. It’s okay. We’ll help you figure out what to do,” I said with so much confidence that it made me sob.
Jesse was rubbing her back, glancing at me from time to time.
“Isa, please help me talk to Mom. I want to keep the baby. Carter said he’d support whatever my decision is.”
“Of course, Ali, we’ll do everything we can to help take care of this baby.”
Jesse nodded at me, his expressive eyes filled with worry.
I excused myself for a moment and calmly walked upstairs to my bedroom. As soon as I closed the door, I sat at the edge of my bed and cried. I didn’t cry for Alicia, but for myself. More than anything, I wished that it were me. I was filled with jealousy at the thought of Alicia having something of Carter forever. I wished that I were having Jesse’s baby instead.
“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
—L. Frank Baum
That evening, my mother walked in from the airport as Ali and I sat in the living room to wait for her. Alicia paced back and forth as we heard the car enter the driveway. She walked in looking rested and refreshed.
“Mom, we have to tell you something,” I started out, with Alicia squeezing my hand so tightly I thought it was going to fall off due to lack of circulation. “Alicia is pregnant.”
“Who? You, Isabel? You’re pregnant?”
“No, Mom. Alicia is.”
“Isabel, you ?”
“NO, MOM! NOT Isabel!!! I am. I am pregnant!” Alicia stepped in front of me and held on to my mother’s shoulders, shaking them slightly. This time she had no tears and was determined to show my mother that she had it all figured out. I wasn’t even listening to their conversation. I was incensed by the fact that my mother’s mind was programmed to think I would be the one to make that mistake.
Trying to prove everyone wrong is getting to be an impossible task for me. I’ve been stereotyped, even by the person whose past has doomed me to my future. It hurt me so much to realize that she, too, had very low expectations of me.
Claudia Holtzer could not stop saying that she was too young to be a grandmother. In all seriousness, however, my mother turned into the most supportive ally that Alicia could have ever imagined. Two weeks after my mother got the news, two men showed up at Carter’s doorstep at 3:00 A.M. They then went to pick up Alicia and both were whisked to a judge’s home where they were married. My mother set up their living quarters in our home. Carter was going to continue to go to school while Alicia was going to have the baby and enroll in university one year later.
This event had such the opposite effect on Jesse. Two words to describe him were: Freaked. Out.
“Issy, we have to be super careful now. What happened to Alicia can’t happen to us. I have so many plans for our future. I can’t be sidetracked by this, okay? You’re well protected, right?”
Betty and I were both seeing an older cousin of hers, who despite his reluctance to supply us with
“Isa, when is Mom arriving? Do we have a way of reaching her in Hong Kong?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse and she was obviously very nervous.
“Nope. She arrives tonight, though. What’s up, Ali?”
Alicia reached into her jeans pocket, pulled out a pink slip of paper, her hands shaking as she passed it to me.
Weird. It was a little strip folded up in sixteenths. I slowly unfurled it. It contained one single word written in blue ink:
POSITIVE
My protective instinct kicked in full blast. Jesse and I were immediately on our feet surrounding her, holding her.
“Ali, don’t cry. It’s okay. We’ll help you figure out what to do,” I said with so much confidence that it made me sob.
Jesse was rubbing her back, glancing at me from time to time.
“Isa, please help me talk to Mom. I want to keep the baby. Carter said he’d support whatever my decision is.”
“Of course, Ali, we’ll do everything we can to help take care of this baby.”
Jesse nodded at me, his expressive eyes filled with worry.
I excused myself for a moment and calmly walked upstairs to my bedroom. As soon as I closed the door, I sat at the edge of my bed and cried. I didn’t cry for Alicia, but for myself. More than anything, I wished that it were me. I was filled with jealousy at the thought of Alicia having something of Carter forever. I wished that I were having Jesse’s baby instead.
“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
—L. Frank Baum
That evening, my mother walked in from the airport as Ali and I sat in the living room to wait for her. Alicia paced back and forth as we heard the car enter the driveway. She walked in looking rested and refreshed.
“Mom, we have to tell you something,” I started out, with Alicia squeezing my hand so tightly I thought it was going to fall off due to lack of circulation. “Alicia is pregnant.”
“Who? You, Isabel? You’re pregnant?”
“No, Mom. Alicia is.”
“Isabel, you ?”
“NO, MOM! NOT Isabel!!! I am. I am pregnant!” Alicia stepped in front of me and held on to my mother’s shoulders, shaking them slightly. This time she had no tears and was determined to show my mother that she had it all figured out. I wasn’t even listening to their conversation. I was incensed by the fact that my mother’s mind was programmed to think I would be the one to make that mistake.
Trying to prove everyone wrong is getting to be an impossible task for me. I’ve been stereotyped, even by the person whose past has doomed me to my future. It hurt me so much to realize that she, too, had very low expectations of me.
Claudia Holtzer could not stop saying that she was too young to be a grandmother. In all seriousness, however, my mother turned into the most supportive ally that Alicia could have ever imagined. Two weeks after my mother got the news, two men showed up at Carter’s doorstep at 3:00 A.M. They then went to pick up Alicia and both were whisked to a judge’s home where they were married. My mother set up their living quarters in our home. Carter was going to continue to go to school while Alicia was going to have the baby and enroll in university one year later.
This event had such the opposite effect on Jesse. Two words to describe him were: Freaked. Out.
“Issy, we have to be super careful now. What happened to Alicia can’t happen to us. I have so many plans for our future. I can’t be sidetracked by this, okay? You’re well protected, right?”
Betty and I were both seeing an older cousin of hers, who despite his reluctance to supply us with
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