Read Online Tied - Part Three (The Tied Series) by Ellen Callahan - Free Book Online Page A

of my face. As soon as she said it, she sat up straighter, as if she’d just figured out the mystery of the century. “You are!”
     
    How do people keep guessing? Am I that transparent? “Mom…” I couldn’t deny it. I didn’t have a damn thing to say.
     
    “Oh, my God. Who’s the father?”
     
    “A roommate,” I said, looking down at the table. It was kind of cliché , now that I said it out loud.
     
    Her eyes went wide. Then they began to water. “I’m going to be a grandmother.”
     
    I expecting shouting. I expected shame and embarrassment and vitriol. I never expected tears. “Yeah. A grandmother,” I said, daring to smile across the table at her.
     
    “Did you hear that, Mike?” she asked, wiping her eyes. He looked between us and clamped his mouth shut. She sniffled again and said, “Well, I think you ought to move back home.”
     
    “Hey now-” Big Mike said, but Mom cut him off. She held up her left hand.
     
    “You put a ring on it, Big Mike, so my family’s your family, now. Are you going to deny my pregnant daughter a place to live?”
     
    “I have a place to live,” I said. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. New York City is my home, now.”
     
    The old Mom returned. She rolled her eyes. “You think you’re gonna make it as a single mom down there? Isn’t everything twice as expensive?”
     
    Not that dramatic, but close . “I live with the baby’s father, remember? We’ll work it out.”
     
    “Yeah? Is he happy about this?” I pursed my lips. “You haven’t even told him, yet.” She sighed and placed her hands on the table. “Don’t be foolish. You’re going to need me, now. Every girl needs her mother when she has a baby.”
     
    “I’ll think about it,” I said, “I still have a little time.”
     
    “Yeah. You tell that father first.” She dug back into her crab legs. “Once you realize he ain’t gonna want to play happy family, you’ll be right back here. Home. Where you belong.”
     
    Right back where I started . It had been my biggest fear since leaving. I can’t let that happen. No way. Lockett won’t reject us .
     
    I pushed my burger aside. I wasn’t hungry in the first place, anyway.
     
    ○●○●○●○●○
     
    I had too much time on my hands on the train ride home the next morning - too much time to reflect.
     
    Despite my big reveal, Mom and Big Mike still needed me to cover a few of their bills. “I need to be saving money right now,” I tried to tell them, but they weren’t having it.
     
    “Big Mike will have a job soon, and you’ll be seeing sense once you’re ready to pop out that baby,” Mom said, “We can’t help you out of this mess later if you don’t give us a little assistance right now.”
     
    I caved. I always caved.
     
    And later when I told Patrick about it on the phone, he was actually upset with me. “You have to start taking care of yourself, Katherine,” he’d said, “You’re crazy to give that woman another damn dime, now.”
     
    I paced the platform as he spoke, keeping an eye out for the train. His words stung because he was right.
     
    “You can’t move back in with her,” he went on, “You know how that will go.”
     
    “I know,” I said, my tone uncharacteristically bitter. “She’ll want to take over raising the baby while I get stuck on maid duty for everybody. What the heck is wrong with me?” I wanted to throw my phone onto the concrete.
     
    “Nothing,” he said, “Nothing at all, honey. Listen… I’ve been thinking about getting an apartment in the city. Just a small place to crash once in a while, before the commute kills me. Maybe… maybe we can work something out. If you need a place to stay.”
     
    “Am I that much of a failure?” I whispered.
     
    “What?”
     
    “Mom, now you… everyone seems to think I can’t handle this on my own.”
     
    “No one could, honey. Everybody needs a hand now and then, especially when there’s a kid