¶ Whenever You're Ready ¶

Expect The Unexpected Pt. 4

Clammy hands cupped the warm mug of herbal tea, tense from the drastic silence surrounding the dining area within the James family home.

Sucking in a deep breath, Liv gazed down into the brown pigmented tea, unable to face the unreadable expression written on Miss Grace's face.

Spencer sat across from his girlfriend, staring at his mother waiting with bated breath for her next move.

Only ten minutes ago his mother bit his head off for his irresponsible actions of impregnating his girlfriend.

"Did you learn nothing from multiple talks we had about how hard it was to raise you straight after high school? Did I not tell you to always use protection?" Grace shouted at her son, whose cheeks ran hot in embarrassment as she ranted on. "Why didn't you wrap it up, Spencer!"

"Mom..." Spencer choked up, stressed by his mother's blunt choice of words.

"Don't mom me." Grace snorted, not caring about any second-hand humiliation she delivered. "You weren't too embarrassed to dumbly sleep with Olivia without a condom, were you?! Don't act so embarrassed now that you have ripped the seeds of your decisions."

"We were careful most of the time" Spencer grumbled under his mother's stern glare. "We just had a few slips ups. It happens."

"One slip-up is all it takes. One, Spencer. And I have no doubt both of you knew this." Grace lectured, addressing that both of the teens carried responsibility for their current situation. "Now you are telling me you're having a baby when you're both still babies yourselves. Good, Lord." Miss Grace was exasperated, forcing herself to sit down as the news sunk in.

The three of them remained in that eerily silence until Miss Grace spoke once more.

"You're not leaving school." She instructed cooly, "I won't have it. Both of you will finish college. Do you hear me?"

Spencer and Olivia nodded hastily.

"Yeah, Ma. We already talked about it. With the baby coming sometime next year, finishing school we guaranteed steady income later on down the line." Spencer agreed with his mother's demand.

"I will probably have to do a year or so online, for the first year after the baby's born," Liv added, already making plans for her future college years. "I've made an arrangement to speak with my advisor about my choices." She continued, hoping Miss Grace would see that they weren't going into this blindly.

"And I'm gonna talk to one of my coaches about extending my scholarship to room and board." Spencer promptly revealed. "If so, Liv and I could get an on-campus apartment sometime in our sophomore year. And with my sponsorships starting to roll in, I'm thinking of getting a car so the both of us are covered."

"That's all good to hear." Grace complimented gently, before returning to her mom mode. "But it's gonna be a lot more than just driving and living arrangements for y'all now. Even with Spencer's sponsorships and Olivia's job at the paper, it's gonna cost a lot more than that." Grace predicted, wanting them to get the bigger picture.

"When this baby comes everything is gonna change." Grace reproached calmly. "Everything you two use to for you to make you happy, have you take a backseat. From here on out, you guys have to think carefully about everything. If it doesn't benefit this baby or the family that y'all have decided to start forget about it." She advised, giving them a dose of their new reality.

"Since you decided to take this road, from now on, this baby comes first. Once Billy and Laura are brought into the loop, we will help out but only to a limit." Grace warned as gently as she could allow herself to.

"That's it?" Olivia pondered, half expecting a fight from her boyfriend's mother. "You aren't going to ask us to get rid of it?"

Grace smiled half-heartedly, wishing he were that easy. "I could fight you and Spencer tooth and nail on the pregnancy matter. I could spend the next six months scolding my son over life choices I wouldn't make for him. But see it this isn't my life." Grace replied honestly. "You two are going to learn about life from your own experiences and me fighting won't make it any easier to handle." She concluded wisely.

Liv nodded with faint convection, glancing back at her tea. "I wished my parents would react the same way." She muttered brokenly, unable to rip the disappointed manifestation she imagined her parents would give her once they found out that she was pregnant.  "They are never going to forgive me." Olivia scolded herself aloud, recalling the hell she out her family through over the last few years.

It wasn't enough for her to be a pill popper for her family to constantly worry over. No, she had to add to her Blacksheep label by topping all her past actions with an unplanned baby.

"Hey, don't say that." Miss Grace urgently insisted as tears fell from Olivia's eyes, "Your parents love you. And this baby, as unplanned as it is, is their grandbaby. Whether they are ready to accept it now or later, there isn't going to be any changing that fact."

"I've put them so much already." Liv panicked, meeting Grace's gaze with hazy orbs.

"They will come around." Grace persisted, grabbing Olivia's hand with her own in a comforting gesture. "And if you feel like you need a place to go until they do, you are always welcome here."

Liv sighed through her sobs as Grace continued.

"....You are a part of this family now, Olivia, so don't feel like you don't have anywhere to go." Grace comforted the emotional, soon-to-be mother. "This is home now too."

Liv smiled, wiping away her tears. "Thanks, Miss Grace." Her eyes wavered over to a blissful Spencer, who couldn't help but feel grateful that be blessed to have an incredible mother.

Patting the top of Liv's hand, Grace told from her seat. "Let me get some food in you, baby girl. Then the three of us are heading over to your parents' place to discuss this news further."

Liv nodded softly, knowing she couldn't avoid breaking the news any longer. At least at this moment, she felt less stressed than she did an hour ago. The worst wasn't over, but she knew she didn't have it handle it alone.