Beautiful Mistake

xxxii

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Bronze. I'm Caroline." I open the door wider and Collin steps in first and then his parents follow. My house is nowhere near as big and glamours as theirs, "So, Caroline. You go to the same school as our son?" His mother asks, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, we do." I look over at Collin and he's standing awkwardly, looking back at me.

"Well Mom, Dad. The kitchen is this way, we have turkey, mashed potatoes, ham, all the standard thanksgiving things." We all walk into the kitchen and my mother is there with my dad.

They sit at the kitchen table, talking and laughing with family.

I walk past them and tap my mother's shoulder to get her attention. She turns to look and I slyly point behind me.

"Oh! Hi, I'm Jenna, Caroline's mother." My mom stands up and shakes both of their hands, "This is my husband, John." My dad also stands and shakes their hands.

"Nice to meet you two." Darla says, smiling as she goes to put her purse down, "Is it alright if I leave this here?"

"Oh no, you shouldn't. I have everyone put their purses in my bedroom if you'd like to do that, just so it's they're not constantly worrying about where they are." Darla nods and both her and my mother take off to the upstairs.

My father invites Steven to sit with him and they begin talking about adult men things.

I look over at Collin and I see he can barely contain a smile. I take his hand and drag him out of the kitchen and towards the front door.

We step out into the front and Collin shuts the door behind us.

"They're getting along very well and I think they saw the obvious fatness going on," I say, pacing back and forth.

"Care it's okay! We can tell them, tonight, after everyone leaves."

"I'm sure they already know. They just don't want to be rude and ask about it."

"No Caroline, they don't. Stop worrying." He grabs my arms and pulls me into a hug, "I paid for the first three months on the apartment today."

I break our hug and give him an incredulous look, "What? No! That apartment is way too expensive Collin!"

"No, it isn't. I have a job Caroline, there isn't a reason why we can't have this."

"We should go back inside, it's getting cold out." I walk past him and into the house where the atmosphere is warm and loud.

My family has conversations among themselves all around the house. The living room and kitchen table are full of people and I sit down in the recliner in the living room.

"So, darling, how far along are you?" One of my dad's sisters asks me.

"I'm eighteen weeks on Monday." I smile, sitting back and rocking lightly in the chair.

"You're pretty big for eighteen weeks, are you having twins?"

I look down at my stomach and shake my head, "The nurse never said anything about twins the last time I went."

"You know it can be difficult to see both babies, so when you go next time, ask them to double check just in case." I nod and when I think she's done talking, she leans forward, "When I was pregnant with my two boys, they told me I was only having one. The day the delivery came, all of a sudden I was being forced to push out two!"