The Consequences of Forever (1) (20 page)

             
She turned to me and smiled warmly. “You don’t have to thank me, Lainey. You’re my family now; don’t forget that.” She closed the door behind her.

             
I took a brief shower, mostly to wash away all the bad feelings the night had caused, changing in the loose white t-shirt and pajama pants, and fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. For once, I didn’t dream.

             
I awoke what felt like minutes later. I could feel a presence in the room, and immediately felt dread. Maybe for once my dad decided to act as a parent, and had come to get me, insisting I was going to sleep in my own bed tonight. I opened my eyes, and found Adam sitting next to me on the bed, watching me carefully.

             
“Are you awake?” He asked.

             
I sat up. “Yes. What are you doing?”

             
“I just got home.” He reached over and smoothed some hair from my face. I hadn’t brushed it after the shower, and it had dried weird. I could feel it sticking out in all places.

             
“I thought you were sleeping at Nolan’s.”

             
“I was, but my mom left me a message saying you were here, so I came home.”

             
“You didn’t have to.”

             
“I wanted to. What’s going on?” There was concern in his voice, but that was normal anymore. I had no idea when I’d become someone people needed to be concerned about, but it had happened, for whatever reason, and all I could do was ease his worries.

             
I closed my eyes and groaned. “Can we talk about that in the morning? How was the party?”

             
Adam laughed, not oblivious to my attempt at changing the subject, but willing to oblige to it. “A disaster. Michelle made a huge scene because she swore the sapphires Hank got her for their anniversary were fake,” he informed me.

             
“Seriously? In front of all the guests?” It wasn’t all that surprising, not if you’d ever met Mrs. Reeves, or so much as happened to be near her whenever she was in an especially feisty mood.

             
Adam nodded. “In front of everyone. I guess she already knows that no one actually likes her, so it doesn’t matter how she acts in public, but still. Nolan was embarrassed. He’ll never admit to it, but you can tell.”

             
“You’re lucky,” I told him suddenly.

             
He looked caught off guard. “I am?”

             
“Yeah. Your parents would never have a big fight in the middle of the ocean. And your dad would never cheat on your mom, right?” I suddenly needed to know the answer to that last question, maybe more than any other answer. I needed to know that the Ned Montgomery I’d come to know in bits and pieces over the last month was in no way capable of ever doing to Julia what my father had done to Nora.

             
“Right,” he agreed, looking more concerned.. “Are you alright?”

             
I smiled softly and reached over, losing the tie he was still wearing. “I will be. You look so cute in a suit.”

             
He made a face. “Promise me that when we get married someday, you won’t make me wear one of these.”

             
“When?” I asked with a smile.

             
“Yeah, when. Now promise.”

             
“No way.” I tugged at his tie, pulling him down onto the bed with me. He pulled the blankets over us, and I rested my head on his chest.

             
“I love you,” I told him, meaning it more than maybe I ever had. This was the safest I’d felt in so long, lying in bed with Adam, knowing that Julia was just down the hall, there for me if I were to need her for anything.

             
“I love you, too,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “More than anything.”

             
I took his hand and placed it over my bump. It was comforting, in some way, to have his hand there; as though he were touching me and our baby all at the same time.

             
“Almost more than anything,” I whispered.

             
He smiled down at me. “You’re my world, Lainey Winslow. And you’re always going to be.” His voice was husky but strong, his words reassuring and at least in that moment in time, ringing true.

I fell asleep with those words being the last I heard, and slept better than I could ever remember sleeping.

August 22

             
“It looks like it’s starting to clear up,” Adam said, picking up a long piece of driftwood and studying it. “I wonder where this came from.”

             
I took the driftwood from him and smiled to myself. “You never know. When we lived in this house really close to the beach in Oregon, when I was maybe five or six, my dad and I used to go to the beach every morning and see what we could find that wasn’t there the day before. We had a really big collection of driftwood at one point.”

             
Adam reached for my hand. “What happened to it?”

             
I shook my head. “I don’t remember. I think maybe we left it at that house.” I was fairly certain that was what happened. My dad had never been great at paying rent, and the few times we’d rented really nice houses ended in us being kicked out within a few months.

             
“That’s sad,” Adam remarked, and for the first time I realized it was. Those little pieces of driftwood, however damaged, were a tangible piece of a memory. It would be nice to have some of them.

             
“You can take this home with you,” Adam said with a smile. “Hang it right next to your bed, where you can see it, so you have to think of me every night before you go to sleep.”

             
“I do that anyway,” I admitted. We stopped walking and Adam took the driftwood from me, putting it down on the sand so he could wrap his arms around me.

             
“You’re all I ever think about,” he confessed. “It’s actually getting to be a problem.”

             
“Maybe we shouldn’t see each other for a while,” I suggested, not meaning a word of it.

             
He grinned. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips across mine. “I wish we could have been together through the hurricane. I would have shared my water supply with you.”

             
I laughed. “You’re so generous.”

             
“I do what I can.” He smoothed back some hair that had gotten lose from my ponytail. This was the first time we had seen each other in three days, the longest stretch of time we’d been apart since we met. It was amazing, how long those two days had felt. Haven was put on lockdown; the hurricane wasn’t bad enough to force evacuation, though it was suggested.

The Montgomery’s had left, going up north to visit family. We’d stayed behind, my dad swearing that if Bella Vista were going down, we’d go down with it. He was being dramatic, but that wasn’t unusual. The only option we had for evacuation was to stay with Nora’s parents anyway, and I was pretty sure she’d rather be taken out by a hurricane than attempt to survive a few days of that.

              “I’m just glad I survived,” I said with a laugh. “Being cooped up in a room with Hannah for two days wasn’t any fun.”

             
“I bet,” he grinned, his white teeth gleaming in the early afternoon sun. “Next time I’ll stop by and get you first. If Nora tries to chase after us and stop us, maybe she’ll get whipped away by the wind.”

             
“That’s not nice,” I protested.

             
“Neither is she.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Her dislike for Adam seemed to be growing more with every day we spent together. Over the few days he was gone, she’d taken a few opportunities on lecturing me about getting too serious too fast, but I decided against mentioning that. Adam picked up the driftwood and we continued walking along the beach.

              “We have a new guest,” I said after a few minutes. Most of the guests we’d had when the hurricane hit left early, wanting to get home before any potential problems could arise.

             
“Really?” Adam asked, looking amused. “I thought you tended to get guests pretty often.” He nudged me with his hip.

             
I grinned at him. “Don’t be smart. This is different. Apparently she wants to stay on for a month at a time, instead of weekly.”

             
“Why?”

             
“I don’t know. I heard my dad and Nora arguing about it. We still get a good amount of guests in early fall, so Nora didn’t really want to have anyone staying on long term and taking up a room, but my dad kept insisting it would probably be better for business.”

             
“Who won?”

             
“My dad, surprisingly. He didn’t back down for once.”

             
“Wow.”

             
“She seems nice,” I continued. “Really young, maybe twenty or so. She already got a job waitressing somewhere in town, I think that’s one of the reasons Nora couldn’t really turn her down.”

             
“I don’t understand why she’d want to turn any guests down. Maybe Nora feels threatened.”

             
I rolled my eyes. “Nora couldn’t feel threatened by someone if she tried. And I think it has more to do with the fact that renting a room monthly is cheaper than renting it by the week. They set it up like that in the beginning, and never had anyone interested in it so they never changed the fees when we started getting guests more regularly.”

             
“That makes sense. If she’s that young, it might be cool having her around. You could get a break from Hannah every once in a while.”

             
I smiled. “If anyone takes this new girl as a threat, it’s Hannah. She’s really pretty.”

             
“Not as pretty as you.”

             
“You haven’t even met her.”

             
“I don’t need to. I just have the confidence that I have the prettiest girlfriend in all of Haven.”

             
“Her name is Teagan,” I continued, smiling to myself at his flattery. “She’s from Connecticut.”

             
“How does someone from Connecticut end up in Haven long-term?”

             
“I think she just wanted something new. I can understand that. Nora said she was brought in by the hurricane, but I think she’s just bitter over losing the argument with my dad.”

             
“You don’t want to stay in Haven forever?” Adam asked, looking genuinely surprised.

             
“Maybe not forever.”

             
“I never want to live anywhere else,” Adam declared. “Visit, yeah, but I always want to live here. It’s home.”

             
“I don’t think anywhere I’ve ever lived really felt like home,” I admitted. My mind flashed back to that cabin on the beach back in Oregon, but as soon as it appeared, it was gone. I couldn’t even be sure I was remembering it correctly.

             
He squeezed my hand. “Your home is with me, now.”

             
“Yeah?”

             
“Oh yeah. You’re stuck with me forever.”

I smiled and leaned against him as we continued our walk. Nothing sounded better than forever with Adam.

Chapter Seventeen

             
I woke up the next morning, Adam’s side of the bed empty, like it had been the night we’d slept over at Nolan’s. I rolled over onto his pillow, breathing in the remaining scent of his cologne and smiled to myself. Then I remembered why I was there.

             
I got up and made the bed so that it looked like it hadn’t been slept in, then changed into the clothes I’d worn the day before and made my way downstairs. I was nervous, though I didn’t know why. I found Adam and Julia sitting at the kitchen table, serious looks on both of their faces, and felt my stomach drop.

             
“Good morning,” I greeted them, trying to sound as upbeat as possible, like I hadn’t wandered over there the night before in the almost-freezing weather, probably looking like the world as I’d known it had ended. But then, in a way, it had, so maybe my looking that way wasn’t so far off base.

             
“Good morning, honey,” Julia said with a warm smile. “Would you like some breakfast?”

             
“No, thanks,” I quickly responded. I hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before, but the idea of trying to stomach anything right now didn’t appeal to me.

             
“You really should eat something,” she insisted. “There’s some leftover fruit salad, would you like some of that?”

I agreed, deciding that fruit salad probably wouldn’t have a disastrous effect on me, and Julia got up to get it. I sat down next to Adam and instinctively reached for his hand under the table.

              “Why didn’t you wake me up?” I whispered.

             
“You looked peaceful and I figured you needed some sleep. Mom told me what happened.”

I nodded, relieved I didn’t have to. I felt like half of our relationship so far had been spent dealing with my family drama in one way or another, and I didn’t want to have to add this to the list. Adam didn’t look happy.

              Julia returned with the bowl of mixed fruit. I stabbed a strawberry slice with my fork, trying to convince myself it looked appetizing. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until the rest of the fruit began to disappear. Julia patiently waited until I was done eating to talk.

             
“Lainey, we need to discuss some things,” she began, and the jittery feeling came back, this time in full force. I said nothing, waiting for her to continue.

             
“I called your father last night to tell him where you were, and he didn’t seem concerned. All he said was alright, and that he’d check in with you tomorrow. I understand that what happened yesterday might make things awkward between your father and yourself, but I’m concerned.” She paused to take a deep breath, and I got a sense that maybe she was nervous, but that didn’t make any sense.

             
“Last night, you told me that you and Nora haven’t spoken a word to each other since Thanksgiving. That was almost a month ago. And now this with your father. I don’t think it’s a good environment to bring a baby into, and with that said, I really don’t think it’s a good environment for you to live in before the baby arrives.” She seemed to be waiting for me to jump in with something, but I didn’t. What was I supposed to say? It wasn’t news to me, that my family was a disaster.

             
“Adam and I were talking this morning, and we both agree that it’s in everyone’s best interest if you move in here. I know it isn’t my place to tell you where you should and shouldn’t live, and I know how much you love your father and stepmother in spite of everything that’s happened, but this makes more sense, as far as I can tell. When the baby gets here, you’re going to need help, and I’m just not sure you’re going to get the support and help you need at Bella Vista. At least here, the baby will have both of their parents on a daily basis, as well as two grandparents, plus the same housekeeper that helped me with Greg and Adam as they were growing up.”

I took it all in, having to remind myself to breathe every once in a while. Move in with Adam and his parents? The idea seemed wonderful and frightening all at once.

              “If you need time to think about it, that’s perfectly okay. I still need to discuss this with Ned before anything is made permanent, but we’ve talked about what will happen when the baby gets here plenty of times before, and we’ve always been in agreement that it’s better to have them in more of a family setting, instead of the baby bouncing back and forth between you and Adam as though you weren’t together.”

             
“I don’t see why she’ll need time to think about it,” Adam spoke up. “Right, Lainey?”

             
I looked at him and nodded. He was right, why would I need time to think about it? This was the best possible solution to everything, wasn’t it? I wanted to believe so, but something inside of me just didn’t seem convinced.

             
My first concern was Hannah. She wouldn’t take the news of me moving out well, of that I was sure. We were still a family, even if we were the only two people in it that still believed that. She needed me. Sure, she’d complained about having to share a bedroom every day since we’d moved into Bella Vista, and we’d worried about how we were going to fit a crib and baby stuff in an already cramped room, but me move out? She never would have asked for that.

             
“It seems like a big step,” I said finally, realizing they were both waiting for me to respond. I looked away from Adam, avoiding his eyes, although I could feel them fixed on me. Of course he wanted this. I hadn’t thought too much about what would happen after the baby was born, how we’d make things work without living together, and this solved everything. Sort of.

             
“It is,” Julia agreed. “It certainly is. But it’s no bigger a step than having a baby. And it is best, in the long run. You wouldn’t have to sacrifice your schoolwork and studying in order to care for the baby around the clock, because whenever Adam’s at work, I’ll be here and you know I want to help you as much as possible.”

             
“I know,” I smiled softly. “But I don’t know how my parents are going to feel about this. And Hannah. She won’t be happy.”

             
“Your stepmother disowned you in front of your entire family and your dad is sleeping with someone that’s practically the same age as you. I don’t think their opinion matters.” Adam spoke up. Everything he said was true, but that didn’t keep it from stinging so much.

             
Julia sent him a look, silencing him. “Their opinion does matter, Adam. But if they want what’s best for Lainey, and I sincerely think that they do, they’ll agree that this is a better situation. Regardless of what is or isn’t going on with your parents, Lainey, you have to admit that a bed and breakfast isn’t an ideal place to raise a baby.”

             
“I know,” I agreed. A baby screaming at all hours of the night probably wasn’t something that would appear endearing to guests, and the last thing I needed was to add something new to the list of reasons why Nora hated me. 

             
“You’ll still see Hannah every day at school,” Julia continued. “And she’s more than welcome here, whenever she wants to visit. I plan on setting up the guest room as a bedroom for you as well as a nursery, and she can sleep over here whenever she wants.”

I tried to imagine Hannah actually wanting to sleep in the same room as a crying baby, but the visual wouldn’t come. I smiled.

              “I don’t agree with that,” Adam argued. “If Lainey is going to live here, then she’s going to stay in my room, with me. We’re adults now, Mom. The guest room can be the baby’s nursery.”

             
“I don’t know if your dad will agree with that.”

             
“If you put us in separate rooms, we’re going to end up together anyway,” Adam maintained. “It would be easier to just let us.”

Julia sent him another look, and he abruptly stopped debating his point.

              “Okay,” I said. “When should I talk to them?”

             
“I think it’s better if I do the talking,” Julia said. “If Nora gets upset, I don’t want her taking it out on you again. I think we should all get ready and go now, while the day is still young. You and Adam can start packing your things, and I’ll talk to your parents.”

             
The next half-hour passed in a blur. Adam and Julia dressed and we all got into Julia’s car, and in the blink of an eye we were at Bella Vista. I entered the house first, finding it empty.

             
“Nora is probably in her office, right off the living room,” I told Julia. “I’d rather not speculate where my father is.”

             
Adam squeezed my hand, and we headed upstairs to my soon-to-be ex-bedroom. Hannah was sitting on her bed, wearing a robe. Her eyes widened when Adam walked into the room with me.

             
“WHOA!” She exclaimed. “GIRL TERRITORY HERE!” She grabbed a pillow and held it over her, as though she were exposed without it.

             
Adam rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing I’m interested in seeing, Hannah. Calm down.”

             
She made a face at him. “What are you two doing here, anyway? And where were you last night? Mom had no idea, and Michael was missing in action.”

Guilt raced through my veins. How was I supposed to leave Hannah? She depended on me. Things probably weren’t going to improve between Nora and my dad anytime soon, and if I left now, she’d be left to deal with it all on her own. I was the worst stepsister in the world.

              “I slept at Adam’s,” I said.

             
She raised her eyebrows. “That’s allowed now?”

             
“Apparently. She’s moving in with me,” Adam told her.

             
So much for breaking it to her gently. Hannah’s eyes got bigger than I could ever remember seeing them. “What? No way.”

             
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “We’re here to get some of her stuff.”

             
“Lainey?” Hannah turned to me. “Is that true?”

             
I sat down next to her on the bed. “Yeah, it’s true.”

             
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

             
“It was just decided this morning. Don’t be mad,” I pleaded with her, however pointlessly. Of course she was going to be mad.

             
Hannah got off the bed, arms over her chest. “I don’t get how this is happening,” she said. “You go from not being allowed to see him on weekdays to moving in with him? That makes no sense.”

             
“That rule hasn’t exactly been enforced in a while,” I pointed out. “Nora and I haven’t spoken in weeks. This is for the better.”

             
“Why now?” She insisted. “Why are you moving out three days before Christmas?”

Adam and I exchanged a glance, but neither of us said anything. I got off the bed and began collecting clothes from my drawers, leaving the ones that no longer fit comfortably. I didn’t know if they’d fit Hannah, but I could always leave them for her as a peace-offering. She always found a way to make something out of nothing, both in good ways and bad.

              “This is unbelievable,” Hannah declared, storming out of the room. I felt myself wanting to cry, but held it back. I’d expected Hannah to be mad, so it wasn’t like her reaction was all that much of a surprise.

             
“She’ll be okay,” Adam told me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I nodded, wanting to believe him.

             
Within twenty minutes we’d packed up everything I felt I needed to pack. It wasn’t much, which left me with a weird feeling, but there was nothing I could do about it now, the decision had already been made. I glanced around the bedroom that had been mine for four years, and felt sadness wash over me. So many memories were formed in that room. It was the room where Hannah and I had gone from two strangers to sisters. I’d found out I was pregnant in the attached bathroom. 

             
I wiped away a few tears that managed to get past my persistent blinking, and let Adam lead me out of the room and down the steps. Julia was at the door, already preparing to leave.

“Adam, come to the car with me,” she said, shooting me a small smile. “Lainey, your father wants to talk to you.”

              “Where is he?”

             
“The office. Nora isn’t home, which is why I’m going to wait in the car.”              

             
“I’m staying with Lainey,” Adam decided.

             
Julia shook her head. “Come with me, Adam.” Her voice was stern, giving Adam with no choice but to listen to her. He shot me a questioning look and I nodded. He kissed me quickly and grabbed the rest of the bags, then followed his mother out to the car, leaving me to deal with whatever my father had to say alone.

             
I found my dad in the office, sitting at the computer, a sight so familiar it jarred me for a moment.