“Young woman, I don’t know who you are, but you arenotgoing to work a scam on this family, do you hear me?” The voice was an angry, vitriolic, wavering hiss, scarier than anything I’d ever heard. “We are in the deepest grief, and if you think you can use this opportunity to further yourself by sullying Joe’s name...”
“No! You don’t understand. I don’t want money! Not... not for myself anyway. I...”
“The hell, you say!” Her voice rose in both pitch and volume. “So whatdoyou want? To drop your bastard on our doorstep?”
“No! I loved Joe, and...”
“How dare you!” she spit. “You leave us alone. We’re decent people. My brother-in-law is in law enforcement, and I’ll have you arrested if I get another call from you or if you dare show your face here. Have I made myself clear?”
I hung up, my hand shaking, and turned to Marge. “She—she said...”
“I could hear her, the loud old witch.”
“Oh, Marge.” Tears brimmed in my eyes.
She hugged me, then pulled back and looked at me, her brow creased. “Are you okay? You look pale as a ghost.”
I felt weak and nauseous. “I’m—I’m going upstairs to lie down.”
I lay on the bed and sobbed, feeling more alone than I’d ever felt in my life. I was still in bed when the doorbell rang some time later. Marge went and answered. I heard a familiar voice—Charlie’s voice. Oh, dear Lord. I pulled the pillow over my head. This was the night we were supposed to have dinner together! In all of the chaos, I’d completely forgotten. Oh, I couldn’t, I absolutelycouldn’tdeal with him now.
I thought that Marge was sending him away, because she stayed downstairs a long time, but then I heard footsteps on the stairs. I kept my face turned to the wall as the door creaked open. “I can’t see him,” I said. “Tell him to go away.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
I rolled over to see Charlie standing by the bed, his lips pressed tight, his eyes red.
“Charlie—I, uh—I’m not feeling well. I’m sorry, but I can’t...”
“Marge told me everything.”
“Everything?” I echoed blankly.
He nodded, his mouth pinched. “About the... the pilot. And the baby.”
Shame, fear, grief—it formed a cannonball in my gut. I buried my face in the pillow and sobbed.
He sat down beside me and put his hand on my back. The sympathy and forgiveness in that simple gesture unleashed all my emotional self-control. This was Charlie, my childhood friend, and I needed a friend in the worst way. I raised up, hugged him, and sobbed.
“Marry me, Addie,” he murmured.
I stared at him through tear-blurred eyes, at first not comprehending. “I—I can’t. I thought Marge told you...”
“She did, and yes, you can. You need to. I’ll give you and the baby a home.”
“But...”
“But, nothing. Everyone will think the baby is mine.”
“But...”
“That’s all I ask, Addie. Let everyone think the baby is mine. I’ll raise it as my own and we’ll be a family. We’ll put this behind us and everything will be all right.”
“But Charlie—that’s not fair to you.”
“Addie, all I’ve ever wanted is you. This way I get you. And the baby gets a home.”
And I got to keep the baby, and raise it. I got to keep a piece of Joe alive.
