Our Time Will Come - An After Story

67

This part will feature a short POV from Ken, enjoy

Ken

"Honey's we're home!" I chime as cheerful as ever as my wife and I enter our home. I was low-key glad when the Merrygold's didn't show up for the ballet, it meant that we didn't have to go back to their place and listen to them boast for hours on end. Turns out their dog was sick or something, I don't know, I didn't really listen to their excuse. The ballet was beautiful as always and it was good to spend some quality time with my dearest, Karen.

Karen and I glare at each other at the sound of the loud, thumping music and we head into the kitchen, where it seems to be coming from. "Dad, you're .. you're home early" our daughter stutters, while turning the terrible noise down. What is that in her hand? It better not be liquor, I swear to god. "Yes, we are. What are you doing Abby?" I interrogate. "I - I" she continues to stutter, she looks absolutely wasted! "Abby Scott are you for real?! Where did you get this booze from!" Karen starts to raise her voice.

Abby may be nineteen and we do allow her to have the odd celebratory drink with dinner, but this is on another level. Abby's eyes flicker between Emery and her boyfriend. I knew it, I had a feeling there would be trouble this weekend with those two. "Emery! Did you bring this?" I snap, maybe I shouldn't jump to conclusions but I'm so mad right now that I'm seeing red. "No, of course not!" Emery raises her voice. To be fair, Emery looks and sounds completely sober, but there's no other explanation for it, we don't store liquor in the house to avoid temptation, so either Emery or that Charlie kid, must have smuggled it in their suitcase. I take a glance at Charlie and his eyes are bloodshot red and he looks just as wasted as Abby.

"Well someone has brought liquor into this house because we do not keep it here!" Karen crosses her arms in a strop. "It wasn't me and it wasn't Charlie, so please stop your assumptions" Emery huffs, gosh she resembles Hardin so much when she's mad. "Well if it wasn't you guys and it wasn't Abby, then that only leaves Addelyn and I know she wouldn't do such a thing" I'm now yelling and I probably shouldn't be. "Where is Addy, anyway!" Karen questions but is ignored.

"You never thought she'd have sex with Austin Priestley, but she did!" Emery rages and I begin to choke on my own breath. I don't know what I was expecting her to say, but it certainly wasn't that. "She's not as innocent as you think! But, it wasn't Addy who snuck the liquor in, it was Abby! She had it stored in the cabinet and it was her idea to drink in the first place, in fact she called me boring for not wanting to drink! So maybe you should look a lot closer to home before you accuse people, grandpa" Emery's voice cracks.

Damn, now I feel like a dick. "Abby, get out of my sight" I mumble under my breath. "But dad-" she attempts to reason with me. "I said, get out of my sight!" I yell. She scurries up the stairs to her room and I can tell that she is fighting her tears. She may be nineteen years old, but she can't take it when Karen and I are disappointed in her and as much as it breaks my heart to see her that way, she needs to learn.

"I think I'm going to go to my room, too" Emery stands from her seat and attempts to walk away. "Sit down" I demand and she follows my order. We are disrupted when we hear the creaking of the bathroom door, opening. Addy is looking worse for wear and almost as-if she has been sick. "Nana, Grandpa you're home" she rubs her eyes. "You, sit down too" I demand and she takes a seat next to Emery and Charlie at the table. "Did you get sick from drinking?" I ask Addelyn and she nods her head in agreement.

"What? no you didn't!" Emery defends her. "You didn't even have a drink, you were sick already" she adds. Addy gives her the strongest glare as-if to warn her to shut her mouth. Is she hiding something? I hope she isn't. "I did drink grandpa, that's why i was getting sick. I'm sorry" Addelyn admits and I shake my head in disappointment.

"I'm sorry for accusing you, okay?" I tell Emery, she nods her head. "But you, I can tell you've had a drink" I tell Charlie. "You don't have to do everything that an older kid pressures you into doing, you know that right?" I advise. "Yes sir, I know that, but Abby didn't pressure me into drinking, it isn't her fault" he tells me and I appreciate the way he owns up to his mistake.

"I will be having words with Abby" I add. It's true, I plan on having a long, hard talk with her. "Now please don't let this ruin your weekend, tomorrow is your big spa day and you're going to have the best time" I tell the girls, whilst holding my arms open to cuddle them both. They unwillingly give me the quickest hug possible, before escaping my embrace. Gosh, teenagers are dramatic. "And you, you're going to love it down on that golf course tomorrow" I tell Charlie, of course without the hug. He gives a small smile.

"Can we go up to our rooms now?" Emery rolls her eyes. I decide to put them out of their misery and let them retreat upstairs. "Charlie, you know where you're staying, right?" I purposely ask, to ensure that he and Emery don't end up in the same room. Hardin would kill me if I let that happen. "Yeah I do, thanks Mr Scott" he mutters.

"Kids, huh" I smirk to my wife, though she isn't seeing the amusing side of this. "Ken, can you believe that our little Abby drinks! I thought she hated the taste of alcohol!" Karen waves her arms in the air. "Me too, I guess she had us fooled" I laugh and Karen eventually gives in and giggles at our daughters antics. "I'm going to have to do a lot of grovelling tomorrow to make up for accusing the kids of smuggling alcohol into our house" I add. "You are" Karen agrees.

"So, what do you say sweetie? How about I go and have a word with Abby, then we get changed and put on a movie down here?" I suggest, while unbuttoning my shirt. Gosh this thing is tight, I know that I have put on a couple of pounds, but I'm practically bursting out of this shirt. "Sounds good honey, but first, I must go to the toilet, I've been holding in a pee since the freeway" my beautiful wife overshares while heading into the downstairs bathroom. The beauty of marriage.

"Okay sweetheart" I tell her, I head for the stairs but I'm startled by Karen yelling my name from behind. The panic in her voice, makes my heart skip a beat. "Sweetie, what is it?" I ask as I rush over to the bathroom. "Look" a hand covers her mouth as she waves a small, white stick in the air. My heart drops to my stomach as I realise that it's a pregnancy test.

"Who's is that?!" My breathing is staggered. "I don't want to jump to conclusions, but all of the kids were drinking, apart from Emery" Karen tugs at her hair. She's right, I know that Emery is no stranger to alcohol after her rebellious phase a few months ago, where she attended those parties with those rotten kids, so this is probably why she wasn't drinking tonight. "Shit!" I mutter.

"Is it.. positive?" I ask, although it's pretty obvious from Karen's reaction that it is. "Yes, it is! What do we do!" Karen's bottom lip starts to wobble and I pull her into me for a cuddle. "She's just a kid!" She adds and she is now sobbing. Oh shit. "We have to call Hardin" I tell my wife. I know that I should probably speak to Emery first, but I know that she will fly off the handle and I know that Hardin will go ballistic if he finds out that we knew about this and didn't tell him.

"Why would she just leave it here, in the bathroom?" I wonder out loud. "Well, I guess she didn't know that we'd be home so early, so she probably forgot to move it. I don't know, honey" Karen sniffles. Shit.