When I Was 20 Years Old (Mature content) (Complete)

Chapter 15 - Lance

"Three months maximum?" Ella asked again.

"Yeah. That's what I heard the doctor said," Rory confirmed.

"You sure?" I questioned.

"Of course I'm sure!" She insisted, "I was told by the doctor directly!"

"OH my god," Jason breathed, "Why is this happening to us? Why now?"

"What are we going to do?" Ella whispered.

"I dunno," Jason replied, "God where is mum when you need her?"

"Six foot under!" I said.

"Lance!" Rory gasped.

I ran my hand through my hair, "Well she is! Along with Aunt Lucy and Uncle John and....." I gulped, "Baby Lucy."

"Lance we have to be strong!" Ella said, "For dad's sake."

"I know," I sighed, "I just don't want to bury anyone else."

"We all know what you mean. We can't take it anymore," Rory said, "But there is something else I should tell you guys."

"What?" Ella asked.

"Antony was there today," Rory continued.

"What? You mean Dad's brother?" I spat, not wanted to admit the relation to us.

"Yeah," Rory whispered bitterly.

"What did he want?" Jason asked, "What did he say this time?"

"I dunno, dad gave me the look to leave the room," she said.

"But mum did invite him here, remember?" Ella said.

I clenched my jaw. That was the one thing I was still angry at mum for doing. The four of us knew something that our parents didn't. He tried to scare us into stealing from our parents by threatening to hurt one or all of us.

"True," I said finally.

"He might of changed," Jason said.

I sighed, "Maybe but I still don't trust him. Dad has just lost mum and learnt that his cancer is worse than thought. He's fragile and I don't want Antony to make it worse."

"We won't let him!" Ella said firmly, "But we also have to give him the benefit of the doubt because this time he could be genuine."

"I guess we will just have to wait and see," Jason said finally.

"Rory! I'm back!" We heard Luke yell.

"Ok babe! We are in the living room!" She shouted back.

"Oh hey guys!" Luke said from the doorway.

"Hey!" We said back.

"Anyway, I should probably go and get back to the kids!" Ella said standing up.

"Yeah! I gotta go pick up Bradley and Shannon from the theatre," Jason said getting up and leaving the room to grab his jacket.

"I guess I should get home to the Mrs," I laughed.

We all laughed and hugged and said our final goodbyes before Ella, Jason and I left the house towards our various vehicles. With a final wave and horn honk, I pulled on my crash helmet to head home.

****

"Honey! I'm home!" I shouted through the flat. I receive no reply, "Martha?"

I found her in the living room, hunched over crying and holding her stomach. I knelt down in front of her and feared the worst. I held her hands, which is when I saw she was clutching paper.

"Martha what's happened?" I asked.

She wordlessly handed me the paper. I took it and read it. I sighed in disbelief and mentally kicked myself. She had lost her teaching license because of me and our relationship. I continued reading and breathed a sigh of relief  that she wasn't going to be imprisoned for it.

"I'm so sorry baby," I whispered.

"I don't care that I lost my job!" She cried, "I just care that someone found out about our relationship and I don't know who."

"Martha be grateful that you aren't in more trouble!" I said.

"That's the problem Lance!" She cried, "I could get into a lot of crap and, right now, the power is all in this person's hand!"

"Martha look at me!" I insisted. She slowly looked up, "I won't let anything happen to you!"

"What about you?" She asked.

"What do you mean? It won't affect me," I replied.

"What if people at school know now?" She asked, "What if word spread?"

"I'll cross that bridge when it comes to it!" I said, "Let me handle that."

"I'm sorry!" She whispered.

"For what?" I asked.

"Putting you through this," she whispered, "Especially with you dad in the hospital and now we have no income for the baby..."

"Shhhh!" I hushed her, "My dad will be fine! He's coming home tomorrow so don't worry about that."

"Do you think we can borrow money from your dad?" She asked.

"We could," I said, "But we won't have to."

"Why?" She asked, "We need the money!"

"No we don't," I replied, "You have a job."

"Lance I just got fired!" Martha said, "I don't have a job."

"You do!" I replied, "You are the new CEO of Dare's publishing."

"But...." She whispered, "You really wanted that job."

"Yeah but I'm too young to take that job right now and I don't want to put to waste ur English degree!" I explained, "Plus my parents want it to stay in the family and you are my wife and I want you to have the position. Besides, I enjoy working in the printing room."

She laughed, "You don't mind?"

"Babe I want you to have the job!" I replied, "You will probably be better at it than the rest of us."

"But what about my maternity leave?" She asked, "I'm due soon."

"We can borrow any money we need from dad until you can go back to work," I said, "But to be honest, I'll get an apprenticeship at the end of this year so I'll have a little bit of an income."

"Thank you for this!" She whispered.

"Martha it's fine!" I laughed, "Wanna go talk to the board of directors now? I'm scheduled for a meeting."

"Sure," she replied.

****

Martha slowly wandered out. The dress she was wearing hugged her figure and emphasised her pregnancy. She slowly took the seat next to me and I held her hand. I had been sitting out her for the last forty five minutes awaiting her arrival.

"What did they say?" I asked.

"They said...." Martha breathed, "They said yes!"

"Really?" I screeched.

"Yeah!" She cried, "I can start in eight months!"

"That doesn't give you a lot of time at home with our baby," I pointed out.

"That's the best part!" She said, "Because I'm joining in a season that's predicted to be low I can bring the baby to work so I can look after her here!"

"Really! That's amazing!" I said. I pulled my wife in for a hug, "Absolutely amazing."

"You're amazing!" She whispered, "And there is something else I've been meaning to tell you."

"What?" I asked.

"Kirsty is sleeping it's your brother-in-law," she laughed.

"Oh my god," I laughed, "Reid and Kirsty got together in the end!"

"Yep!" She laughed.

We sat there laughing.