Teen Dad

Fifteen

Elizabeth's eyes widened when I told her the news. "Lori? My little Lori, she's okay?"

"Yes, she's fine. She's the little girl over there with my girlfriend," I said, pointing to Anna and Abby as they laughed about who knows what.

"Sh-she looks so beautiful," Elizabeth said as she stared in awe. "But...how do you know I'm her mother?"

"David."

Her look of relief and happiness quickly turned into a look of disgust as I said his name. "So he found her. I told him to leave it alone, to leave her alone. But he always was stubborn."

"If David wants her now why did you give her up?"

She sighed and motioned for me to follow her. We both walked to an empty booth and sat across from each other. "I was 16 when I had her, David was 19. I got drunk at a party and we hooked up, I made some stupid decisions.

"David helped me throughout the pregnancy, letting me crash with him since my parents kicked me out. He took care of me and helped me when I was in need, I thought he would be an amazing father. But as the due date came closer, he became distant. Then a week before she was born I woke up to a note saying he wanted nothing to do with the baby.

"At that point I had two options, keep her and live on the streets, or get rid of her. I knew the only way she would survive was if she wasn't with me. But like I said, I was 16 and stupid. I left her in an alley instead of bringing her to the adoption agency. I regretted my decision right away. I went back to get her, but she was already gone." She looked over at the table again and smiled, "I never thought I'd be able to see her again. She looks so beautiful."

"Do you want to meet her?" She looked at me and nodded. We got up and walked back to our table where my food laid untouched and the girl's food was half gone. "Anna, Abby, I want you do meet someone." They looked up and both gave me questioning looks. "Anna, this is Elizabeth...she's your mom."

Elizabeth waved and gave a wiry smile, "hi."

"M-mom?"

"Y-yeah, I'm your birth mom."

"Um...Michael, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone." I nodded and Abby and I walked to the other side of the room so they couldn't here us. "What's going on? First her dad shows up and you treat him terribly, now her mom appears and you're nice?"

"I want Anna to now who her parent are, but I also want to stay her dad. When we were talking she said nothing about wanting her back. Maybe she can help us."

Abby sighed and leaned on the wall, staring back at our table. "I guess she doesn't seem that bad," she said. "I hope you're right, I don't want to see you two get separated."

"Don't worry, Anna will stay with us. I'll make sure of it."

"You just said us," Abby said, a small smirk forming on her face.

I blushed, "s-shut up. You know your part of her family, even though we just started dating."

"I know, I just like picking on you," she giggled and pecked my lips.

"Your evil."

"You love me." We turned back at the table and started walking, "I hope you're right."

"When have I ever been wrong?" Abby rolled her eyes as I entwined my fingers with hers. "I won't let David have her, I promise."

We got back to the table and sat down. Anna was telling Elizabeth about her life and asking a bunch of questions. "Daddy said my real daddy wants to take me with him, but I don't want to leave."

"How come?" Elizabeth asked

"Stranger danger, I don't know him. Plus something doesn't feel right with him," Anna replied.

I looked and Abby then back at Anna, "how so Anna?"

"He looks scary. And really old."

"That's not very nice Anna, you can't call people old," Abby said.

"But it's true. She looks like she twenty something," she said pointing at Elizabeth. "But the other guy looked like he forty."

"He did look a bit older than what he said," I told Abby.

"Well...maybe he's stressed? Or not sleeping? Not getting enough sleep can cause bags under the eyes, with makes people look older."

"No, it's not that," Elizabeth said. She looked around to make sure nobody was listening, then leaned forward a bit. "David has been known to use drugs. Illegal drugs. He got in trouble many times before. They never got him with the actual drugs, but I know he's using them. That's why I wanted him to stay away from Annabelle."

"But if he's got in trouble, why isn't he in jail?" Abby asked.

"Like I said, couldn't find the substances. They didn't have enough proof so they assumed he was drunk or mental. Where he lives nobody cares about what's going on in the world anymore. Almost everyone there is either and addict of some sort or got in trouble with the law somehow."

"Now we definitely can't let him take her," I said.

"But, we took a DNA test. Shouldn't it pick up the drugs in his system?" Abby questioned.

"It won't," Elizabeth said, leaning back in her chair again. "If we were in a big city like L.A. or NYC, then it would. But our town is so small and unimportant we aren't even on the map. Our technology isn't as advanced as everyone else's. We're lucky we get the iPhones, and they aren't even the latest ones."

"Michael, what are we going to do?" Abby asked me.

"I don't know. Anything. I will not let David take her. I'll even bring him to court if I have to."

"Michael, please don't take offense to this, but you're poor. You can't afford a lawyer to help you. Nobody will take you seriously." She was right. I didn't have a lot of money, so I couldn't afford a lawyer. I could barely even afford my suit for prom.

"I can help with that." I looked over at Elizabeth. She now had her head resting on the palm of her hand and giving me a smile. "I have a lawyer friend who owes me a couple favors. I'll see if he can be your lawyer, for free of coarse."

I smiled at her, "Thank you Elizabeth."

She smiled back, "Call me Liz."