On the Run: The Texas Files ✔

Chapter 10: The Longest Night

"What?!" Noah, Andrew, I exclaim at the same time.

Marissa rolls her eyes. "Relax," she says. "It's not like you're the one pregnant."

Oh, honey. You have no idea what you've just done. Our entire lives are about to get turned upside down, including yours. We can't afford this. We can barely live off my dad's salary now. Imagine two more mouths to feed? It's bad enough now. We also can't afford this emotionally. She's going to have to go on the run with us. With the baby.

I start to think back to when I first saw her. Sunken eyes and pale skin? Sickness. Morning sickness. She doesn't sleep because she's nauseous. It all makes sense.

I just stare at the glass at my feet. We're done for. Andrew is thinking about the same thing. I can tell by his expression. Noah is just staring at her belly.

"How-" Noah starts. "How-"

She takes another deep breath. "How what? How long? How did it happen? How are we going to handle this?"

"Yes," he says. He looks so scared.

"Five weeks," she says. "Do you remember the night we got really drunk on my dad's scotch? That night. I counted back."

"Marsi," he whispers. "No."

"No?" she says. "No what?"

He stands up and paces back and forth for a minute. "Get rid of it."

Her look morphs from apologetic to angry within milliseconds. She stands up too. "Get rid of it?!" she yells. "Are you serious right now?!"

He nods. "Marsi," he says. "I can't do this. I'm not ready. My family situation is complicated. I can't have a kid."

"Uh," she says quietly. "That's not exactly the case."

Noah looks confused. I peek over at Andrew. He's got it figured out. His mind is grinding its gears really fast. "Genetically," Andrew speaks up. "She has a higher chance of having twins since Noah and I are."

She nods. "He's right."

Twins. Correction. Three mouths to feed. This is it. This is the end.

"Marsi," he says. "We'll pay for it if that what it takes. I can't have children. Not right now."

Not ever. We can't have this happen to any of us until we figure out how to keep the men away from me. We can't do this because of me. Noah knows that. Even if he wanted these kids, he can't because of me.

"I'm not getting rid of them," she says as she cradles her stomach. "They are a part of me now. No matter how you want it, they are a part of you too."

Noah is still pacing. "I don't understand how this happened. Even with as drunk as we were, I still used protection."

Andrew pipes up again, "Actually, condoms are only 80 to 97 percent effective depending on the brand."

Noah and Marissa both whip their heads around to face him.

Noah sighs, "Dude, not the time."

Andrew shrugs. "What? You needed to know."

Noah throws his hands up. "Well, it's too late for your infinite wisdom, now!"

I can't even begin to process this. She wants to keep them. We can't handle this. We can't, but we have no choice. They're related to me. I'm their aunt. What happens if they become traumatized, and they start doing stuff like this, too? She has to know. I can't tell her. Not yet. She could ruin everything.

Maybe I could come up with a lie to convince her to terminate the pregnancy... No, I shouldn't even think like this. I know this is ultimately her decision, and I don't want to deprive her of the rights to her own body. I just want to keep my family safe. Her too. No one deserves to live like this. This isn't going to ruin us. This isn't going to ruin me. I won't let it. We've made things work in the past. We can do it again.