Our Experiment

7: Mrs. DiMarco

Justice stared at Johnny in shock, her heart racing. This had been long overdue, but she was nervous as hell! She knew she needed to speak with him about this, but she wasn't ready. She wasn't ready to have him rebuke her and run off. To never speak with her again. What if he wasn't accepting and stopped talking to her? What if he ran back to Bhandari to forget about her.

"It's time for you two to talk." Justice's father said as he walked up behind Justice.

"Dad?" she said.

He sighed through his nostrils. "I know I've been difficult to talk to lately, but it isn't because of you, Justice. You and Johnny need to talk things over, and it isn't my place to get in the way of that."

Justice stared at the wall, unsure of what to say or do.

Her father continued, "I'll head out to give you two some space. I'll be back a bit later on."

When the door closed, everything fell silent, not that it had been above a mouse squeak anyway. Justice finally entered the living room and sat down on the couch across the coffee table from Johnny, who sat down after she had. They were silent for a long moment, Johnny patiently waiting for her to speak. Justice looking for her voice.

She had been planning on telling him. . .sooner or later. Mostly later. She needed to tell him, she needed to get this over with so that she could move on. She had never been at a loss for words in her life, but now she was nervous, and her mouth wouldn't open. She had never been nervous around Johnny as she was now.

"So," she finally began, "Do you remember the first time we took our experimenting to the next level?"

Johnny said nothing, but she knew he heard her so she continued.

"Well," It was hard for her to say, but she managed to speak. "The night we had sex and I told you that my period was due in another 2 weeks, well, it never came on. I didn't tell my parents when I found out. But when the Lakehurst incident happened. . ." Her voice began to crack. "When I was hospitalized, the doctors had done all sorts of testing and found out that I was pregnant. Both my parents were in the room when the doctor came in. I assumed they would be confidential with things like this, but because of what happened with the school, they were in panic to test the baby to make sure it was alright."

Justice stopped there, fighting back tears. Johnny spoke, "What happened to the baby?"

Justice shifted uncomfortably. "Well," she began, "my mom wanted me to carry it full term. Since she was against abortion, she gave me two options. Raise it on my own, or adoption." She stopped.

Johnny's heart sank, awaiting the rest of the story. It took her a moment to continue. "My father was pretty disappointed in me-I could tell by his expressions-but he never said anything. Although I could tell he was stressed by having a pregnant teenage daughter." She sighed. "Well, I carried the baby full term and I decided against adoption. But my mother thought it would be best if she raised the baby while my dad brought be back here to finish up my schooling."

Johnny continued to stare at the floor, the side of his mouth propped up on his hand. He looked at Justice, who was sitting-looking uncomfortable-staring at the table. He sighed and sat up straighter. "So, our baby is in Washington?"

Justice's heart jumped at his choice of words-our baby. She hadn't known how he would take the news, but apparently, he was accepting. "Yes." She said.

Johnny said nothing for a moment as he processed his thoughts. He never thought this would happen any time soon. He was a father, a father of a baby. And Justice was the woman who bore his first child. Someone to be honored and respected. Someone to cherish. This being the case, he needed to straighten up his act and be there for her and his children. He would have to leave everything behind, first with cutting all ties with Bhandari. "Boy or girl?" he asked.