Cassie smiled down at her daughter who lay on the dingy blue carpet watching the fairytale wedding end of a film before turning back to her coupon clipping.
“Mommy! Mommy!” Emilie yelled, running across the small room to her mother’s lap, scattering the collection of multi-colored coupons.
“Yes, baby?” Cassie said, picking up her child and placing her in her lap.
“I’mma marry him!” She yelled excitedly, pointing to the handsome hero on the television screen.
“You are?” Cassie humored Emilie, attempting to hide her laughter.
“Yes.” Emilie replied matter-of-factly, snuggling into her mother’s warm embrace. “Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Are you married?”
“No, baby, I’m not.”
“Why not?”
Cassie remembered Wyatt’s reaction to her untimely pregnancy and his impending fatherhood.
“Listen… I can’t do this. I can’t have a kid.” Wyatt had explained as he drove down the dirt road towards Cassie’s home, the storm raging around them.
“And I can? I’m seventeen!” Cassie replied, desperately trying to refuse her tears.
“Yea, and it’s your kid.”
“I’m not the only one responsible for this, Wyatt. It takes two to tango, so to speak.” Cassie bitterly retorted. “We both have to deal with this. It’s our child. Not just mine.”
“No! We don’t have to deal with this! It’s your problem! Not mine! You’re the one who got pregnant!” He yelled, raising his hand and slamming it on the dashboard.
“It’s a child! Not a problem!” Cassie cried as her house pulled into view.
Wyatt stopped the car in front the derelict farmhouse. “Get out, Cassie. There is no us. There is no we. Never was. It’s your fault your pregnant.”
“How can you do this?!?”
“GET OUT!” He shouted. Cassie scrambled to open the car door. Wyatt reached across the cab of the red pick-up truck and slammed the door shut as soon as she was out. He sped down the old dirt road, gravel flying into the air as Cassie was left alone, standing in the middle of her driveway in the pouring rain. She slowly walked to the front steps of the house and sat down, wrapping her arms around her body before she stopped fighting the tears. She cried.
“I just never found the right guy. You have to get married to the right guy to live happily ever after.” Cassie answered her daughter’s question, pulling her small daughter closer to her body. “But our family is pretty great like it is.” Cassie kissed the top of Emilie’s curly head.
“Yep. Are right guys hard to find?”
“A little. But they’re supposed to be worth the wait.”
“Mommy, I’mma find you a husband. Then, we’ll both get married. On the same day. You can marry right guy. And I’mma marry him!” Emilie explained, pointing to the television screen once more. “Hey! Where’d he go? He disappeared!” Emilie jumped off her mother’s lap and ran to the television. “Come back you loserheadface!” Cassie laughed as she silently prayed that her daughter would never learn how men really did disappear.
The movie’s end credits began to roll and vibrant, happy music filled the air. Emilie began dancing excitedly. “Mommy! Dance with me!” Cassie put down her paper and put her coupons on the wooden side table before running across the room and swinging her daughter into her arms. The two spun around the room, laughter filling the house.
Labels: Daughter, marriage, marry, shooting, stars, teenage pregnancy, teenagers
posted by Jill at 7:32 PM