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“Seriously, Norma,” he said, rubbing her arm. “You get one night to cry over him, but after tonight, no more. Do I need to cut him off at the knees?”
“No,” she said with a soft laugh.
Laughing was much better than crying, Sam decided.
“He’s gone.” Her voice was muffled by his shirt.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“He took off to California. Going to work at his cousin’s auto shop.”
“He works at the auto shop here,” Sam said with a frown. “Didn’t invite you? Or you didn’t want to go?”
Norma finally lifted her head and drew away from him. He handed over a napkin and she mopped her face. Even though her eyes were reddened, they were still a pretty brown. Her cheeks had flushed a deep pink, matching the color of her lovely lips. Sam blinked, pushing those thoughts away. This was a woman in mourning, and he didn’t need to be thinking about how pretty and kissable she looked.
“I don’t know anything anymore,” Norma said in a pained voice. “Last night I found out some news, and when I told him, he put together a plan to get away from me.”
None of this made any sense. David had been so possessive of her, and she seemed content enough with him. So why the change of heart? “What was the news?”
She looked down at her twisting hands. “I’m pregnant.”
Sam felt as if all the air had been sucked from his lungs. It took him a moment to understand the enormity of what she was saying. “And David doesn’t want the baby?”
“No,” she whispered. “He told me it wasn’t his, and that I better not come after him for any money or support.” The tears were back, and her voice trembled at the next words. “He called me awful things. All lies. I’ve never been with anyone...except him.” She used the napkin again.
Sam didn’t know what to say. This was a tangle, that was for sure. Maybe David was in shock? Maybe he’d come around? Not that he wanted Norma to forgive the jerk, but wasn’t it better for a kid to have a dad around?
“I’m sorry.” He grasped her hand and held on. What else could he say? “What do your parents think?”
She gave a half-laugh that had no joy in it. “They want me to move to Portland to stay with my aunt until the baby is born, then place it for adoption.”
It sounded gut-wrenching to Sam. “What do you want?”
Norma threw up her hands. “It’s all so new, all so much...I don’t know what I want. I thought that David would—” She covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes.
“Want to marry you,” Sam finished.
She nodded, the pain etching lines about her eyes. “I want the baby, I do. Even with David’s rejection, I still can’t imagine giving my baby up. But I don’t have a choice.” She folded her arms against her chest. “It’s not fair for me to bring this child into the world with only one parent—and a parent who’d have to be dependent on her own parents.”
These things happened sometimes. It could all work out, although right now it felt heavy.
“You have nine months to decide, right?” Sam said, hoping to ease the situation. “You don’t have to decide everything right now. Everyone is reeling and making rush judgments.”
“More like seven months,” Norma said. “Besides, my parents already bought me a train ticket for Friday.”
Friday was two days away.
“My aunt is preparing a room for me,” she continued. “I’m not going to be called her niece when I’m there. I’ll be a friend’s daughter.” Her eyes watered again. “I’m a shame to everyone, yet David gets to start a new carefree life.”
It wasn’t fair, none of it was fair. Norma was paying all the consequences of a two-partner relationship. “Maybe your parents will change their minds.”
She didn’t look hopeful, though. “My mother’s been shut in her room all day, and my father stayed home from work to make all the arrangements. They’re not going to change their minds.”
Sam gazed at the tabletop, his eyes following the path of a couple scratches in the scrubbed wood. “I’ll track down David and talk to him. He needs to take responsibility.”
She set her hand on his arm. “No. I...the last month things have been off between us. He was calling me moody—and maybe I was. At least I know I had an excuse. But I caught him lying to me more than once about his whereabouts.”
He furrowed his brows, looking at the hand on his arm, then meeting her gaze.
