“What does most deserving mean?” she asked.
“I don’t know, maybe the best player, or something. Who knows?” Seth replied.
“Well I guess we’ll find out soon enough. I hope you get it, but if not we’ll figure out something,” Lia said getting up quickly.
“Where are you going?”
“Bathroom,” she mumbled running to the bathroom.
Seth ran after her, and went in with her; he held her hair back for her. When she was done he asked, “Are you alright?”
“This is embarrassing having you in here while I throw up,” Lia groaned.
“Why?” he asked. “You’re sick because you’re pregnant; Babe and I want to be there through all of it. You’re the one going through it all not me. I don’t know what to do to make it easier for you.”
“You can’t, but you being here is what matters,” Lia said. “I need to lie down for a little. Can you get me some soda?”
“Yeah, want anything else?”
“No just bring it to my room.”
When Seth brought the soda to her she was sleeping. He sat on the chair in her room just watching her. He heard someone come in the house. He knew he should leave her room, but he didn’t want to in case she woke up.
“Lia?” her Dad called. “Where are you?” He opened her door and saw her sleeping and Seth in the chair. “I don’t want the two of you in this room when no one’s home.”
“She got sick and needed to lie down and I didn’t want to leave her alone. I swear I’ve been sitting here in this chair the whole time. What difference does it make now anyway?”
“Don’t be smart with me. I don’t condone what you did and I won’t condone you doing anything under my roof,” Mr. Rossetti said.
“I wasn’t trying to be smart and nothing will happen here anyway. Besides you blame me if you want, but it’s not all my fault,” Seth said heatedly.
“Look, Seth I promised myself I wasn’t going to place blame with either of you and I don’t mean to now. I just want you to know I don’t want you in her room with no one home.”
“I know that, but I couldn’t leave her alone sick.”
“Its morning sickness nothing to worry about, her Mom had it with both of them really bad for the first three months.”
“Why do they call it morning sickness if it happens all day long?” Seth questioned.
“I don’t know, I guess it’s because most women only get it in the morning. And of course her Mom got it all day, so she’ll probably follow in her footsteps.” he said and then changed the subject. “So what’s going on with your scholarship?”
“I don’t know, yet. Thanks to Heath I can play this weekend. So when the scouts come I’ll be playing,” Seth said.
“What are you talking about?”
“When I told the coach I wouldn’t be at practice today, he told me I couldn’t play this weekend. It’s the rules, if you miss practice you don’t play. I would have missed a practice to go to her appointment. There was no way I was missing that so, Lia got the appointment moved back a little and Heath, our captain, convince the coach to do the special teams at the end of practice today so I could leave early.”
“You can’t miss practice and the chance of getting a scholarship.”
“She means the world to me and so does this baby. There was no way I was missing her first appointment. You saw how she was, she was so scared, she needed me there and I was being there for her no matter what. I don’t think you honestly believe I love her as much as I do.”
“I think you both are too young to realize what you got yourselves into. But loving each other, yeah I know how much you love each other, and to be honest it’s not normal. You two act like you’ve been together forever and because of it you do things that you should be doing when you’re older. I wasn’t thrilled when you got engaged, she’s too young. She hasn’t been with anyone except you; she hasn’t dated anyone, but you. It makes me worried, I’m afraid as she gets older she’ll regret her life and you.”
“Is that what you do Dad? Do you regret your life with Mom? I know you both got married right out of high school, but I thought you had a great marriage,” Lia asked from the bed.
“I thought you were sleeping.” her Dad said. “No I don’t regret it now, but to be honest both your Mom and I have regretted it at times through our lives. There was a time when we didn’t think we would stay together. I don’t want either of you to go through that. I wish you both would have slowed down a little, but no not you two, you end up pregnant.”
“Dad, were different than you and Mom our love is so much stronger. He’s the other half of me. When you tried to separate us and I wasn’t with him for that month I thought a part of me wasn’t there. I wasn’t whole. Do you understand that?”
“No I honestly don’t understand it,” he replied.
“Remember back to your days of high school and what you felt for Mom back then, then multiply it by ten and that’s what Seth and I feel for each other. I can’t explain it Dad, it’s just the way it is. Please don’t give us anymore grief, we have a lot on our plate right now and were both trying to do the best we can. We didn’t plan this, we didn’t want this, but it happened and yes we have to live with it the rest of our lives and we both are willing to do that. I don’t want to fight with you anyone. The decisions are ours to make and no one else’s; I just want to know if we need help, you and Mom will be willing to help.”
“Of course we’ll help you, but I ask one thing and one thing only and that’s when you are living under my roof, you two will not be in this bedroom alone.”
“That can change real quick Dad,” Lia threatened.
“Lia, stop it. Its fine we’ll abide by that rule. I wasn’t in here for any other reason than I was worried about her when she got sick. I’ll stay out from now on if no one is home, Mr. Lombardi, you have my word on it,” Seth said. “I don’t want any more problems, Lia.”
“Fine,” her Dad said and walked out of the room.
“Babe, don’t piss him off. He’s taking all of this really great and I don’t want you living here under any kind of stress either by his doing or your own. Please give me one less thing to worry about,” Seth groaned.
“I’m sorry, I’m tired, I’m sick, and I’m cranky,” Lia said. “I’ll apologize to him later. I know, he’s taking it a lot better than I thought he would.”
“I don’t know about you sometimes, that mouth of yours is sure going to get you into some hot water if you don’t learn to control it,” Seth said.
“Yeah you should talk, mister calm cool and collected. Who’s the one yelling at your Dad all the time,” she said.
“That’s different.”
“Yeah? How?”
“I don’t want to talk about that now. I have to get going, it’s late. Stand up and give me a kiss and a hug,” Seth said.
“I don’t want you to go,” Lia whined.
“Stop whining, you’ll see me this weekend. You’re coming up for the game on Saturday right?”
“I think so, if Cris will drive me,” she replied giving him a hug and a kiss.
She held on to him for a long time and the kiss was not ending any time soon. She felt her body responding to his and crushed herself against him. Seth broke off the kiss and Lia was breathless.
“Don’t do that, Babe. It’s torture for me to have to drive all the way home and think of you back here in bed by yourself,” he said resting his forehead against hers.
“Good think of me all the time,” Lia said.
“I do already and I don’t need the added frustration on the way home,” he groaned. “Come on downstairs or I won’t be keeping my word to your Dad if we stay up here much longer.”
They walked out to his car together and he sat on the hood of his car and pulled her in between his legs, “Take care of yourself while I’m gone, rest a lot and take your vitamins the doctor gave you t
oday. I’ll be back soon, only a few more weeks. We have to get over to Jerry’s house and paint, maybe this weekend we can.”
“We’ll call a bunch of your buddies to come over and we can have a painting party and get it all done in a few days,” Lia said.
“You’re not helping,” Seth said.
“Yes I am, I’m not an invalent I can do anything I did before. I won’t go on any ladders and I’ll just paint the bottom of the wall if it makes you feel better,” Lia said.
“We’ll see. If not this weekend then the next, because I should be able to come back the week after that,” Seth said.
“What about playoffs?”
“We have to win both these games before we know. It’s really close between all the teams and if we lose both we probably won’t go. If we win both then we’ll go. Then it’ll be longer till I can move back,” he said.
“Let’s just shoot for you coming back early then everything is painted and we’ll be ready for you to move in. If it takes longer then we can move your stuff in slowly. I really wish we had a definite date, but we’ll play it by ear, I guess,” she said.
“Don’t be upset, Lia. I’ll be here before you know it. I have to work tomorrow night so I won’t call you until after and then, I hope you can come to the game on Saturday, if not I’ll be down after, it’s an afternoon game remember.”
“Yeah I remember.”
“I have to go. I love you, Babe,” Seth said kissing her.
“Bye, Seth I’ll see you this weekend, love you too,” Lia said.
Lia went back up to her room and sat on the bed. Every time he left she felt the burn of missing him. The ache that she always felt when they were apart was there again. It didn’t matter if they were a few streets away or miles away, that ache will always be there when their apart. She had yet to control that empty feeling she had.
Sitting there on the bed she started to feel nauseated again. Rubbing her stomach she got off the bed and stood in front of her full length mirror, she pulled up her shirt to look at her stomach. She moved back and forth looking at herself from different angles. She didn’t notice any change there yet, but knew it would only be a matter of time before her body would change so drastically she was afraid Seth wouldn’t want to look at her.
How was she to handle that? She couldn’t bare to be away from him, but if he rejected her while she was fat she’d lose it. A part of her knew he wouldn’t, but another part of her thought he would. She hoped and prayed she didn’t get too big, she was going to watch what she ate and was going to drink a lot of water, then maybe she won’t look to grotesques.
She went over to her desk and pick up one of the books the doctor gave her and threw it on the bed and got her pajamas on and got in a relaxed position. Picking the book up she started to read about the changes that will take place in her body in the next nine months.
She didn’t read too far before she fell asleep reading. The book slipped from her hands and fell to the floor. She didn’t even wake to hear her phone ringing when Seth called her when he got home.
~~*~~
Seth wondered why she didn’t answer his call, but he didn’t want to call back in case she was sleeping. He thought of everything the doctor told them. It was so much information that he didn’t think he’d remember it all. He knew he needed to read the books they gave him, but he didn’t have time to read them now he had homework to finish. He took that out and started it, he couldn’t concentrate much, and everything the doctor said was swirling around his head. Looking at Lia, he couldn’t wait till she started showing. He wanted to be able to see that this was all real. Even thought the doctor confirmed it with their own test, he didn’t think he would take it as being real until she was showing.
This is not the way he wanted it to be, he wanted to get through school and then get married, but leave it up to him and Lia to do it backwards. He didn’t know how everything was going to work out, but he would do everything in his power to provide for her and the baby. No one thinks he’ll do it, but he will. He made a vow to himself no matter what Lia and the baby come first. He’d go to the game on Saturday and play the best he could for them. The scholarship is the best thing he could get right now, and if he didn’t get this homework done soon he’ll be up all night. He wouldn’t get the scholarship with bad grades. He put everything out of his mind and concentrated on getting his calculus finished.
Chapter 35
Seth was moving into Jerry’s this weekend and Lia couldn’t wait. It was a long four weeks since they were together. Seth’s team the Hawks won their two games and went to the play offs, but didn’t make it to the championships they lost the last game.
So while Seth was up in New York playing Lia was at home getting Jerry’s house painted. They had two painting parties that lasted both weekends. They got the whole house painted, hallways, kitchen, dining room, and living room, everything except Seth’s room. He wanted to do that himself Friday before he moved in.
One more day till he brought everything down here and it couldn’t get here any faster. Lia was so excited, it was a bummer not being with him, but she knew it was too much for either of them to keep running back and forth all the time. He had to keep his grades up to get the scholarship, work and football it was just too much.
Lia was headed over to Jerry’s house to make sure everything was cleaned up and put away from last night when a few of them went over to finish the painting. She was so tired last night that Jerry made her go home and get some sleep. She walked up on the porch and knocked, but no one came. She thought she saw his car there when she pulled up. She walked around the house to see if it was in the driveway.
The car was there. She went back and knocked again this time louder, still no answer. She started to get a little worried. She didn’t know what to do leave and come back later or go in without knocking. She decided to walk to the backyard; she opened the gate, glanced around and saw him sitting there with another man.
He saw her at the same time and motioned for her to come in, “Hi there Lia. I want you to meet my son, Chad. Chad this is Lia, Seth’s fiancé and the one doing all the painting in the house.”
“Hi Chad, nice to meet you,” Lia said.
“Hi Lia, so your fiancé is the one free loading off my Dad and I guess that means you will be too?” Chad said sarcastically.
She looked at Jerry and saw he was very uncomfortable. She looked back at Chad and said, “No one is free loading off your Dad. He offered and Seth is renting a room from him. We are not free loaders and I take offense to that insinuation. Maybe if you were here more often for your Dad and help him, you wouldn’t feel so threatened by a bunch of teenagers fixing the place up. I’m sorry Jerry, I just came here to clean up the mess that we left last night, but I have to leave right now, because I don’t want to offend you and say anymore.”
Turning to go she stopped and glanced back and said to Chad, “Your father is a great man and you are the one missing out on it. It’s you problem not mine or Seth’s so in the future don’t dump your crap on us. We’re here to help him as he’s helping us.” And she walked out of the yard.
“I told you not to mess with her,” Jerry said laughing. “She reminds me so much of your mother at that age. She’s right you know; don’t take it out on them. The anger you have is towards me. I know your childhood wasn’t what you wanted, I worked a lot and wasn’t there for you when you need me, but I have apologized over and over again for it. I want to be there for you now, it might be a little too late, but it’s better late than never.”
“Yeah she’s a lot like Mom was, but Dad they’re here just to get your money,” Chad tried explaining again. “Hell, Dad his father was the town drunk for so many years.”
“That’s enough!” Jerry yelled. “He didn’t not ask me! I asked him! Seth is nothing like his father. I’m not going into it again with you. Look what they did to the house in a matter of wee
ks; they’re bringing life back into it and a fresh coat of paint too.”
“Fine, Dad don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Chad got up to leave.
“Why do we have fight all the time? Why can’t you ever come here for a visit?”
Chad didn’t reply he just walked out of the yard. A few moments later her heard him start his car and drive away. Lia came out of the house, “Jerry, are you ok? I’m real sorry I yelled at your son, but he was way off. We don’t want anything from you, and you know Seth fought with you to pay rent.”
“Don’t worry yourself sick over my son. I know you want nothing from me other than a place for Seth to stay.”
“Don’t say it like that, we are so grateful to you, and we like being with you. I hope you consider us friends and I know Seth and I consider you one of ours.”
“Of course I do. Now let’s not ponder on this sad subject any longer. The house looks great Lia you and your friends did a wonderful job on it. When’s Seth coming to paint his room? I think it was a stupid idea of his to wait for his room to be last.”
“He wanted to do it himself since he couldn’t be here for any of the other rooms. He’ll be here tomorrow some time I don’t know exactly when. Not sure if it’ll be after school or if he’s taking the day off,” she said plopping down on the chair with an exhausted sigh.
“You look totally exhausted, why don’t you go home and rest, I already cleaned up from last night,” he said.
“I saw that and you shouldn’t have I told you I would be here today to do that. I don’t really want to go home no one is there and the house is too lonely by myself. So if you don’t mind I’ll just hang out here for a while.”
“No I don’t mind. Why don’t I make some supper and we can sit and watch TV for a bit.”
“Sounds great to me,” Lia said.
“Come on I’ll whip up some spaghetti and a salad,” he said.
“We both will, then we’ll watch some TV, before I go home,” Lia suggested.
They worked together fixing supper. It was ready in no time. Lia set the table while the noodles were cooking so when everything was done they sat down to eat. They talked about her school and how the kids were reacting towards her.