Michael's P.o.V
The phone rang. You were in the living room taking care of poor little Rebecca, who was sick; and I was in the kitchen making soup for my little princess. I turned the burner down before I walked out to the living room, to see you slowly getting yourself up from the couch. "No baby, I got it." I told you, putting my hands on your shoulder. You looked up at me, your eyes blood shot and bags under your eyes. You had been up all night with Rebecca, who continuously was throwing up and having nightmares. "A-are you sure?" You replied in the middle of a yawn. I nodded my head, "Of course! You need some rest." I did my doctor roll and had her lay down on the couch with Rebecca. I threw a blanket over my princesses and kissed their foreheads before I quickly answered the phone.
"Hello?" I said into the receiver. "Hey babe, it's me. Ready to go get an abortion?" A girl, on the other end, asked. It was Jocelyn, your son Eric's girlfriend. Her reply replayed through my head over and over again. "What?" I asked, confused. "The abortion. Are your parents gone? Can you sneak out?" She repeated. I bit my lip and I could feel anger take over me. My grip around the phone tightened. "Um, Jocelyn..... this is Eric's father, Michael." I replied. The line went dead. I brutally hit the end button with my thumb, tempted to throw the phone across the room. But I didn't.
You noticed my anger and gave me a worried look. "Babe, what's going on?" You asked me in a whisper, due to Rebecca sleeping peacefully. Alas. I shook my head and tugged at my hair while pacing around the room. "That was Jocelyn. Apparently her and Eric were going to sneak out and get an abortion." I explained. You looked like you had seen a ghost. "Oh Lord have mercy on my soul." You said with disappointment, rubbing at your face with your hands.
"I'll be right back......" I announced, before I skipped up the stairs to Eric's room. My fist harshly pounded at the door. "Eric Michael Clifford!" I shouted about the time he finally opened the door. "What?" He groaned. "Are you crazy?!" I asked, my hands flying around in the air. Eric raised an eyebrow, "I don't think so...... Yet again you are my dad...... Why?" I scoffed a laugh, "Obviously you are crazy." I started to chew out Eric for not being responsible and what not until he stopped me. "Dad...... dad..... DAD! What are you talking about?!" Eric asked, obviously not understanding why I was so pissed off. I stopped rambling and took a deep breath. "Jocelyn called the house this morning." I simply replied. Eric caught on and muttered a cuss word. "You watch your mouth young man! You're already in enough trouble!" "Honey, please take care of the soup. Eric and I will be back in a bit" I called down the stairs before we left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After I yelled at Eric for a good 10 minutes, I decided I was going to pay Jocelyn and her family a visit. "Where exactly are we going?" Eric asked me, irritated while looking out the window. "Oh we're going over to your girlfriend's house and the two of you are going to spill your 'secret' plans to her mother." I replied, not even caring to look over at Eric. Eric snapped his head in my direction. "You wouldn't." I could feel Eric's cold eyes looking directly at me. I let out a sigh and shrugged. "I would. This is what happens when you try to be sneaky. This scenario would have been settled differently if you would have been responsible."
Once we got to Jocelyn's house, I had Eric knock on the door. Seconds later, the door swung open and Mrs. Turner, Jocelyn's mom, appeared behind it. "Hello Mrs. Turner." I greeted. Mrs. Turner nodded her head in return, "Mr. Clifford." Eric kept quiet until I nudged him with my shoulder. "H-hi Mrs. Turner." He stuttered nervously. "Hello dear. Why don't you guys come in." Mrs. Turner replied, before stepping to the side and allowing us to enter. Mrs. Turner guided us to the living room and gestured us to sit down. "Coffee?" Mrs. Turner asked me. I shook my head, "No thank you, I'm good." She nodded her head and sat down in front of us. "Jocelyn is upstairs talking with her sister." I looked at Eric who had a guilty look on his face. "I see. Well is there a way you could get her down here?" I asked. Mrs. Turner gave me an odd look before standing up. "Of course, is she in trouble?" Mrs. Turner asked, while she started walking down the hall. I shrugged in reply, "I guess you can say that. Eric and her just have some things that need to confront you about."
A couple of minutes later, Mrs. Turner returned down the hallway with Jocelyn and her sister following behind. "Girls, sit." Their mother demanded in a flat tone. The girls nodded their heads and quickly sat down. "What is going on?" Mrs. Turner asked. She stood in the middle of the room with her arms crossed over her chest. Jocelyn's sister, Jessica, opened her mouth to speak, but Mrs. Turner hushed her. "No, you're not going to speak for your sister. Jocelyn, Eric, spill it. What are you guys hiding?"
Jocelyn glanced over at me before she started crying. Eric looked at her, sympathy written all over his face, before walking over to her. He wrapped his arms around his baby mama and allowed her to cry into his chest. "Jocelyn Marie Turner, what on earth is going on?" Mrs. Turner asked. Her sister looked at her with worry in her eyes, "C'mon, tell her. It's your mistake, not mine." Jocelyn sniffled, "I'm pregnant." She whispered weakly. Mrs. Turner looked drawn back by what had left her daughter's mouth. "You what?" Jocelyn jerked out of Eric's arms. "I'm pregnant, okay?! The condom broke, it was an accident. Eric and I were going to sneak off and get an abortion, but I opened my fat mouth to Mr. Clifford, thinking he was Eric this morning on the phone." Jocelyn cried.
Mrs. Turner shook her head, tears running down her face, "A preacher's daughter, a preacher's daughter pregnant outside of marriage, even worse a teenager! I am so disappointed in you." Mrs. Turner replied. "Mom, I'm sorry. We could still fix the problem!" Jocelyn tried to carry on, but Mrs. Turner stopped her. "You shouldn't be saying sorry to me. You betrayed God and your father." She paused, "I'm afraid I won't allow you to get an abortion." "Mom!" Jocelyn cried. Mrs. Turner shook her head, "No, that's bad parenting. Abortion, problem solved right? No, problem not solved. Because you wouldn't be punished for what you did. You know how I feel about abortion. But you know what, I haven't heard Eric give his opinion about this."
I looked at Eric, "You'd better talk, you're the father of this baby. Tell us your opinion." I demanded. Eric sighed, "The whole time I thought we should keep the baby. I didn't really want an abortion, I just went with what Jocelyn wanted." Eric explained. "That's why I didn't meet up with Jocelyn this morning, the time we were supposed to. That baby is innocent, it did nothing wrong. We're the ones that made the mistake, so why should we punish the baby and take away an innocent life?" I smiled at Eric's words, as well as Mrs. Turner. "A sweet boy you have." Mrs. Turner awed. "Thank you." I replied back with a smile. Jocelyn sniffled and nodded, "He's right. Fine, we'll keep the baby."
Along the way home, things were silent until I spoke. "You did the right thing back there. I'm proud of you, son." Eric shrugged, "I only spoke my opinion because you made me." He replied. I sighed and patted his leg. "And that's good! Imagine If I wouldn't of answered the phone. You would of been doing something you didn't really want to do." Eric didn't reply. "Would you of felt guilty if you let her go on with the abortion?" I asked. Eric looked down, at his lap, and nodded his head. "Yea." He replied softly. "Don't worry, I was in the same situation as you." I confessed. Eric's head shot up, "Really? Why did you get so mad at me though?" I shrugged and somewhat nodded, "It wasn't that I was so much mad, I was just in shock. I didn't want deal with the same problem I did. But yup, I was a teen dad. I was in the same situation as you, except I wanted your mom to get an abortion. Not because I didn't want you, I was just terrified. I was an only child, I wasn't around kids much, and I wasn't good with kids. I wanted to run away scared like a coward." I stopped and laughed, thinking back at the time, "But I loved that mother of yours and I loved you, even though I never met you yet. So I stuck around. I started going to parenting classes, and as times went on I got more excited about you." Eric let out a little laugh, "Wow." I smiled and patted his back, once we arrived at the house, "You're going to survive this bud. Your mother and I are here for you.
