The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 111

"I’m what?"

His tone terrified her. He was caressing her face gently a minute ago but he had roared out of the blue as soon as he heard the words she had said. She shrunk away.

"Mina, we talked about kids. Heavens, I’ve never had to clarify any such thing with a woman before but you know better than anyone I am not ready to be a father." He tried to keep his shock in check.

"I was on birth control, I swear. I still was until I found out that...that it didn’t work. That I’m pregnant." She took another step back. "Look, I’m not ready to be anyone’s mother either, okay?"

A shiver made her rub her arms and she was about to suggest that they go back home and talk about it later, but he took off his jacket and placed it on her shoulders.

She forced a chuckle to stop herself from crying—she had been feeling the urge to do so since she found out she was pregnant.

"I’m going to get it out of our lives. I just wanted to let you know because you’re its parent too. You deserve to know." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Mina," He raked his fingers through his hair. "You don’t have to do this on your own. I’ll be there with you."

She scoffed. "Are you scared I’ll pretend to get rid of it and show up at your doorstep with a child a year later? Don’t lump me together with your playthings." She shrugged his jacket off, threw it at him and sauntered out of the cemetery like her life had not just taken a wild turn.

_____

"Mina? Anybody home?" Avery called through the living room of Mina’s apartment.

It wasn’t long before she heard a door open, followed by footsteps then Mina was before her, looking like a wreck. Her hair was all over the place and her eyes swollen as though she had been crying.

"What are you doing here?" Mina asked.

Avery raised her plastic bag to show her the fruits she had bought. "When my favorite darling employee who is also my best friend suddenly calls in sick, it would be a little impolite to not find out what’s going on." She ran her finger down Mina’s face. "And you, honey, are far from sick. What happened?"

"My life is ruined." She whimpered.

"That sounds like the first thing I said when I found out I was pregnant." She joked, and then remembered how strange Gabriel had been acting since he came to work earlier. Besides, it would take an apocalypse for Mina to call in sick so she must be going through something extreme and the thought of it made Avery’s eyes widen. "Forget what I just said. I was kidding."

"You’re right. I’m pregnant." Mina tried her best to laugh it off through her sobs.

"Congratulations." Avery pulled her over for a hug. "How would pregnancy ruin your life? You’re a big girl and you love kids." She didn’t understand. If she was too young to be a mother or if she hated kids, it would make sense.

"This is not an ordinary situation, okay?" Mina held her stomach dramatically. "Not only am I carrying a mafia baby inside me, but its father also made it very clear that he doesn’t want kids. He will do everything to make sure I don’t go back on my word about having an abortion."

Avery tousled her hair. "Do you want to keep the child?" When Mina nodded, she hummed in approval. "Then keep it. No one makes the decision about what you do with your body except you. No one gets to stand in the way, not even Gabriel Vaillant."

"It’s his child too." She reminded her.

"If he doesn’t want it, he can stay the hell away." Avery embraced her. "If you need help with anything,"

"You don’t need to tell me that. I know where to find you for help even if you don’t allow me to come to you. And I’m going to need tons of help from you. You’re the only mother I know."

She realized what she had said when Avery squinted her eyes. She bit her lip and added, "Apart from my mother. But there are things we cannot discuss with our parents."

"There are things that are best discussed with our parents. Didn’t you tell me that before?" Avery was suspicious. Mina was hiding something, but she couldn’t force it out of her so she continued embracing her. "I’ll beat the crap out of him if he tries to force you into anything."

Snapping out of it, Mina clung onto her arm. "Don’t tell Gabriel anything until I’ve had the chance to talk to him."

"That’s oddly specific." Avery frowned.

"If there’s anything he needs to hear, I think it’s best if he heard it from me." She insisted.

"I agree. I also need you to know if you want his butt kicked..."

"I have the guy. I know."

______

Twenty one years ago.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Mina asked, coming downstairs after her attempts to fall asleep on her own failed. She dropped her doll and the book she had brought for her mother to read upon taking notice of the suitcases next to her.

Beside her mother stood her furious father, whose expression was one Mina had never seen in the eight years of her life.

"Daddy, why is..." her whisper cut off when her mother pulled her over and hugged her. "Goodbye, mi vida."

"What? Where are you going?"

Not only did her mother not answer her, but she lugged her suitcases away without turning back.

_____

As she recounted her past, Mina looked out into the starry sky with Gabriel a step behind her.

"What terrified me is not the fact that she was leaving in the dead of the night and not caring about her wailing child. It’s father’s determination to hold me back. To stop me from following her and the look in his eyes when he shut the door and ordered me to go back to my room."

"Why are you telling me all this?" He asked. She had asked to talk to him and as soon as she got here, she had gone off on this tangent talking about her family. He had no idea her family was this broken but what did it have to do with them?

She turned to face him for the first time since she broke the news to him, with her arms crossed defiantly. "That look in my father’s eyes when he dismissed me, that’s the same look I saw in your eyes when you said you were not ready to be a father—one of a man who doesn’t care what happens to his child."

"Excuse me?"

She didn’t give him the chance to speak. "I am glad that you don’t care. Which means whether or not I decide to keep it is none of your business."

"Stop right there." He grabbed her hand. "It’s in every way my business. That is my child and I have every right to be involved in all matters regarding its life."

"Even though you made it clear you are not ready?" She threw the bomb back at him. "Or are you ready now? Shall we go start shopping for baby clothes?"

"Mina!" He growled.

"What? One second you want it and the next you don’t. What are you, a two year old boy with no idea what he wants?" She took several steps away from the balcony railing without looking at him.

"I have laid everything in plain sight. You know where I stand."

"Where?" He asked like the annoying dork he was.

She answered him nonetheless. "I’m keeping this child. And I’m proving to myself that I am not my mother. I will not abandon my baby." In truth, it didn’t matter. She was just making excuses for wanting something she knew was dangerous.

She turned to leave, only for him to grab her hand. "Mina," he stepped in behind her and wrapped her arms around her, feeling her stomach. "You can’t do this on your own."

She rolled her eyes, justifiably so. He pulled her to stop her from slipping away. "I’m not going to lie and say I’m excited. I’m freaking scared, okay? One day ago I couldn’t make a level-headed decision I’d be proud of, and now there’s a little human depending on me to be a main decision maker. To be a father. But actions have consequences and I’d be an asshole if I didn’t take responsibility for mine."

"Consequences?" She didn’t know what to tell him. "My baby is not a consequence."

"Need I remind you that it’s our baby? And yeah, it’s part of the consequence. What do you think? Is it time to download father-child interaction videos yet? Hold on, I think parental classes are more appropriate. Damon has been taking those and Angel loves him more now. We can also buy books about babies. Though I know a lot what with being an elder brother and all and..." He cut himself off and cursed. "I’m a father."

She turned to look at him with a frown. Did it only sink in now?

She took his hand. "Hey, we can do this, okay? I’m scared too. I’m afraid I’d turn into my mother and leave my baby. I’m scared she would grow up...like I did and..." she desperately looked for another topic to talk about and was glad to find one. "Don’t worry, our relationship doesn’t need to change."