Just Like Heaven (12 page)

“Why ever not?” Conrad Cooper asked in disbelief.

“Because…” Arthur took a deep breath, fearing how what he was about to say would be received, but like with the removal of a band aid, he thought the swift approach would lessen the inevitable pain which would follow;

“Because Demi is pregnant.”

####

Demi’s Dad was sat at the kitchen table gazing sadly out of the window and didn’t even look up as she entered the room.

“Won’t he even say goodbye now?” he asked as he spotted Arthur’s sprinting down the driveway.

“You’re already pregnant; surely there is no need to sneak about.” He sounded sad as he spoke, like a child who had just learnt that there was no Santa Claus. The magic in the world was gone; people lived and people died. It was cruel, hard and joyless.

“Dad-” Demi wanted to say something to make it all better but had no idea what to say.

“You’re a big girl now; I should have seen that before this mess showed it to me.”

“Daddy,” Demi felt her eyes welling up, she didn’t like the way her Dad was talking, as though he was disconnected from her, that she was a stranger to him.

“You’re not my little girl anymore,” her Dad sighed and looked up at her, his eyes red from crying.

“I’ve tried to protect you from the world, but clearly I’ve failed.”

“Daddy you haven’t failed!” Demi cried, running to sit across from him and hold his hands which fell limply into hers.

“What happened was an accident, but it’s nothing to do with you. You did an amazing job raising me!”

“Do you think your mother would think so if she were here to see this?” her Dad asked, his voice cold.

“Please don’t say that!” Demi was crying now, pained at the memory of her mother and the truth that she would be so devastatingly disappointed to see her daughter pregnant as a teenager, her dreams for her future scattered to the wind, forever to be unfulfilled.

“Nothing will change! I’ll still become a nurse, I promise! I’ll go to school here and work twice as hard as anyone else!”

“And who will mind the baby?”

“Arthur will! Daddy he’s going to stand by me, he said so! He loves me and I love him, everything will be alright!”

“No,” her Dad shook his head and looked at her with sad, wise eyes. His experience told him what would happen, how this situation would play out, and it was his daughter who would be paying the price for her accident, no one else.

“He won’t stay here with you; you need to be prepared for that.”

“No, he’s told me he will stay!”

“Do you think Conrad Cooper will let his son sacrifice his entire future to stay here and raise a baby?” her Dad asked incredulously.

“Arthur will leave, so will Hayley, so will all your friends, and you’ll be left alone with a baby to raise.”

“You’re wrong!” Demi sobbed but a part of her feared that what he said would be true.

“I hope I’m wrong,” her Dad said, his voice quiet. “But what if I’m not?”

Demi pondered on it all for a moment, tears falling down her cheeks as she did so. She sat with one hand placed absently over her stomach, already instinctively protecting her unborn child.

“Isn’t it worth it? Isn’t it worth staying here to have a child? Wasn’t I worth it?”

“I was a lot older when I had you.” her Dad countered.

“But you lost Mom and had to raise me on your own. Was it worth it? If you’d known you’d end up alone, would you still have wanted me?”

“Yes, of course. You give my life meaning.”

“As my baby will give my life meaning!”

“When you do become a mother, you’ll realize how you want so much more than that for your child,” her Dad said sadly.

“I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you.” Demi said shamefully.

“No, I’m disappointed with myself.”

“Please, don’t be.”

“It was my job to protect you from guys like Arthur, and I failed.”

“Dad, Arthur’s a good guy, he’s going to stay and raise my baby with me!”

“I don’t think so.”

“Daddy, he will, he loves me! Just you wait and see!” Demi stormed out of the room, her emotions overwhelming her. She needed to see and kind and friendly face. She needed to see Hayley.

####

“Pregnant?” Conrad Cooper almost choked on the word as he spat it out.

“It wasn’t planned,” Arthur added quickly, feeling foolish in the light of his father’s disapproval.

“You idiot.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m an idiot.”

Arthur watched his father pace alongside his car, his brow creased in concentration. He ran a hand through his thinning hair and tried to focus his thoughts.

“So yeah, I thought I’d stay here and help Demi with the baby, as it’s the honorable thing to do,” Arthur said quickly, hating the tension which was filling the garage in which they stood.

“There is no honor in raising a bastard,” Conrad said cruelly, his voice cold.

“I’ll marry her then.”

“Lord, no!” Conrad snapped.

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Arthur asked, puzzled about what was expected of him.

“You are supposed to go to Duke.”

“But Demi is pregnant.”

“Well that’s her problem.”

“Mine too,” Arthur insisted but Conrad raised his hands to silence his son’s objections.

“Arthur, you are a silver spoon in a drawer full of wooden ones. You don’t belong in Collinswood. This town has always been too small for you. I’ve known that since you were five years old. You need to go somewhere you can shine and achieve and live the life you were always destined to lead.”

It was the first time Conrad had ever spoken so highly of his eldest son and Arthur felt a lump form in his throat on hearing it.

“You are not to stay in Collinswood and rot, you are to leave and make your mother and I proud.”

“I know but-”

“Don’t waste your health and vitality,” Conrad interrupted and Arthur lowered his head, knowing exactly what his father was referring to.

“Demi is trying to trap you, as would any woman in her right mind. Look at you, you’re a Cooper!”

“Well…” Arthur realized that it had crossed his mind upon hearing of the pregnancy that perhaps Demi was just trying to keep him close by and prevent him going to Duke.

“You need to go to Duke and enjoy yourself, have fun; there will be plenty of time to be a father when you are good and ready.”

“But what about the baby?” Arthur asked guiltily.

“Don’t let it be any of your concern. It’s Demi’s baby, her problem to contend with, not yours.”

“But it is my baby too,” Arthur said.

“Don’t allow Demi or the baby to stand in the way of your future,” Conrad told his son sternly who nodded naively in acceptance of his father’s words.

“Jared keeps saying how he can’t wait to come and visit you at Duke,” his father delivered the final card he had, not even flinching at using his youngest son’s illness to manipulate his eldest.

“Yeah, he’s told me how excited he is to come and visit. But Jared likes babies too.”

“Babies mean hospitals and Jared has had his fill of them.”

“I guess.”

“It’s the truth. Arthur, we all make mistakes in our youth, the mark of a true man is whether or not he lets these mistakes determine his future.”

“Did you ever…make mistakes?” Arthur asked warily.

“We aren’t talking about me. Why don’t you go inside and show Jared your campus online, he’d like that.”

“Yeah, alright.” Arthur made to leave and then paused. “Thanks for helping me out with all this, Dad. I didn’t really know what to do.”

“It’s okay, son,” Conrad Cooper watched Arthur leave and then resumed polishing his car but his mind wasn’t really focused on the task anymore, instead he was thinking about a past mistake he had made and wondering where they were now?

####

“I need to tell you something,” Demi looked across at Hayley nervously. Hayley, who had been preoccupied with poring over their yearbook and declaring who would age well, abruptly stopped when she noticed Demi’s anxious face.

“What is it?” Hayley asked brightly, turning herself on the bed so that she was looking directly at Demi who squirmed slightly beneath the scrutiny.

“I…um,” Demi sighed, not really knowing how to break such massive news to her friend. The last time she had something big to off load, the news about Arthur, it had not been received well and Demi was reluctant to confide in Hayley once more but felt she had no one else to turn to and could really use a female perspective on everything.

“Come on, you can tell me.” Hayley smiled and Demi was reminded of a time when they were six years old, camping beneath the staircase in Hayley’s house.

They sat curled beside one another, listening intently to every sound which the house made, which now that they were camping downstairs, seemed frightening and foreign.

“What if a monster lives downstairs?” Demi asked fearfully as they each snuggled deeper in to their sleeping bags.

“If a monster does live here, he will eat you first,” Hayley declared confidently.

“Why would he?”

“Because you are plumper and would therefore be a better meal.” Even as a young child Hayley had the ability to be cuttingly cruel.

“Oh,” Demi said sadly.

“But don’t worry; I won’t let him eat you.”

“You won’t?”

“No, because you are my bestest friend.” Hayley leant over and gave Demi a reassuring squeeze.

“You’re my bestest friend too,” Demi affirmed.

“Best friends are like sisters; they tell each other everything and save one another from monsters.”

The two little girls hugged, feeling safe in the presence of one another until a pan fell from the side in the nearby kitchen. They screamed and immediately fled the tent, eager to return to the sanctuary of Hayley’s bedroom upstairs.

Now it wasn’t kitchen monsters which the girls had to fear, but the monsters which accompanied adolescence; peer pressure, self-image and the burdens of sexual awakening. And despite past promises, these were monsters which they could not protect one another against, only offer support.

“Really, Dem, what is it? Is it about Arthur going to Duke? I wouldn’t worry about it. You’ll be off in Georgia doing your thing anyway.”

“But the thing is…I won’t be going to Georgia.” Demi said softly. Hayley furrowed her brow and looked puzzled.

“Why ever not? Of everyone I know, you’ve always been the one with the plan. Go to Georgia, train to be a nurse, help save lives. You’ve always known where you were going.”

“I’m not going to Georgia anymore because I’m pregnant,” Demi blurted out the truth and watched as Hayley’s mouth literally fell open.