I couldn’t stand it. I wanted my father to mend his ways more than anything, but how could I preach one thing and live by another?
Keeping the secret was only going to worsen the tension between us.
“Anyway, um, there’s something I have to tell you, Dad.” My heart rate increased from zero to a hundred in less than three seconds. I was going to loathe every second of this conversation, and I’m sure my dad would, too. He looked at me intently as I kept my eyes glued to the road. “Um…Jack and I…well, we…” I took a breath. I felt like I was going to die if the words left my mouth. “We got married. And now we’re pregnant.”
A pause followed—alongpause.
My dad froze before his mouth curved into a small smile. The small smile turned into a soft chuckle, then turned into a full-blown belly laugh. His eyes nearly filled with tears at his amusement. Mine did the same for a completely different reason. I turned to look at him for a split second, my expression serious. I flitted them back to the road before the pain and disappointment could flood his face.
“M-Maggie, you’re not serious, are you?” His voice almost broke. Sort of the way I was about to fall apart. A few seconds passed. My mouth couldn’t form words. “Maggie, you are pregnant withJack?”
He spat his name like it was a curse word.
I nodded, incapable of speaking.
“I-you-” he stuttered. He was as shocked as I was when my life took a hard left turn. I couldn’t believe I was almost twenty-three, sitting in the driver’s seat of my fake husband’s truck, explaining to my dad that I had been both married and pregnant for months without his knowledge. “Why didn’t you tell me? Isthat why you came out here in such a rush? WhyJackHennickeof all people? He’s going to ruin your life, sweet girl.”
He was still in a stupor of shock. I couldn’t blame him for making assumptions off the bat.
“Dad, first, I want to tell you how terribly sorry I am. Going to Wyoming with Jack was my only option after finding out I was pregnant. I couldn’t tell you right away because I knew how worried you would be, and I know your feelings about Jack. But we’ve both established a life out here for ourselves, and we’re doing a great job of it. I wanted to do it on my own for a few months and prove that Jack and I could deal with the consequences of our actions.”
“I just…can’t believe you didn’t say anything for this long. Were you ever going to tell me? If I didn’t book this trip, would I ever have known about my grandchild?” He sounded hurt, which might have been worse than angry. I was suffering the guilt I deserved. My hand reached over to touch his forearm.
“Of course, I would have told you. You’re my dad. You practically raised me all on your own.” The insinuation of my absent mother made him flinch, and more guilt filled my veins. “I am so,sosorry I didn’t say anything earlier. But when you booked this flight out here, I knew I needed to confess it to you in person.”
My father nodded grimly and uncapped his flask, taking a prolonged sip. “You’re not the only one. I’m going to have a conversation with yourhusbandabout this.”
Suddenly, the nerves were back. I couldn’t let him blow up on Jack, because I knew the sensitive part of him would retort and call my dad a shit father. I couldn’t blame either of them for wanting to protect me, but it was my job to protect them from each other.
“Dad, listen to me. As shocked and angry as you probably are right now, I’m begging you,pleasekeep things civil. I hada conversation with Jack about it as well. You two need to be respectful and kind to each other. He knows it, you know it. That’s how it has to be because we’re family now.”
He sighed and nodded. “I can do that.”
“We’re heading to his game as soon as we get there, then I can show you around and give you a tour of the club.”
All I received was another nod. He was upset. Fair.
It was a selfish choice to keep this from him, but what’s done was done. All I asked of him was to be respectful toward the man who took care of me every step of the way.
The rest of the car ride was silent, and guilt ate me up inside. My father didn’t look upset or disappointed, just deep in thought as he stared out the window, likely still in shock.
I pulled into our semi-long driveway toward the house and leaped out of the front seat as fast as possible. “You can keep your suitcase in the truck. We’re just hopping in the gator to go to Jack’s game.”
He grumped as he followed me to the gator and slid beside me. His eyes moved to my bump, and that guilt hit me again with a bang. The ignition made a questionable noise when I started it, but I flew us down the driveway at racecar speed to relieve the uncomfortable tension between us.
“Dad, can we talk about this?” I asked as we drove the short distance to the polo field where Jack was playing.
“I’m still processing it all. You have a whole life here, my Maggie. I just can’t believe I’m just now hearing of it.” I nodded in understanding. He could take all the time he needed. He deserved it.
Jack borrowed one of Mike’s rigs to pull his trailer since I was using the truck, so it took me a beat to find where he was parked. But as soon as I saw those golden locks, I knew it was my husband. I mean, mypretendhusband.
Jack’s eyes widened as soon as he caught a glimpse of my unhappy father.
He was in the middle of his pre-game ritual. He started by putting on his leather polo boots, then his kneepads, his elbow pads, and his gloves. He would stretch his arms in a few different positions, all of which I enjoyed watching, then bend down to touch his toes. Just as he reached for his blue Gatorade Zero—alightblue Gatorade Zero, and it couldn’t be any other color—we approached him. I could tell that his greeting face wasn’t real as soon as we locked eyes. Remembering that we needed to keep the jig up, especially around my dad, I walked over to give him a side hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Hi, baby,” he smiled into the kiss and tightened his grip around my waist. “Everything go okay?”
I nodded with the most authentic fake smile I could muster. “It was great, honey.”
