Doll Face, Glass Heart

Chapter Seven
Winter Remedy

"Winter, Sweetheart!" My mom pleaded over the phone through my sobs. "Please tell me what's wrong!"
Suddenly I felt Rupin behind me. I stopped crying to stare at him.
"What's that box?" He asked, pointing at my cellphone. He had obviously heard every word of the conversation.
"It's a cellphone." I said.
"Your mother is a box?" He asked. "I thought she was half human, half nymph."
"Sweetheart, Who is that?" My mother asked.
"Hold on." I said, I leaned the phone against my shoulder so she couldn't hear.
"A cellphone is like a magic thing that people use to talk to one another. If you own a cellphone and someone else owns any kind of phone they can call you if they know you." I explained. "They speak into the cellphone and their voice comes out of the cellphone belonging to the person they are calling, and vice versa. You can be anywhere and call someone, as long as you have a signal."
"Oh." Rupin said. He didn't understand a word.
"Mom?" I said, picking up the phone again.
"Winter," Said my mother. "You're worrying me. Please tell me what's the matter."
Break it to them gently, Break it to them gently, Break it to them gently.
"Your gonna be a grandma." I said as fast as possible.
There was silence on the other end of the line.
"You're pregnant?" My mother said in her softest voice.
"She's what?!" I heard my father roar in the background.
"Who's the father?" My dad asked, he had taken the phone because his voice was more clear. "I'll kill him!"
Rupin jumped and stared at me.
"You're father's the vampire?" He asked nervously.
"Dimitri, calm down." My mom said in the background. "You're overreacting. Don't you remember when we were that age?"
"That's different, Willow!" I heard my dad say. "This is our daughter!"
"Listen to yourself." My mom said. "You sound silly."
"Sweetheart, How far along are you?" My mother asked, she had taken the phone back.
"About a month." I said.
"Is that boy in the background the father?" My mother asked. My dad shouted something I couldn't quite make out, but I heard the words "kill" "blood" and "throat."
Rupin jumped again and stared at the phone as if my father was going to jump out and strangle him.
"Yes." I said.
"And he has no problem with this?" My mother asked.
I turned to look at Rupin, who was looking at me. Did he have a problem with it? He hadn't said anything about it. Was he angry?
Suddenly the phone was out of my hand and up to Rupin's face.
"Yes, Mrs.Remedy, I have no problem with this." He said. I had different hearing than Rupin, so I only heard his side of the conversation.
"Yes, I plan to be with her every step of the way. Yes, I plan to help her raise it." He smiled. "Yes, I plan on letting it know it's grandparents." He handed the phone back to me.
"He'sa nice young man." My mother said. Rupin's smile widened.
"Nice young man, my ass!" My father shouted. "Have you considered what he has done to our daughter?!"
"Dimitri!" My mother's voice was as firm as I ever heard it. "You will calm down. He has done nothing with our daughter that she has not consented to. If it's anyone's fault of this it is both of their faults. But you will not treat this like a curse, you will treat this like a blessing."
My face turned bright red and Rupin smile turned into a grin.
"I don't need to worry about not liking my mother-in-law." He said.
"Alright, Sweetheart." My mother said, her voice soft and caring again. "Is that all?"
"Yes." I said.
"I love you very much." She said. "And do does your father."
"I love you too, Momma." I sniffed. "And Dad too."

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We sat in the treehouse. We hadn't spoken a word to one another since I hung up with my parents.
"What're we gonna do?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"We're going to love and care for it as parents." He said, as if it was that simple.
"No, I mean won't the people in my village notice me walking around with a giant belly?" I asked.
"Oh!" He exclaimed. "I hadn't thought about that. Oh... no..."
"Oh no? What 'Oh no?'" I asked.
"Well, each village has different laws." He said. "In my village and unmarried mother and her child would be cast away from the village, never allowed to return. Eventually they would die in the wilderness. But your village might have the same law, exept a different punishment."
My eyes widened. Could the village do that? Could they condemn my baby and I to death?

To Be Continued...