Frankie turned around to see her mother standing by the doorway. "How long… were you-"
"What is that you're holding?" Bettina wanted to know, as she walked up to Frankie and took the object. She blinked a couple times, a couple tears coming to her eyes as she looked at Frankie again. "You're-"
Frankie cut her off by simply nodding, and then her arms caved in as she sobbed uncontrollably. "I never thought this would happen."
Bettina immediately embraced Frankie, before once again backing up to make eye contact. "Who is the father of this child, Francesca?"
Frankie grabbed a tissue out of the tissue holder and put it up to her nose. "I would like to tell him first before I disclose that information."
"Francesca Donatella," Bettina muttered. "You did not even tell me that you had a boyfriend. Who is this man? I demand to know!"
"I'll tell you after he knows!" Frankie shouted, her eyes beginning to dry. "Oh, my God," she simply whispered as she headed out.
"Francesca!" Bettina yelled but Frankie rounded the corner. Bettina once again looked at the positive sign on the pregnancy test, and then glanced at the empty doorway where Frankie had been standing. "Ugh!"
The next morning, Kevin and Lalie were laying in his bed staring at the ceiling.
"Gee, I hope Heather wasn't waiting up," Lalie teased, as she kissed his shoulder.
"I want to stay this way forever," Kevin told her, as he ran his fingers through her hair.
"We will be this way forever," Lalie assured him, as she rested her head on his shoulder and smiled. "Everything with Frankie will be over as soon as we go over there."
"It's a shame we'll have to leave this bed," Kevin suggested.
Lalie sat up and looked back at him with a smile. "No one will come between us ever again. Heather, Marcia, Frankie are all in the past. Well, Heather is my sister but she has changed her ways. And, well, Frankie will be in the past after today."
"What about Phil?" Kevin asked her.
"Oh, Tony," Lalie whispered, as she remembered being in the basement. "Phil didn't come between us. I let him come between us with my fantasies."
"Well, I hope your fantasies are set on one person now," Kevin hoped. "I know mine are. They always were after I met you."
"Do you mean that?" Lalie asked, as she began to smile again. "I love you. What we have is forever."
"We won't ever forget that again," Kevin said as he noticed Lalie getting up. "Where are you going?"
"I need to start getting ready," Lalie replied. "I'm actually looking forward to seeing Frankie and telling her our news: We're together forever, nothing anyone does or says will change that… ever again."
Kevin smiled as he watched Lalie head off into the bathroom and shut the door. "I'm just glad you never found out," he muttered. "You wouldn't feel the way you do now."
Ryan had just finished breakfast when there was a knock on the door. He opened it and saw Frankie standing on the other end. "Come in," Ryan said.
"Thanks," Frankie tried to begin but Ryan cut her off.
"I wanted to apologize for the way I spoke to you last week," Ryan began. "I know I said that I wouldn't be in contact with my family and I went back on that."
"Look, Ryan, it's okay," Frankie immediately replied. "Heather is minor right now."
Ryan noticed the serious _expression that Frankie was wearing, as he motioned her over to sit on the couch. "What's wrong?" he asked in a concerned tone.
"I've been fainting," Frankie replied, only to then realize that that didn't come out right at all. "I mean-"
"Fainting?" Ryan cut her off. "Did you see a doctor?"
"Yes and no," Frankie replied, as she looked right into his eyes. "I know the reason behind the fainting."
"What?" Ryan asked, a look of concern and fear was apparent in his expression.
"I'm pregnant," Frankie replied, as she paused for a second. "You're going to be a father."
Ryan stared at Frankie in complete and utter shock. He suddenly reached over and hugged her tightly. "It's all falling into place!" Ryan exclaimed. "Frankie, I am so happy."
"What's falling into place?" Frankie asked in shock.
"Our future together," Ryan replied with utter joy. "Our family that we've always dreamed of. Isn't it wonderful, Frankie?"
"You know I want to start a family with you more than anything," Frankie replied, as she took a deep breath. "But, we're not married."
"We'll plan a big wedding before the baby is born," Ryan assured her. "I know how important that is to you."
"Are we ready for this?" Frankie asked him in a serious tone.
"I know we are," Ryan replied in a confident tone. "I can't wait to start a family with you."
"You are going to be a wonderful father," Frankie told him with a smile as she stood up. "Look, don't tell your family yet until I tell my Mom about this."
"It's going to be hard to keep this a secret when I'm so excited," Ryan explained.
Frankie walked up to him and kissed him passionately. "Only for a little while longer, then we'll let the whole world know, okay?"
"Whatever you want," Ryan replied as Frankie started walking to the door. "You're leaving already?"
"For now," Frankie turned around and replied. "I love you, Dad-to-be," she finished with a smile. "I'll be back tonight to spend the night if that's fine with you."
"Of course," Ryan replied with a smile. He watched Frankie shut the door, and then beamed from ear to ear.
Outside in the hall, Frankie felt relieved that Ryan was excited about the baby. She smiled as she thought about her future with Ryan and her baby boy or girl. Her smile somewhat faded when she thought about what she had to do next. "Now, I have to go find Kevin and try to explain," Frankie said, as she headed off.
Kevin and Lalie stood outside the Stone family home, and looked at each other before walking up the path that led to the front door.
"Once we're finished here, we can finally move on with our lives," Lalie declared with a loving smile. "I hope she takes this news well."
"I, for one, am glad that we caught on to Frankie before things got out of hand," Kevin replied in a thankful tone.
"Thank God for that," Lalie commented. "I love you," she firmly said as she began her trek up the walkway.
"I love you, too," Kevin replied in the same firm tone, following Lalie up the walkway.
Lalie pressed the doorbell and they waited for a response. After a few minutes, a woman finally came to the door.
"Hi, Kevin," the woman greeted. "What can I do for you?"
"Mrs. Stone," Kevin replied. "Is Frankie feeling better?"
Bettina raised her eyebrows. "Well, she hasn't fainted again."
"That's good to hear," Kevin replied. "May we come in? We'd really like to speak with Frankie."
"Actually, Frankie's not here and I was on my way out," Bettina told them.
"Oh, we'll come back later," Kevin replied in a carefree tone.
"No, come in." Bettina let them enter. "Who are you?" she asked, directing the question to Lalie.
"I'm Lalie Mills," Lalie replied as she walked into the house and extended her hand and shook hands with Bettina. "I'm his girlfriend," she told her, as she pointed over to Kevin standing in the living room.
"It's nice to meet you, Lalie," Bettina replied in a kind tone.
"Same to you," Lalie returned the kind statement. "If we're holding you up from something, we can go."
"You can wait here for Frankie," Bettina told them with a smile. "I trust Kevin. I mean, it's not like there's anything valuable in this house to steal in the first place!"
Kevin laughed. "Well, thanks, I think," he replied. "Where did Frankie go, anyway?" Kevin curiously asked.
Bettina took a deep breath and sighed. "She went to find the man who's the father of her baby."
Kevin's stomach twisted and he felt his heart rate increase, as those words left Bettina's mouth. He remained speechless while Lalie immediately replied to Bettina's declaration.
"Frankie's pregnant?" Lalie asked in complete shock.
"Yes," Bettina replied. "She refused to tell me who the father is," Bettina continued as she shook her hand and draped her purse over her shoulder. "Frankie should be back soon," she finished.
As Kevin watched Bettina's figure leave the house and shut the door behind her, he flashed back to waking up in bed with Frankie. Suddenly, Lalie's face came into his view.
"Frankie's pregnant, Kevin," Lalie repeated. "This means that this whole time she was most likely working with Vivian, she was with some other guy!"
"I don't think so, Lalie," Kevin nervously replied, as a couple of sweat beads appeared on his forehead.
"What do you mean?" Lalie asked in confusion. "Frankie's pregnant which means she was sexually involved with another man while she was working for your mother!"
Kevin put his hand over his mouth and didn't know what to say.
"I wonder, who the father could be?" Lalie asked with enthusiasm. She truly wanted to know.
Kevin paused for a second and looked right into Lalie's eyes. "Me," he simply muttered.
Lalie squinted her eyes, not knowing what he was talking about. "Me, what?" she asked.
A tear escaped Kevin's eyes, as he knew Lalie's confused face would be filled with sadness and anger in a couple of seconds. "I'm the father of Frankie's baby."
Lalie looked down at the floor, as she took a couple of deep breaths. She put her hand over her heart, as she tried to take in Kevin's words. "That's impossible," she tried not to believe it.
"Honey," Kevin began.
"Don't call me, 'Honey'," Lalie warned him as she backed away. "You slept with Frankie?" she demanded to know, as she tried to make eye contact with the man standing in front of her.
"I don't remember the actual-" Kevin abruptly stopped when he was cut off by Lalie.
"Did YOU sleep with Frankie?" Lalie screamed.
"I did, I DID!" Kevin yelled, as he turned around in shame.
"Oh, GOD!" Lalie screamed, her face now soaked with her own tears. She put both hands on her cheeks. "You turn around and look at me, right now, right NOW!"
Kevin slowly turned as he met Lalie's angered face, which had tears dripping like a faucet. "I wish I could take it back."
Lalie ignored him. "I asked you over and over again if anything happened between you and Frankie that I should be aware about, you SWORE to me nothing did!" she reminded him with complete angst. "When did you plan to tell me this? Or did you even plan to? Were you just hoping I'd never FIND OUT?! Answer me!"
"NO, NO! I wasn't going to!" Kevin shouted in an extremely angered tone. "I should have told you what happened."
"When did you sleep with her?" Lalie asked him, wiping away tears. "WHEN?!"
"When she called me about the flat tire!" Kevin shouted.
"NO!!!" Lalie shouted at the top of her lungs in devastation, picking up a picture frame that was on the table and throwing it against the fireplace. "We had RECONCILED by then. I was WITH YOU when she CALLED the evening before!" Lalie screamed.
"I KNOW, I KNOW!" Kevin yelled. "I really wish that night never happened," Kevin desperately said, a tear streaming down his face.
"What don't you wish happened?" Lalie asked him as she folded her arms. "That you weren't with me, or that you didn't sleep with Frankie?"
"How could you even ask that?!" Kevin shouted in disbelief.
"How could you lie, like that!" Lalie retorted, throwing her arms in the air. "I asked you so many times what happened the night when you went to fix her tire, and you said that nothing happened."
"She gave me champagne!" Kevin shouted.
"Blame it on the alcohol!" Lalie yelled. "There's no excuse for doing what you did."
"There isn't," Kevin agreed.
"We were talking about forever and the future this morning," Lalie reminded him in a serious tone. "We talked about being together forever, and how we felt about each other."
"I meant every word I said," Kevin tried to make her understand.
"You and that slut," Lalie softly said as she walked up to him. "And now she's out there trying to find you... the father of her baby."
Kevin felt the hard slap of Lalie's hand against his face. "I found you," a voice called out from the doorway. Kevin turned to see Frankie standing there.
"Oh, you found him, all right," Lalie commented, as she grabbed her purse. "I hope you and the baby are very happy together."
Frankie's eyes widened as Lalie said that. She continued to watch as Lalie left the house and slammed the door behind her. "I just went to your apartment and you weren't there," Frankie began.
"Yeah..." Kevin replied, as he looked down at the floor.
"What just happened here?" Frankie asked, as she noticed the shattered picture frame on the floor next to the fireplace.
"Lalie knows that you're pregnant with my child," Kevin told her. "Your mother told us."
"With-" Frankie began, but then stopped as she tried to take this in. "My mother told you that I'm pregnant?"
"She said you went to find the father of your baby to tell him the news," Kevin remembered. "I wasn't at my apartment because Lalie and I came here to talk to you."
"About what?" Frankie wanted to know, as she set her purse down on the chair.
"That doesn't matter now," Kevin softly replied, shaking his head at what just happened. "Lalie will be unable to forgive me. It's over," he softly said, another tear escaping his eye. "
It's over between you and Lalie?" Frankie asked in shock.
"Well, now that she knows I'm the father of your baby..." Kevin started in a low tone. "Frankie, what happened that night shouldn't have happened."
"Right," Frankie muttered.
"But, it did," Kevin continued. "Look, I will be there for our baby and I will be a good father, no matter what. I will NOT desert him or her."
Frankie smiled. "Oh, thank you!" Frankie squealed, as she ran up to him and threw her arms around him.
Chapter 21
Non-Nsync Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
Email Tracia