I stood there, staring at her. She was making no sense whatsoever.
“Who doesn’t want kids?”
“Brad. He told me last night. He doesn’t ever want kids. ”
I sucked in a breath of air. Oh no. “Amanda, are you pregnant?”
When she placed her hands on her stomach, I saw the bump. Holy shit. How far along is she?
“I’m almost four months,” she said with a weak smile.
“Holy hell! Why didn’t you tell us?” I took a step toward her and hugged her.
“He said he didn’t want kids right away. We’ve been married for almost two years now, so when this happened, I thought he’d be okay with it. You’d think he would be happy, right?”
“Of course he’s happy, sweets. Why would you think he wasn’t?”
She started laughing. “Last night, he told me he doesn’t want kids. Ever. When I told him he should have mentioned that minor detail before we got married, he said…he said…” Amanda broke down, crying.
I’m going to kill Brad. Placing my hands on her face, I forced her to look at me. “He said what?”
She tried to control her sobs, but she couldn’t. Finally, after three good minutes of uncontrollable crying, she blurted out, “He said he’d lied to me because he knew I wouldn’t marry him if he never wanted kids. He knew how much I wanted kids, Heather. He knew, and he lied to me. He just hasn’t been himself for the last six months. ”
“Oh, honey. Well, you know what? That dickwad asshole will just have to get used to the idea of kids because he’s going to be a dad in five months,” I said with a smile.
“No, Heather. I haven’t told you everything. ”
Oh god, can I take any more bad news?
“He told me I either have to give up the baby, or he’s leaving. ” She started sobbing again.
“Are you kidding me? What does he mean, you have to ‘give up the baby’? Amanda, he doesn’t mean…” I trailed off as I moved my hand up to my mouth. I felt sick.
“I told him I would never have an abortion, and he yelled at me for thinking that he could be such a monster. Then, he said he meant adoption. He’s already talking about hiding me from his parents for fuck’s sake. He doesn’t want anyone to know. He wants me to give up the baby, Heather. Give her away. I don’t know what to do! It’s like he’s not even himself. I don’t know him anymore. ” Amanda slid down to the floor, crying.
Shit a brick…this sucks. I knelt down next to her, pulled out my phone, and sent Ellie and Ari a text message. We needed a code blue, but I couldn’t leave, and Ellie was still in the hospital. Shit.
Just then, the restroom door opened, and Victoria walked in. Amanda flew up so fast that she knocked me back on my ass. I jumped up as fast as I could.
“I thought I saw y’all come in here. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes are looking for you,” Victoria said to me, looking me up and down as if I were a bug she wanted to step on.
Turning to Amanda, I asked, “Are you okay?”
She smiled and nodded.
As we made our way to the door, Victoria grabbed my arm. “Heather, can I talk to you for a second…alone?” She directed a fake-ass smile toward Amanda.
Amanda threw her hands on her hips. “No. Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of me. Right, Heather?”
I couldn’t even think to talk. Why does she want to talk to me? What could she possibly have to say to me? “Um…yeah, right Manda. I mean, is something wrong with Josh?”
Victoria gave Amanda a dirty look before she turned back to me with a smile.
God, her smile is pure evil. I think Lynda has a twin sister who she doesn’t know about.
“Listen, I get that you and Josh were together,” she said, throwing her hand back in the air like she couldn’t care less. “However, I’m telling you this now. Don’t push him into remembering you and your relationship. If you force it and he never gets his memory back, he could very well just be with you because everyone tells him he should. He needs to have the memories return to him…on their own. Right now, he only remembers…well, a relationship with me,” she said with a smile.
“You know what…Tori? I have this gift,” Amanda said, taking a step closer to Victoria.