The Pledge – Chapter 13

This was a day of whys. Why had she thought telling Mama Florence and Gia about the baby would make them happy? She never should have gone over to Wyndemere and told them. But it wasn't something she could keep to herself much longer. It seemed like ever since her pregnancy had been confirmed, she’d begun to explode. All of her clothes were now too tight.

She went to Wyndemere with the best of intentions, but she should have known better. Wasn't the road to hell paved with good intentions? Upon hearing her news, Mama Florence burst into tears.

"My baby didn't live long enough to see and hold his baby," Mama sobbed hysterically.

Mama's crying, of course, angered Gia. "Well, Mama, you finally have a real grandchild. Soon a piece of your beloved Marcus will be here for you to adore and lather all your time and attention on," Gia shouted. "I might as well throw myself and my unborn child off the cliffs for as much attention as you pay to us. Maybe now you can stop crying for three seconds, now that you finally have someone to live for."

Walking up to Gia, Mama slapped her across the face causing Gia's head to jerk back. "I'm the Mama in this relationship and don't you ever forget that. And I hope you never do, but until you experience the pain of losing a child, don't you dare tell me how to act."

Gia's eyes blazed with anger, the likes of which Dara had never seen. "You didn't hear a word I said, except the part about Marcus. Why am I not surprised? I'm surprised the world didn't stop spinning when he died, he was so great," Gia spit out and promptly left the room, closing the door ever so gently which to Dara spoke volumes of how angry and hurt the young woman was. Her mother-in-law turned towards her. "If it's a boy, we should name him Marcus Jr.," Florence announced as if the incident with Gia never happened.

Dara shook her head, remembering that scene. Marcus was no longer here to be the peacemaker between the two. He had always known he was the favorite and could rarely do wrong, but he never used that to his advantage and he always went out of his way to make sure Gia felt loved and important. He always made time for his little sister, particularly after his numerous conversations with his mother about her behavior fell on deaf ears. Now the job of making insecure Gia feel loved and secure fell on Nikolas' shoulders. Maybe the baby, which was due any day, would help Gia. How he, Stefan, Laura, Leslie Lu, and Mrs. Landsbury put up with the two of them she would never know.

And as for her second why of the day, she wondered why she waited so long to resign from a job she knew she would never and could never go back to once she had asked for Sonny's help. To be truthful, when she was told that Marcus had been killed, she knew then she could never do her job correctly again. The system, the law failed her when they let her husband die.

She knew that mindset was wrong, but that was the way she felt. And the imperfect system continued to let her down; Mac and Alex still hadn't found Achoy or who killed his two accompliances. Good thing she wasn't relying on the system to help her or to avenge Marcus' death. Thank God for Sonny.

Now her future and that of her children was ahead of them. Between Marcus' life insurance plans and some smart investments they had made, she and Craig were set. She technically could stay home with her youngest child until he or she started school. And even then, she could work part-time. She wasn't sure if she was made out to be a full-time stay-at-home mom, but she had time to think about that.

Right now, she was an unemployed, pregnant widow with a teenaged son, a mother-in-law, whom she had always suspected loved Craig but would have loved him more if he was actually Marcus' biological son, a pregnant sister-in-law, who had anger issues and she was sure the hormones weren't helping the situation, and an ex-lover helping her track down her husband's killers and exacting justice her way. Wouldn't the people in her old neighborhood be surprised to see Carla and Edward Jensen's baby girl turn out like this? She shook her head. Funny how life never turned out the way you expected it to. The ring of her cell phone stopped any further musings.

Before she could even say hello, the voice on the other end spoke, "It's time," then hung up. Making a quick and illegal u-turn, she headed towards Sonny's house. She hit four on her speed dial. "Hello Bobbie, it's me. Is it okay if Craig stays with you and Lucas for a few days? Something's come up."