1.7 - Josephine's Happy Ending

For me, Life was finally settling down. My job was going great, I was doing better on my blog every day, my mother and I were on good terms, and Grant and I were more in love with each other with each passing day.

Grant started talking to me about kids one day. I had never thought about being a mother before, but i told him i'd love to be a mother. So...we started trying to have a baby.

      We didn't have to try long, however. About two months after we started trying, I started getting nauseous one morning after breakfast.

      Very Nauseous.

      I didn't waste any time. That day was on my day off, and I drove to the store to pick up an early pregnancy test. After about two minutes, the test came out positive. I was, in fact, pregnant with Grant's baby.

      I was so happy, i couldn't wait to tell Grant the good news. I was grinning ear-to-ear the rest of the day. Grant and I are going to have a baby, I thought.
     Needless to say, Grant was ecstatic when I told him about my pregnancy.

      He started jumping up and down and coming up with a list of names if it was a boy. "What about Shane, or Damien, or Dylan?"
     I held my hands up. "Whoa. calm down there, pops. What if it's a girl?"
     "How about this, if it's a girl, you can name it, and if it's a boy, i'll name it! Sound fair?" Grant said with a grin.
     I rolled my eyes. "We'll see." I didn't tell Grant, but i secretly wanted a boy too. Growing up in a house with three nasty women will do that to you.

      The months of the pregnancy seemed to fly by. Grant was "Mr. Responsibility" when it came to the baby. He bought me all these pregnancy books and insisted that I rest a lot. I had to take off for maternity leave, which i felt a little bad about because there was only one other guy who was working as a lifeguard. He would have to take every shift.

      During the time I had to take off from work, I started getting more and more involved with my blog. I changed my reviewer blog to a news blog, as I got more skilled in the whole blog thing. I wrote a post every day about different things going on around town.
     Grant also got offered a different job in the Medical field. He almost accepted it too, but it was a lower-paying job and more hours, AND he knew he wanted to be a creature-robot cross-breeder, so he stuck with his job at the facility.
     My mother and George had gone on a huge trip to China, so I never got a chance to tell her that I was pregnant. They eventually got back, and one of their friends threw them a welcome-home party. They invited Grant and I to go, and we attended, of course.
     Grant held the door open as I walked in, and my mother gasped. "You're pregnant?!"
     I just laughed. "No, I just had a really big cheeseburger today." I joked.
     "This is so exciting! How far along are you?" My mother asked, beaming.

      Before i could answer, a sharp pain enveloped my stomach. I gripped at my bathing suit, and tried to grab onto something for support. "Uhmm, I think the baby's coming now." I said as calmly as I could.

                        *AUTHOR'S NOTE* Literally the second Meredith told her mother that she was pregnant, she went into labor -______________________-

     Grant quickly escorted me to the hospital. George and my mother met us there later. My mom was there to hold my hand throughout the entire thing, something i never thought she'd do.
     The pregnancy went very smoothly, and I gave birth to twins! A boy and a girl!
     The girl was born first, then the boy was born seven minutes after her. Since I'm honest to my word, I named the girl while Grant named the boy. I named the girl Khloe, after my dad's mother.

      Grant settled on Ryder for our son.

      And, Life seemed to press on. I continued to go back to work, and Grant and I had two children to take care of. Grant had offered to quit his job so he could be home to take care of the kids. I told him that was ridiculous, since we had schedules where I would be gone one day and he would be gone the next. We could alternate taking care of the kids, so we both kept our jobs.
     However, one day, an old headache came for a visit.

      "Joey? What are you doing here?" I asked as politely as I could. I havent even seen or talked to Courtney, Kristy, or Joey since I left the house to get married that day, years ago. Well, I also saved Joey from drowning.
     Tears began to cloud Joey's eyes. I'd never seen Joey cry before, so it shook me up a little. "Mom kicked me out."
     It took me a moment to process what she just said. "Why?" I asked.
     "She got mad at me because I'm pregnant."

      I invited Joey inside. The two of us sat on the couch. "You're pregnant?" I asked, shocked.
     She sniffled and nodded. "I'm about three weeks along."
     I nodded. "so what did Courtney do when she found out?"
     "Well, I told Kristy first because I thought I could trust her. She started yelling at me and told Mom. Mom got REALLY mad and told me to get out and never come back." She said, sobbing.
     I nodded. Courtney didn't seem like the kind of woman to take lightly to an illegitimate child.
     "I don't have any family left in this town, and the father wouldn't talk to me after I told him I was pregnant...I didn't have anywhere else to go." she finished, wiping her tears away.

     Joey moved in shortly after our discussion. She was staying in the downstairs bedroom while she could get back on her feet. I told her this wouldn't be a permanent thing, and that she was going to have to find some way to get back on her feet. Grant seemed uneasy about it, and to be completely honest, so was I. How long would she be here?

     Anyway, it wasn't long before I became nauseous again. I knew what the beginnings of a pregnancy looked like, so I was almost positive that I was pregnant again.
     I took another pregnancy test, and sure enough, I was pregnant again.
   

      in the meantime, Khloe and Ryder aged into toddlers. Khloe had my olive green eyes, and she had a clump of brown hair like Grant's mother.

      Meanwhile, Ryder was the spitting image of Grant. He had the carrot red hair, and Grant's brown eyes.

     And, Joey was getting further along in her pregnancy. the baby bump was really starting to show. I almost thought she was faking the pregnancy because she did something stupid to get kicked out.

      I was really concerned about Joey. Where was she going to go after the baby was born? Joey's never had to work a day in her life, is she gonna be ready to be able to provide for herself and a newborn child?
     I was able to weasel the information about the father out of her. I found out where he lived, too. Time to pay him a visit.

          Gary Ghee answered the door. The father of Joey's baby. I remember seeing him before; He was the proprietor of the Karaoke bar.
     "Hi, I'm Meredith. Joey's sister. Could I talk to you for a second?"
     He shrugged. "Okay." He said, opening the door for me to walk in. "So what's this about?"
     I thought about what i was going to say for a second. "Listen, I wasn't sure if Joey ever told you that she was pregnant..."
     "Yeah, she told me."
     "Okay, well, i don't know what you told her, but she's kind of in a bad way right now. Her mom kicked her out after she found out Joey was pregnant, and now she's living with us trying to get back on her feet. But, I know Joey, and this is going to be especially hard for her. I figured since you were the father of the baby, I figured you would help out a little more?"

     Gary's face twisted with anger. "Listen, don't come into my house and tell me what to do about this. When Joey told me she was pregnant, i thought it was in some vain attempt to get me to marry her. I learned that's just the kind of person Joey was like; manipulative and deceitful. I'm not even completely sure that baby is mine. And, If you must know, I told her i had no intention of keeping the baby or having a family right now, so I told her to go get an abortion. It's her own damn fault for keeping it. Now, if you'll excuse me." Gary finished, motioning toward the door.

     I tried holding back my anger as I stepped out and headed for my next destination.

     "what are you doing here?" Courtney said, eyebrows raised.
     "Listen, Joey is really upset about the whole thing with you and her, and she's about to have a baby. Wouldn't it be best if you two were at least on good terms with each other?"
     "Don't talk to me about letting things go. Josephine knew that getting pregnant with some deadbeat's child meant being kicked out. Tell Josephine she is no longer my daughter."

     I couldn't come home and tell Joey what Gary and Courtney had both said, so i didn't. I kept it to myself, and decided that we would talk about it more when her baby came closer.

     I got Joey to start helping out with the twins so she could get used to taking care of kids. Suprisingly enough, she was actually good at it. Khloe and Ryder both loved her, and she was getting better and better at it every day.
     One day, I heard screams coming from the nursery. I ran upstairs and saw Joey clenching her stomach. The baby was coming.

     Grant was at work, so i had to drive her to the hospital. She wouldn't stop freaking out, no matter how much I coaxed her.

     When we got to the hospital, She asked me to be in the delivery room with her. there was no way I couldn't, so I stayed with her the entire time.
     The pregnancy went really well, and she gave birth to a girl. She named it Grizella, much to my dismay. I shrugged. It was her baby.
     Right before the baby was born, someone did eventually end up coming for her.

     Gary was able to hold his daughter for the first time, and he stayed in the room with Joey and the baby until they let us out of the hospital. When we got home, Joey told me that they were moving in with Gary, and he had the nursery already set up and everything.
   

I couldn't help but smile. Maybe this was Joey's happy ending, too.