Coming out of the walk-in closet, all dressed up for bed, Derik saw his wife, Victoria, sitting at the edge of their bed, deep in thought.
He sighed, then went to sit beside her. She had not been herself since Colton broke the news to them.
"Hey!" He whispered, placing his hand on hers and giving it a light squeeze.
Victoria looked her husband in the eye. "Where have I gone wrong?"
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Colton. I think I saw a different side of him today."
"He has always been obedient, he never fails to make us proud, he respects us as his parents, he respects our opinions, and even when he doesn't agree, he respectfully disagrees and gives us reasons why he's right."
"He's just been so different since his breakup with Tina. I began to fear that he was going to end up lonely which was why I agreed to his marriage to Natasha."
"Natty is a good girl, well mannered, She and Colt used to date. I felt since they had been in love before, it would be easy for them to reconnect again. But to my greatest surprise, our son had impregnated someone we don't know."
Derik sighed. "I'm disappointed too, sweetheart but at this point, I think we should let Colton be. He's an adult. He will take care of his mess."
"Of course we can't let him be. This news is all so sudden and troubling. He said he's been seeing someone but I don't believe it. I know Colton very well, he's not someone to hide his feelings. He was very eager to introduce Tina to us. If he loved this particular girl, it would have been the same way."
"I have a feeling they met at some club or whatever and ended up having a one-night stand. Then there comes the baby. No one said he shouldn't have nightstands but the least he could have done was to protect himself. Even Caleb, who's more of a player which I obviously don't support, has always been careful."
"We don't know how far along she is with the pregnancy, we have no idea if she will be giving birth tomorrow or if she has even given birth. My point is that, if this marriage issue with Natasha never came up, will Colton ever tell us about it? I'm beyond disappointed! This is something I would have expected from Caleb and not Colton."
"Our first grandchild conceived by someone we don't know? We have no idea if she's from a good background, what her family health history is and the list goes on and on."
"There's no point crying over spilled milk Vicky. What's done is done." Derik said.
"I know. But everything still doesn't make sense to me. And to make matters worse, Colton wouldn't tell us more about this girl. I'm his Mom for crying out loud. If he doesn't talk to me, who else will he talk to?"
"Oh heavens, what if this girl has threatened our son with another man's child?!" Victoria said in fear.
"Calm down, sweetheart. The more you think too much about this situation, the more your brain starts making things up."
"But I can't help it! Especially when Colton left us clueless. I really don't understand how you can be calm about the whole thing."
"I could be restless just like you are but I chose to be calm by not thinking too much about the situation. I have no idea how he met this girl who's pregnant for him but one thing I know is that our son is smart enough to not be fooled by some girl with another man's baby."
"Colton doesn't keep things away from us and him not telling us about this before now only means he has his reasons. We have so many questions to ask but I believe he will answer them when he's ready."
"God, this is not the life I wanted for him."
"Vicky!" Derik groaned.
"He should be happily married before a baby comes into the picture. What's going to happen to Natasha now? What will we say to her parents? Natty loves Colt. She didn't think twice before agreeing to the marriage."
Derik ran a hand over his face. "I don't know what we are going to say to her parents. We will still help them with their company though but I don't think the marriage will still be possible. Our Son's life is already messed up and imposing a marriage on him right now will be like subjecting him to torture, especially when he had made it known to us that he doesn't love Natasha."
"He and Natasha used to be so happy and in love until Tina came into the picture." Vicky sighed. "Colton deserved better than to be in this crappy situation. I really wished he had been more careful."
Derik put a hand across his wife's shoulder. "People plan for something but then, life happens. The fact that Colton kept something so important away from us means a lot. I can only imagine how hard he must have been on himself. On that note, I don't think we need to make life harder for him. I feel that he needs our support now more than ever."
............
The next day. (Monday)
Colton got to the office earlier than usual and immediately buried himself with work. He was glad that there was so much to do. It kept his mind away from the situation he had put himself in.
Colt was used to skipping lunch, except for times when he was very hungry. He would usually have food delivered to him but this time around, he chose to go out for lunch, knowing the fresh air will do a lot of good to his mental health.
Picking up his phone, he absentmindedly checked it to see if there were any missed calls or text messages but there were none. Colton had expected to wake up to a series of texts and missed calls from his parents but up till now, he hadn't heard anything from them and that got him worried. It was so weird for them to be quiet after all that happened yesterday.
Remembering he didn't get feedback from Chad, he dialed Chad who picked up almost immediately.
"Good afternoon, Boss!" His voice came through.
"Hi. How did it go yesterday?" Colton asked.
"Your predictions were right. They asked me if I knew Mia. I only told them what you said which wasn't really of help to them. Your Mom instructed that I should get more information on her as soon as I can even if it meant stalking you."
"And what do you plan to do? Stalk me?"
"Of course not, Boss. I had decided that whenever they call me for feedback, I'll tell them that I haven't found out anything."
"But I think you should hurry up and tell them who Miss Mia is. They seem desperate and they may eventually discover that I'm covering up for you."
"Yeah, I'll figure things out. Thank you!" He ended the call, walking towards the door of his office.