The remainder of the week, I focused on putting in grad school applications, with the hopes of being able to start in September, rather than having to wait until January. Austin had been by a few times, but work seemed to be keeping him pretty busy. And as far as Austin and I were aware, Briar hadn’t had the DNA test yet so that situation was still up in the air. I had been blowing off Skylar, who at this point, I was sure had an answer as to if she was being offered the job.
I was stuck, unsure of how to feel about all these huge possibilities, but I knew I needed to do something to get myself out of my head.
I walked up to Emma’s bedroom door and knocked, “Emma?”
“Come in,” she called as I pushed the door open and walked in.
She had a small smile on her face upon seeing me. I had told her everything that was going on, and could tell she felt concerned for me.
“Come sit,” she said, patting her light blue comforter. “What’s bothering you?”
I sighed, “Honestly, I don’t know. I think it’s just having all this stuff going on and not having any answers yet.”
Emma raised her eyebrows, trying to stifle a laugh, “Well, I hate to say this, but your situation with Skylar most likely has an answer at this point. You’re just too scared to find out what it is.”
I pulled myself onto her bed and leaned back against the padded headboard, “I know. I’m going to call her tomorrow, it’s already pretty late there now.”
Emma nodded, before I continued to speak, “I just feel like I need a distraction from everything right now. I just want to get out of Savannah and forget about everything.”
“What if we did? We could go away for the weekend? It’s not like we’ve got an actual reason to be here,” she responded.
I sat up and turned to face her. A weekend away was exactly what I needed.
“Yes! Let’s do it! Where should we go,” I exclaimed, a bright smile plastered across my face.
Emma, sensing the excitement in my voice, matched my energy, “Oh my gosh, let’s go to Disney! I mean we do have season passes!”
I nodded my head eagerly, “That would be perfect, it is the happiest place on earth, after all,” I giggled.
Emma threw open her laptop and quickly pulled up flights to Orlando for the coming weekend. It was currently Tuesday, which left us with just enough time to throw the trip together.
While Emma was searching for flights, I ran back to my room to grab my laptop so I could make hotel reservations.
“Okay, these flights aren’t too bad,” Emma pointed at her screen. “Through Delta, we’d leave Thursday evening and be there around 9 pm. It looks like Savannah doesn’t offer any direct flights to Orlando so we’d have a layover in Atlanta. And then fly back early Monday morning.”
I smiled, “Oh, Delta! How much is first class? Let’s just go all out, it’s not like we’re having to pay for tickets.”
After comparing price differences, and making sure it was okay with our parents as they would be paying for it, we booked two round trip, first class tickets.
I turned my attention back to my laptop, where I was still deciding on which resort to stay at, “Well, resort wise, there’s very few options left. But they do have a Little Mermaid room at the Art of Animation resort available.”
Emma nodded, looking over the page, “That’s cheap, for Disney at least. So that’ll help balance out the cost of the flights some.”
We went on to book the room and I ended up back in my room beginning to pack.
About an hour later, I heard the doorbell ring.
“I’ll get it,” I called out as I walked down the stairs, unsure of who it was.
And to my surprise, upon opening the door, I found Austin and Briar.
“Chlo, she has the results. She wanted you to be here when we opened them. We had the test done yesterday morning, I meant to tell you but I got stuck at work last night,” Austin explained.
I nodded and stepped back to allow them to walk inside, “Let’s go to the patio, I don’t want any of my siblings overhearing.”
Once we were seated on the outdoor couches, Briar pulled a white envelope from her purse. Austin had chosen to sit next to me, while Briar was sitting across from us.
“Wait,” Austin interrupted, just before Briar tore into it. “Chloe, I just want you to know that regardless the results, even if I somehow am the father, I want to be with you. I don’t know how to put into words how much I care about you but I need you to know that.”
His words calmed me, but also made me question how I would feel if the baby was his. Could I stay with a man who, so early into our relationship, was having a baby with another woman? A woman I despised, at that.
I nodded and he placed a hand on my back before looking back at Briar.
She quickly tore open the envelope and pulled out the single sheet of paper. It seemed to take her a moment to find what she was looking for, and then her facial expression changed.
I couldn’t fully tell if she was happy or mad, but she just stared at the paper. My heart began racing, I had no idea what was about to come out of her mouth.
Briar looked up and placed the paper on the table in front of us.
“Right here,” she said, pointing at a certain spot. “Austin is the father.”