This Was It
By: Beth R

    We sat down on the sidewalk as we watch the rain clouds go away. The rainbow is high in the sky. The colors are faint, but clear as we just wonder what is beyond the rainbow. He grabbed my hand, and intertwined our fingers, as we looked up at the sky together. I had some big news to tell him, but after our fight I didn’t even know what to say. We never had that bad of the fight before, but when he walked out the door that morning saying “Babe I promise I won’t listen to a word they say,” I had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case.

I just remember him coming home and when I went to hug him he didn’t return it. He looked completed out of it and I wondered what was going on with him. Something must of happened with his family today. I mean what would have possible have gone wrong in a few hours. I remember that morning when he was getting ready to leave. “Babe I promise I won’t listen to a word they say.” He walked over to where I was sitting on my side of the bed. I looked up at him and sighed, “I know, but I just wished that your parents liked me, so I didn’t have to worry so much.”  
  
His parents didn’t like me. Wait that was an understatement. His parents hated me. I remember when I first met his parents. They looked me up and down and his mom said, “Well were did you find this one at?” They didn’t get along with my parents. I believe the exact words out of his mother’s mouth were,“Those people are never allowed over in my house again!” They didn’t think that he was good enough for me. When we first met they noticed how much I was different from their son.  I was determined to make something of my life, and Sam was basically summoned to stay in town in order to work at the family mechanic business. I wanted to leave town and travel, while they wanted Sam to stay and work with them. He was the person who was to take over the business, so they thought of me as someone who was taking him away from what they worked so hard for. I didn’t care what they thought of my parents and I didn’t care if they believed that I was going to take Sam away from them.  
 
 Sam walked away from where I was standing and threw his keys on the counter and walked back to our room and slammed the door. I sighed and decided to let him cool off. I didn’t want to go back there and somehow say something that I would regret. I decided to sit down and watch something on TV. I found a sad movie that was on and started to watch it. The next thing I woke up to Sam walking down the hallway. I sighed and got up to see that he had a bag with him. “So your just leaving like that?” I ask trying to keep my anger and sadness at bay. He stopped in his tracks but didn’t turn around to look at me. I continued, “Were you even going to tell me you were leaving or did you leave some half assed note on the counter in the kitchen?” I could see that he shoulders went up and down with hardship as he said “I just need to leave for a while. I didn’t want to upset you anymore then I already have. I...” I didn’t let him finish as he first part of the sentence really pissed me off. “You didn’t want to upset me, so you decide that leaving me without letting me know wouldn’t upset me! I mean do you even know me? DO YOU LOVE ME?” He slammed the bag down on the ground and turned around. I trembled for the slightest second, but then regained my composure as he looked at me with sadness in his eyes “Don’t you ever question the love I have for you Melanie! I will always love you, but you don’t know what happened today and right now I just feel like I need to be alone. I don’t want you to see me like this! All confused and not knowing what to do, and I feel like I am being pulled in two completely different directions”
   
I looked over at him and asked the question that I have been wanting to ask all day, even though when I knew the answer I would probably start crying but I already had tears in my eyes. “What happened today.” I looked straight into his eyes. I wasn’t going to allow him to leave until I knew the reason he was upset. He looked back at me and then shook his head. “Mel you don’t want to know, just some things that my parents said that really made me upset.” I looked over at him and started to walk closer “Things about me I am assuming.” He looked up at me and knew that I wasn’t going to stop asking until he told me. He sighed as and held his arms open and I walked right into them, and he admittedly wrapped them around me. He whispered into my ear “Please you don’t want to know, I don’t want to see you upset about the words that parents say. They mean nothing to me.”
 
 I looked up into his eyes and sighed “I need to know.. please.” He looked at me and I could feel his grip tighten around me. This is usually what happen when ever he gave me really bad news. He wanted me in his arms, and he wanted to make sure that I couldn’t just run away if it was really bad. He opened his mouth and then closed it again and looked down at me. “When I drove up in the SUV they were already pissed that I wasn’t driving the car that they bought for me. I walked over to where they were standing and they started asking where was the girl that was going to take me away from his family.” I looked away from Sam and concentrated on his shoulder waiting for him to continue. “After that comment they were fine until it was about time to leave. They asked me when I was going to knock you up in order for you to make sure that I would never leave you, because sooner or later you are going to want to leave and that way I will have to follow you, because that is my responsibility”
   
Sam looked down at me waiting for my reaction, but I couldn’t look at him. Not when I knew the news and he didn’t, and what is he suppose to think now after what his parents told him. He looked down at her “Mel, do you want to go for a walk? It stopped raining and I think we need some fresh air.” I just nodded my head, but still didn’t look into his eyes. He let go of me in order to grab our jackets. We then walk out of the house and towards the beach. We found a bench to sit on and that was where we were.  We were holding hands and Sam looked over at me and knew something was wrong. “Babe what’s the matter.” I looked over at him and took a shaky breath. I had to tell him, no matter the consequences. This was it. “I’m pregnant.”