“How about that?” he said, raising his glass. “We’re going to be grandparents.”
“What?” Beth said. “Are you kidding me?Surely she’s not keeping this baby?”
Garrett turned to watch Piper. Her face was unwavering in its calm repose. “That depends on what you mean by ‘keep,’ Mrs. Newton.”
“You’ll have an abortion,” Beth said. “You’re still just a child.”
“I will not have an abortion,” Piper said. “I’ve given it a lot of thought and I’ve decided that I want to have the baby and put it up for adoption.”
“Adoption?” Beth said.
“Adoption,” Piper said.
“What you want may not matter,” Beth said. “You have to do what’s best for everybody involved.”
“I’m the mother,” Piper said. “I have to do what’s right for me and for the baby. Maybe you’re not aware of the law. It’s the mother’s right to choose.”
“That’s a very self-centered attitude,” Beth said.
“I think what’s self-centered is wanting me to get an abortion so the matter is taken care of and you don’t have to worry about it.”
“She’s got a point,” David said.
Piper glanced at her father, and as if strengthened by this confirmation, continued. “I don’t want to terminate the pregnancy. I want to give the baby life, then share that life with another family. That’s the choice I’ve made. It’s one I can live with.”
David stood up and moved to Piper’s chair. He knelt in front of her and she fell into his arms in a way that made her seem like a very young girl to Garrett. He got a lump in his throat.
Peyton started to cry. “You always do things like this,” she said to her sister. “You do it for attention. But you never think of anyone else. Me, for example. Everyone at school is going to make fun of me.”
Winnie rubbed Peyton’s arm. “No one will make fun of you.”
“They’ll say my sister is a slut.”
“They’ll think Piper is brave for sticking to her principles,” Winnie said. “I think you’re brave, Piper.”
Piper couldn’t respond. Her face was hidden in David’s shoulder.
Garrett looked around the table. He was both relieved and offended that no one was paying attention to him. Everyone was focused on Piper. This moment was all about her.
“I think you should take some time before you make a final decision,” Beth said. “Even if you don’t plan on keeping the baby, simply giving birth can be traumatic, physically and emotionally. And then there’s your schoolwork, applying to colleges-”
“Don’t try to talk her out of it, Mom,” Winnie said. “After all, we’re talking about a human being here. A human being who is related to everyone at this table-well, except for Marcus.”
Marcus held up his palms as if relinquishing all claims of being related to the baby.
“We’re talking about a cluster of cells,” Beth said. “A microscopic organism. Not a human being, not yet.”
“It’s a human being,” Winnie insisted.
Piper separated from David. “I’m having the baby. You should take as much time as you need to absorb that fact. I’m going to see a doctor and I’m going to research adoption agencies so that I’m sure the baby ends up in the best possible home. They’ve made it so that you can practically handpick the family that takes your child.”
Peyton shook her head. “You are such an alien,” she said. “I can’t believe you’re my sister.”
David returned to his seat, only now he gripped the table and lowered himself gingerly into the chair, as if he were an old man. “Honey, we need to show your sister support. We have to rally around her.”
“What about me?”
These words came from Garrett. He waited a beat to see if anyone had heard-yes, everyone at the table turned to him.
“I guess the question for you, young man, is why weren’t you more careful?” David said.
“I was careful,” Garrett said. He’d used condoms every time, and it was just the one time when his mother startled him when he wasn’t paying full attention. But he couldn’t explain that. “We had some bad luck.”
“Good luck,” Piper said, rubbing her still-flat stomach. “I consider this good luck.”
“You consider this good luck,” Garrett said to Piper. “So I guess what I think doesn’t matter. And this is my child, too.”
“I care what you think,” Beth said.
“So do I,” said Winnie.
“So do I,” said Marcus. “What do you think?”
Garrett’s eyes blurred with tears. What he thought was that if he had to sustain any more growing pains, any more major changes in life or death, he would explode. What he thought was, thank you to his mother and his twin sister and yes, even Marcus, for caring about him despite the fact that he possessed a despicable character. What he thought was, I amsorry, I amso, so sorry to the child that Piper carried within her. I want to do better by you, but right now, I just can’t.
When Garrett spoke, his voice was thick with confusion. His normal voice had abandoned him.
“Let’s just do what Piper wants,” he said. “She’s the mother. It’s her decision.”
Beth sighed. David clapped Garrett’s shoulder. Winnie said, “Well, congratulations, then!” Marcus saluted Garrett. Peyton went over and touched the top of her sister’s hair, as if checking for a halo. Garrett fell back in his chair, he was exhausted.
“Is there dessert?” he asked. He was grateful when Beth said, “Of course! Yes!” and bounded into the kitchen to serve it. Anything predictable, to Garrett, was now unspeakably precious.
Winnie couldn’t believe it, but she was jealous. For years she had heard of girls her own age having babies-once even a girl at Danforth-and it was always spoken of with distaste. It was called “getting in trouble.” But why?As Winnie lay in bed with Marcus that night, she longed to be filled with another human life, a life that could miraculously be created out of thin air and passion.
“It would be romantic, wouldn’t it?” Winnie asked. “To have a baby?”
“Don’t talk that way,” Marcus said. “It won’t be romantic for Garrett and Piper. Those two didn’t even kiss good-bye tonight.”
Winnie had noticed. The relationship between Garrett and Piper was different now, and not in a good way. Garrett kept talking about going back to New York like there was nothing he’d rather do. Meanwhile, Winnie wanted to stay on Nantucket forever. Once she got back to New York, everything would change. She would go back to living on Park Avenue, Marcus would go back to Queens. They could still see each other; it was thirty-five minutes on the subway. But it wouldn’t be the same. They wouldn’t be living together; they wouldn’t spend every afternoon on the beach swimming; they wouldn’t eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together on the deck. Instead, Winnie imagined herself stepping off the train in an unfamiliar neighborhood where all the other girls her age were black or Hispanic and tough. Smoking cigarettes, chewing gum, dishing out attitude when they saw Winnie and Marcus walking down the street holding hands. Winnie had beentoMarcus’sapartmentoncebefore with her father and Garrett-the building was shabby, and although Marcus’s apartment was nice on the inside, it looked like an apartment where the mother was absent. There had been dishes in the sink-lots of them-and there were two TVs blaring in different rooms. Marcus’s sister, LaTisha, he said, came home from school and plunked herself in front of the set until bedtime. She did her homework in front of Oprah and ate her dinner in front of Jeopardy! Winnie didn’t want to place herself in that apartment or on the street in Queens, but she was afraid the trip to Manhattan would intimidate Marcus just as much, and that he wouldn’t come. New York, Winnie was certain, would stink. They wouldn’t be safe from the rest of the world like they were here.