The Gravity of Love (17 page)

"I already have one and that's too
much already." Harrison muttered.

It was a few minutes until Ephram came
through the swinging kitchen doors, wiping his wet hands on a towel as he came
forth.

"Is there a problem with your
imaginary food or did you come to listen to me gloat some more about my fancy
tractor skills?" He asked with a grin.

Josiah scanned the menu again, more than
willing to sit back and let Harrison take the lead. It wasn't his place to be
saying anything between these two men when it comes to such a subject.

"No...actually I came here on serious
business. About uh..."

Ephram suddenly looked worried.
"Molly? Is something wrong? Is she okay?"

Harrison shrugged. "Depends on your
point of view. We uh...we found a pregnancy test in Marty's trash can. It
belonged to Molly."

Ephram grew pale, looking shocked.
"...Wwhat?"

"Molly's..." Even now, Harrison
couldn't quite get himself to say it.

The pale skin with curly blond hair framing
around it made way for a hard swallow. His blue eyes hardened and a new emotion
filled them, but it wasn't an emotion that Harrison could place.

Finally, Ephram straightened, finding his
voice again. "Okay. Uh...thanks for telling me."

"She didn't say a word to you?"

He shook his head. "No. Though really,
I doubt she would."

"Why?" Josiah spoke his first
word of the meeting.

Ephram looked away. "Nothing.
It's...nothing. But I have to get back to work or no one will get their food.
You two want anything?"

Josiah opened his mouth to start listing
things off, but Harrison replied differently. "No, we have to get going.
We'll see you around."

Joe thought a moment about protesting, his
mouth watering at the smell of steak that lingered in the air. But the tension
that mingled with the smell and vibrated off both of the men in front of him
made his jaw stay clenched shut. He seemed to be on a roll tonight when it came
to being wise.

_______________________________________________________________________

Molly shifted uncomfortably, chewing on her
nail, lost in thought.

Marty looked back at her in concern.
"Should I latch your hand on to the cart so you don't get lost?" She
teased.

"Hmm? Oh...I'm sorry Marty. I'm
just...there's a lot on my mind."

"Such as?"

"Haven't you noticed that we haven't
seen Harry or Joe in three weeks? Ephram hasn't returned any of my calls and
canceled our date last week. He didn't even reschedule it. Isn't that kind
of...odd?"

Marty nodded. "Yeah, it is now that
you bring it up. Almost like the guys have secret plans that they're keeping us
out of."

"And that could be?"

Marty shrugged as she added canned sweet
potatoes in to the cart. "No idea. Maybe they're just busy it is the
holidays, after all. Thanksgiving is in three days. Ephram is probably busy
with his restaurant. No one ever knows what Joe does when he's not around one
of us, and Harrison..." Her voice filled with scorn. "He's probably
with Candy Grey."

Molly's eyes reduced to slits and a glare
at the mention of Harrison's girlfriend. "Yeah, perhaps it's better not to
know what they're doing. We have enough with cooking Thanksgiving dinner
we'll be seeing them then."

"Agreed. So let's go focus on picking
out that turkey."

Turning the cart down the last aisle, they
did just that.

_______________________________________________________________________

Molly bit her lip as she looked worriedly
at Marty. "Is it just me or is it really tense in there?"

Marty agreed. "And not the good kind. What's
going on? Usually when it's tense, it's between Harrison and Ephram but
Cousin looks like he's really lost in his own mind. Harrison and Joe look like
they're harboring something between them that they're trying to conceal."

"Could it be...because of us?"

"What did we do?"

Molly shrugged. "I didn't think we did
anything but cook an amazing meal, if I do say so myself. But that wouldn't be
making them upset not those boys."

"Speaking of which..." Marty
wiped her forehead with her sleeve. The kitchen was terribly hot with all the
cooking going on. "We've been at this forever and I'm exhausted so are

you. Why didn't we just get Ephram and his
team to make this stuff at the restaurant and bring it here? I mean, isn't that
the perks of you dating him?"

Molly laughed. "It's a great idea,
just a little too late." She replied, pulling down the oven door and
checking the turkey. "With all this basting, if this think turns out dry,
I'll scream."

In the dining room, Harrison and Ephram
grew restless and went to see how the food was coming, unintentionally
overhearing Marty.

"So will I! Who knew our mothers
worked this hard for meals on the holidays? It makes you think twice about
getting married."

"Married is fine a dinner for two is
easy to make indoors or just go to a restaurant. It's when you have kids that
the traditions start. So yeah, it makes you think twice about having kids. Or
at least at this time."

"I want to wait another ten years for
that pleasure, thank you."

"Well, that would be nice." Molly
said softly, sniffing the gravy as she stirred.

Ephram and Harrison immediately turned and
walked back to their seats, their minds filling up again.

_______________________________________________________________________

The sound of forks clicking against plates
and knives scraping across them were the only sounds to be heard. Molly and
Marty communicated to each other about the men's weird actions through their
facial expressions. Meanwhile, the three men stared hard at their plates.

Finally, Molly had enough. Putting down her
utensils, she stared hard at the three who were taking their meal for granted.
"I worked hard on this meal. It took me two days. Those pies in the
kitchen are homemade. I took two days from usual life to make this food good
and hell if I didn't succeed! Now I want to be hearing compliments from you
three right now or you're all leaving!"

Marty grinned, looking at the others. They
seemed slightly startled, as if just coming back in to reality.

"The food is great, Molly. I couldn't
have made it better myself." Ephram said, his voice soft. It didn't escape
her that he avoided eye contact.

"Sorry Molls. I've been distracted.
The food is amazing and I can't wait to taste those pies you baked."
Harrison chimed in.

But Josiah took a moment. "Should you
really be exerting yourself like that? Cooking over a hot stove for two
days?"

Harrison kicked him from underneath the
table, making Joe jump. Molly just looked confused. "Why would you say
that?"

But the bruised leg and harsh glare from
Harrison made him hesitant enough to stop and think about what he was going to
say. Instead, he just shrugged and showed her a sheepish smile.

Not that she accepted it.

Molly stood from her chair, placing her two
palms flat against the table. "Harrison and Joe, you've been avoiding me
for three weeks and I want to know why. Ephram, you won't call me back and
you're canceling dates. Really, I'm shocked you showed up tonight and I don't
understand why. I shouldn't be shocked you showed up for Thanksgiving! I want
to know why all of you are so distracted and what has changed between all of
us. And I want to know why right now!"

Josiah looked worriedly at her. "We're
sorry Molls. Please calm down, it's not good for you to get so stressed in your
condition. We should have been here to help that was thoughtless of us."

This also received a swift kick, so she
averted her gaze to Harrison. "You obviously think Josiah is telling me
too much about something. Not that I understand a word of what he just said.
Care to expand?"

Harrison glanced at Ephram, who offered a
half shrug.

"Okay, we might as well tell you. We
uh...well, we know about your secret. It's been taking some time to adjust to
the idea."

Molly looked over at Marty.
"Secret?"

But she looked just as confused at Molly.

"What secret? I don't have any
secrets."

"We saw the test a few weeks
ago." Harrison continued.

"Test?"

"Your pregnancy test."

"A cheating test as well, I
guess." Ephram said angrily.

"A cheating test?" Harrison asked
in confusion.

"Well, she didn't get pregnant from
me!"

"You're not going to even step up to
this? Damn, Ephram, I thought you were at least man enough from what I saw to
take responsibility! You're going to let Molly down when she needs you so
much?"

"You don't understand me it's
impossible for it to be mine. I didn't do anything that could have caused
it...you see?"

Harrison looked surprised. "You two
never..."

Ephram shook his head. "Not once
yet."

"Oh...I just assumed...you've been
dating for months and the test..."

"Perhaps there's a reason for
that."

Their accusing gazes turned to Molly
herself, who looked absolutely clueless at them. "What the hell are you
two talking about?"

Marty gasped, just realizing what they were
referring to. "Oh my God...you've all been thinking...that...that...that
was hers?"

"What is mine?" Molly yelled,
missing too much.

"The pregnancy test. They think it's
yours."

"What pregnancy te" Molly
stopped in midsentence to look at everyone in amazing. "You think I'm
pregnant?" She screamed.

"...Well...you are." Josiah put
in to make sure everyone remembered he was still here.

"No! No I'm not! I've never taken a
pregnancy test in my life! I can't believe you three would think this and not even
consult me before starting to shun me away!"

"We weren't shunning you!"
Harrison said quickly. "I was just...upset. I was trying to figure out how
to help you but I was...I was scared."

"Well you don't need to be. I'm just
fine and there's nothing in here." She said, laying her hands on her
stomach.

Josiah was the first to point out the
obvious question hanging in the air. "Then...who's was it?"

Molly walked over to Harrison closely,
taking his big hand in to hers and walking the two of them away from the table
of people.

She found a corner by a line of windows and
put her hands softly on his shoulders. "Harry...the pregnancy test was
Candice's." She whispered.

His eyes grew wide. "Wwhat?"

"She came to us one day. Said her
period was two weeks late and she was worried. She didn't know who else to
consult...I suppose she doesn't have as close of friends as we thought.
But...didn't you and Josiah read the results?"

He shrugged. "We're men, Molls. We
don't know how to read those things."

"It was negative. Candice got her
period the next day. But even so...really Harry, it hurts me that you would
think I was the one carrying a baby and then not talk to me for almost a month!
Is that how it would be? If I got pregnant...would you not talk to me anymore?
Would we not be friends?"

"Oh God no, Molls." He said,
wrapping his arms around her tightly and bringing her close. "No, never.
In fact, I had a whole plan developed! I thought that you'd probably go away to
have a family, with your feeling about this place. I...I was going to sell the
school and I'd move in to the city wherever you went. So I'd be close to you
still. Like always.

And...and you could still teach to help
bring in money and I could work a different shift so I could watch the baby for
you, that way you don't have to put the baby in a daycare. I know how much you
hate those. And they're so expensive anyway. Honestly, I was really hurt you
didn't come and tell me, but I worked through that. I planned through that. I
love you too much to let you go no matter what you do."

Molly's eyes had misted over, her chin
trembling.

"You were really going to sell your
school? That was in your family for four generations. Over three hundred years.
Your father loves that school."

He shook his head. "It wouldn't have
mattered. I would have given it up in a heartbeat in it meant staying with
you."

Slipping on to her toes, she leaned up and
gave him a quick kiss, then laid her head on his shoulder. "My hero
forever and always."

But he pulled her away so he could look
straight in to her deep brown eyes. "Are we okay?"

She smiled her sweet, content smile at him.
"Promise you'll stop jumping to conclusions, Harry?"

He smirked. "It seems to be second
nature, so I can't promise you that. But I will ask you if that conclusion is
right before I start rearranging my whole life on it. How's that?"