~~ CHAPTER 14 ~~
Robert wasn’t sure he
wanted to hear what his parents had to say, since they had made it all too
evident that they were not fond of Kate.
What angered Robert about that is that they never even tried to get to
her know her well. All they saw was that
she lived on North Hill, which was a blue collar neighborhood, so she did not
come from money. What was so ironic to Robert was that Kate’s family had so
much more in riches without the almighty dollar being the focus.
“So Elizabeth, I assume you have a plan in mind for this
situation,” he heard his dad say in his typical droll manner. Deep down, Randall admired his son for
wanting to do the right and honorable thing, but he also knew he could never
share that with Elizabeth. She would be
outraged that her husband could even think that their son would marry beneath
his station in life. He was curious what
Elizabeth had in mind. He could see her
wheels turning almost from the moment Robert stammered out the news.
“We need to send Robert up to Detroit to stay with Don and
Maggie. I’m sure Don would give Robert a
job at his factory for now, and he could even work his way up into management
or sales. Then we need to pay off Kate. We have to think of a good amount that she
will accept, but not too much so that she’ll try to wheedle more out of
us. This needs to be a one-time pay-off
and her guarantee she will not bother us again. Maybe we should have our lawyer
put together a contract.”
Randall was expecting some grandiose plan from Elizabeth,
but he had to admit, he did not think she would go this far. This made it very clear to him that she did
not consider this child to be her grandchild in any way, shape or form. He wasn’t
a sentimental man, but he didn’t think he would never want to see the child. Truth be known, he even liked Kate. For such a tiny thing, she definitely showed
no fear in her and would not be easily intimidated. He had the feeling she would tear up any
check Elizabeth would try to pawn off on her. At least, that was his hope.
He knew better than to argue with her, so he gave some
thought to the amount of money that should be offered to Kate and the
grandchild he might never get to know.
“How about $12,000,” he suggested.
“That gives her $1000 a month for a year, which is probably a lot more
than she makes at her job and could help pay some medical expenses and get some
things for the child.” “I like that,” Elizabeth
said with a cheeriness in her reply that Randall did not like. It made him wonder how well he really knew
his wife, that she could so easily hand out money to make a problem, to make a
new family member, just go away. “Wait, what if she miscarries? Should we make her give back the money? We
could put that in the contract. We don’t
want to be completely heartless, so maybe allow for medical expenses and then
give us back the balance,” she continued.
“Why don’t we call Albert, our attorney, and see what he has
to say. He will know better than us how
to handle this legally,” Randall said.
If this was really going to happen, he did not want any legal trouble
down the road, although he still had the strong feeling that Kate would never
accept any of this, even if Robert did “disappear.”
As Robert was listening to this conversation, he realized he
had tears in his eyes. Could Mom really be this cruel? Even if she wanted to stop the marriage,
would she really want to send me away and never see her grandchild? He
thought she would want to fight for custody of the baby, not send him away and
banish Kate and the baby from the family.
He knew his mom could be cruel and heartless, but he never dreamed she
would go this far. He also knew that Kate
would never accept a dime from his family.
She would have this baby and
raise it with or without him, but she would never allow anyone try to pay her
off. He believed that to his core.
Robert had heard enough, wiped the tears from his face, and crept back into his bedroom. The only phone in the house was in the dining
room, so there was no way he could get in touch with Kate tonight. But he was already making plans of his
own. He and Kate were going to
elope! There was no other way around
it. He had assumed they would go down to
City Hall and get married there, since they wanted to get married right away,
but now they would have to sneak away out of state and before his parents could
stop them.
At first he thought about getting in touch with his cousins
in Michigan, but since that is where Elizabeth wanted to ship him out of sight
and mind, he decided that would never work. They needed to head in the opposite
direction. Kentucky seemed like a good choice.
He wouldn’t be 18 until September, so he might have to lie about his
age, but they would figure that out once they got there. Kate was already 18, so at least she would
not have to lie, which she probably couldn’t bring herself to do anyway, he
chuckled to himself. He loved that about
her. She was always so honest about everything.
He was thankful that Elizabeth and Randall were going to
talk to their attorney first, since they would not be able to get in touch with
him until at least Monday, so that gave him a little time to prepare and let Kate
know what they needed to do. He had a
million things running through his head.
He would have to ask a friend to borrow a car, since he would never get
away with using the family car. They
would be picked up by the police before they even got out of town. He
would pack a small duffel with a few changes of clothes so maybe Elizabeth
would not notice anything was missing.
Luckily he had a little bit of cash stashed away in his sock drawer,
saving that for dates with Kate, not running away to get married and have a
baby!
WOW, this is really
going to happen, he thought. There
was no other choice. He would not give up a life with Kate and the baby,
even if it meant never seeing his parents or his family again. He loved her and her family that much, plus
he would never allow anyone to take him away from his child.
He slept fitfully that night, anxious for morning to arrive
so he could begin a new life with Kate and look forward to becoming a husband,
a father, and find out what it truly meant to live in a loving and happy
family.
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