Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Connie moved around in the kitchen as she started to prepare that night’s supper for her family. Now that Ava’s morning sickness was starting to fade, she decided to make the meal that Ava had requested several weeks ago for her homecoming from the hospital; Connie’s homemade macaroni and cheese. She smiled as she got all the ingredients out and set them out on the counter.
Connie glanced over at the table and smiled at the sight that greeted her; Ava sitting in one of the chairs with her laptop open before her as several of her school books and spiral notebooks were spread around the area. It had been a long month since her first day at Pathways Academy, a school that specializes in the education of pregnant and parenting moms.
It was nice to have Ava involved in school and all the activities again. The past month has been a little difficult for Mitch and Connie to loosen the reins when it came to Ava. For her part, Ava was very understanding to how they felt, having put them through hell for several months when she was with her ex-boyfriend, Zane Roberts. Connie was willing to cut her daughter a little more slack than her husband, but that was understandable as Mitch wanted to protect his whole family from any kind of imminent danger.
Connie thought it was the best day in her entire life when her oldest daughter, who had been timid and withdrawn into herself since she arrived home again, to start blabbering about her day at school to her mother when she picked her up from school. She wasn’t able to do that with her father quite yet, but Connie knew it had a little to do with Ava talking about her pregnancy. Though she also knew that it had a little to do with the fact of how overprotective Mitch had been when she had started dating.
Connie started boiling a pot of water on the stove as she prepared the rest of the meal. The sound of a book snapping shut drew Connie’s attention to the table as she saw Ava putting all her school books and notebooks back into her book bag. She then pulled out a folder and started to go through some papers. She started making little notes and scrunched up her forehead; a trait that she had inherited from her father. Mitch would have the same expression when he was filling out police reports.
“Homework all done?”
“Yes,” Ava nodded.
“So what’s all this?”
“I’m keeping a record of all the baby dollars that I’ve earned since I started at Pathways,” Ava wrote something down. “I earned five more dollars today for the pop quiz in Life Science.”
“So how much do you have total right now?” Connie sat in the chair next to her.
“$140,”
“And what did you want to purchase first?”
“A crib,” Ava looked at her. “Grandma said to buy that new. They only have used right now.”
“Do they have any new bassinets or playards?”
“I’ll have to look,” Ava said. “That would be $35 total if I got both of them.”
“How about this?” Connie smiled at her. “When I pick you up from school on Friday, we’ll go to the Baby Boutique and see what they have.”
“Can we eat lunch someplace afterwards?”
“It’s a plan,”
“Thanks mom,” Ava gathered her things and put it all into her book bag.
“Not a problem,” Connie smiled at her. “Now why don’t you go relax while I finish making supper?”
“No chance of that,” Ava mumbled as she heard a car pull in and a few moments later Trent walked through the door.
“Hey honey,” Connie smiled at her oldest. “How was school?”
“Good,” he glanced at his sister picking up her bookbag. “Do you need help Av’s?”
“Not from you,” she glared at him before turning to take her things upstairs.
“When will she let me in?” Trent sighed.
“You have a lifetime of making it up to her,” Connie stated. “So I wouldn’t count on anytime soon.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a phone ringing nearby. Connie went to the table and saw that Ava had left her phone downstairs.
“Ava, your phone is ringing!” Connie called up the stairs. “Teresa is calling you.”
“Coming,” Ava rushed back down the stairs and grabbed it from her mom as she answered it. “Hey girl. No I’m not busy. You know who is here though.”
Ava glared at Trent as she walked back into the sunroom that was off the living room to have some privacy to talk to her best friend. Trent grumbled as he looked at his mom.
“Your own fault,” Connie told him, which made him huff and storm up to his room.
The door opened again and Connie smiled as the rest of her family came in. Allie dropped her things by the door and went in search of her sister. Tucker hung his things up where he was supposed to and went in to watch a little TV before supper.
“Hey Gorgeous,” Mitch greeted his wife.
“Well hello yourself handsome,” Connie kissed him. “How was your day?”
“Slow,” Mitch sighed. “So how was Ava’s day?”
“Good,” she looked at him. “But you can ask her yourself.”
“I would, but she barely speaks to me right now,”
“She can probably tell that you’re uncomfortable talking about the pregnancy stuff.”
“Most of the time I try to talk to her, it’s not even pregnancy related. I ask how her classes are going and she shuts down.”
“Some of it may be hormone related,” Connie told him.
“I-”
“I can talk to her if you want me to,”
“Would you?”
“Absolutely,” Connie smiled. “I would love it if this house wouldn’t turn into a war zone again. Other than with Ava and Trent.”
“No sign of backing down from Ava then?”
“None,” Connie sighed. “They’ll get back to where they were eventually.”
“Hopefully soon,” Mitch stated as he went to join Tucker in the living room.
Connie continued to make up the supper while everyone did their own thing in various parts of the house. Tucker and Mitch continued to watch TV together while Ava and Allie stayed in the sunroom playing a game together. As for Trent, he could be heard upstairs blaring his music. About halfway through making up the salad, Ava wandered in, bored from sitting still for too long.
“Do you need help mom?” she asked softly.
“Why don’t you tear up the lettuce for me while I chop up the carrots?” Connie suggested. “But you need to sit down while you do it.”
“Got it,” Ava settled into one of the chairs at the kitchen counter as Connie slid the washed head of lettuce and a plastic bowl over to her.
The two worked in silence; the only sounds that could be heard was the sound of lettuce being torn and the sound of a knife hitting the cutting board and the crunch of the cut up carrots.
“So….” Connie broke the silence. “I need to ask you something.”
“Ok,” Ava said slowly as she looked at her mom.
“Are you trying to shut out your dad?”
“No,” Ava shook her head.
“He seems to think that you are. He said that he tries to ask you about your classes at school, and you barely respond to him.”
“I used to tell him,” Ava said softly. “I used to want to.”
“What does that mean?”
“He doesn’t like to hear about anything that will take me away from him.”
“Explain please,” Connie put down the knife. “In a way that I can understand.”
“I don’t even understand,” Ava mumbled.
“So then walk me through it,”
“All right,” Ava sighed as her mom sat down in the chair next to her at the counter. “Well I was doing my homework one day when dad got home from work. I was starting to go through the papers from one of the after school classes with Dr. Sheridan and her group. That day I think it was apartment renting or buying a car. Something to do with independence away from the family. He started asking me about it and when I started telling him about it he got this look on his face and started mumbling something and left the room. That’s when I stopped talking to him about school.”
“Unfortunately that’s just your father’s nature,” Connie told her. “You guys are getting older. You and Trent are practically out of the house already.”
“I’m not,” Ava shook her head.
“You’re almost there. And your father doesn’t like to deal with anything that involves any of you leaving the house and leaving us behind.”
“He already said that he didn’t plan on letting me go even when I went off to college.”
“But once you turn eighteen he really has no say over anything you do.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to leave you guys ever again.”
“I’m sure you’ll feel different in a few years.”
“Man,” Ava stated. “When I graduate I’m going to have a toddler.”
“Scary right?”
“Yeah,”
“We’ll be here with you,” Connie assured her. “In the meantime, I will talk to your dad about his reactions to your school subjects. How does that sound?”
“Thanks mom,” Ava smiled at her.
“Now that we got that taken care of, why don’t you help me set the table?”
“Sure,” Ava followed her and started to set out the plates and cups.
Connie called for the rest of the family to come to the table as Ava got out some drinks for everyone. Allie and Tucker came in as Mitch went upstairs to get Trent. They all heard the music shut off and a few moments later, Trent followed his father downstairs. They all sat around the table and said a quick word of grace before digging in.
“I have missed this,” Ava commented as she took a big bite of the macaroni and cheese. “Yours is always going to be my favorite.”
“Don’t eat too much,” Connie smiled at her. “But thank you. Compliments are always great to hear.”
They all had some idle chat around the dinner table where Ava gave her siblings time to talk and express themselves because it always seems that the attention is on her because of Zane and her pregnancy.
Once supper was over, Mitch helped Connie clean up and all the kids went off to enjoy the time before they had to start getting ready for bed.
“So I heard you and Ava talking earlier,” Mitch looked at his wife. “Did you find out anything?”
“Oh yes,” Connie nodded. “And it’s definitely not because of her hormones. Or anything on her end.”
“It’s me?” Mitch looked surprised.
“Sit down,” Connie led him back to the table, where they sat next to each other. “You have a lot of work to do if you don’t want a repeat of past events.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ava said that it started with you asking her about her homework one day,”
“Ok,”
“She was going through the information from Dr. Sheridan’s after school group. It was a subject that was teaching her about independence. She saw a look come across your face and you mumbled something and I’m sure it made her feel guilty for talking about it. So she just stopped talking about school with you.”
“Oh,”
“You cannot do this every time she talks about school.” Connie stated firmly. “This school is going to teach her things that will help her when she is ready to try this on her own. This is a good thing.”
“I know,”
“You need to make this right with your daughter,”
“Ok, I will.” Mitch nodded.
Ava was playing Battleship with Tucker before he had to go to bed. She was having a lot of fun as she pretended not to know where his ships were even though it was very obvious. She looked up as Connie came into them and smiled.
“It’s time for bed Tucker,”
“But we’re in the middle of a game,” he complained.
“We can play again tomorrow,” Ava told him. “I’m going off to bed soon too.”
“Ok,” Tucker hugged Ava tightly before going with Connie up the stairs.
Ava went to find Allie and they started a round of Uno before they were told to go to bed. They managed to play two rounds with each of them winning a game. They promised they would have a tie breaker game the next afternoon to see who was the better player.
“All right guys, come on.” Connie came into them. “Time to head up to bed.”
They packed up the card game and started upstairs. Ava changed into a pair of her pajamas and went to check that she had everything that she would need for school tomorrow. She climbed into bed and started to read one of her books as she waited for sleep to come to her.
Mitch and Connie went into Ava’s room to tell her goodnight and found her how they always did every night since she started school back up. Connie carefully closed the book, making sure to keep her place with the bookmark that was on the bed and put it back on her bedside table. Mitch pulled the covers up over her more before leaning down to give her a soft kiss.
“Goodnight Princess,” he whispered as Connie turned out her light and they both walked out, closing the door behind them.
Mitch and Connie were trying to catch a little bit of late night TV when they heard some noise from upstairs. Connie sighed as she readied to intercept one of her kids.
“Tucker,” she sighed. “Every single night.”
“Not Tucker,” Mitch told her as he saw his oldest daughter make her way slowly down the stairs.
“Ava?” Connie went to her. “Baby, what’s the matter?”
“My head hurts,” she said softly.
“It’s just a headache,” Connie assured her.
“My head is throbbing,” she moaned.
“I’ll go find you something,”
“Am I allowed to take anything for it?”
“You can have Tylenol. Just Tylenol.” Connie went to the kitchen to find some as Ava went to sit on the couch.
“Come here honey,” Mitch said softly and Ava moved closer to him and lay her head against him as he smiled down at her.
“We’ll need to talk eventually,” he told her. “About my insecurities about you kids leaving the nest.”
“Mmmhmm,” Ava mumbled.
“But that can wait for now,” Mitch told her as Connie came back with a glass of water and a cold pack.
“Here you go,” Connie handed her the glass of water and placed the pills in her hand.
Ava slowly swallowed the pills and drank the glass of water. She set the glass on the coffee table, but didn’t move her position off her father. Mitch smiled as he covered her with the blanket off the back of the couch. Connie placed the ice pack against Ava’s forehead and she looked at her.
“If your head hurts as bad as you say it does, then this will help.”
Ava settled in against Mitch and he slowly ran his hand across her back to lull her to sleep. Connie smiled as her daughter dozed against her father.
“See? She still needs you.” she told him.
“You’re right,” he smiled down at his daughter as she snuggled into him further.
Mitch and Connie let Ava rest with them for a little bit longer before they decided to head off to bed. Mitch lifted Ava into his arms and took her upstairs. He walked into her room and gently placed her down on the bed and covered her again. Ava turned over onto her side and Mitch once again softly kissed her forehead. He silently walked out of her room and walked down the hall where Connie was waiting for him in their bedroom.
“Did she stay asleep for you?” she asked him.
“She is out,” he got changed and climbed into bed beside her.
“We really need to watch ourselves with her,” Connie looked at him. “I know she’s doing well right now. But there’s always going to be that little voice in the back of our minds that will tell us that we can’t trust her.”
“She’s been doing pretty well,” Mitch agreed.
“So does that mean that you are willing to ease up a little since she hasn’t given us any trouble since she started school?”
“I’m not sure,” Mitch sighed as he lay back on the bed.
“She has not given us any complaints,” Connie told him. “She has not argued about how unfair the restrictions are, she asks us if she can do every little thing. I think she’s ready for us both to loosen the reins.”
“Just give me a few days,” Mitch looked at her.
“You have until the end of the week,” she told him.
“What?”
“She needs to know that we are starting to trust her again. You’re not the one who sees her look every time she has to ask permission to do something.”
“All right, I get it.” Mitch sighed. “We’ll talk at the end of the week.”
“Deal,” Connie smiled as she got settled into bed and Mitch turned out the light.
The next morning, Ava was in a grumpy mood. Connie attributed it to her headache the night before. When Mitch had gone in to wake her for school, she had slipped back off to sleep as soon as he had left her room. Connie went to talk to her and found her flinging clothes aside as she searched her closet.
“All right, what’s up?” Connie took hold of her arms to stop anymore clothing from flying across the room.
“I fell back asleep and now I don’t have enough time.” she grumbled.
“Enough time for what?”
“I was going to take a shower this morning. Now I can’t and my hair is going to be all nasty.”
“Hold on,” Connie left the room and came back in with an aerosol can and a hair brush. “Here we are.”
“What’s that?”
“Dry Shampoo. It works wonders.”
“Really?”
“Having four kids sometimes leaves me little time for myself. I use this when I don’t have time to even take a shower some days.”
“Thanks mom,” Ava said softly as Connie stood behind her and started spraying. “Sorry.”
“Hey, not your fault. You are always out of sorts after you suffer one of those headaches. You’ll be fine by tonight.”
“I hope so,”
“Hey, you girls decent?” Mitch called as he knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Ava called and he slowly opened the door.
“Are we calm now?” he approached his daughter.
“Yes,” she said softly. “Sorry.”
“Not a problem,” He gave her a hug.
“Did you come in here for a certain reason?” Connie looked at him. “Or are the kids demanding food?”
“Yes to both,” Mitch told her as he looked at Ava. “I just got a call. You have an appointment with Dr. Sheridan this morning.”
“I do?”
“She wants to see how you’re doing. If everything checks out, she may clear you for school all day,”
“Sweet,” Ava smiled. “Finally.”
“And also,” Mitch looked at Connie. “We have an appointment with the principal and school counselor at three o’clock.”
“Why?” Connie looked at Ava. “Has something happened?”
“No,” Ava shook her head. “I don’t think so anyway.”
“Relax,” Mitch told them both. “Principal Reynolds assured me that they do this with all students. They evaluate everything after a month to see how the student is adjusting. It’s just for us.”
“Will you have a problem meeting us there after your last class?” Connie looked at her daughter.
“Would it matter if I did?” she grabbed her things and started out of the room. “I would still have to meet you there after school.”
“That’s her starting to complain you know,” Connie told her husband as they followed Ava out of the room and down the stairs.
Ava sat down with her siblings and ate a simple breakfast of buttered toast and some fruit. She helped clear the table and sent off her little brother and sister as she walked outside and climbed into the van. Connie came out and started up the van and pulled out of the driveway as Mitch followed them in his squad car since he had to get to the station after Ava’s appointment.
They pulled up to the Family Center and Ava climbed out and followed her parents inside and signed in. They were told where to go and waited for Dr. Sheridan to come in.
“Good morning,” Dr. Sheridan came in and smiled at them. “How have we been feeling Ava?”
“Great,” she smiled. “I was actually able to eat a normal meal last night,”
“I made my macaroni and cheese for her,” Connie told her. “It’s her favorite.”
“I’m glad you’re starting to enjoy some things from before,” Dr, Sheridan had Ava lay back and got her stethoscope out and placed it on her stomach. “How has everything else been?”
“Good,”
“So no more bleeding? Cramping?”
“None,” Ava said. “I promise.”
“Well everything looks good,” Dr. Sheridan smiled at her. “So I’m going to sign off on you attending regular classes. All day Monday through Friday.”
“Finally,” Ava smiled as she sat up.
“I have to get to work,” Mitch gave Ava a quick hug. “Be good,”
“I have been,” Ava grumbled.
“I need to talk to your dad about something real quick,” Connie told Ava. “Do you mind walking to the school by yourself?”
“Sure,” Ava smiled.
“I don’t think-” Mitch looked at his wife.
“It’s just across the street,” Ava grumbled.
“Why don’t we walk together?” Dr. Sheridan looked at Ava. “That way I can give a copy of your release to attend full time to the counselor.”
“Fine,” Ava grabbed her things and walked out with Dr. Sheridan.
Connie glared at Mitch as they walked out of the building. She stopped him from walking to his squad car as they watched Ava with Dr. Sheridan.
“That was not good for your guys’ relationship,” she told him.
“What?” he looked at her.
“I am willing to give her a smidgen of freedom while you are still keeping those reins tightened.”
“I just-”
“You need to change some things,” Connie told him as she climbed into the van and pulled away.
