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Corbin, who’d put his hand over his wife’s, and was now looking down at the remainder of his soup with an ill expression.
                  You’re not the only one, buddy , I lamented silently.
                  “I thought you saw my gynecologist.” My mother’s voice was low and precise. “Nobody told me you’d switched.”
                  I sat up straight in my chair and laced my fingers together. “No, Mom. I’m going to see Dr. Haybee through my pregnancy. Candace loves him, and he’s friends with Brian.”
                  “You’re going to see him through…” She pressed her lips together. “Your pregnancy?”
                  One nod. Slow and steady. “Yes, Mom. My pregnancy.”
                  Her eyes flicked to my unadorned ring finger. “Did you get married to someone and not tell me?”
                  I almost laughed. Almost. “Of course not.”
                  “Who’s the father?”
                  This was the first time I’d heard my big brother’s voice since dropping the bomb, and it sounded positively deadly.
                  I looked at him. “There is no father.”
                  “I’m not playing games with you,” he repeated carefully, apparently in full-on protective older brother mode. “Who is the father?”
    What next, the shotgun and a forced engagement? I straightened my shoulders and jutted my chin out. This was going to be a hard bone for my friends and family to stop chewing on. That much was clear already. “There is no father. He isn’t in the picture. He won’t be in the picture. You should erase him from the scenario completely. I have.”
                  “He sure as hell will be, once I’m through with him,” Corbin growled.
                  I did my best to return my big brother’s icy stare. “No. He won’t. And the subject is off limits from now on. Is that clear ?”
                  We had a silent stand off lasting for around ten seconds before my mother stood up. Her chair fell backwards into a Cabbage Patch Kid wearing denim overalls. “Alexandria Patsy Baump! You mean to tell me that you’re knocked up and not even going to marry the father!?”
                  “Yes.” My voice was shaking. Tears started to fill my eyes like a clogged gutter. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
                  “What am I going to tell the Disciples of Christ Committee? Or the Bible study class? They’re not going to let me stay in the presidency if I’ve got an unwed daughter who’s having a child all alone! What kind of an example will that be?” She started pacing, knocking down two more dolls and not even bothering to pick them up. She was really upset with me this time. “What will Pastor Irm say? It’s bad enough that you’re divorced, now you’re going to be some sort of single mother?”
                  “Mom, you’re a single mother.” My voice came out shriller than I would have preferred.
                  “Because my husband was taken from me by the good Lord, not because I exercised poor judgment on a lonely night!” she shrieked, throwing her arms out.
    My head jerked backwards like I’d been slapped.
    Andrea gasped, her first sound in a good five minutes.
                  “Okay, that’s enough. Mom, sit down, so we can all talk about this.” Corbin took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes again. “Aw, hell, Lex. I thought you were going to say you had cancer.”
                  My mouth dropped open. “You wanted me to have cancer?”
                  Andrea jumped in, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Of course he didn’t. I think we should start at the beginning. So…how far along are you?”
                  I drew in a shaky breath. “Ten weeks and