While I Watched Their Kids, He Lived a Secret Life novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: The Cake
"I have something to say too," Shannon said.
Her voice was small, and in the silence it carried to every corner.
"Shannon," Neil said. "Don't."
"I'm pregnant."
A woman by the window put a hand over her mouth.
"I'm twelve weeks along," Shannon said. "And the baby is Neil's."
Nobody moved.
Neil's mother lowered her reading glasses and stared at her son.
"It started at Maggie's Christmas party, the Christmas before last," Shannon went on. Her hands shook against her yellow dress. "It's the same Neil in all those pictures. The beach, the festival, the winery. I was there for all of them."
"She's lying," Neil said.
He said it quickly, and his voice cracked in the middle.
"She's lying. She's upset. She's got a history of..."
"Of what?" his mother asked.
"Of making things up when she's short on cash."
Shannon flinched.
"Neil, I'm carrying your child."
"You don't know whose it is."
The room made a low sound, a groan.
"You slept with half of Upper Darby," he said. "Everyone knows what you're like. Maggie's own sister, and you came here to do this to her."
"You're blaming her?" a wife near the bookcase said.
"I'm just saying it could be anyone's."
"Neil," his mother said.
It was quiet, and it was a warning.
He turned to her with his hands spread, his best easy smile coming back.
"Mom, come on. You can see what this is. They set me up. Maggie and her little sister, they cooked up a..."
His mother crossed the floor in three steps.
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