Piece by Piece

55. Surprise, Surprise

It had taken Millie almost two weeks to get enough courage to seek Max out and talk to him. What she'd done, the promise she'd made to Freider to marry him could not be kept a secret, and she didn't have the luxury of time. With every passing day, she was sure her pregnancy was actually starting to show.

Obsessively, she stood in front of the mirror each morning, sucking her stomach in, wondering if it looked bigger every time she let it go. 

It had to be done and fast. The wedding, the announcement, telling her family... So she was ready for a harsh, heavy conversation in which her twin would probably freak and give her a million reasons why this was a bad idea. What she hadn't been ready for was finding him in the middle of packing.

"What are you doing?" she asked, blissfully distracted from what she had to do.

Max only faltered for a fraction of a second before throwing more things into his camping backpack. "I'm going to Texas."

"What? Why are you going to Texas?"

"You suddenly care?" He turned to her, a deep frown on his face. "Where have you been over the past few weeks? I've talked to the other girls. I know you're barely here."

"Of course I care! And that's why I'm here. To tell you where I've been and everything that happened over the past few days. But first explain Texas."

He growled and returned to his luggage. For a few minutes, there was nothing but silence between them, punctuated by the sound of fabric being shoved unceremoniously into tight spaces. Millie didn't want to be the one who caved, so she waited. But time seemed to be smothering her again. It appeared that, just like time, she didn't know how to wait anymore.

"I won a stretch of land at poker," Max suddenly said.

"You did?"

"Quite a few acres, actually." He turned to her with a sigh. "So I'm going out there to check it out and take care of the formalities."

"I... I can't believe it." They'd always been on the lower end of middle class, bordering on poor, so the idea of Max, who wasn't even eighteen, owning acres of land in Texas was hard to swallow. It was both exciting and terrifying.  "What are you supposed to do with it?"

"I don't think I'm supposed to do anything with it. I just want to see it before I decide anything. Could be a nice place to build a house."

"A house?" The idea of it was even stranger than bare land.

"Yes, Millie, a house. What have I got going for me here anyway? At least there, I have something. A foundation to build up from."

"But what about school?"

He huffed. "I can go to school anywhere. It's becoming pretty obvious it won't be here. Nothing's happening. I don't think Saint Agnes is opening back up or if they care enough to enroll us somewhere else on the basis of the scholarship we already had. Most of my mates are transferring to other schools, but unlike us, they can afford the good stuff."

"Shouldn't we transfer, too?"

"Where?"

She had no answer to that. "We can't be drop-outs."

"I don't think school's that important in the long run. All that matters is that we make a future for ourselves. And I feel like I've been given that opportunity. You are, of course, more than welcome to come with me." He gave her a knowing look. "I think that would fix most of your problems."

"I can't."

And it hurt because he had no idea how right he was. In a world in which she wasn't carrying a kid around. The thought of losing Max had her stomach clenching. She rubbed her arms and looked away, trying to calm her racing heartbeat. She didn't like this at all. Even if he mostly kept to himself, he was a constant in her life, someone she could always turn to. Someone who'd always called out her nonsense.