New Beginnings: A Hessa Story (2)

Chapter 62: Tessa

"I'm gonna start a fire in the fireplace." Hardin tells me as we undress into warmer clothes. This is one of the coldest, snowiest days I've experienced in New York. I slip on my fuzzy cloud pants that I've had since high school, Hardin's favorite. To this day, he still makes fun of them whenever I wear them. I now have fuzzy socks to match thanks to Landon.

"Okay. I'm gonna call my mother back. Try not to burn the house down."

"Not again." He winks at me, and I laugh. Looking back on the day that Hardin burned his childhood home to the ground, it's much easier to laugh about it now than it was before. I think we joke about it to try and forget about how terrible it actually was.

Once Hardin leaves, I quickly grab my phone from the bedside table and call my mother. The curiosity of what she told Hardin has been killing me. She said she found something that I would enjoy seeing? What the hell could it be?

"Theresa, thanks for calling me back!" My mother answers quickly.

"Sorry, I was at the doctors getting a prenatal checkup."

"I know, Hardin told me. Uh... how did it go?"

"Things went well. Turns out I'm actually five months along." I tell her, leaving out some other information about the baby's size. She doesn't need to be worrying about me right now.

"Five mo-, Theresa, you are halfway there!?"

"Apparently. It's crazy to even think about."

"You can find out the gender at five months. Did you?"

I remember what I told Hardin about keeping the gender between just the two of us. "We're just gonna wait until the baby's born."

"Your father and I did the same with you... and speaking of your father, that's why I called you."

"What about him?"

"Check your email."

I rush across the cold floor to my office, and log into my email. I have a bunch of emails, most of them being junk mail from a ton of different addresses. I need to check my personal email more often, but right at the top is an email from my mother. I click to open it, and a video pops up.

"Did you get it?" My mother asks from the speakerphone.

"Yeah, it's a video. Of what?"

"Just watch it."

I nervously press play, and up pops my dad and me walking through the park that was close to my house. We used to feed the ducks there all the time. It was my favorite place to go as a child. It's hard to remember a time where my father wasn't a drunk. It's hard to remember a time when he didn't hit my mother, causing me to spend hours hiding in the greenhouse outside of my home. In this video, there was a wedding in the park, and the ducks were annoying the guests.

"Ducks!" A six year-old me screamed as ducks flooded this wedding.

"Get away you filthy bird!" My mom caught an old lady yelling as she smacked a duck with her purse on camera.

I was holding my father's hand, shaking it vigorously for him to look at the ducks.

"I see them." He lifted me up on my shoulders so I could see.

"Pretty poofy dress!" I pointed out. Even when I was young, I had a fascination for weddings. "Look!" I pointed to the ring bearer, who at a closer look, looked just like Noah.

"Yes, that's Noah." My mother mentioned.

Oh my goodness, this must have been Noah's aunt's wedding.