"I'm... Uh... Pregnant."
Theodore and Maria Winchester exchanged glances. Confusion colored their expressions.
"Honey, it's not April," Maria said softly. "You don't have to make jokes, and even if it were, they weren't funny at all."
Theodore cupped his wife's hands on the table. He had studied Noreen's face as she spoke and knew that what his only daughter had said had nothing to do with April Fool's Day.
"Noreen, are you serious?" Theodore asked, his voice trembling. "How long has it been?"
"Wait," Maria said nervously. "What, oh my God, Noreen? You're really... Pregnant?"
Noreen clenched the hem of her dress tightly, until her knuckles turned white. Her chest felt tight and her throat dry. She felt her eyes burning with the tears she was holding back.
Preparing herself to say this embarrassing thing was hard enough, but seeing her mother's face turn pale and her father's face contorted in pain was even worse.
Noreen nodded, and as expected, Maria burst into tears. She shook in Theodore's arms. Noreen lowered her head, and a single tear fell onto her skirt, followed by another.
She dug her nails into her thighs, trying to keep her sobs from becoming louder and louder. She couldn't collapse now. This was just the beginning.
"How... no, who is it?" Theodore asked in a low voice. "Do I know him?"
It was a question that haunted Noreen for nights after she learned that life was growing inside her womb.
Noreen shook her head. "I d-don't know h-him. It was... a one-night stand, w-when I went to the club, on Veronica and Thomas's wedding night."
Maria's sobs intensified, while Theodore sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"W-what?" Maria whispered. "Is that true?"
Noreen nodded and wiped her eyes and wet cheeks. "I'm sorry, Mom, Dad. I am really sorry. I never want to disappoint you. I realize my mistake, and I will take full responsibility. I hope you won't ask me to abort this baby. This baby is innocent. I will give birth and raise this baby."
Theodore could see the determination in Noreen's eyes. His only daughter had always been stubborn since she was little, but she was also resilient and hardworking.
Noreen stood up. "I...will pack my suitcase."
Maria released her hug from Theodore in surprise and stood, taking Noreen's hand.
"Wait! What do you mean you'll pack your suitcase?"
The corner of Noreen's eye twitched. Her mother's tear-stained face made her heart feel like it was being pinched by an invisible hand.
"I-I'll go," Noreen stammered, then lowered her head. "I don't want to burden you with any further embarrassment."
Maria turned to her husband, who remained motionless. "Theo? Really?"
Now, Theodore stood up too. "You're not going anywhere, Noreen. You're staying with us, giving birth to the baby, and raising it with us."
Noreen was stunned. "Dad? B-but..."
Noreen had prepared herself to choose keeping her baby over her parents. She would leave home and find a way to take responsibility for her own carelessness.
But what she heard from her father was completely out of her expectations.
Her parents were well-known in the St. Orvalle neighborhood. Her father was a university professor and her mother was a middle school teacher. Many respected and liked them. Noreen didn't want that to change that because of what was happening to her now.