'Life's Choices', Chapter 6

Whoops!  I think there was a little misunderstanding in my last post - with 'Life's Choice's' Chapter 5.  Chapter 5 isn't the second to the last chapter...chapter 7 is.  I'll only be posting UP TO chapter 7 and then, if you'd like the last chapter, I'll e-mail it to you. :)
Since I already got three readers in the last few minutes (readers of 'Life's Choices'), I just decided to go ahead and post chapter 6...to wet everyone's panting for the next chapter. :)  So...here it is:

copyrighted 2010, Raquel Z. Duarte

Chapter 6:

Leona was saved that day by the lake, with Peter holding her hand and praying with her. She felt like a new person. She felt clean - almost the way she felt after taking a nice, long shower...except that the cleanliness was inside of her. No one could understand this feeling, unless they, themselves, are saved. She was so excited and wanted to share her joy with her parents, but wasn’t sure if they’d be as happy. Yeah, they had claimed they were Christians, but that was a few years ago. They hadn’t attended church in a long time.
“Peter,” Leona said, after she had stopped crying her joyful tears. “I need to go home.”
He only nodded.
“I need to go home and tell my parents,” she continued. “Tell them everything.”
“Okay,” he said, getting up from his seat next to her. He helped her up and walked her to the car.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked, standing next to her at her car door.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I’ll call you tonight and let you know what happens. Please tell Sarah...and say ‘hello’ to her for me.”
“Okay,” he almost whispered.
Then he did something that Leona didn’t expect. He reached out a hand and, hesitantly, touched Leona’s cheek. She didn’t move; just kept a steady gaze on his face.
“Bye,” he said, abruptly and turned and walked to his car.
Leona stood where she was for a minute. Her heart was fluttering with a joy that she couldn’t express. She had stopped herself from hurting her baby...she was now a child of God...and Peter had just made his first sign of affection to her. She didn’t doubt that she herself had been growing fond of him. She almost...loved him. She smiled to herself and got in her car. She and Peter honked to each other and started off in their own directions.
She wished she had more time to think of what she was going to tell her parents, but the drive home was short. She saw both her parents’ cars in the driveway and was surprised that her dad was off work so early. She shrugged, thinking nothing of it and parked next to the house.
“Mom? Dad? Where are you guys?” she called out as she entered the house.
“In the den, honey!” she heard her mother call.
“Okay, God,” Leona breathed. “I need Your help right now.”
She entered the den and saw her mother watching TV and knitting and her dad, with his usual newspaper in his hands, but his attention was diverted to whatever his wife was watching. Leona walked over to the TV and hit the ‘power’ button.
“We need to talk,” she said.
Her parents exchanged glances and her mother said, “All right, dear.”
Leona was a bit nervous, so remained standing and paced the room as she tried to find the right words to begin with. Her parents followed her movements - which made her even more nervous - but finally, she began:
“I know that we’ve...” she stopped. “I’ve never really been open with you two, but I need to tell you...a lot has been happening in my life these past few months. I haven’t told you about...something - that I’m going to tell you right now - because,” she took a deep breath. “Because I didn’t know how you guys would take it. You see - ”
Her dad interrupted her. “You’re pregnant.”
Leona’s head shot up and she looked at her dad, then her mom, and back to her dad.
“You know?” she asked, shocked beyond words.
Her parents only nodded.
“How?” she asked.
"Jerry,” her mother said.
“Jerry?” Leona asked, puzzled. “How...When did you talk to him? When did he call?”
“A couple weeks ago,” her dad said. “He wanted to talk to you, but I didn’t like the tone of his voice and the way he demanded that I hand the phone over to you. I knew something was wrong between you two. I asked him and he...spilled the beans.”
“You’re not going to...to yell at me or anything?” Leona asked. Up until now, her parents had kept very calm countenances, but she was afraid that they’d burst their bubble soon.
“I think your dad had his share of yelling to Jerry,” her mother stated, then smiled. The smile turned into a laugh and soon Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were both chuckling. Leona was still a bit nervous to laugh, but a smile started peeking out at the corners of her lips.
"I-I’m sorry,” Leona said, making them both turn their attention back to their daughter. “For hiding this from you both.”
“We’re sorry too,” her mother said.
“We could’ve helped relieve some of the pressure on your shoulders,” her dad said. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through.”
Tears began running softly down Leona’s face. She took a seat opposite her parents and quietly, with the tears flowing, began to tell them the whole story.
“So I will have a grandchild after all?” Mrs. Jackson said, now with tears of her own.
“Yes,” Leona said, nodding and rubbing her little belly. “But, even though that is one of the best things I wanted to tell you...the greatest thing of all is...I’m a Christian now.”
“You what?” her mother asked, surprised.
“I’m saved...from my sin. God saved me today.” New tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks.
“Welcome to the family of God, my child,” her father said and got up from his chair and went to stand next to his daughter. He put his arm around her shoulders and she looked up into his face. She saw tears in his eyes, too.
Her mother came to her, also, and stood on the other side of her daughter. “Yes, dear, we’ve been praying for so long.”
“You have?” Leona asked.
“Yes.” They both nodded.
“I know...” her dad began. “That we might not have been very good Christians - not a very good testimony to you. I know we haven’t been going to church, but...we didn’t like going without you. We did a couple times, but were embarrassed when people asked where our daughter was.”
“I’m sorry.” Leona felt so ashamed to have put her parents in such a situation.
“Don’t be, dear,” her mother said, hugging her. “We should’ve cared more about your spiritual walk when you were younger, and not waited till you were a teenager to start ‘preaching’ to you.” She used the word ‘preaching’, because that was what Leona had called it when they had tried to get her to go to church with them. “We worship God here at home on Sundays.”
“But now,” her father said. “We’ll go to church- as a family.”
Leona had a lot to tell Peter on the phone that evening when she called him.