Amarantha put her hands on the cold tile of the bathroom floor and retched up everything she had eaten for dinner the night before, along with her midnight snack. Her cheeks were flushed, her face was covered in perspiration, the room was spinning—she was sick—morning sick.
After flushing the toilet, Amarantha collapsed onto the floor, pressing her cheek to the ground. It was only seven o’clock in the morning, and already she was sick. She had been having morning sickness for three long weeks. Nearly two months had passed since she had discovered she was pregnant. Nearly two months had passed since she and Shane had—ended their relationship. Nearly two months, she had been in agony, experiencing every single symptom that came along with pregnancy.
To top it off, she was pregnant with Shane’s baby—her brother Shane.
It sounded worse than it really was. Shane isn’t really my brother, she kept telling herself every time she had to run to the bathroom to keep from making a mess in the hall. I’m not really going to give birth to my little brother or sister in nine months.
Nine months—it sounded like forever. I’m going to be carry around something inside my body for NINE MONTHS!! Jesus Christ, what in the hell were we thinking!?! Amarantha got up every morning and looked at herself in the mirror, trying to imagine what she would look like when she was farther along in the pregnancy. None of her clothes would fit. She would look like a whale. I’m 18 years old, and I’m pregnant with my adopted brother’s baby! She thought this every single day. She could have been guest of the year on Jerry Springer: I’m an 18-year- old pregnant with my brother’s baby—the heir to the McMahon millions and the WWF!
Amarantha put her hands over her face as another wave of nausea swept over her. Once it had passed, she exhaled deeply. There was something worse than the fact that she was pregnant with Shane’s baby. Something worse than the fact that she would never see the inside of a college dorm room. Something worse than the fact that she was going to be a mother.
They still hadn’t told Vince about it.
And they weren’t going to tell him, either. Not until Amarantha was being rushed to the delivery room, if she could help it.
How could I tell him? **Oh, guess what, Daddy? I’m pregnant, with Shane’s baby! You’re going to be a grandfather!** The thought of what her father would say made Amarantha’s stomach churn worse then the smell of coffee that sent her bolting for the bathroom. It would be the end of she and Shane’s lives in their father’s eyes. They would be out of the family. That’s it—no action after the cameras stop rolling. The final curtain would fall on them both.
Amarantha smiled. She could deal with her father’s alienation of them if she had to, and she would probably have to by the time it was all over. She didn’t care. All it took was the look on Shane’s face after he had found the present she had left him and came searching for her. It was a look of the most sincere joy she had ever seen. Amarantha was giving Shane what he wanted most in the world, the thing that Marissa, that evil heartless bitch, had taken away from him. She only hoped that it would be a boy so Shane would have someone to carry on the McMahon name after he was gone. Shane was the heir apparent (until Vince found out about it, of course) but Shane needed an heir himself. A healthy baby would be enough, Amarantha knew, but deep in her heart, she wished for a boy.
“Amarantha, are you all right?” Vince’s voice called from the opposite side of the door.
Amarantha shot to her feet, swaying a little as the dizziness fell over her. “Yes, Daddy, I’m fine. I just felt a little sick.”
“Maybe we should take a trip to the doctor, Princess,” her father replied. “You haven’t been feeling well for a few days.”
A trip to the doctor would be like Amarantha wearing a sign that read ‘I’m pregnant, and it’s Shane’s baby! Please, Dad, kick us out of the family!’ “No, Daddy, I’m okay. Really, it’s just a little nausea. It’s gone now. I’ll be downstairs in a minute.”
“Okay, Princess, if you’re sure,” he answered.
Once she was sure Vince was gone, Amarantha unlocked the bathroom door and crept silently down the hall to her room. She quietly shut the door behind her, then crossed the room and flopped on to her bed. She looked at the telephone sitting on the bedside table. There was a piece of paper with a telephone number scrawled on it, the number where Shane could be reached if she needed him. He was in California on business for New Media. He had been there for a week, and Amarantha missed him terribly. She knew that he was due back the next day, but she couldn’t resist the urge to call him.
As the telephone was ringing, Amarantha realized that California was four hours behind Connecticut, making it three in the morning where Shane was. She was about to hang up when the other end of the line answered.
“Hello?” Shane’s groggy voice said.
“I’m sorry, Shay,” Amarantha apologized. “I forgot that you’re four hours behind us. I didn’t mean to wake you up so early.”
“No, it’s okay,” he replied, sounding a little more awake. “I wasn’t really sleeping. I haven’t gotten much sleep at all this week.”
“Poor baby,” Amarantha replied, teasing him.
“Speaking of, is everything all right? How are you feeling?” Shane asked.
Amarantha rolled her eyes. “Same old thing. I’m awake right now because I woke up nauseous. I swear, I don’t think that I’ve gone a single morning without throwing up everything. It’s getting harder to keep Dad from wondering what’s going on, Shay.”
“Yeah, I was afraid of that,” Shane replied. “Don’t worry. I’ll think of something.”
“You always do, big brother. You always do.”
They talked for a few minutes longer until Shane started dozing off, so they said their “I love you’s” and their goodbyes, and Amarantha laid back down in her bed, feeling much better.
~~**~~
“Amarantha, Hunter is here!” Vince’s voice called from the downstairs foyer four hours later.
Amarantha rolled her eyes. Why do they always insist on calling him ‘Hunter?’ His name isn’t ‘Hunter!’ “I’ll be right there!” she yelled in response.
Hunter—JP was taking her to brunch, though Amarantha had more on her mind than just eating a meal over friendly conversation. Before grabbing her purse, Amarantha paused to check her reflection in the mirror. Every hair was in place, every spot of make-up was perfectly applied, but somehow, she just didn’t look right. I’m probably gaining weight right now, she thought. She shook the thought out of her head and headed downstairs.
“Ama, you look lovely as always,” JP said as she hit the last step.
“Thank you,” she replied, blushing slightly. “Are you ready to go?”
He nodded. “Pops has agreed to let me have you for two whole hours. Isn’t he generous?” JP cast a sideways glance at Vince who was standing in the doorway between the sitting room and the foyer.
Vince glared at him. “Attitude like that will get you nowhere with me.”
Amarantha smiled, walking over to him. “Somebody is grouchy today. Don’t worry, Daddy. We’ll be home right on time, I swear.”
“All right,” he replied. “Just be careful.”
“Come on, McMannequin, it’s me that we’re talking about,” JP said with a cheesy grin.
Vince rolled his eyes. “Exactly.”
Amarantha let the remark slide and kissed her father on the cheek. “We’ll see you later, Daddy. Don’t worry too much.”
Vince shook his head as they went out the front door, heading for JP’s black Porsche convertible parked beside Amarantha’s beloved purple Jeep. He opened the door for her like a true gentleman, then went around to the other side, climbed in and pulled his sunglasses from the glove compartment.
“Are you ready to roll?” JP asked, looking at her over the expensive frames.
Amarantha nodded, hoping secretly that she wouldn’t get the urge to throw up all over JP’s spotless leather seats.
~~**~~
“Okay, Glimmer, why did you really want to see me for brunch?” JP asked as he finished his glass of orange juice. “It’s not every day that you call me up asking me out to eat.”
They were sitting in Amarantha’s favorite restaurant café in downtown Greenwich. Amarantha had ordered pancakes, the same thing she always ordered, but hadn’t been able to eat more than two bites before the nausea swept over her again. Thankfully, she didn’t have to excuse herself, and instead just sat sipping her glass of grapefruit juice watching JP enjoy his meal.
She had to smile. JP always managed to pick up on the small details and find out when she had a hidden agenda. “You’re right, I didn’t want to see you just to share a meal.” She leaned forward, grabbing his hands. “JP, you’re one of my best friends. You know that, don’t you?”
He nodded. “You’re one of mine, too. So, what’s up?”
Amarantha took a deep breath. She was about to share something with JP that she had never told anyone. She and Shane had decided not to tell anyone about what had happened between them, and Amarantha had no problems with keeping that straight until now. Time was running out for she and Shane, and she had to do something.
“I need to tell you something,” Amarantha began, holding his hands tightly. “The thing that I need to tell you may not be something that you want to hear, but I have to tell you because you’re the only one who could possibly understand. You have to listen, JP, no matter how badly it hurts or how much you don’t want to hear it. You have to listen, for me.”
JP nodded. “Ama, whatever it is, you can tell me.”
She smiled, then proceeded to tell him everything that had happened between her and Shane. That first night, how Shane stumbled in drunk the next night, the secret that Shane had told her about Marissa and the baby, and how they had decided to just forget that it had ever happened. Instead of getting angry or trying to put his two cents in, he merely sat, with his hands in Ama’s, and listened, nodding everyone once in a while to show her that he understood what she was saying. When she had finished with the big secret about the pregnancy, JP exhaled and sat back in his chair.
“Shit, Ama. This is heavy,” he mumbled, running his hands through his hair.
Amarantha scoffed. “You’re telling me. I don’t know what to do, JP. We can’t tell Daddy.”
“No, that wouldn’t be a good idea,” JP agreed. He sat silent for a moment. “All right, so what can I do to help you?”
Amarantha smiled. He was reacting exactly the way she had planned. “Well…”
“I don’t like the sound of that ‘well…’,” he groaned. “Something tells me you’ve had a plan involving me all along.”
She bit her lip. “Well, sort of, but I don’t want you to think that I’ve been plotting to involved you all along. I’ve thought about this a lot, and if there were any way that I could do this on my own…”
“Just tell me,” he interrupted, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table. He put his head in his hands and listened as Amarantha laid out the plan for him.
She had been thinking about it for days. “If I were to tell Vince that I was pregnant with Shane’s baby, well, you know what that would mean. But, if I were to tell him that I was pregnant with anyone else’s baby, he might not be so upset.”
JP stared at her sideways. “What are you getting at, Ama?”
“If Daddy thought that I was seeing someone for the last couple of months, and I somehow turned up pregnant, it might be a little less devastating than if I were to tell him it was Shane’s baby,” she continued, lowering her voice.
JP sighed. “All right, I’ll do it.”
Amarantha’s grew wide. “What?”
“I’ll do it,” he repeated, leaning back in his chair again. “I’ll tell Vince that you and I have been seeing each other behind everyone’s back, and that it’s my baby you’re pregnant with, not Shane’s.”
“Oh, JP, you aren’t just jerking me around, are you?” Amarantha asked, her hopes soaring. “You’re really do it? You’d do that for me?”
He smiled and nodded. “For you, I will, and only for you. If I didn’t care about you so damn much, I’d say fuck both of you and let Vince find out for himself.”
“You don’t know how much this means to me,” Amarantha whispered, grabbing his hand again.
“Yes, I do,” JP replied, flatly. “It could mean my career. It will definitely mean any future relationship I might have had with Vince, if he doesn’t have me deported or something. He’s not going to be happy about this, Ama. No matter what you do, he’s gonna be very pissed for a very long time.”
Amarantha’s shoulders sagged and her head dropped. “I know. That’s why this is so hard. I have to do something, JP. I can’t let Shane get in trouble with Daddy.”
“It’s as much his fault as it is yours,” JP replied, tilting his head to the side. “You must really love him.”
She nodded. “I do, in every way possible, ways that I shouldn’t.” She took a deep breath. “So, when do you want to tell Daddy?”
“I think that we should wait until Shane gets back from California,” JP answered, picking up the check that the waitress had discreetly dropped off in the middle of the conversation. “He needs to be there so he can know about it. Have you mentioned this crazy idea to him?”
Amarantha shook her head. “Not yet. I was going to call him as soon as I got back from meeting with you. He’s not going to like it, though. Shane has always been a firm believer in accepting the consequences of his actions, no matter how bad.”
“Yeah, well, you tell him that I’ll kick his ass if he doesn’t like this idea,” JP said with a smile.
Amarantha chuckled, then sighed and smiled at him. “You’re my savior, JP.”
He stood up, pushing in his chair, then extended his hand to help her out of hers. “I know, Ama. I know.”
~~**~~
“No, Ama, I am not going to let you get Hunter involved in this so he can take the fall for me!” Shane roared that night as she called and told him of her plan and how it involved JP. “I’m a grown man, Ama. I have to learn to deal with my own fucking problems without someone always coming and getting me out of it.”
“Shay, we don’t have much of a choice,” Amarantha tried to reason with him, cradling the telephone to her ear. It was three in the morning, and she was absolutely exhausted. She had stayed up to call Shane and had hoped that he would be more receptive to what she had to say than he currently was. “We’re running out of time. Unless you can think of something better, JP and I are going to tell Daddy as soon as you get back.”
“Fuck,” he muttered. She could tell he was frustrated. “Don’t do anything until I get back. We’ll talk about this more when I get home. My flight leaves at 6 a.m. I’ll see you when I get home, and then we’ll figure this shit out somehow.”
“I love you, Shay,” Amarantha whispered.
“I love you, too, little sis,” he replied distantly and then hung up the telephone.
Amarantha sat in the darkness of her empty room after replacing the telephone receiver. Now Shane was upset with her. There’s nothing else that I can do, she thought, laying down on her pillow. It has to be this way, for my sake, for Shane’s sake, and for the baby’s sake. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, hoping for pleasant dreams.
An hour later, she still hadn’t fallen asleep and could only think of one thing to do. She picked up the phone, dialed Shane’s number from memory and waited for him to answer.
“What is it, Ama?” he said immediately after answering.
“I can’t sleep,” she whispered.
“Neither can I,” he replied.
“I wish you were here,” she said, crawling under the covers. “I can always sleep when you are here.”
“I wish I was there, too, believe me,” Shane answered. “Have you thought about any names for the baby?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think that you will like them,” she replied, twisting the phone cord around her finger. “They’re a little bit strange.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” he responded.
“You go first,” Amarantha insisted.
“Fine, I’ll baby your foolish insecurities this time,” came Shane’s reply. “Well, Shane Brandon McMahon Jr. did come to mind, but I think that I’d rather go with something more original, like Caden or Cage. I’ve always liked Cage as a name.”
“We are assuming, you realize that this is going to be a boy,” Amarantha interjected. “What if it’s a girl?”
“Well, in the unlikely event that it is a girl, I like the name Hannah and I like Gabrielle,” Shane replied, playfully. “I have full confidence that it is going to be a boy, however. Now, you go. I told you mine.”
“Okay,” Amarantha sighed. “I remember what hell I went through trying to learn to spell my name in kindergarten, but I just couldn’t help it. I had to pick some crazy ones.”
“Like what?” Shane asked impatiently.
“Well, for a boy, I like Garren and Halen, and I even thought about Vincent…”
“Oh, wouldn’t that be an ego trip!” Shane replied, laughing. “My first born son named after my father!”
“It might soften the blow a little bit,” she joked. “And for a girl, I like Kersey and Rhiannon, but I like the names you picked out, too.”
“Those are all very nice names,” Shane replied. “How will we decide?”
“I think that when I’m in labor, it will just come to me in a flash of…”
“Labor pains?” Shane offered. Ouch, she thought. The eternal and always running scoreboard read Shane 1, Amarantha 0.
“You’re hilarious, Shay,” Amarantha snapped. She yawned. “You know, it’s finally happened. Talking to you has made me bored enough to go to sleep.” Ding! Shane 1, Amarantha 1.
“Hey, now,” he replied defensively. “That may be the case for you, but now I’m wide awake.”
“Maybe if you sing to me, it will help us both get to sleep,” Amarantha suggested.
“I knew it! I knew you had some hidden agenda!” Shane replied, his voice rising in pitch. “Oh, all right.”
“Thank you, Shay,” Amarantha cooed, snuggling against her pillow.
“Just make sure that you hang up the phone as soon as you wake up,” Shane replied, “or else, we’re going to have one monster phone bill.”
“I will,” she answered sleepily.
Shane cleared his throat. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he grumbled.
“You’re only doing it because you love me,” Amarantha said, yawning again.
“That’s right, and you only listen and pretend that I sound half-way decent because you love me,” Shane replied.
“Right,” she answered.
“Goodnight, Ama. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Shane whispered.
“Goodnight, Shay,” she mumbled.
Before he even began to sing, Amarantha felt her body surrendering to the sleep that it needed. Shane’s voice was the melody that filled her head as she slipped into the land of dreams.
If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old-time movie ‘bout a ghost from a wishing well…
~~**~~
Amarantha awoke the next afternoon, the phone still off the hook with a dial tone in her ear. She could hear her father yelling from downstairs.
“Amarantha, your brother is home!” he screamed.
She bolted from the bed, fighting off the urge to make a stop by the bathroom, and ran down the stairs, still in her nightgown. Shane was waiting for her at the bottom, and he caught her as she leaped into his arms.
“Shay, I’m so glad you are home!” she squealed, kissing him on the cheek.>Br?
“Apparently,” he replied, gently setting her down on the ground. “Why don’t you go get showered and dressed? Hunter offered to take us out for lunch.”
Amarantha nodded.
Shane turned to Vince. “Would you like to join us, Dad?”
What the hell is he doing? Amarantha wondered, staring strangely at her brother. They had serious business to talk about, and they certainly couldn’t do it in front of their father.
Vince shook his head. “No, I’ve got to get to Titan. I only stayed home until now so I could see you when you got back, and I’ve got a mountain of paperwork waiting for me.”
Amarantha sighed. Thank heavens for paperwork.
“All right, then. We’ll see you back here for dinner?” Shane asked.
And for the surprise of your life, Amarantha added silently. Vince nodded. “I might be a little later than that, but go ahead and eat without me.” He kissed Amarantha on the cheek and hugged Shane before pulling his keys out of his pocket and heading out the front door. They heard the Jeep start up seconds later, and they both breathed a sigh of relief when he had cleared the driveway.
Amarantha crossed her arms over her chest. “Did JP really ask us to lunch?”
Shane gave her the lady killer grin. “No, he’s coming over so we can talk. I called him from the plane.” He looked her up and down and shook his head. “I would suggest that you go change, however.” He patted her stomach with his hand. “I think you’re starting to show, and that nightgown is not flattering.” Ding! Shane 2, Amarantha 1.
Amarantha’s jaw dropped open, and she punched him in the arm playfully. “That’s not nice. I’m very sensitive about that.”
Shane rolled his eyes and put his chin on her shoulder. “I think that you’re the most beautiful pregnant woman I’ve ever seen.”
Amarantha made a face. “Okay, I’m going to change. All this sugar that you’re laying on is making me sick.”
Shane pinched her arm as she when to leave. She whirled on him. “I’m warning you, buddy. If I wasn’t fighting for two, I’d be all over your sorry ass right now.”
He put his hands up, mocking her. “I’m warning you, buddy…blah, blah, blah. Excuses are all I get from you. Just admit it, you can’t beat me, and that’s why you’re afraid to challenge me.”
“I am a McMahon,” she said proudly, turning up her nose. “I have no fear.”
“Well, I fear that if you don’t move your ass, Hunter and I will be old men before you’re finished getting ready,” he replied.
Amarantha grinned at him, starting up the steps. “You and Hunter already are old men. Don’t forget that.”
The scoreboard read Shane 2, Amarantha 2.
~~**~~
“There she is, Miss Teen Pregnancy!” Shane sang as Amarantha walked in the room to join he and JP, who was sitting on the couch. Ding! Shane 3, Amarantha 2.
Amarantha stopped dead in her tracks. “There he is, Mr. Thirty-year-old who gets teens pregnant!” she replied in her best singing voice. Ding. Tied up at three.
JP’s jaw dropped open, and he stared at them. “Damn, you guys sure are loving.”
Amarantha waved a dismissive hand and sat down beside him. “Oh, it’s just a little game we play. We see who can out wit who.”
“So, who’s winning?” JP asked.
“I am,” Shane and Amarantha replied in unison.
JP shook his head, smiling at them. “There’s that McMahon sense of competition.”
Amarantha smiled. “You bet your ass.”
“So, I guess we should talk about the matter at hand,” Shane said after a moment of silence. “Hunter, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, it’s great of you and all, but it’s a pretty big responsibility to take upon yourself.”
JP shrugged. “If it’s for you and Ama, I don’t mind.”
“Even if it means losing your job?” Shane asked, his eyebrows arched.
“Vince can’t fire me for ‘getting his daughter pregnant,’ but, yes, I’m willing to risk it,” he replied.
Shane leaned forward and extended his fist to JP. “You have no idea what this means to us.”
JP smashed his fist against Shane’s, nodding. “Yes, I do, and I’m happy to help.”
“So, we’re going to tell him tonight?” Amarantha asked, biting her lip.
Shane nodded. “That’s the plan.”
“But, Shay, what if something happens and he finds out that it’s all a lie and I’m not pregnant with JP’s baby?” Amarantha asked, hoping that was never the case.
“I don’t know, but for right now, let’s not even consider that,” Shane replied. “We have to do everything in our power to make this work.”
Amarantha knew that her brother was right, but she still didn’t like the fact that they were lying to their father, and the fact that there were so many loopholes that could end up in disaster. There was so much at risk for everyone involved. The plan had to work. She didn’t know what to otherwise.
~~**~~
Vince came home just after Amarantha, Shane, and JP had finished dinner. They were all sitting in the living room, like predators lying in wait for their prey.
Vince stopped in the doorway, looking strangely at them. “What’s everybody doing just sitting around here?”
Amarantha cleared her throat and patted the seat beside her on the couch. “Daddy, we need to tell you something.”
Vince walked over and sat down on the couch, relaxing back against the cushions and crossing his legs. “Well, what is it?”
JP stood up and walked over to Amarantha, crouching down beside her. Putting a hand on her knee, he took a deep breath. Shane sat in a chair on the opposite side of the room. Amarantha could tell that he was becoming more and more angry by the second. She tried to catch his eye, but he wouldn’t look at her.
“Vince, we want to be honest with you,” JP said, trying to stay calm.
“What’s going on, guys? Just spit it out so I can go to bed. I’m exhausted,” Vince snapped, rubbing his eyes.
Amarantha took Vince’s hand in hers, and then took JP’s in her other. “Daddy, JP and I —well, we’ve been seeing each other for a few months.”
Vince’s face went blank. “What?’
“We’ve been dating since just before I got put into the storyline,” Amarantha explained, keeping her face straight.
Vince shrugged. “Well, I guess that I can’t stop you form doing what you want. If you want to be together, then you will. Never mind the fact that you’re 18 and JP is thirty-one.”
JP nodded his head. “I know it’s a big difference, but I love her.”
Vince ripped his hand away from Amarantha, rolling his eyes. “Oh, just grand. You love her.”
“Daddy, please try to understand,” Amarantha begged.
“I understand perfectly,” he replied, turning away from them.
Amarantha bit her lip and looked at Shane. Shay, what do I do? Shane nodded, and Amarantha looked back to her father.
“Daddy, there is something else,” she whispered, trying to keep up her courage. “What?” he snapped, turning back to her. His dark eyes looked as cold and unforgiving as she had ever seen them. Just the look he was giving her made her want to run screaming from the room.
“I don’t want you to get upset with me,” she said, grabbing his hand again. “Daddy, you have to promise that you won’t.”
Vince nodded. “I promise I’ll try.”
Shane put his head in his hands. Vince looked at JP first then his eyes fell upon his daughter.
“Amarantha, may I speak with you privately?” Vince said, calmly and quietly.
JP and Shane both stood up and walked to the door. Shane made eye contact with Amarantha and mouthed, “I love you” before leaving.
Vince stood up and began pacing around the room. Amarantha sat on the couch, her heart racing. This is so much worse than I ever imagined, she thought, wanting to crawl into a hole and die.
“Amarantha,” Vince said suddenly, his voice low and menacing, “your mother and I raised you the best way we knew how. We always did what we thought was the best for you. We taught you to have honor and pride—to keep your dignity above all things. This is how you repay me for everything I’ve given you? The edge in his voice grew harsh.
