Silence followed until Randy said, "Hello?" Dean acknowledged he was still there and started to make an excuse for Cynthia's exit but Randy cut him short.
"She hung up on me."
Dean promised to talk to Cynthia but Randy was devastated as he ended the call.
When Dean entered their bedroom, Cynthia was no longer crying, but furious. She stomped her feet like a child in a tantrum. "First that Billy, than my own son! Isn't any young man capable of restraint-responsibility? God, if Randy were here, I think I would beat him! I'd take your hairbrush to his backside so he'd never sit down again-or play his stupid baseball! I swear I'd do it!"
"I think he'd prefer that to you hanging up on him."
"I was so damned mad!"
"Good. Get mad. Just don't turn your back on your son. He needs you, Cyn. They both do. Poor Jen must be a wreck and she has telling her parents to look forward to."
The tears returned, from sheer frustration. "God, I sounded like such a bitch. My mind is a mess. My own son, going to be a father! He's just a boy! How could he be so stupid? Why can't anyone wait anymore? I waited, though God knows Jeff tried hard enough to get at me! Men! You're all alike. All you want to do is screw like rabbits and to hell with the consequences!" Dean could do little more than put his arm around her.
"You know it's not like that. Randy and Jen love each other. They're not high schoolers fooling around irresponsibly. Sure, they made a dumb mistake, but it's not the end of the world."
"My mother-Randy's grandmother-god, she'll have a fit!"
"She'll get over it, too. They did the same thing when she was young."
"I'm going to be a grandmother! David, six weeks ago I thought I might be pregnant! Yesterday I had a foster daughter I loved like my own-today, what do I have?" She let him press her head to his chest.
"You're going to have a little grandchild, that's what you'll have."
"I don't know what to do. We don't have the money to help . . . ."
"Trust him-both of them. Trust that they'll make the right decisions. They're intelligent kids-good kids."
She looked up at him. "Tell the world to slow down, David. I can't process this fast. My mind is on overload. I don't know where to start."
"Let's go a step at a time." He picked up the telephone and handed it to her. "Call your son and tell him you love him. That's where you start."