Chapter 28

"Okay, all you boy band fans out there, we’ve got some O-Town news for you today. They may be adding a sixth member to their group," he said. There was surprised buzzing from the studio audience. "Now, don’t go jumping to conclusions. What I mean is that one member of the group is reportedly going to be a father. Yes, MTV has learned that Jacob Underwood’s girlfriend, Maria Carpenter, is allegedly pregnant with his child. Their relationship is no secret, as anyone who watched MTV’s New Years’ Eve special knows…" There was a video of Jacob and Maria kissing right in front of the camera. "And Carpenter herself was heard saying that she has been dating Underwood for about two months now. The couple met while Carpenter, who is a photojournalist, was assigned to travel with the band on a radio tour that the group did last summer in which she wrote a cover article on the group for Star Power magazine. When contacted, O-Town’s management had no comment. Also, Underwood and Carpenter haven’t made any official announcement as of yet. As for upcoming O-Town news, the band is scheduled to go overseas for a two-month tour starting next week. They are also working on their second album, which is due out this summer. And the third season of Making the Band is scheduled to begin this month right here on MTV. There is no word on whether or not anything that has to do with the pregnancy will be shown on the show, however, it has been confirmed that Carpenter is a prominent presence on the new episodes and that Underwood is completely ‘smitten’ with her. For more information on this story and more news in general, log on to MTV.com or keep it right here for updates on the hour here on MTV. Carson, back to you."

"Just what O-Town needs, huh? Another member. And the kid didn’t even have to audition," Carson said, smirking.

Ashley turned off the TV. "Well, now everyone knows," he said. The doorbell rang. Mike C. stood up and went to answer it. He returned a minute later followed by Kyle Walsh.

"Hey, fellas, how’s it going?" Kyle asked, noticing Trevor’s ankle and Erik’s sling. "Not good?"

"We’ve had some problems," Dan remarked.

"Yeah, I hear one of them is a real serious one," Kyle said.

"Maria?" Ashley asked. Kyle nodded.

"I love her, you guys, and I don’t want anyone judging her or stressing her out. She’s like my daughter and I don’t want anyone doing anything that would endanger her health or the health of her child, do you boys understand?" he asked.

"Don’t tell us, tell them," Trevor said, motioning to the Mikes.

"I intend to," Kyle said, walking over to the table to speak with the Mikes. Trevor frowned at Erik.

"What’s that look for?" he asked, noticing Erik’s grimace.

"We can’t do anything to hurt Maria, but her being pregnant is hurting the band. How is that fair?" he asked.

"Erik, how can you say that?" Dan asked. "And how is her being pregnant hurting the band?"

"Are you kidding? Do you see Jacob anywhere? He’s been gone since Friday night. He’s missed rehearsals. Rehearsals that are necessary if we’re gonna perform well on this tour. He’s not going to be concentrating because he’s going to be too concerned about Maria. And now the press is going to be all over us, and not in a good way," Erik said, getting up and heading for the stairs.

"This isn’t good, guys," Trevor remarked. They heard a car door slam and Dan knelt on the couch, moving the curtains aside so that he could see out the window.

"They’re here," he said, smiling. The three remaining members of O-Town got up and went to the door. The Mikes and Kyle stayed at the table.

Ashley opened the front door and smiled when he saw Jacob and Maria walking up the sidewalk. Trevor limped ahead and pulled Maria into a hug. Ashley hugged Jacob.

"Dude, it’s been, like, nuts around here," Ashley said. Jacob nodded.

"I can imagine," he said.

"It wasn’t any better where we were," Maria told them when Trevor released her. Ashley moved to hug her.

"How do you feel?" he asked. Maria smiled.

"I’m okay. I haven’t had any morning sickness in a couple of days," she answered.

"Where’s Erik?" Jacob asked, moving aside so that Maria could go ahead of him into the house. The camera was there, of course. Maria tried to ignore it.

"He’s upstairs, lying down," Dan said. Jacob nodded.

"Well, well, well, look who’s back," Mike M. said, loudly. Maria grabbed Jacob’s hand and squeezed it. She frowned when she saw Kyle.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I had to discuss the tour with the Mikes. I assume you’re still going," he said, hugging her. Maria nodded.

"Yeah, I’m going," she told him. "I’m still able to travel." Kyle shook his head.

"Are you ready, you know, to be a mom?" he asked. Maria nodded.

"I have no choice," she said. "I’m having this baby. Our baby." She moved over and linked her arm in Jacob’s. He kissed her forehead.

"Would you like to comment for MTV? Their report lacked information," Mike M. said. Jacob frowned.

"We’ll let you know what we want to do," he said.

"I need you…now," Mike M. told him, sternly. Jacob stared at him for a minute before following him into the other room. Ashley patted Jacob’s shoulder as he passed him. Jacob nodded and continued walking. The camera followed him.

"Did you hear that Alex might not go on the tour?" Kyle asked. Dan, Ashley and Trevor exchanged looks. Maria frowned.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Maria, we need to talk to you," Dan said. Kyle got the hint. He nodded, hugged Maria again and opened the door.

"I’ll expect you to be at work tomorrow," he said. Maria nodded and he left.

"What’s going on?" she asked.

"Come with us. We have to talk in private," Ashley said as he put his arm around Maria and led her out into the pool area. Maria looked over her shoulder into the other room where Jacob was talking with the Mikes.

"He’ll be okay," Trevor remarked, noticing where she was looking. Maria just sighed and kept walking.

"You left. Not only did you leave, you left without telling us. You didn’t call us or keep in touch with us. We are responsible for you whether you like it or not. There is a tour next week that you need to be practicing for. And believe me, you guys need to practice badly. What you did was unacceptable. What do you have to say for yourself?" Mike M. asked.

"I made a decision. I know that it may not look like the right decision in your eyes, but under the circumstances I had to go. Maria means the world to me. She had just found out that she’s going to have my baby. I had to go. I meant no disrespect to the group or to you guys. I realize that we have practicing to do and I plan on making up anything I missed. Maria’s scared. She needs me right now," Jacob told them.

"Jake, the group needs you, too. You made a commitment to those guys to be a part of O-Town. When something happens to you, it happens to all of them. Your actions affect them as much as yourself," Mike C. said.

"They didn’t get Maria pregnant, I did. And now I have to be responsible and help her through this," Jacob told them, looking at the floor. Mike M. rubbed his hand over his mouth. He glanced at the camera and motioned for it to go away, which it did.

"You realize that this is a publicity nightmare, right?" he then asked. Jacob looked up sharply. "You are twenty-one years old. You are not married. Your girlfriend is pregnant. Your fans are mostly teenagers or younger. How does this look? What do you think this will do for your image?"

"I’m already the ‘rebellious bad-boy of O-Town.’ I don’t think it’ll hurt it too much," Jacob told him. "Besides, I never gave a shit what anyone thought of me before and I still don’t. I may not be married to Maria, but I love her and I’m going to love our child. Marriage will come later."

"Great. That’s terrific. Do you think your fans want to know that you’re having a baby and then getting married? That you’re unavailable forever?" Mike M. asked.

"What the hell do you want me to do, Mike? Maria is pregnant. That’s not gonna change. I love her. That’s not gonna change either. I refuse to break up with her or ignore her condition just because it would be best for the band if I did! I refuse to be put in that kind of position," Jacob said, his voice rising.

"If given a choice, would you choose the band or Maria?" Mike M. asked. Jacob frowned. "It’s a fair question. If Maria needed you so badly that you could no longer be in the band, which would you choose?"

"I can do both," Jacob said. "Maria would never make me choose. She understands that I have a commitment to the band. She only left because she was scared and didn’t know what to do. I had to go and talk to her. I couldn’t do it over the phone."

"Fine, but if it happens again…" Mike M. started.

"It won’t happen again," Jacob interrupted.

"It better not happen again, if you know what’s good for you. Now, you are not to go out of this house without either Mike or myself, do you understand?" Mike M. asked. Jacob frowned.

"That’s not fair," he argued.

"Oh, I think it’s extremely fair. After what you pulled, consider yourself under house arrest. If you want to see Maria during your free time, if you have any, then she comes here, got it?" Mike M. glared at him. Jacob nodded, reluctantly. "Good, now, can you go get Maria?" Jacob frowned again.

"What are you gonna say to her?" he asked.

"Don’t worry, we’ll be nice," Mike C. told him. Jacob turned and walked away, not liking the fact that the Mikes wanted to speak to Maria.

"Oh, my God," Maria whispered. "Let me get this straight: Carlos ‘kidnapped’ Alex, brought her to a run-down apartment and kept her there without anyone knowing where she was. Miguel and Erik found her, were found by some thug who killed Carlos and shot Erik?"

"And then Alex shot the guy who shot Erik," Dan finished for her. Maria sat down on a lounge chair. She couldn’t believe it. Poor Alex.

"I should’ve been here for her. She’s probably beside herself with grief," she said. Trevor sat next to her and pulled her to him.

"You’ve had other things on your mind. How did everything go?" he asked. Maria sat up and shook her head.

"My father and Marilyn are cool about it. I saw Sarah, too. She’s doing so much better. Oh, and my brother, Joey, was at my dad’s house, too. It was a family reunion of sorts. Anyway, that’s where Jacob and I were able to talk and figure some things out. My dad spoke with Jacob, too. Then we went to see Mrs. Underwood, who wasn’t too thrilled. She accused me of trying to trap Jacob because I was worried that he’d be attracted to other women when he’s away from me." Maria rolled her eyes. "She told me I wasn’t welcome in her home. Jacob basically chose to support me and things were left very badly between them. My mom wasn’t any better. She called me a slut and even questioned whether or not the baby was Jacob’s. After a while, she seemed to come around, though, a little. I was shocked, but I’d rather have her indifferent than attacking us." Maria looked at them and sighed. "I’m sorry for taking Jacob away from you guys, especially right before the tour. I will try my best not to distract him from the group again."

"You don’t have to apologize." They turned to see Jacob coming out of the house. "It was my decision to go, so don’t apologize," he said. "The Mikes want to see you. If they give you a hard time, give it right back to them." Maria stood up. She smiled and kissed Jacob before going into the house.

"It’s cool that you two are still tight after everything that went on. Maria was just telling us," Ashley said. Jacob nodded.

"It wasn’t fun. I’m actually going to call my mom. I’ll be right back," he said as he ran to the guesthouse. A minute later, they heard him shouting down to them. "Can you guys come here?" Dan, Trevor and Ashley went up to Jacob’s room.

"What’s wrong?" Dan asked. Jacob motioned to the floor.

"Want to explain to me why there are bloody towels on my floor?" he asked.

"Trevor! Why didn’t you clean up?" Dan asked. Trevor looked at the floor and shrugged. Ashley picked up the towels.

"Dude, how do you get blood out?" he asked.

"Whose blood is it?" Jacob asked, worriedly. "Will somebody please tell me what’s going on?"

"I’ll go soak these," Ashley said. Trevor followed him to the bathroom. Jacob looked at Dan, waiting for an answer to his question.

"Um…it’s Erik’s," he said. Jacob frowned.

"What happened?"

"He got shot," Dan said. Jacob looked shocked.

"What? How? Please, tell me what happened," he said. Dan proceeded to tell him everything that had occurred the night before.

"Maria, how are you?" Mike M. asked.

"I’m okay," she answered. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

"We just wanted to know if you still plan on coming on the tour. Walsh said that you were, but under the circumstances, we weren’t sure," Mike C. said.

"I would like to go…that is, if I’m still welcome," Maria told them.

"All we ask is that you try and distance yourself from Jacob a little. We’re not saying that you’ll never see him or spend time with him, but he’s got a job to do and can’t have anything distracting him," Mike M. said.

"I would gladly stay here, but I think that Jacob would be more distracted by my not being with him. He would be too worried about me. He can keep an eye on me if I’m there," Maria told them. She looked down at the floor and then back up at the Mikes. "Look, I never meant to take Jacob away from the band. I didn’t think he’d follow me, but he figured out what was wrong and decided to chase after me. I’m sorry for that."

"We know and the timing was inconvenient for him to be away, but he’s back and we can get on with rehearsing and preparing for the tour. We just want you to be aware that it’s going to get busy and you may not see Jacob much," Mike M. said. Maria sighed.

"I realize that. I have my own work to catch up on. But, just so you know, when the time comes for me to have the baby, I want Jacob with me. So, don’t plan on being out of the country in September," Maria told them. The Mikes looked at each other, and then nodded.

"We’ll see what we can do," Mike M. said to her. Maria was satisfied, so she turned and walked away.

"It’s a fair request that Jake be there for the birth," Mike C. said.

"Yeah, but we have to be careful. She might come up with more ‘requests’ that will take Jacob away from the group---we have to make sure that Jacob remains focused on the band," Mike M. told him.

Jacob sat on his bed as Dan finished telling him about Erik’s ‘adventure’ last night. "I’ll go see him after I call my mom," Jacob said. Dan nodded.

"Okay. I’ll leave you alone," Dan told him. He left the room. Jacob picked up his phone and dialed.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mom, it’s me."

"Hello, Jacob. How are you?" She was being too formal. Jacob switched his phone to the other hand and stood up, pacing as he talked.

"I’m okay. I’m actually back in Orlando. We got back a little while ago."

"That’s good. I’m sure the Mikes were happy to see you," Mechele said

"They had a lot to say." Jacob laughed lightly. "Mom, I don’t like the way we left things." Maria walked into his room. ‘Your mom?’ she mouthed. He nodded. Maria sat down on the bed.

"I don’t either, dear. I’m sorry if I was hard on you, but it was such a shock. I guess I overreacted," she said, her voice sad.

"I know. It was a shock to us too. You have to believe that. Maria isn’t like what you said. She loves me."

"I think she does, but honey, it’s going to be so hard for you. I don’t want to think of you struggling with the band and with a baby at the same time. There are too many pressures and the stress may be too much for you to handle," Mechele told him. Jacob wandered over to the window and looked out at the pool.

"I’m sorry I let you down," Jacob said, softly. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Maria standing beside him. He put his arm around her as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh, Jacob, I only want what’s best for you. As long as you pray and keep your faith, God will help you," Mechele said.

"I need you, too, Mom. I need to know that you’ll help us if we need it," Jacob told her, his voice filled with emotion. Maria tightened her hold on him.

"I will be here if you or Maria need me. I love you, Jacob. I may not be happy with the situation you’ve gotten yourself into, but I would never abandon you," Mechele said, her voice choked with tears.

"I love you, too, Mom. Thank you."

"Dear, when is the baby due? I’d like to be there to help out," Mechele said.

"Um…" Jacob looked at Maria. "When’s the baby due?" he asked her.

"September," she answered.

"September," Jacob told his mother.

"Okay. If Maria needs any advice or anything at all, she can call me. If she’s not afraid of me, that is," Mechele said, laughing lightly. Jacob smiled.

"I’ll tell her. I love you," he said.

"I love you. And tell Maria I’m sorry." Jacob looked at Maria.

"I will. Bye, Mom."

"Goodbye, Jacob." Jacob hung up. He put the phone on the windowsill and hugged Maria tightly, burying his face in her neck. Maria held him until he loosened his grip.

"Is everything okay?" Maria asked, softly. Jacob nodded and took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly.

"I have a headache," he said with a small smile. Maria kissed his cheek.

"Why don’t you lie down? It’s been a busy couple of days," she said.

"You lie down. I have to do something first, then I’ll rest," he told her. Maria nodded. "Oh, how’d it go with the Mikes?" Maria went over to the bed and lay down.

"They were cool," was all she said. Jacob didn’t want to push her to talk to him, so he didn’t question her further.

"I’ll be back," he said as he left the room. Maria closed her eyes. She turned onto her back and put her hands on her flat stomach. It wouldn’t be flat too much longer. She sighed. It wasn’t long before she was asleep.