Apologies

Malcolm stared at his mother. "Your really mean it?" he whispered.
     "I mean every word of it," Nancy replied sourly.
     Malcolm shook his head. "I can't leave Holly. I love her."
     Nancy's gaze showed no emotion. "Then get out of my house."

Malcolm stared at his mother a moment more, then nodded. He took Holly's hand and led her away.
     "What are we going to do, Malcolm?" Holly asked.
     "We're going to give my mom a day or two to cool off," he replied steadily.
     "Where will we go? My parents wouldn't welcome us in."
     "The gym," Malcolm replied after a moment. "It has food and showers."

When they arrived at the gym, they were both exhausted.

When they woke, Holly walked to Malcolm. "Malcolm," she whispered, looking worried. "I have some...news."
     Malcolm looked at her. "What is it, Holly? Are you all right?"
     Holly avoided his eyes. "I think I'm going to have a baby."
     Malcolm was stunned. For a moment, he had nothing to say. Finally, he found his voice. "I-Holly, that's wonderful! Really? Are you sure?"
     "Nearly positive," Holly replied. "But...Malcolm, what if your parents don't let us back in? We don't have any money, and our parents own basically everything." Tears welled in her eyes. "I'm so worried, Malcolm! What if we can't support our child?"
     Malcolm pulled her close. "It will be all right," he promised.

"We'll figure something out. The library has computers, we can write from them. Hey, it'll be all right, I promise!"

Holly nodded, tears ceasing.
     "I think we may be able to go back to my parents now," Malcolm said. "They had the night to think about it."

********

"Geffery?" Nancy called, walking in the house. When she saw him, she continued, "Geffery, what's going on? What's so urgent? I left work early."
     "You left work early?" Geffery yelled. "But I told you not to! I said so in the note!"

Stunned, Nancy took a moment to respond. Finally, she said, "Geffery, please, don't be angry with me. You said it was urgent!"
     Geffery sighed. "I'm sorry," he responded. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just...Nancy, I lost my job."
     Silence met his words. It was the loudest silence Geffery had ever heard.
     "That's...impossible, Geffery," Nancy replied. "We own the hospital, they can't fire you."
     "We don't own it any more, apparently. Those nasty Altos offered the manager a deal he couldn't resist. He told me today that they wanted me gone."
     Nancy stared at him. "But, Geffery!" she cried. "What if they own everything?"
    "I know, I know!" he said. "I didn't want you to come home from work early. I don't want them to get the chance to fire you, but now they can, and they will."
     "Geffery, this is terrible!" Nancy sobbed. "How will we pay the bills? Our money will only go so far!"

"Is there anything they don't own?" she asked.
     "The grocery store, at least not yet. We could get a job there, if we needed to."
     Nancy fell foreward and sobbed on her husband's shoulder. "Geffery," she said between sobs, "I can't work at a grocery store!"
     "It would be better if Malcolm were here," Geffery replied, instantly wishing he hadn't.
     Nancy's sobs increased. "Geffery, I'm sorry! I didn't want to throw him out, I don't know what I was thinking, I'd had a hard day at work...oh, but now I don't have work at all! We don't have jobs!" She stepped away from Geffery, trying to control the fits of watery grief. She walked around the room.
     "We could find them," Geffery said."
     "Geffery, Sunset Valley is huge! It would take forever, there's no way we'd find them, and how can we show our faces in public now?"
     "Malcolm wanted to me an author, I know, I bet he would have been good, too," Geffery thought aloud.
    Nancy slammed her fist on the desk she was next to. "Geffery, give it up! Malcolm's not coming back! He's gone, Geffery, gone!"

A knock sounded at the door. Nancy collapsed into the nearest chair, her sobs uncontrollable once more. Geffery pulled himself together and opened the door.

"Malcolm!" Geffery cried, ultimitely surprised. Nancy stood, staring at her son. Finally, she ran to him and sobbed on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried. "I didn't mean any of it, I really didn't! And all of it-you getting married, leaving, and then your father's job, and then mine-"
     "What happened with your jobs?" Malcolm asked.
     "It's those Altos. Not Holly, of course, just her parents. They bought everything and fired us!"
     "I told you they'd do something terrible!" Holly said to Malcolm.
     "You!" Nancy cried. "Oh, Holly, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean anything I said to you, really!"
     "Oh, I understand. It was a shock," Holly replied, a bit dazed.
     "Holly," Malcolm said, nodding toward his mother. "Tell her."
     "Tell me what?" Nancy asked, looking from her son to Holly.
     "Oh," Holly replied, looking down. "Well...I'm expecting a baby."
     Nancy stood, stunned to silence, for a moment.

Then she remembered her joy when she had found out she was going to have Malcolm. Unable to do much more, she raised her hand in a "thumbs-up".

Malcolm, seeing his mother's positive reaction and the look of joy and relief on Holly's face, remembered the thought he had had when he wrote his first novel.

Everything was going to be all right.