Tears in Vegas

Kate grinned at me. "I`m pregnant."

I started at her for a minute then blinked twice. "Excuse me?"

"That`s the surprise," My dad answered. "Kate`s pregnant."

I nodded slowly, letting everything sink in. I took a deep breath and pulled out my cellphone, texting Mike to get over here. "That definitely is a surprise."

"Isn`t it great?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. It`s great," I mumbled and Kate`s grin only seemed to widen at my discomfort.

"Zhenya, is something wrong?" My dad asked slowly.

"No, no of course not. I`m just very surprised," I quickly assured.

Kate opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a knock on the front door. I let out a shaky breath and got up and answered the door. Mike stood in front of me looking for worried.
I quickly there my arms around him and whispered, "Kate`s pregnant."

"Mike? What are you doing here?" My dad asked as he walked over to us, clearly confused.

"My parents wanted to meet Zee. Vic and me promised to bring her over and uh, we completely forgot about it until mom called and asked when she was going to meet her," Mike said quickly with a slight laugh. I was going to have to thank him later.

"Oh. I see. Well, I suppose I could let Zhenya go. If that`s what she wants, anyway."

"Yeah! Iv`e been wanting to meet her, " I said quickly while nodding my head.

My dad nodded slowly. "Alright. When do you think you`ll have her home?"

Mike shrugged. "I`m not completely sure. I doubt my mom will let her go for a while. So she probably won`t be home till late."

"Okay. At least get her home by midnight."

"Oh yeah, of course. I`ll make sure my mom knows she needs to be home by then, " Mike agreed.

"Love you dad. And congratulations on the new baby, " I said as I gave him a hug and left with Mike. "Thank you so much," I said as we started walking down the street.

"It was no problem. Besides, my mom really does want to meet you," Mike said with a grin.

I nodded and hopped up on his back, letting him carry me down an unfamiliar street. He carried me for about ten minutes before walking up to a house and setting me down. The house looked older and was painted a creamy, almost yellow, color.

"This is it?"

"This is it. This is where Vic and I spent most of our childhood. Come on, my mom can`t wait to meet you," Mike said as he took my hand and led me up the driveway and to the home. I`ll admit, I was worried she wouldn`t like me.

"There you are! Where have you been?" An older looking woman exclaimed with a slight Spanish accent as she opened the front door. Even though she was probably in her fifties she was still very pretty. She had graying hair pulled in a loose pony tail and she had on an apron that was pretty much covered in flower.

"Zee had a crisis!" Mike defended with a grin.

"Its not exactly a crisis," I mumbled under my breath, earning a grin from him.

"You must be Zhenya," The woman said as she pulled me into a tight hug then held me at arms length and looked me over with a smile. "Now, I want you to call me Mama. And I won`t take no for an answer."

I let out a soft laugh and nodded, Kate and my dad momentarily forgotten. I hadn`t known her for even five minutes and I already adored her. And by the look on Mike`s face, she already adored me too. I didn`t feel the need to try and impress her or act a certain way. In less than five minutes I felt accepted by a woman I just met. And you know what? It was a nice feeling.

"Now, what is this crisis my son is talking about?" Mama asked as she wrapped her arm around my shoulder and walked me into the house.

"My dad`s girlfriend is pregnant," I answered with a sigh.

"This is the psycho bitch Iv`e been hearing about?"

Mike barked out a laugh at his mothers words and I covered my mouth to keep from laughing. It honestly was funny hearing cuss words coming out of such a sweet woman`s mouth.

"Yes, that`s her. But I`m wondering how you know about her."

"One way or another, those boys tell me everything," She answered with a grin as she took me into the kitchen, making me laugh a bit. She then put an apron over me head and tied the strings for me.

"Do you know how to cook?"

"Just small things like pancakes and cookies. My mom tried to teach me before she died but I ended up ether messing up the recipe or burning the food. So she stopped trying to teach me how to cook a lot of things in effort to keep the house from burning," I answered with a grin, thinking of all the times my mom tried to teach me how to cook.

Mama nodded in understanding and turned me around. She took my hair out of the half up half down bun I had it in and put it in a loose braid. "Well, I`m here to teach you everything I know. And I know how to make sure you won`t burn a thing. So don`t worry about that."

"Would you like me to go get Papa before or after you finish cooking?" Mike asked as he leaned against one of the kitchen walls, looking highly amused.

"After! I`m not letting him steal her away while I`m teaching her how to cook. Now shoo. We have a lot to talk about and I don`t want you to distract her."

"Of course, of course. Have fun you two!"

I rolled my eyes at Mike and watched him leave the room. He was such a dork. "Now, what are we cooking today?"

Mama waved her hand. "Doesn`t matter. You just hand me the ingredients and talk. Now, get me three eggs from the fridge and start talking."

I let out a laugh and got her three eggs. I loved how nonchalant she was being about this. We had met only a few minutes ago and she was treating me like how my mom would when something was wrong and I wasn`t sure how to tell her about it. It was sad but nice to have that in my life again.
As I passed Mama ingredients and she cooked I told her anything and everything I could think of. I told her about my mother, how she died, the two guys I had dated that turned out to be jerks, and how I used to sneak out to see the boys. Which I got scolded for. Though she had a smile on her face the whole time.

I then told her all about Kate and my dad. I told her how my adoration and respect for my father was slowly dying because of Kate and how easily he was fooled by her. I told her how after my mother died I poured myself into my school to forget the pain and sorrow and how in doing so I ended up graduating earlier than everyone else. I even told her about what was going on between me and Mike. In short, I told her everything.

After I was done talking Mama hugged me, which resulted in both of us being covered in flower despite the aprons we were wearing. She then made me a glass of chocolate milk and had me sit on the counter next to her while she cooked. Yes, I could definitely see myself being friends with this woman and coming over here a lot. Now lets just hope Vic and Mike`s father liked me as much as Mama did.