Chapter 4
John arrived home almost midnight and found his Aunt Mimi sitting on her favorite chair, reading. "Hello Mimi," John greeted, hoping to get her in a good mood to let her in on his unexpected news. "Hello John," Mimi responded. "What are you reading?" he asked. "Oh just an old book that your Uncle George loved to read- he wanted me to read it for so long that I just decided to because I miss him so," Mimi said. John looked at his feet, How am I going to break the news? "Hum, I have some news to tell you…" John trailed off, slowly looking at Mimi. Mimi looked up with a concern look to her face and gently closed the book. Well, it's either now or never, John figured, nervously shifting his feet. "Cyn's pregnant," he muttered. "What?" asked Mimi. "I said Cyn's pregnant and we are going to get married," he told her. Mimi groaned, "but you are too young!" "I know…" John started to say, but Mimi interrupted him, "you foolish children! How dare you! Doing something that's irresponsible, doing something that has consequences! It's bad enough that you are looking at another direction with those rotten bastards and doing something that won't be a great career and now you got your girlfriend pregnant!? Do you realize what you have done?" John looked at his feet, feeling guilty and a bit offended. The Beatles aren't just rotten bastards and it will be a great career, he'll be a millionaire! I'll show her! But she was right about something, he was too young to get married, let alone be a father. While Mimi ratted on about his irresponsible life, he got lost in his thoughts, Why now? Sure I plan to marry Cyn and have a family with her, but not now, I'm not ready, I'm too young, I want my career to take off before I do this with Cyn. What am I going to do? I promise Cyn that I'll take care of it, I promised that we are going to get married- and we will, but how? Then suddenly he felt something hitting him, and then something else, Mimi was started to throw things at him! He raised his arms to protect himself from the flying objects while Mimi ranted "you stupid children" over and over. John had enough and ran upstairs to his room, locking his door. He decided that he'll come out when Mimi is calm. Things did go quiet, but Mimi was still upset at him. He didn't really blame her, he did expect this to happen, although he was a bit surprised that she started to throw things at him. He heard Mimi coming upstairs, weeping, and going to her own bedroom and heard the door slam. She was still upset. Through out the night, John didn't sleep a wink.
In the morning, John crept out. Mimi was still in her room and John didn't want to deal with her at the moment. He needed to talk to Brian about a couple of things. He took the bus to NEMS office and went to Brian's office. Brian greeted him, but saw a look on his face. "What's wrong?" he asked. John sat down and took a deep breath, "Cyn's pregnant and we are planning to get married…Christ, how am I going to get this done quickly?" Brian, a bit shocked with the news, recovered quickly and told John not to worry, he'll fix it. Brian went to the phone and called information to get any numbers for registry halls. He wrote them all down and then hung up the phone, turning to John, "Okay, I'll pay for the service, all you have to do is talk to Cynthia and plan a date and let me know so that I could arrange the service." Brian handed John the numbers to the offices. John took them and looked them over. There were a few to choose from. But the meeting wasn't done, he now had some Beatles business to discuss, about getting Pete Best out and getting Ringo Starr in. They decided that Brian will call Pete into his office and John will contact Ringo to invite him to join the group in a few days, considering that the Beatles have some gigs and Ringo is already booked with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes at the Butlin's Camp. John got up and left, he had to see Cynthia. "Oh John," Brian called out. John turned around, "also, I prefer that your marriage will be keep secret, it's bad for the group's image if one is married." John nodded and left.
He took the bus to Garmoyle Road and knocked on Cynthia's flat. But she wasn't home. He didn't know where she was, he gave up and turned to leave, but saw Cynthia coming in the hall. "Hey, where were you?" he asked, kissing her on the cheek when she walked towards him. "I was at the Liverpool College of Art, asking to be dismissed," she told him. "And?" "Well, since I'm pregnant and going to be your wife, I have no choice, do I?" she smiled. He smiled back. She opened the door and let him in. "I told Mimi…" "And?" Cynthia asked with a worried look on her face. "Well, let's just say that she's not exactly thrilled that I'm getting married." "Oh, anything else?" she asked. "Not really." "Come on, tell me, what else happened?" "Nothing really, I don't want to talk about it, I have other things to discuss with you," he told her. He handed her the lists of registry offices around Liverpool and told her that Brian will arrange everything and will pay for it, all they have to do is pick one. Cynthia looked at the list over, "Well, I heard good things about Mount Pleasant Registry Office, why not there? It's closer." John agreed, "all right then, I'll tell Brian first thing when I see him. Oh, I have to play a gig tonight, so I'll see you later?" "Okay," said Cynthia. "Bye," John kissed her on the lips and put his hand on her stomach, acknowledging his baby and then left.
Two nights later, after not speaking to Mimi, John was in his room, starring at his Bridget Bardot poster on his ceiling. Mimi came into the room and looked on for a minute. John realized that his Aunt was there, "What do you want?" he asked her. Mimi swallowed, "I'm accepting the situation little by little, and here," she handed him some money, "that's to buy her a wedding ring," she informed him. John took the money, "thanks" he said quietly.
The next day, he went to see Cynthia and took her to shop for a wedding ring. She chose a slightly cheap gold band and they bought it that day. John took it with him so that he will have it to slip it on her finger on their big day. After he dropped Cynthia off, he went to the Cavern where he found Paul and George hanging out. They knew that Cynthia was pregnant and asked John if they were going. "Of course you two are going to go, in fact, Paul, how would you like to be my best man?" Paul felt honored and accepted. John told them that he needed to get married to protect Cynthia and the baby, even though he doesn't want to get married. George and Paul nodded, they seemed to understand the situation. Paul was in the same situation not too long ago when he got his girlfriend pregnant, they were to marry, but Dot miscarried and they never went through with it.
Meanwhile, Cynthia received a knock on the door and got the surprise she didn't expect, her mother! "Mother!" Cynthia exclaimed, hugging her and invited Lillian Powell in her little flat. Lillian took one look around and then look at Cynthia, "it's settled, I'm getting you new stuff!" Immediately, Lillian and Cynthia were out, looking at proper bedsheets, towels, the whole works for her flat. By the end of the day, Cynthia felt more at home, but felt a bit uneasy. She knew that before her mother leaves, she needs to tell her mother that she's pregnant and that John is going to marry her. But she decided to wait until the last day. A few days later, while Lillian was staying at Cynthia's brother's home when Cynthia plucked up enough courage to go there and tell Lillian the news. Through her tears, she watched her mother's reaction, Lillian looked concerned and hugged her, to let Cynthia know that she's accepted the situation. Then Tony and Cynthia took Lillian to the airport where she was heading back to Canada. Lillian was leaving the night before her daughter's wedding.
That same night as Lillian left back to Canada, the Beatles were performing at the Cavern with their new drummer, Ringo Starr. Most of the fans were angry that Pete wasn't their drummer any more and weren't shy to show their anger. One even punched George in the eye! John made it back home to Mendips in one piece. Mimi was still up and John decided to talk to her about his marriage tomorrow, letting out his deep thoughts. "Mimi, I don't want to get married, I'm too damn young and not ready," John had tears welling up in his eyes. "John, I told you once before and I'll tell you again, you're too young and the whole family will have nothing to do with this. I shall hold my peace once the ring is on her finger," Mimi informed him and went upstairs. John stayed downstairs, his head in his hands, saying over and over that he doesn't want to get married. However, he was unaware that Cynthia was just outside the door, hearing everything.
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