Disclaimer for Scandals books:

Thank you for taking interest in reading my newest Scandals book. The series is composed of fourteen interlocking stories. DO NOT read this story unless you have read the previous parts. Otherwise it will not make sense, because there is a lot going on in every part. The rating is for language, sexual references, mild violence, and adult themes. Some of these stories are based on things that actually happened in history, others are not. Please, enjoy the story, and look for the next part in the series!

As she left Sweetwater, Lou had a very important decision to make. What was she going to do about the baby? There usually weren't many people in Sweetwater after ten, but tonight there was an unusually strange woman roaming the streets. Lou saw her cart a donkey was dragging and immediately knew what she was; an apothecary. And Lou knew what the only answer was to the baby; abort it…

Jimmy slowly sat up, and rubbed his eyes. He must have passed out and not even known it. He stood up, but was so hung-over he stumbled around too much, and sat back down. But although he was sick, he knew exactly where he was; he was no more than a quarter of a mile from Anabelle's house…

"Can I help you, dear?" The apothecary noticed Lou following her.

"Well, yes actually. Are you an apo-"

"Apothecary? Yes, I am indeed. What can I get you?"

"Well, actually, I need- I mean, could you-"

"Well, spit it out already, child." The worn wrinkled face smiled.

"I need you to preform an abortion."

"Oh my dear heaven's child, I don't know that I can…"

"Please. My future depends on it. I want to keep the baby, I really do, but the life it would have would be no good. Please, ma'am? Please?"

"Well, oh I suppose. Follow me." Lou followed her and the donkey behind a building. She motioned to a flat spot on the cart. "Lie here please." Lou did as she was told a laid down on the cart. The woman dug through a bag, and pulled out a vile, a syringe, and a mysterious herb. She quickly mixed the together, and poured the into the syringe.

"Is it guaranteed? I mean, safety and stuff?"

"Of course, dear." The woman slowly approached Lou's abdomen with the rusty, reused needle, and injected it with the strange concoction. "Now there's no side-effects, but it's very important that you lie here for one hour. Now I'm going to go to my hotel room, so if you need anything-"

"I'm sure I won't. Thank you." Lou shut her eyes, just trying to catch a little sleep…

Jimmy tripped his way to Anabelle's place. He maneuvered himself carefully to the door, and knocked three times.

"Anabelle," he said through the door softly, "Are you here?" He heard footsteps, and Anabelle opened the door, surprised to see Jimmy.

"I didn't expect to see you here tonight."

"I know," he said proudly, "Aren't you surprised?"

"Yeah, uh Jimmy, I'm sorry about Cody, I didn't know…"

"Oh I'm long over that. Do you mind if I come in?"

"Jimmy, uh, now's not really a good time. Could you, uh, come back later?"

"Yeah, sure Anabelle. See ya." Jimmy turned around, but before the door closed he heard a man's voice. He paused for a moment but continued walking to his horse. He knew he needed a place to stay other than the ranch, so he mounted his steed to look for anything the could possibly suffice for shelter. About a half mile later, he saw a clearing in the grove. He followed a long, windy path to a small, abandoned cabin. He opened the door and found a bed, and a stove, and a desk, and table with three mismatched chairs.

'Perfect,' he thought to himself…

'I don't think it's doing anything,' Lou had convinced herself that this was a total waste of time, and nothing had come of it but a painful inection. Assuming she had been screwed over, Lou sat up, went over to her horse, and rode away. She was supposed to lie down for and hour. She was only down for 15 minutes…

TO BE CONTINUED…