Chapter 1: News

Mary sat there and stared out at the rain gently hitting her window. Within a few weeks, her life had taken a one hundred and eighty degree turn. There was no turning back and no denying anymore. Something that had started out as fun and innocent slowly lead to the truths that she didn't want to hear. The man that she thought was perfect, the one that she thought she would end up with, turned out to be nothing but a liar. A nothing. She had been cheated. Everything she wanted was right there with her, and it was all nothing but a set up play. A stupid little game. The man she was sure she loved had only used her and then left her aside.

The phone call that she had just recieved had changed her life. Two little words. No matter what though, she was not going to call him. She was not going to tell him. She wanted nothing to do with him, and here she was, carrying his baby. A baby created from shame and guilty pleasure. If she would have known all along what was truly going on, she would not be in this position in the first place.

"Leave Greg!" Mary yelled. She walked over to her door and opened it. "Just go."

Greg walked over to her. A smile on his face, as if he had found this all to be amusing. All she found in it was infuriation. She had never been so mad at someone in her life. "Now come on Mary," his hand gently squeezed her shoulder.

Mary quickly jerked away. Tears of frustration began to form in her eyes. "I swear Greg, leave now or I call the police."

There he stood, just staring down to her. "All right. Fine. If you want to believe her, you believe her. I don't care. You can settle for all the lies in the world, but it isn't going to change a damn thing."

"Don't give me that. I saw you two, I know what I saw. She had no reason to lie to me. I only told her that we worked together."

Greg's smile faded as he studied her. "You really mean that don't you?"

"Yes Greg, I do."

Silently, he walked passed her and left the room. As soon as he was passed the door, Mary closed it and then collapsed before it. Tears of guilt and shame fell down her cheeks. She sat there wondering to herself how she could have been so naive, so trusting, so stupid.

She had to tell someone. Without hesitation, she got up and left her apartment to go to see Rhoda.

Rhoda sat on the bed as she tried on a new pair of shoes that she had gotten. There was a knock at the door. "Come in!" Rhoda said as she continued to study the shoes.

Mary walked in and sat down on the bed. "Rhoda, I gotta talk to you."

Rhoda looked to her with concern. "Yeah sure," she said and then held up her feet. "But real quick first, what do you think of these shoes?"

Mary just broke down crying. She could not contain herself anymore. There was no use in trying, it was all going to come out sooner or later anyways.

"I was a little unsure of them, but I didn't think they were that bad. I'll take em back tomorrow," she said.

"I'm pregnant," Mary just went ahead and blurted it out.

Rhoda slowly lowered her feet and then positioned herself on the bed to face Mary. "Our little Mary's been knocked up?"

Mary just nodded.

"Who's the father?" Rhoda asked. She had a couple of ideas of who it could be, but she wanted to make sure.

"Greg."

That was the one name that she was afraid to hear. Rhoda sympathetically looked to Mary. She grabbed her shoulder. "You know kid, anything, anything at all that you need me to do, I will do it."

Mary sat there. The tears were just starting to subside. "What am I going to do?" It was all just starting to hit her. Everything, Greg, the baby, it was all becoming real to her. Right now, while everything was still new to her, she was starting to panic.

Rhoda embraced Mary as she tried to offer some comfort. "How about I go knock him out. Better yet, I'll go get naked in front of him, mentally scar him for life. How does that sound?" Rhoda looked down, but got no response. Just muffled sobs. "Look, how about tonight, we just try to forget about all of this, and then when you're more used to the idea, we'll figure out where to go from there."

"Okay," Mary said as she sat back up. "Thank you Rhoda."

Rhoda didn't really think that she needed to be thanked. She didn't really do anything. "Any time," she said.