Jim gave Melinda a serious stare as her facial expression dictated that the matter needed to be handled with caution and complete attention.
"three months ago as you know I went out with the girls... We were at this random bar back where our old apartment used to be a couple blocks outside spanish harlem... the bar was pretty shady but we knew the owner and the bar tender so we thought we were taken care of... After we decided to leave Jenny and Lindsey were drunk so we decided to go for a walk. We walked the two drunks back to Jen's apartment in the bronx and headed towards Brooklyn... there we stepped into another bar called 4520. It sounded pretty awesome so we went in... turns out it's part dance club too...Anyways we walked in and I recognized this guy that was eyeing me for a while at the bar... It turned out to be one of my ex boyfriend's Jason... he was looking at me with his sketchy looking friend. I thought he was being creepy so we left... anyway i didn't know it but...
Melinda was silently crying, tears were coming down her face.
"What happened Mel i promise I will never be mad at you..." Jim gave his wife a kiss on the cheek.
Melinda continued slowly regaining her breath.
"He was following me... the entire time...when I was heading back to my car he got me alone and he um..." Melinda was now hysterically crying.
"Mel what? what did he do to you? I swear i won't be mad I just want to know what happened? please you're getting me really worried..." Jim was now n the verge of tears once again.
"He raped me..." those were the only words that she could manage to escape her lips and then she went deadly quiet for a very long time.
Jim had a look of disgust and hatred on his face, which cause Mel to start crying once again...
Once Jim regained his composure and thought critically about what to say to his broken wife he took her into his arms kissing her on the cheek and every square inch of her face afterwords.
"God Mel... I wish... I feel... I can't even tell you how this makes me feel... i wish I was there for you... I just I want you to tell me everything that happened... I don't care how hard it is on me to hear I want to know exactly what happened." Jim had tears in his eyes.
Mel just nodded her head with tears flowing down her face at a constant rate.
" I had just said goodbye to Lindsay when I felt like someone was walking closely behind me... It was another few hundreds metres before i would reach my own car. I kept wanting to look back but felt like I was just being paranoid... so... I just kept walking. I had just passed this old looking building when I saw him come up behind me. I started screaming but he put his hand over my mouth and held my head back... I never told you this but.. the reason Jason and I broke up was because I felt like he was mentally unstable... I couldn't be around him without him being somehow slightly angry or frustrated with somebody or even myself... After we broke up I feared that he would try and hurt me for breaking his heart so I got a restraining order... He broke it a few times and that's when I changed addresses and phone numbers and pretty much my entire image... I knew that when I found someone I truly loved I couldn't stay in the city anymore... i knew for sure he would try and find me maybe even hurt me or you... So that is why I told you we should move somewhere far away from the city... That's when I found Grandview... He would never suspect me of living here.. it was completely unlike me when I was dating him... I didn't think he was still looking for me when i went drinking in my old neighbourhood with the girls... I didn't think he was that sick... He dragged me by the hair leading me towards this dark looking area... That's where it happened... behind a trash can in an alleyway in spanish harlem..." Melinda was now in full tears letting all her emotion flow freely from her eyes.
Jim was trying his best not to go man hunting for the son of a bitch who put his fingers on his wife let alone... he couldn't bring himself to even think it let alone say it...He leaned in hold Melinda rocking her gently back and forth, consoling his poor broken wife. Once she had finally calmed down enough, Jim looked at her lovingly brushing her tear stained cheeks.
"Mel... I love you... I want you to come with me okay? were gonna file a police report and you need to get a rape kit done okay? were gonna have to talk this through with a doctor or something okay honey? you're gonna be fine come here.." Jim leaned in giving her a hug and kissing every inch of her face and neck he could reach.
Mel just cried not wanting to let her husband go. Afraid of what would happen if he left her. Afraid of what he was thinking.. what if he was loosing feelings for her because of what happened? What if she never recovers and has to live with the pain for the rest of her life? All these questions were circulating around her head and she almost felt like she could just die.
"Mel.. please talk to me..please let me know you're okay with all of this... I need to know you love me and trust me.. I need to know you're gonna be okay." Jim was looking into her beautiful brown eyes.
"I'll try... I promise ... Jim there's still one more thing... probably the thing i'm most upset about..." Melinda couldn't even look at him she felt shame and dirty everywhere she turned and couldn't even begin to look into those crystal blue eyes and fill them with dirt.
Jim gave her an encouraging hug and a smile. "Anything.. tell me everything and anything" Jim's voice echoed through her head filling her mind with courage and understanding.
"He didn't use a condom... So... there's a chance the baby could be...his" Melinda could barely let the last word escape her lips but when it did it caused her to shutter in disgust.
Jim stared shocked into the windshield then into his own reflection in the rear view mirrors.
"What do you want to do Mel it's all up to you...I don't care if this baby is mine or not what matters to me is that you get better..." Jim looked satisfied with his choice of words and looked at his wife quizzically.
"If it isn't yours.. I don't want it... I can't take having a constant reminder of what happened in the form of a baby.. I can't do it... I want to do a paternity test.. if it's yours i will feel the most relief a person can feel..." Mel looked up into the windshield.
"What if it isn't Mel?" Jim looked worriedly into his darling wife's eyes.
"If it isn't... I'll terminate it..." Mel said it coldly like she didn't even want to think of becoming emotionally attached to a baby made out of fear and pain.
"Are you sure Mel? i thought you said you would never terminate something that is living... I don't care if it even is that son of a bitches kid.. I would raise it like it was my own without question... Mel that baby may be half him but it's still half you... like Aiden is... he physically doesn't look like me in this body, but people believe I am doing the right thing by bringing him up like he is mine... I would do that with this kid... whatever you decide to do now.." Jim knew that Melinda would probably still want to terminate it.. but the baby was still a living being to him and he felt like it needed a shot at life, whether it was his or not.
Once Mel wiped her eyes and cleaned herself up a little... they slowly made their way from the car to Melinda's doctors office. They were already 15 minutes late and were most likely going to be given an icy look from the receptionist when they got in.
When Jim and Mel had been settled in the examination room, Mel was wearing a hospital gown and sitting on the exam chair while Jim was sitting confidently beside her. When they entered they had asked for a private meeting with the doctor. They wanted to discuss the whole paternity issue surrounding the unborn child in confidential.
Dr. Chase stepped into the room seeing a nervous Melinda and a shaky looking Jim she knew something was up.
"Well... hello to both of you, I got a page from my receptionist asking for a private exam today.. since I've known the both of you for a number of years I came and by the looks of your faces you seem worried and nervous so what seems to be the problem?" Dr. Chase shut the door behind her taking a seat at the desk in front of them.
Melinda and Jim proceeded to re explain what situation they were now in and what concerns they were having about one another.
"Wow.. that is quite a problem, what are you hoping to achieve if in fact this child is indeed belonging to this man?" Dr . Chases eyes grew from concerned to professional.
"Well, I have no say in this decision I feel that if Melinda feels like she cannot handle it... we would terminate the pregnancy, but if she feels like she could at least carry the child we would put it up for adoption... I'm not sure on her position of whether keeping it is a good idea for her yet.." Jim sounded professional and laid all of their ideas out for Dr. Chase.
"I see and Melinda how do you feel about this whole ordeal if you were faced with this dilemma would you be willing to carry the child and or raise it?"
Mel who had been quiet looked up.
" I can't even think about it let alone stare at it... I can't even imagine... no i wouldn't carry it..." Melinda had tears coming from her eyes.
"completely understandable, normally in paternity cases I frown upon terminating a pregnancy.. but since your case is unique it is safe to say I would help you through the process if indeed that is the route you want to take?" Dr. Chase looked into Melinda's tearful eyes and gave her a comforting smile.
Jim gave Mel his hand as his strength and looked up at her.
"Yes, I don't think I would be able to handle looking at a baby made out of fear... it would be too hard for me..." Melinda felt like she could relax a little now... al her cards were laid out on the table, the only thing she was scared of was their next move.
"Well, I will collect a blood sample from you and from you and I am gonna need you, Jim to leave the room while I exam your wife and collect stem cells from the foetus.
Jim stepped out letting the doctor take control of the situation. He had no idea how good of an actor his wife was until she told him what had happened to her three months ago. she has been hiding the truth from him for three months.
Now all they had to do was wait for the results...
It had been a whole month of worry and sympathetic hugs from those close friends whom she told the truth to. They had filed a police report and Mel had regretfully done a rape kit.
She knew that all that stuff could not amount to the anticipation she was feeling inside. The only thing she was dying to know was taking the longest to process.
Finally they got the call to come into Dr. Chases office.
They went together both shaking and nervous. especially Melinda.
Dr. Chase had a professional look on her face and held in her hand a file containing the DNA results to the paternity test.
They all sat down as Dr. Chase asked them the same questions she had asked them a few weeks ago. She wanted to ensure that the plan was still a go.
She took for Mel what felt like two years to finally get to the results.
In the case of the paternity of the unborn child, the DNA did not match to a Jim Clancy... I'm sorry... It matched to a Jason Greene..." Dr. Chase gave the couple a few minutes alone to talk and grieve.
Mel didn't say anything she just sat there staring at the folder that had revealed their unfortunate fate.
"Mel I know this is not what you wanted... this is not what either of us wanted but... I guess it's time to say goodbye to this one..."