After Officer Greene finished taking Teresa's statement, he explained to
Mrs. Cohen that he would complete the necessary paperwork as soon as
possible, and then would need one of them to come down to the police
station and sign a complaint. They would make every effort to pick up
Eddie and his friends as quickly as possible, and would notify them as soon
as the arrests were made. When his partner returned, Officer Greene said
goodbye to Teresa and Mrs. Cohen and left.
Since Sandy still hadn't come out of Ryan's room, Kirsten thought it would be better if she stayed and talked to Teresa. Although she was curious to know how Sandy's talk was going with Ryan, she thought it would be a good idea to talk to Teresa and tell her that Ryan was going back to Newport. She wanted Teresa to know that they would do anything to support her and the baby, but that they felt it was for the best if Ryan returned to Newport.
"Hey," Kirsten said as she sat down next to Teresa and put her arm around her, "How are you holding up? How are you feeling?"
Teresa just sighed. She was tired and didn't really feel like talking to Mrs. Cohen. She knew she had to, though. She knew she owed them that at least.
"I'm fine. Just. Sorry. So sorry about all of this." she said, fighting back her tears.
"Teresa," Kirsten said, softly, "This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. You can't beat yourself up over it. It's not good for you or the baby."
"There is no baby." Teresa said quickly. She wanted to get this over with.
Kirsten just stared at Teresa for a minute. She wasn't sure exactly what Teresa was getting at.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"There is no baby," Teresa said again, "Not anymore. I miscarried. Last week."
"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry." Kirsten said, "But why didn't Ryan say anything? Call and tell us."
Teresa looked away before saying,
"Ryan doesn't know."
"Excuse me?" Kirsten asked for the second time.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Cohen." Teresa said, "I haven't said anything to Ryan yet. After I lost the baby, I knew. I knew Ryan would leave me. Again. I didn't want him to leave. So I didn't say anything to him. Then last night we had a huge fight, and he stormed out of the house, and now he's in the hospital. It's all my fault. I made him come back to Chino. I knew how Eddie felt about Ryan. I knew if he found Ryan, he would hurt him. If I had just told Ryan last week, none of this would have happened. I'm so sorry. I can't say that enough. I just couldn't lose Ryan again."
"Honey," Kirsten said, "I know you were scared, but did you think this through? I mean it would have been pretty obvious after a while that you weren't going to have a baby. What do you think Ryan would have done when he found out you lied? At least if you told him the truth, you two could still maintain your friendship. Newport is not that far away. You could come and visit anytime you wanted. You are always welcome at our house."
Teresa started to cry. Mrs. Cohen had no right to be nice to her. She should be furious. She should be yelling, screaming, calling her names.
"I just couldn't bear the thought of Ryan going back to Newport and leaving me alone in Chino again." Teresa told her softly.
Kirsten reached into her purse for some tissues. As she handed them to Teresa, she told her,
"Ryan is going back to Newport. Sandy and I were bringing him home after this, even if you were still pregnant. Ryan needs to come home now. He needs to be with his family. And Teresa, we are his family."
Teresa smiled through her tears, "I know. Now. If it helps, Ryan's been pretty miserable since he came back to Chino. He missed you guys. A lot."
Kirsten smiled, "It helps to know he missed us. But not knowing he was miserable. Hopefully it will be easy for Sandy to convince Ryan to come home. I don't hear any shouting coming from Ryan's room, so I can assume it's going good."
"Once he finds out there is no baby, and that I lied, believe me, you won't have any trouble getting him to go home." Teresa told her. "I just hope he can forgive me."
"He will," Kirsten told her, "I've noticed that Ryan tends to be a very forgiving person. So, what are you going to do now? Are you going to go back to school?"
Teresa finally looked at Mrs. Cohen. She actually sounded like she cared. Teresa couldn't believe after everything that happened, Mrs. Cohen would actually care.
"My mother and I talked last night, after Ryan left. I told her everything, and we decided it would be for the best if I went to Atlanta. My cousin lives in Atlanta, and she said I could still come as long as I pay my own way. As soon as we can come up with the money, I'm going to leave. Start over."
"How much do you need?" Kirsten asked.
"No, Mrs. Cohen, I can't." Teresa told her, "I can't ask you to do that."
Kirsten just smiled and patted her hand, "You didn't ask. I offered. You deserve the chance to start over, and I want to be able to help. You are important to Ryan, and I know he'd want you to have the chance to start over."
Teresa didn't say anything as she watched Mrs. Cohen take out her checkbook and write out a check.
"I hope this is enough." Kirsten said as she handed the check to Teresa.
Teresa looked down at the check and couldn't believe it. It was made out to Teresa, and it was for six thousand dollars.
"No, Mrs. Cohen. This is too much. My cousin said I only need like two thousand. I can't accept this." Teresa said as she attempted to hand Mrs. Cohen back the check.
But Kirsten just smiled. "Keep it." she told her, "Start over in Atlanta and be happy. Just promise me that you'll keep in touch. Let us know how you're doing. Ok?"
Again, Teresa found herself crying. It was clearly easy to see how Ryan could become so attached to these people.
"I don't know how or when I can repay you. You've been so good to me, and now, this. Thank you. I just wish there was something I could do to repay you. To thank you."
Kirsten again just smiled, "Just take care of yourself. Be good to yourself. You deserve it."
"I can give you my car." Teresa said quickly, "I can't take it with me so I was going to sell it anyway. That's all I have that's worth anything. Ryan could take it."
It was obvious to Kirsten that just wanting Teresa to be happy wasn't enough. Teresa couldn't just accept the money as a gift. She needed to give them something back. Honestly, all Kirsten wanted was Ryan home, but if Teresa needed to give them something else before accepting the money, then Kirsten would accept her car as payment.
"Ok. If your mother doesn't need it, I'm sure Ryan and Seth would appreciate a car of their own. I'll buy your car. But you still need to promise me that you'll keep in touch. Deal?" Kirsten told her.
"Deal." Teresa told her as she folded the check and put it into her pocket.
"Do you think it would be ok if I saw Ryan? I need to talk to him. Tell him the truth," she said.
"Well," Kirsten joked, "I still don't hear any yelling coming from Ryan's room. Either he and Sandy are having a glaring contest, or Sandy has grounded him from ever speaking again."
Teresa laughed, not so much at the lame joke, but at the idea that anyone would ground Ryan. As far as Teresa knew, Ryan had never been grounded in his entire life. No one ever cared enough. He really did have a real family now. Teresa knew that now. Finally knew why he had been so miserable back in Chino and knew that he would have never been happy in Chino again.
Kirsten put her arm around Teresa as they both walked into Ryan's room. They saw Sandy staring at Ryan, and saw that Ryan was asleep.
"Oh, God, Sandy, he looks so..." Kirsten couldn't come up with the correct words to explain how Ryan looked. Beaten, battered, bruised, injured, young, vulnerable.
"I know," Sandy told her, "But we talked. He's ok, or he will be after he's home."
"So he is coming home. No arguments?" Kirsten asked.
Sandy laughed, "Well, I wouldn't say no arguments. Not really arguments. Discussions. But yes, he is coming home. I told you, I wasn't going to let him say no again."
At the sound of voices, Ryan's eyes began to flutter and then open. He smiled at the sight of Kirsten,
"Hey, I didn't know you were here, too. I thought just Sandy came." he told her, "Is Seth here, too?"
Kirsten just shook her head, "No. Just us." she told him.
Ryan couldn't help but be disappointed.
"Oh, so I guess he's still mad." he said.
Kirsten walked over to the side of Ryan's bed and brushed the hair out of his eyes.
"No, sweetie," she told him, "He's not mad. He just. Wasn't home."
She knew that this wasn't the time to tell Ryan that Seth had run away. Gone to Catalina for the summer. She wanted Ryan and Teresa to talk, and then she wanted Ryan to rest. There was plenty of time for them to talk. Kirsten looked at Sandy and motioned for him to follow her out.
She smiled at Ryan and told him, "We'll be right back, sweetie. There's some paperwork we need to finish."
After the Cohens left, Teresa got her first chance to see how seriously Ryan was hurt, and looking at him, she was immediately sick to her stomach.
"Ryan," she started to cry, again, "I am so sorry. This is all my fault."
Ryan quickly told her, "No, it's not. You didn't do this to me."
Teresa continued to cry. It was her fault, and she told him,
"But Eddie did this to you because of me. If I had just stayed with him....."
"Then he would have done this to you." Ryan interrupted her, "And he still may. Why did you give Sandy their names? You know what they'll do. You shouldn't have done that."
"I'm not going to let him get away with this," she told him, "Besides, he can't hurt me if he can't find me."
"Find you?" Ryan asked.
Teresa let out a big sigh. She wanted to get this conversation over as quickly as possible.
"I'm going to go to Atlanta. Start over with my cousin. She said I could still come if I wanted." she told him.
Again, Ryan wondered if the morphine was making it hard to understand what people were telling him. Atlanta?
"But what about the baby?" he asked her, "I thought you wanted to be with your mom because of the baby."
Teresa couldn't look Ryan in the face. Had she told him the truth last week, none of this would have happened.
"Ryan," she started, "I'm not. There's not going to be a baby. I miscarried."
Ryan tried to sit up. He wanted to comfort Teresa, but it hurt too much. All he could do was say,
"Because of all of this? Teresa, I'm sorry."
"No, Ryan. Not because of this. I. I miscarried last week." Teresa said quickly. She knew she needed to get this over with.
Ryan was quiet for a minute, trying to take in exactly what Teresa was saying. She miscarried a week ago. A week. And she didn't say a word to him about it. She and her mother tried to push him into marriage because of the baby, and the whole time she knew there wasn't going to be a baby!
"Why?" was all Ryan could think to say.
And again Teresa began to cry,
"I knew how unhappy you were in Chino, and if you knew about the baby you would have left. Again. I didn't want to lose you again. I'm sorry. Really, I am. Look, I know you're going back to Newport. Mrs. Cohen told me that. All I can say is I'm sorry."
Ryan again grew quiet. He had nothing more to say to her, until he suddenly thought of something,
"And how are you getting to Atlanta? Where did you get the money?" Ryan demanded.
He could guess what the answer was. They both had minimum wage jobs. Hell, Ryan had two, and they still never seemed to have enough money. They couldn't make ends meet, and yet suddenly Teresa had the two grand to move to Atlanta.
When she wouldn't look him in the face, Ryan knew. She took the money from the Cohens.
Teresa quickly said, "It doesn't matter where it came from, Ryan. I have it, and now I can go to Atlanta. Start over. And you can go back to Newport. With the Cohens. I'll miss you. I just hope some day you can forgive me."
And with that, Teresa left. She had nothing more to say. Nothing that Ryan wanted to hear. He couldn't believe what had happened, what she told him. He was willing to give up everything to protect her, to raise her baby as his own, and she lied to him. She lied.
Since Sandy still hadn't come out of Ryan's room, Kirsten thought it would be better if she stayed and talked to Teresa. Although she was curious to know how Sandy's talk was going with Ryan, she thought it would be a good idea to talk to Teresa and tell her that Ryan was going back to Newport. She wanted Teresa to know that they would do anything to support her and the baby, but that they felt it was for the best if Ryan returned to Newport.
"Hey," Kirsten said as she sat down next to Teresa and put her arm around her, "How are you holding up? How are you feeling?"
Teresa just sighed. She was tired and didn't really feel like talking to Mrs. Cohen. She knew she had to, though. She knew she owed them that at least.
"I'm fine. Just. Sorry. So sorry about all of this." she said, fighting back her tears.
"Teresa," Kirsten said, softly, "This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. You can't beat yourself up over it. It's not good for you or the baby."
"There is no baby." Teresa said quickly. She wanted to get this over with.
Kirsten just stared at Teresa for a minute. She wasn't sure exactly what Teresa was getting at.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"There is no baby," Teresa said again, "Not anymore. I miscarried. Last week."
"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry." Kirsten said, "But why didn't Ryan say anything? Call and tell us."
Teresa looked away before saying,
"Ryan doesn't know."
"Excuse me?" Kirsten asked for the second time.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Cohen." Teresa said, "I haven't said anything to Ryan yet. After I lost the baby, I knew. I knew Ryan would leave me. Again. I didn't want him to leave. So I didn't say anything to him. Then last night we had a huge fight, and he stormed out of the house, and now he's in the hospital. It's all my fault. I made him come back to Chino. I knew how Eddie felt about Ryan. I knew if he found Ryan, he would hurt him. If I had just told Ryan last week, none of this would have happened. I'm so sorry. I can't say that enough. I just couldn't lose Ryan again."
"Honey," Kirsten said, "I know you were scared, but did you think this through? I mean it would have been pretty obvious after a while that you weren't going to have a baby. What do you think Ryan would have done when he found out you lied? At least if you told him the truth, you two could still maintain your friendship. Newport is not that far away. You could come and visit anytime you wanted. You are always welcome at our house."
Teresa started to cry. Mrs. Cohen had no right to be nice to her. She should be furious. She should be yelling, screaming, calling her names.
"I just couldn't bear the thought of Ryan going back to Newport and leaving me alone in Chino again." Teresa told her softly.
Kirsten reached into her purse for some tissues. As she handed them to Teresa, she told her,
"Ryan is going back to Newport. Sandy and I were bringing him home after this, even if you were still pregnant. Ryan needs to come home now. He needs to be with his family. And Teresa, we are his family."
Teresa smiled through her tears, "I know. Now. If it helps, Ryan's been pretty miserable since he came back to Chino. He missed you guys. A lot."
Kirsten smiled, "It helps to know he missed us. But not knowing he was miserable. Hopefully it will be easy for Sandy to convince Ryan to come home. I don't hear any shouting coming from Ryan's room, so I can assume it's going good."
"Once he finds out there is no baby, and that I lied, believe me, you won't have any trouble getting him to go home." Teresa told her. "I just hope he can forgive me."
"He will," Kirsten told her, "I've noticed that Ryan tends to be a very forgiving person. So, what are you going to do now? Are you going to go back to school?"
Teresa finally looked at Mrs. Cohen. She actually sounded like she cared. Teresa couldn't believe after everything that happened, Mrs. Cohen would actually care.
"My mother and I talked last night, after Ryan left. I told her everything, and we decided it would be for the best if I went to Atlanta. My cousin lives in Atlanta, and she said I could still come as long as I pay my own way. As soon as we can come up with the money, I'm going to leave. Start over."
"How much do you need?" Kirsten asked.
"No, Mrs. Cohen, I can't." Teresa told her, "I can't ask you to do that."
Kirsten just smiled and patted her hand, "You didn't ask. I offered. You deserve the chance to start over, and I want to be able to help. You are important to Ryan, and I know he'd want you to have the chance to start over."
Teresa didn't say anything as she watched Mrs. Cohen take out her checkbook and write out a check.
"I hope this is enough." Kirsten said as she handed the check to Teresa.
Teresa looked down at the check and couldn't believe it. It was made out to Teresa, and it was for six thousand dollars.
"No, Mrs. Cohen. This is too much. My cousin said I only need like two thousand. I can't accept this." Teresa said as she attempted to hand Mrs. Cohen back the check.
But Kirsten just smiled. "Keep it." she told her, "Start over in Atlanta and be happy. Just promise me that you'll keep in touch. Let us know how you're doing. Ok?"
Again, Teresa found herself crying. It was clearly easy to see how Ryan could become so attached to these people.
"I don't know how or when I can repay you. You've been so good to me, and now, this. Thank you. I just wish there was something I could do to repay you. To thank you."
Kirsten again just smiled, "Just take care of yourself. Be good to yourself. You deserve it."
"I can give you my car." Teresa said quickly, "I can't take it with me so I was going to sell it anyway. That's all I have that's worth anything. Ryan could take it."
It was obvious to Kirsten that just wanting Teresa to be happy wasn't enough. Teresa couldn't just accept the money as a gift. She needed to give them something back. Honestly, all Kirsten wanted was Ryan home, but if Teresa needed to give them something else before accepting the money, then Kirsten would accept her car as payment.
"Ok. If your mother doesn't need it, I'm sure Ryan and Seth would appreciate a car of their own. I'll buy your car. But you still need to promise me that you'll keep in touch. Deal?" Kirsten told her.
"Deal." Teresa told her as she folded the check and put it into her pocket.
"Do you think it would be ok if I saw Ryan? I need to talk to him. Tell him the truth," she said.
"Well," Kirsten joked, "I still don't hear any yelling coming from Ryan's room. Either he and Sandy are having a glaring contest, or Sandy has grounded him from ever speaking again."
Teresa laughed, not so much at the lame joke, but at the idea that anyone would ground Ryan. As far as Teresa knew, Ryan had never been grounded in his entire life. No one ever cared enough. He really did have a real family now. Teresa knew that now. Finally knew why he had been so miserable back in Chino and knew that he would have never been happy in Chino again.
Kirsten put her arm around Teresa as they both walked into Ryan's room. They saw Sandy staring at Ryan, and saw that Ryan was asleep.
"Oh, God, Sandy, he looks so..." Kirsten couldn't come up with the correct words to explain how Ryan looked. Beaten, battered, bruised, injured, young, vulnerable.
"I know," Sandy told her, "But we talked. He's ok, or he will be after he's home."
"So he is coming home. No arguments?" Kirsten asked.
Sandy laughed, "Well, I wouldn't say no arguments. Not really arguments. Discussions. But yes, he is coming home. I told you, I wasn't going to let him say no again."
At the sound of voices, Ryan's eyes began to flutter and then open. He smiled at the sight of Kirsten,
"Hey, I didn't know you were here, too. I thought just Sandy came." he told her, "Is Seth here, too?"
Kirsten just shook her head, "No. Just us." she told him.
Ryan couldn't help but be disappointed.
"Oh, so I guess he's still mad." he said.
Kirsten walked over to the side of Ryan's bed and brushed the hair out of his eyes.
"No, sweetie," she told him, "He's not mad. He just. Wasn't home."
She knew that this wasn't the time to tell Ryan that Seth had run away. Gone to Catalina for the summer. She wanted Ryan and Teresa to talk, and then she wanted Ryan to rest. There was plenty of time for them to talk. Kirsten looked at Sandy and motioned for him to follow her out.
She smiled at Ryan and told him, "We'll be right back, sweetie. There's some paperwork we need to finish."
After the Cohens left, Teresa got her first chance to see how seriously Ryan was hurt, and looking at him, she was immediately sick to her stomach.
"Ryan," she started to cry, again, "I am so sorry. This is all my fault."
Ryan quickly told her, "No, it's not. You didn't do this to me."
Teresa continued to cry. It was her fault, and she told him,
"But Eddie did this to you because of me. If I had just stayed with him....."
"Then he would have done this to you." Ryan interrupted her, "And he still may. Why did you give Sandy their names? You know what they'll do. You shouldn't have done that."
"I'm not going to let him get away with this," she told him, "Besides, he can't hurt me if he can't find me."
"Find you?" Ryan asked.
Teresa let out a big sigh. She wanted to get this conversation over as quickly as possible.
"I'm going to go to Atlanta. Start over with my cousin. She said I could still come if I wanted." she told him.
Again, Ryan wondered if the morphine was making it hard to understand what people were telling him. Atlanta?
"But what about the baby?" he asked her, "I thought you wanted to be with your mom because of the baby."
Teresa couldn't look Ryan in the face. Had she told him the truth last week, none of this would have happened.
"Ryan," she started, "I'm not. There's not going to be a baby. I miscarried."
Ryan tried to sit up. He wanted to comfort Teresa, but it hurt too much. All he could do was say,
"Because of all of this? Teresa, I'm sorry."
"No, Ryan. Not because of this. I. I miscarried last week." Teresa said quickly. She knew she needed to get this over with.
Ryan was quiet for a minute, trying to take in exactly what Teresa was saying. She miscarried a week ago. A week. And she didn't say a word to him about it. She and her mother tried to push him into marriage because of the baby, and the whole time she knew there wasn't going to be a baby!
"Why?" was all Ryan could think to say.
And again Teresa began to cry,
"I knew how unhappy you were in Chino, and if you knew about the baby you would have left. Again. I didn't want to lose you again. I'm sorry. Really, I am. Look, I know you're going back to Newport. Mrs. Cohen told me that. All I can say is I'm sorry."
Ryan again grew quiet. He had nothing more to say to her, until he suddenly thought of something,
"And how are you getting to Atlanta? Where did you get the money?" Ryan demanded.
He could guess what the answer was. They both had minimum wage jobs. Hell, Ryan had two, and they still never seemed to have enough money. They couldn't make ends meet, and yet suddenly Teresa had the two grand to move to Atlanta.
When she wouldn't look him in the face, Ryan knew. She took the money from the Cohens.
Teresa quickly said, "It doesn't matter where it came from, Ryan. I have it, and now I can go to Atlanta. Start over. And you can go back to Newport. With the Cohens. I'll miss you. I just hope some day you can forgive me."
And with that, Teresa left. She had nothing more to say. Nothing that Ryan wanted to hear. He couldn't believe what had happened, what she told him. He was willing to give up everything to protect her, to raise her baby as his own, and she lied to him. She lied.