A WOMAN APART: Chapter 18 - DEMONS

by tarskeewee08

1988

"Candace, I'm scared" Evangeline whispered in the phone

"Don't be girl. Dennis is a great guy and if he says he'll talk to your parents let him. We both know that you can't stand up to them."

Evangeline leaned against the kitchen counter biting her nails. She and Candace went and got a pregnancy test yesterday and it was true she's pregnant.

"My dad is going to be so disappointed with me," she whimpered

Candace held the phone and rolled her eyes "I know Vangie, and I know how much he means to you but you're 17 now a grown woman. We graduate next year. You're going to have to stop being a daddy's girl"

Lisa came down the stairs to get coffee. Even though it was summer and she didn't teach during the summer her coffee fix had to be satisfied. She heard whispering in the kitchen. Since the summer started she couldn't get either her girls out of bed before 10 am. She crept around the corner and listened out of sight.

"I never pictured walking down the isle to get my diploma pregnant though, and now college is out. My parents aren't going to go along with this," she said weakly

"Vangie, think about it. You're pregnant now what can they do? Plenty of women go to college with babies. This ain't the 70's. Times are different. Plus you probably would've had the baby before graduation. Hell maybe even before prom. Besides I get to be a auntie!" she said giggling.

Evangeline smiled "It will be a boy I just know it"

"No way I want a girl so I can braid her hair."

Evangeline tried to be jovial with her friend but she was so stressed at the thought of what her parents would do to her she hadn't been able to eat since the test.

"Vangie you there? Candace said noticing the pause on the phone was too long.
"Yea"

"To be honest I would be scared too. I just want you to know you are my best friend and I will help you everyway I can"

Evangeline smiled "Thanks Candace. I'm going to piano practice today and Dennis will meet me there. We will tell my folks tomorrow."

"Good, the sooner the better" Candace said.

Lisa leaned against the wall trying to catch her breath. That bastard had violated her daughter. Ruined her life and future and now she was carrying his child. Lisa put her hand to her chest to try to steady her breathing. The anger and disappointment was consuming her. She would kill them both.

When she heard Evangeline hang up the phone and start toward her. She turned to face her. Evangeline looked at her mother shocked and didn't see the crushing slap before she delivered it across her face sending her flying backward onto the floor.

She landed on her back hitting her head against the floor. The flash of hot whit pain shot through her blinding her for a moment.

Lisa stood over her and screamed "You slut! You ungrateful slut!"

Evangeline rose up on her elbows and backed away from her mother. But Lisa fell on top of her and started hitting her across her face and chest.

She cried and tried to block the bows. "Mom, please stop, I'm sorry mommy please" Her cries only made her mother angrier. When Evangeline thought she couldn't bare it a moment longer. The blows stop raining down upon her. She opened her eyes to see her father had a hold of her mother looking at them both shocked.

Lisa sneered at her "Tell him you whore of Babylon, tell him what you've done!"

Evangeline's father looked at her concerned "Calm down Lisa, stop it now" he said struggling to keep her mother from attacking her again.

Evangeline backed up against the cabinet and pulled her knees to her chest and buried her head in her knees. She cried and shook with fear and regret. She heard her father dragging her screaming mother out of the kitchen. When she finally looked up she saw Layla standing in the kitchen crying.

Layla knelt down to her "What is it Vangie, why is momma screaming. What happened?"

Evangeline looked at the terror on her sister's face and pulled her close to her chest. They sat on the kitchen floor and held each other crying.

John looked at Candace shocked "She was pregnant?"
Candace nodded. "Evangeline never so much had said a curse word in her life at that time. Then her first time with Dennis she got pregnant. God has a funny sense of humor. The perfect daughter does one thing without her parents control and he punishes her"

John looked at the picture again "What kind of monster of a mother would beat her pregnant teenage daughter"

Candace smiled "You haven't heard anything yet."

Evangeline sat at the table with her parents. Her mother glared at her and said nothing.

"Why Evangeline, why would you do something like this?" her father said with tears in his eyes.

She looked up at him. "Daddy, it was an accident. I…"
"An accident!" her father yelled "Why in the hell were you having sex! Why would you ruin your life like this? I thought you were responsible. I thought you were smart. I thought that we could trust you"

Evangeline broke into tears. "I love him," she said weakly
"Fucking is not Love" Lisa spat.

Both Evangeline and her father looked at Lisa shocked. "You will not disgrace me like this…you hear me! You will not ruin your fathers reputation." Lisa smiled at her "I'm calling the doctor we need to get you a pregnancy test to make sure that you really are" she said calmly rising from the table and walking out of the kitchen.

Evangeline's father looked at her "I am so disappointed in you. You have failed me and yourself."

"Daddy please, if you would just meet Dennis. He's a good man. He's like you"

Her father shot her an angry look "Don't you ever compare that boy to me." He hissed, "I can no longer stand the site of you. Go to your room"

Evangeline rose from the table and looked at her dad. She'd never seen him like this. If only she could turn back the hands of time so she could be his little girl again. The disgust on his face made her heartbreak.

Sitting in her room writing in her journal she heard her door open. Lisa stood there smiling at her. Come on we have a doctors appointment. Evangeline still feared her mother's rage at her. But the satisfied look on her face gave her hope.

Maybe Dennis was right and they would accept this. She got up and wiped her hands on her jeans and followed her mother downstairs. She saw her dad on the couch and could see he'd been crying.

She'd never seen him cry before. Tears here and there but this was different. When he saw them he got up.

"Lisa wait maybe we should talk about this some more" he said stopping her mom. Evangeline looked at them confused.

Lisa snatched her arm "Robert there is no need to talk. This will be handled." She said nastily. Lisa walked out of the door and Evangeline saw her father look at her sadly. She wanted to say something to him but before she could he turned from her and went back to the couch.

Walking to the door she looked at Layla in the kitchen drinking milk. Layla smiled at her and she smiled back before closing the door behind her.

Evangeline's mom drove them to south Philly an area that they never went too. She pulled up at 'The Woman's Clinic' and Evangeline looked at her confused. This wasn't her doctor's office.

Lisa saw the look on Evangeline's face and smiled "Do you think I would take you to our family doctor? Get out of the car!"

Evangeline got out of the car and followed her mother. In the lobby were three other girls around her age. Two with what she thought were their boyfriends. She found an empty seat and sat down. Lisa went to the counter and whispered with the lady. The lady looked at Evangeline and gave her mom paperwork to fill out.

Lisa didn't sit next to her daughter, instead she sat on the other side of the room and filled out the paperwork and then turned it in quickly.

Soon a lady came to the door and called Evangeline's name. She was a slender white woman with extremely wrinkled skin she reminded her of a raisin. Giving Evangeline a cup she told her to go down the hall and pee in it.

Evangeline walked down the hall slowly and saw an open room to her right. Several girls lay in the room on cots sleeping. She found that odd. When the lady saw that she was staring in the room she told her to hurry up. Evangeline looked back embarrassed to be caught and went to the bathroom.

"Mam…there is no way we can do this procedure with out telling your daughter of the risk." The Nurse said to Lisa.

"She's a minor and under my roof. She is full aware of her predicament. I don't want her further traumatized by having to hear the gory details." Lisa hissed. She'd lied on Evangeline's paperwork and stated that she was 16.

The nurse looked at Lisa and relented "She will be put to sleep, but before the doctor performs the procedure he will do an ultrasound. I will let him know of your wishes."

Evangeline sat in the exam room and waited on the doctor. He walked in and smiled at her.

"Lay back" he said
"Am I pregnant?" she asked anxiously

The doctor frowned at her. "Of course you are why would you be here if you weren't"

Evangeline nodded and laid back. The doctor applied gooey stuff to her stomach. Soon after he rubbed some type of handle over her belly and she could see movement on the small monitor next to her. She looked amazed. She couldn't believe it. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

"Is that my baby" she asked shocked
The doctor looked at her and nodded. "I'll be back in a moment." Evangeline saw him walk into the hall. From the open door she could see the doctor and the nurse whispering about her. The doctor frowned and looked Evangeline in the eyes. His face made her heart quicken. What if something was wrong with her baby? God please don't let that be the case she thought to herself.

The doctor threw up his hands in frustration and walked away. The nurse came into the room and smiled "Come with me sweetie"

Evangeline nodded closing her paper robe and gathering her clothes. She followed the nurse to another room that seemed very clinical with a big cylinder machine to the far right of the wall. The nurse pointed for her to get up on the exam table. Evangeline did so. "Is something wrong with my baby?" she asked

The nurse looked at Evangeline confused "Lay down sweetie. And put your feet in these stirrups." Evangeline did as she was told.

She'd had a pap smear before but something wasn't right about how everyone kept ignoring her questions. She closed her eyes. Whatever exam they did she prayed that her baby remained healthy. It was all she and Dennis had and since she'd lost her father today she couldn't bare to loose her child and Dennis too.

All of sudden she felt the nurse putting a mask over her face and opened her eyes shocked. She reached for the nurse arm to push it away. The nurse smiled at her pressing it against her face harder. "Relax and breathe" The nurse said applying even more pressure. Evangeline released her grip and within minutes she drifted into sleep.

Opening her eyes she immediately felt severe pelvic cramps. She looked and saw other women lying around her on cots like hers. She was in her paper robe and she could feel that she had on a maxi pad. She touched her self and felt what she thought was her menstruation. She sat up straight. The jerk sent a painful shock through her body. Looked around confused she threw her legs over the edge of the cot. The girl lying next to her looked at her and frowned.

"Something wrong?" the girl asked
Evangeline looked at her and said nothing.
The girl shrugged "It must be your first time. This one's my third"
Evangeline frowned "First time for what?"
The girl looked back at her "An abortion of course"

Evangeline's mouth dropped open. She put her hand to her belly and burst into tears "No, No, No, No," she wailed. Several other girls turned around in their cots to look at her.

The nurse came in. "Get up and dressed. Your mother is ready for you," she snapped. She didn't want her alarming the other girls.

Evangeline fell back to the cot crying and holding her stomach. The nurse pulled her up and forced her clothes into her hands. Sore and broken she got dressed through her tears and followed the nurse to her mother.

Lisa saw Evangeline come out pale and distraught. Some of the other girls looked at her frightened by the state she was in. Lisa grabbed her roughly and dragged her through the door. "You're embarrassing me!" she hissed

Evangeline whimpered and reached for her mom for comfort but found none. She forced her through the door and walked to the car without offering any support. Evangeline held herself and stumbled to the car weakened by grief and shock.

John rubbed his chin and saw his vision blur by the tears that welled up in his eyes. His heartbeat and the tightness in his chest made breathing difficult. "I can't believe this"

Candace looked at John confused "How do you know Vangie?"
John was so angry at what he was hearing. He didn't hear the question. He just kept trying to digest what Candace had told him.

"Are you in love with her?" Candace asked leaning forward as much as her belly would allow

John looked at her "Yes"

Candace smiled "Well good for Vangie, I never thought that girl would do anything but be the attorney that her dad wanted her to be. How is she? Are you two getting married? Does she know you came to see me?"

John didn't know how to respond to all the questions "She's doing great and no she doesn't know that I'm here"

Candace frowned "Why do you want to know all of this stuff." she said suspiciously.

John didn't want to loose Candace's trust. He had to know what else happened. "I want to help her. Whatever happened to Dennis has destroyed her."

Candace sat back and put her hand on her stomach "Well, I can understand that. The girl went into a tail spin after her mom tricked her into that abortion, and poor Dennis loved her so much"

"Can you finish telling me what happened" John asked sincerely
Candace smiled "Of course, but I must warn you it gets pretty ugly" John nodded "I'm sure it does"