It was 7am the next morning, Louise had been up since 6, she had had a shower, gotten dressed and had just finished breakfast. She was about to go and see Darren. She had to explain to him why she had had the abortion. She knew that their relationship was over but Darren was more than a boyfriend to her, he had been best friend since she was a baby and she hoped one day they could be friends again. Even though deep down she knew she'd never be able to be just friends again, she loved him too much. She put on her shoes and when she looked up she saw Darren standing on the porch, she went outside.
He looked tired, he had big black circles under his beautiful hazel eyes. For a moment Louise just looked into his eyes, they had lost their usual sparkle, she could see the pain and hurt he was feeling.
"Hi, I was just coming to see you" Louise said quietly.
"Tell me it's not true, Lou" pleaded Darren, "Please tell me you didn't"
Louise couldn't look at him, so she lowered her head and looked at the floor.
"I can't"
She had just confirmed what he had heard. Cindi had come to see him last night, (she had gotten an earlier flight) and she had told him she saw Louise and her mother coming out of an abortion clinic. At first he hadn't believed her, Lou wasn't pregnant, they were careful and if she was she would have told him. But then the more he thought about it, Louise had been acting pretty strange recently and she had always said she didn't want to do what her Momma had done, getting married too soon just because she was pregnant.
"Was it mine?" he asked.
Louise looked up shocked and hurt. He could see the pain on her face and he knew he had hurt her badly by asking that but he was confused. Why would she kill their baby? If it was someone else's that might make more sense.
"How can you ask me that?" she said as tears welled up in her eyes, "of course it was, there's never been anyone else"
Darren looked at her and as soon as he saw her cry he just wanted to take her in his arms and tell that everything would be alright.
'No. I have to be strong, I have to understand'
"Well you can't blame me for asking. I mean we were always careful," he said trying to keep his emotions out of his voice.
"I know, but there was a few times"
"Yeah, once or twice, three times tops"
"It only takes once"
They fell into a silence. Darren saw a lone tear slide down Louise's face and he had to stop himself from wiping it away. Louise never cried so when she did, he knew it was bad and he just wanted to protect her from it all. He couldn't bear to see her unhappy.
"Why?" he asked
"Why what? Why did I do it? Why did I let myself get pregnant? Why didn't I tell you?" said Louise stronger now, she wiped the tears from her face.
"Yeah, lets start with why you didn't tell me"
"I didn't see the need to burden you with my mistakes" said Louise quietly knowing how he would take that.
"You didn't see the need," raged Darren, "it was my baby"
"It was my mistake, I didn't want to hurt you. I knew you wouldn't understand"
"Understand? How could I possibly understand? You killed my baby. And don't give me that bullshit about it being your problem, it takes two to make a baby. I could have helped… I could have…"
"Could have what? Supported me? No, you wouldn't even have considered it an option. You would have assumed that I was having it and that we would get married"
"You don't know that"
"Yeah I do, because I know you"
"Yeah or maybe you just thought I would make such a terrible father, that our baby would be better off dead"
"Stop calling it, our baby" screamed Louise, "it wasn't a baby, it was a bundle, a blob"
"It would have been a baby. How did it feel having our baby ripped out of you? Or did they put you to sleep?"
"It wasn't ripped out, I just had to swallow a few pills"
"What was that then cyanide for babies?"
"Don't be stupid"
"Oh now I'm stupid" shouted Darren, "you murdered my baby"
By now Louise had collapsed onto a chair and was sobbing. The shouting had woken up Jake and he appeared on the porch, he took one look at the state of Louise and then he turned to Darren and said,
"Son, I think you better leave"
"I uh I'm going, I didn't mean to…" said Darren as he stared at Louise.
"I know, now on you go. I'll take care of her," said Jake kindly.
Darren did as he was told.