-1Chapter Eight

"I saved our family a lot of grief and hassle, that's what I did." Lauren defended.

"My God, I can't believe you!" Michael suddenly stood up from the couch and began pacing the room. "How could you do something this huge without talking to me about it first? Not to mention the possible legal ramifications!"

"What do you mean?" Lauren asked. "All I did was offer her the money, she's the one who took it!"

"That's called aiding and abetting a fugitive, Lauren. You could go to prison for this!" Michael ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I can't believe you went ahead and did this behind my back."

"It's not a good feeling, is it?" Lauren said snidely "Being kept in the dark."

"So you did this to get back at me?" Michael accused.

"No, I did this because it's what had to be done." Lauren eased her pregnant body off of the couch and stood to face him. "She never would have stopped, Michael. It would have been one thing after the other, getting rid of her was the only solution."

"And what gave you the right to make that decision without me?" Michael asked.

"Would you have agreed to it if I'd made the suggestion to you first?" Michael looked down at his feet, not answering her. "Yeah," Lauren nodded in disappointment. "That's what I thought." Michael looked up at her in frustration.

"Look, I want her out of our lives as much as you do." Michael admitted. "But not like this." He looked at her sadly. "Do you even know where she went?" Lauren hadn't expected him to be this affected by Gloria leaving. For all of his bickering, it had never occurred to her that maybe he really and truly did love his mother, no matter how much trouble she caused him.

"No." Lauren admitted guiltily. "I thought it would be better that way." Michael nodded, unable to look at her. Suddenly he grabbed his keys off the coffee table and started heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Lauren called out after him. "Michael. Michael!" The sound of the front door slamming was his only response.

Lauren felt horrible. All she had wanted to do was fix things, and instead she'd made the situation a million times worse. She frantically wiped the tears from her eyes. Crying wouldn't solve anything, she needed to find Gloria before this whole mess blew up in their faces. Lauren bent over to reach for the phone, intending to call Gloria's cell, and that's when she felt it. Warm liquid was running down her thighs…

Her water had just broke.