Chapter 18
After Scott's attack is when Nalani's life changed forever.
Trembling hands stared down at the little stick, which had a small pink plus sign in the even smaller window, Nalani blinking as huge tears slid down her cheeks. This could not be happening, it wasn't possible! It had to be some sick nightmare that she was having, though Nalani hadn't slept much after Scott's attack. Wiping the tears away, which kept falling, Nalani pushed herself up from sitting on the toilet, the stick clutched tightly between her fingers.
"Maybe it's a false alarm…" She whispered, that small glimmer of hope completely dashed when she checked the seven other tests strewn all over the bathroom counter, every single one of them telling her the same thing. "No…"
She was pregnant.
To make matters worse, Nalani had no idea who the father was.
She'd slept with Mark the night before Scott's attack, the rape being the last time she'd had any sexual contact. Mark had tried arousing her, but Nalani was steadfast, simply telling him she hadn't been feeling good lately. Not feeling good was an understatement, though Nalani couldn't tell him about Scott's attack, remembering his threat.
If Nalani didn't leave within three months time, Scott would come back and kill Mark. Nalani had already started stashing money away from the diner, any little bit she made was put in a secret checking account. What choice did she honestly have? She knew Scott and the man would follow through on his threat if she didn't do what he wanted.
It broke Nalani's heart and she spent countless nights crying either in the bathroom or downstairs, not wanting to disturb Mark's rest. The man worked incredibly hard and it wasn't fair for him to constantly be disturbed because of Nalani's emotional down spiral. As if her being forced to leave the love of her life wasn't bad enough, Nalani couldn't tell Mark about her pregnancy, which broke her even further.
This left Nalani with several options, which she knew she had, thankful Mark was gone at work for the day. It was one of her few days off and Nalani knew she had to call Kaci, needing some kind of support system. She couldn't tell Kaci she was leaving Mark, but the pregnancy was something Nalani couldn't hide. Kaci would be discreet and not say anything, one of the many reasons they were such great friends. Shakily pulling her cell phone out, Nalani walked out into the bedroom and sat on the bed, running a trembling hand through her hair, waiting for Kaci to answer.
"What's up Nala?" Kaci greeted, sitting on the couch watching a movie, frowning when Nalani began crying. "What's wrong?"
"C-Can you come over here?" Nalani whispered, not trusting her voice, feeling sick to her stomach as it clenched and twisted violently. "Oh god hold on!" She threw the phone down on the bed and rushed into the bathroom, vomiting, which had been happening for several weeks now.
Kaci was already slipping her shoes on and grabbed her keys, rushing out the door to go see what was wrong with her best friend. She still stayed on the phone and sighed with relief when Nalani groaned in the phone, glad nothing serious was wrong. At least that's what she thought, but Kaci had no idea just what emotional turmoil Nalani currently felt.
"Sweetie, what's going on?" Kaci demanded, slipping into her red Toyota RAV 4, peeling out of the driveway. "Did you just get sick again?"
"Yeah…" Nalani groaned, laying back on the bed as she covered her eyes with her arm, trying to breathe. "And I know why I've been sick lately."
"Why is that?"
"Just…get over here and I'll tell you then." Nalani hung up the phone and set it aside, knowing Mark would probably be calling shortly to check on her. "God what am I going to do?" She whispered, the tears instantly flowing from the corners of her eyes down her cheeks, curling up in a tight ball on the bed.
Ten minutes later, Kaci pulled up to the two story white house and cut the ignition, walking up to the front door. She had her own key, which Mark knew about it and the man was fine with it, especially since Nalani was alone a lot. She unlocked the door and walked inside, looking around with a frown, wondering where Nalani was. Then she heard faint crying coming from upstairs and took two at a time, pushing the bedroom door open, her heart breaking at the sight.
"Nala…" She sat on the bed and touched Nalani's shoulder, sighing when the woman flinched involuntarily away from her. "What happened?"
Not saying a single word, Nalani simply set the little stick on the bed where Kaci could see it, crying even harder. Kaci blinked and stared at it for five straight minutes in shock, her violet eyes wide with astonishment. Judging by the way Nalani was acting, this wasn't a good thing and Kaci didn't understand. Granted, Mark and Nalani never discussed having children, but surely Mark was happy about this, wasn't he?
"Honey, why are you crying?" Kaci sounded confused and set the pregnancy test aside, watching as Nalani slowly lifted herself up to sit in an upright position. "This is a great thing…"
"No it's not." Her voice sounded dead and distant, like it had the past two months and Nalani couldn't bring herself to look up at her best friend, closing her eyes. "Kace, there's something I need to tell you." As much as this was going to kill Nalani to do, there was no way she could tell the truth because nobody could ever know.
Kaci didn't like where this was going and raised a slow eyebrow, placing a hand on Nalani's and felt it trembling, frowning deeper. "What is it? Talk to me Nala, please." She pleaded, wanting to know what had ate away at Nalani for the past two months.
Locking her blue eyes with violet, Nalani pulled her hand out of Kaci's and could already feel her stomach churning again. "I cheated on Mark." She said, having to use her real voice and slid from the bed, wrapping her arms around herself. "This is definitely not a good thing."
Kaci's eyes shot open, immediately standing up from the bed as well, staring at Nalani with her mouth ajar. "You WHAT?" She exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand when Nalani nodded penitently. "Nalani…"
"I'm leaving Mark in one month, Kace." Nalani had to turn away from her now, keeping her voice calm and callous. "I ran into an ex of mine when Mark went away for CSI two months ago and brought him back here. There was large amounts of alcohol involved, I was sad and missed Mark. I wasn't thinking clearly. When I woke up and realized what happened, I knew it was over between us…" This killed her to say, to actually lie to her best friend, but Nalani had no alternative.
"I-I don't even know what to say…" Kaci was at a complete loss for words and actually had to sit down on the bed because she lost feelings in her legs. "This is why you've been distant and distracted lately."
Nalani nodded, wiping away tears from her eyes. "You have no idea how much I regret cheating on Mark, Kace. If I could take it all back, turn back time, I wouldn't have done it." She whispered, meaning every word that came out of her mouth.
That was the absolute truth of this whole situation and Nalani knew she couldn't change what happened, that she'd have to find some way to cope with it alone. Nalani would've never opened the door and Scott would've never raped her. Then again, Scott had ways of getting into houses, even though Mark had a state of the art security system. Nalani just wished she could've done something, anything, to stop Scott from taking what was no longer his.
"Why did you do it?" Kaci couldn't help asking and didn't see the absolutely turmoil in her friend's eyes. "You love Mark…"
"Yes I do." Her voice cracked, but Nalani had to stay strong no matter what. "I love him more than anything in the world, more than my own life, but I can't stay with him anymore. He deserves better than someone who would cheat on him, Kace. He doesn't deserve second best and that's exactly what I changed into when I let another man fuck me."
No matter how hard Kaci tried, she couldn't stop the tears from sliding down her cheeks, feeling terrible for both her best friend and Mark. "He's a good man, Nala. You realize what you're throwing away right?" She stood up, wiping her tears away. "He loves you so damn much, you have no idea…"
"I know he does, but that doesn't change the fact I cheated on him. I have to end this and I'm leaving in one month. I already found a place in Dallas and I've already put a down payment on it with the money I've been getting from the diner." Nalani explained, finally feeling like she could turn around to face Kaci, seeing the disgust and heartbreak in her violet eyes. "I'm sorry, Kace."
"Dallas?" Kaci whispered, eyebrows furrowing together and more tears fell. "You're leaving Houston? You're running away like a coward, like a thief in the night?" Her anger suddenly rose to new heights and Kaci closed the distance between them, her body trembling. "MARK DESERVES BETTER THAN THAT, NALANI OLIVIA KENSINGTON-MARTIN!"
"I know…"
"You know? YOU KNOW? Then you need to tell him what happened and what you did before you even THINK about leaving this house!" Kaci shouted, watching as Nalani's friend simply lowered in shame, still not believing what she did. "And what about you being pregnant? You can't…"
Nalani suddenly felt her own anger rising, clenching her fists at her sides. "He's not going to find out about my pregnancy or about what I did to him." She stated emphatically, watching Kaci's eyes widen to the point where they might pop out of her head. "I'm leaving him and simply saying it's not working out between us anymore. He's felt the distance between us for two months so this won't come as a huge shock to him."
"How can you be so cruel, Nala?" Kaci whispered, all the anger draining out of her, her heart breaking for what was about to happen with Mark. "This isn't you…"
"It is me, Kaci. I made a mistake and I will atone for it for the rest of my life by not having Mark. He'll get over it and move on, he's a man after all." She practically spat that last part out, having packed some of her things away already and put them in a secret storage unit on the outskirts of Houston.
"So you're seriously going to leave him without giving him an explanation?" Kaci demanded, watching as Nalani shook her head and gritted her teeth. "Fine, then I'LL tell him…"
"No you won't!" Nalani suddenly felt the panic rising within her, gripping Kaci's shoulders, shaking her head frantically. "You CAN'T tell him anything, Kaci, do you understand me? If you do, I swear to god you will be out of my life forever. You will never see me again. You're MY best friend, not his, and you're supposed to support me no matter what I've done in my life! I made a mistake and now I'm setting Mark free, isn't that enough punishment? Not to mention I will have to carry a baby and I have no idea who the damn father is!" She immediately regretted saying that and closed her eyes from how much anger poured from Kaci.
"That baby might be his and you're not going to tell him about it? You expect me to just sit back and let you break his heart because of your poor judgment?" Kaci watched Nalani nod her head and felt sick to her stomach, not believing what this woman was asking of her. "Nala…"
"If you want me in your life, Kace, then you will keep your mouth shut and pretend this moment never happened." Nalani gave her an ultimatum, knowing it couldn't get much worse, but she would push everyone out of her life if that's what it took to make Scott go away forever. "You're like a sister to me and I love you, Kace…"
"You love me, yet you're giving me an ultimatum…" Kaci shook her head, feeling sick to her stomach and was sorely tempted to tell Mark just to see if Nalani would push her out of her life. "You're not being fair…"
"Oh and you are by wanting to tell Mark that I'm pregnant and I cheated on him?" Nalani shot back, placing her hands on her hips and pushed away the sudden wave of nausea. "What if the roles were reversed, Kaci?"
Kaci looked appalled, violet eyes narrowed to slits, scowling. "I would NEVER cheat on Randy!" She couldn't believe Nalani was trying to justify her infidelity to Mark, wanting to slap the hell out of her.
"I didn't say you would, but I'm asking you what if the roles were reversed. What if you fucked an ex and had to deal with it? Then ended up pregnant and not knowing who the father of your baby is. What would you do?" Nalani shot back, deciding to use reverse psychology and knew Kaci wouldn't appreciate it, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
"I don't know…" Kaci finally whispered, plopping down on the bed and raked a hand through her black hair, closing her eyes. "I can't even fathom what you're going through, but I also can't support what you did to Mark, Nalani."
"I'm not asking you to support the cheating part." Nalani sat beside her, both of them staring down at their laps. "But I would NEVER go to Randy or whoever you were with and tell them what you did. I would never break my trust with you and that's exactly what you will do to me if you do go to Mark. So I'm asking you not to say anything, Kaci. I'm begging you to let me handle this in my own way, just let me walk away from him and mend the broken pieces of my life…"
Nalani had lost so much in such a short time and Kaci couldn't help letting her heart bleed for the woman. First the murders of her father and sister, her baby sister being raped as well, and now she was losing the only man who loved her unconditionally because of one mistake. Not to mention the pregnancy, which Kaci hoped and prayed Nalani didn't terminate because at least it would be some form of happiness in her life. Kaci decided she would keep her mouth shut, but she had a condition of her own.
"I'll take this to the grave with me…on one condition." She finally said, looking over at Nalani, both of their eyes locked.
"What is it?"
Taking both of her hands, Kaci took a deep breath and knew this was the only thing she wouldn't let Nalani do, not if she didn't want Mark knowing the truth. "You keep this baby and raise it with as much love and affection as you possibly can." She stated, blinking as huge tears slid down her face and Nalani couldn't help crying as well.
"I promise I'll keep the baby." Nalani and Kaci embraced, each clinging to the other as tightly as they could, Kaci more so than Nalani for obvious reasons. "Thank you, Kace, thank you."
Kaci left the house feeling lower than ever, but she knew deep down she was doing the right thing and hoped Nalani changed her mind about telling Mark everything.