TW: mention of abortion
24th March, 1945
Just like every morning, the delightful chirping of birds sounded outside the field tent. Inside, there was one person who had genuinely considered taking someone's gun and shooting the blasted things. What did they have to be so happy about exactly?
Evelyn sighed and pulled her blanket up over her face, trying to block out the noise and the sunlight. Trying to block out anything she could. Trying to block out the fact that she was growing a tiny life inside her and she had no idea how to deal with it.
All night, she lay in bed with anxious energy radiating through her very being. She could physically feel herself shaking with nerves as she tried to process what was happening. For most women, finding out they were expecting a child was wonderful, precious, a miracle. For most women, to know that their bodies were sustaining and giving life to another human was something heartwarming and mind blowingly amazing. But Evelyn felt no such joy. She felt only dread. There was not one single feeling of warmth or joy inside her whatsoever.
All night she had tried to imagine herself being someone's mother and it terrified her to the core. She was not ready for this. She had always known that one day she wanted to be a mother, but that day was far from now. And there was no way that seven months was enough time to prepare her for it. There were things she wanted to do in life. She wanted to go back home to Philadelphia and make a life for herself first. Get a good job and save up money to travel. There were so many things she wanted to see and do. Having a baby now wasn't part of those plans. When she eventually had a baby, she wanted it to be something that was planned and wanted. Not like this.
"Evelyn?" she heard Eugene whisper from the cot next to her own.
She ignored him in the hopes that he would think she was still asleep and therefore leave her alone. In less than an hour she was going to have to arise and pretend that nothing was amiss. She wanted to savour every single second of being able to let herself wallow and panic simultaneously.
"Don't ignore me," Eugene said. "I know you're awake. I've been listening to you toss and turn all night long."
A few seconds later and the blanket was pulled off of her to reveal Eugene sat up and watching her with a concerned expression upon his face.
"George told me," he whispered.
Evelyn sighed. Of course he did. George Luz couldn't hold his own water. She wanted to be mad at him for revealing her secret to someone, but how could she be? George was many things but he wasn't someone who would ever intentionally upset her. She knew that he would have told Eugene out of concern. But still, she was in such a foul mood that she allowed herself to be aggravated by it. In fact, she craved it. She craved the thought of being aggravated by something other than this hideous situation she found herself in.
"What are you going to do?"
To shrug was her only answer.
"You can't just ignore the problem and hope it will go away," Eugene told her. "I know that's your answer to everything, but this time it just won't work."
She just stared at him, not having the energy to say anything. She just about managed to summon up a quick fuck off in her head, and even then that took all of her strength.
"You can tell me to do that if you want," Eugene smirked, seeing it written all over her face. "You can say anything if it makes you feel better. But you cannot hide from this no matter how hard you try. You're having a-"
"-Shut up," she hissed, sitting up and glancing around the room. Mercifully, everyone seemed to be fast asleep, but she couldn't take the risk that Eugene would say the word out loud and someone would overhear. "Are you deliberately trying to announce it to the whole world?"
"Stop being dramatic, Evelyn," he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Dramatic?" she exclaimed quietly. "For once in my life I think I'm entitled to be, don't you?"
"I suppose," he conceded. "Listen, why don't we go for a little walk before everyone gets up and we can talk?"
"No," she shook her head and flopped back down onto the bed. "I don't feel like it."
"Come on," he urged.
"I said no," she repeated, flinging her arm over her face so she wouldn't have to look at him.
"So you're gonna lie here and mope about?"
"No," she growled. "I'm gonna go to the mess with everyone else at breakfast time, then I'm gonna change into my PT gear for morning training. Then this afternoon, I agreed to cover Spina's shift in the aid station because there's a film on in the rec tent that he really wants to see."
Eugene sighed. She was being intentionally difficult, and he supposed that on this occasion it was justified. He knew she was frightened and panicking, but she couldn't bury her head in the sand. Not this time. She needed to face this head on. Eugene prided himself on being someone who always knew how to help others. He always had the right words to say; knew the right things to do. But this time he was at a loss. There was no way to fix this situation. For the first time in his life he felt hopeless.
"I understand that you want to just carry on as normal, but do you think PT is wise…" he glanced around and lowered his voice even more. "…In your condition? Why don't we just tell Captain Speirs that you still aren't feeling well and you can just head straight to the aid station?"
"Or why don't you just mind your own business and quit trying to tell me what I'm gonna do?"
"Fine, have it your way," Eugene gave up. Momentarily anyway.
Evelyn waited for Eugene to leave the tent before she allowed a single tear to drip out of the corner of her eye. She hadn't wanted to be so mean to him, but she just couldn't help it. Eugene was trying to be helpful and supportive but she had pushed him away. Just as she always did when she didn't know how to cope with something. Instead of accepting the help of those who cared, she would rather put up those walls around herself and ignore the problem.
But this was one problem that couldn't be ignored. This was one problem that she wouldn't be able to hide for much longer. She needed to tell Joe. She didn't want to tell him, but she had mulled it over all night and he had a right to know. More than that, he needed to try and help her fix this.
"Man, I just had the best fucking dream known to human kind," Perconte said from his cot across the other side of the tent. "You wanna hear about it Ev?"
"Not really," she mumbled. Then again, perhaps a distraction was something she could use right about now. It would give her a chance to get her game face on for the rest of the day. "But I can tell you really wanna tell me, so go for it."
"Ok, so I had a dream that Marlene Dietrich came into the tent looking like an absolute goddess. She climbed up onto the bed and begged me to have my wicked way with her, which I of course did," Frank was positively beaming. "How likely do you think it is that I was having some sort of premonition?"
"I'd say it's as likely as Evelyn waking up tomorrow morning and being a man," Bull chortled from the other end of the tent.
"You're an absolute idiot," Martin threw a dirty sock at him.
"Thanks Johnny," Perconte smiled. "I'll use that to clean up my dirty fantasy."
"And on that note, I'm going," Evelyn grimaced. "You boys are disgusting."
Pulling on her boots, she caught a glimpse of Liebgott still asleep near the tent entrance. She swore to herself that she would tell him the news sooner rather than later. But right now she just needed to focus on making it through the day like there was nothing amiss.
… … …
After struggling through breakfast and forcing herself to eat at least something, PT came and went quickly. The whole way through it, Evelyn was very aware of the hushed whispers between George and Eugene along with the concerned glances in her direction. She did her best to ignore them but it was difficult when she felt like an animal in a zoo being watched constantly.
When they went for their showers, Evelyn stayed in her makeshift cubicle until everyone else had left. She hadn't bargained on George hanging around to catch her. She was drying her hair with a towel when she heard him sneak up behind her.
"Jesus fucking Christ George," she gasped, spinning around and putting a hand on her wildly beating heart. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
"Sorry," he pulled a face. "I just wanted to talk to you alone. I didn't mean to scare you."
"Well you've got me alone now? What do you want? I'm busy."
"How are you feeling today?" he asked, ignoring her foul mood. Eugene had already given him prior warning.
"I'm fine," she answered, hoping that he would leave the conversation there.
"You spoken to Lieb yet?"
"What do you think?" she glared at him. "It's not like I could just announce it to him at breakfast. Pass me the toast would you, Joe? Oh and by the way, I'm pregnant. Congratulations, you're gonna be a daddy."
Suddenly behind them, they heard an almighty clatter. They turned just in time to see O'Keefe fall flat on his rear as he slipped on a patch of water.
"Sorry," he apologised, scrambling to his feet and staring at them with his eyes wide. "I just came back in here 'cause I forgot my socks. I'll be going now."
"I don't think so pal," George marched over to him and grabbed him by the scruff of his collar. "I think we need to have a little chat first."
"What the fuck are you doing to him?" Evelyn asked. This was completely out of character for George. The threatening growl in his voice and upon his face was disconcerting.
"Making sure this little bastard keeps his mouth shut about what he heard," George looked at her as though it should have been obvious.
"I didn't hear anything," O'Keefe protested, but George didn't buy it for a single second.
"Like shit you didn't," he laughed dryly.
"I swear," O'Keefe was adamant, his eyes darting wildly between George and Evelyn.
"George," Evelyn placed a hand on him arm and tried to prise his fingers from O'Keefe's but his grip was unmovable. "Leave the guy alone. You're scaring him."
"That's exactly what I'm trying to do," George answered. "I want him so scared that he won't dare to open that yappy mouth of his and tell everyone about the you know what."
"And if he didn't actually hear anything?" Evelyn questioned him.
"That's not a risk we can afford to take," George told her. His face softened when he looked at her even if his grip on O'Keefe didn't. "You are my best friend in the entire world. You mean more than everything to me. I know everyone just thinks of me as the joker of the company, but the truth is that I would do anything for any of you. Especially you. I would take a bullet for you, I would jump under a train for you, I would get my arm chewed off by a lion for you. I would-"
"-I get the idea," she butted in impatiently.
"-Way to ruin the moment," George sniffed. "Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say to you is that in the past you always had Bill here to look out for you and defend you when you needed defending. I just got to do the fun stuff. But now that Bill's not here, I want to be the one to help you through your darkest times. I want to be the one to defend you."
Evelyn swallowed the sudden lump that had appeared in her throat. Her eyes were filling up with tears and her heart felt so full. She kissed George's cheek and his own eyes were looking somewhat moistened. Their dark brown colour glistened with unshed tears.
"That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me Georgie," her bottom lip trembled. "And just so you know, I would jump under a train for you too. And all the other things you said."
"Would you even give me your last piece of chocolate?"
"Always," she smiled.
"I love you," George beamed.
"I love you more," Evelyn grinned, wiping her eyes.
"Impossible, I love you more," George argued.
"Uh-hm," O'Keefe cleared his throat.
They looked at him somewhat sheepishly, having been so caught up in the moment that they had forgotten about O'Keefe.
"Lose the attitude if you want to keep your teeth," George scowled at him in a manner so reminiscent of Bill that Evelyn was both impressed and scared at the same time. Then again, George had always been good at impersonating people, so she shouldn't have been surprised that there was a Bill Guarnere somewhere in his repertoire.
"Please, I promise I'm not gonna say anything," O'Keefe stammered. "I didn't mean to hear your conversation. I just wanted my socks and I didn't see the patch of water and-"
"-And you have all the grace of Bambi on ice, we know," George said impatiently. "So, you did hear what we were talking about then?"
"Well yeah," O'Keefe nodded begrudgingly, giving Evelyn an apologetic look. "But I swear I'm not gonna say anything."
Evelyn felt herself begin to panic. She didn't believe his words for one minute.
"No offence Patrick- it is ok if I call you Patrick, right?" George clarified, pulling out a cigarette and lighting one. He offered the packet to O'Keefe who eyed him warily and shook his head. "Why should I believe you?"
"Because I swear it to you."
"But that's not really good enough for me," George shook his head sadly. "I need some collateral."
"Like what?" O'Keefe swallowed nervously.
George thought for a moment before an impish, and almost a little evil, grin spread across his face.
"Pip," was all he said, and he was delighted when O'Keefe's eyes widened in horror.
"Who on earth is Pip?" Evelyn asked. It obviously meant something to the replacement judging by his reaction.
"Not who," George answered knowingly. "What."
Evelyn frowned. She was none the wiser.
"How do you know about Pip?" O'Keefe asked quietly.
"Let's just say I have some very reliable sources," George smirked. He often worked in the mailroom with Vest and there was barely anything that man didn't know about every single person in the entire regiment.
"Can one of you please tell me what the hell is a Pip?" Evelyn asked irritably.
"Why yes Evelyn, I'm so glad you asked," George said. "Pip is a friend of Patrick's. He's about as big as my hand and has button eyes and a brown stuffed body made from an old sock."
Evelyn furrowed her brow as she tried to work out what the hell George was talking about.
"Pip is so beloved by our little Patrick that you can only imagine his devastation when he got shipped over here without his cuddly buddy," George continued. "Which is where mommy O'Keefe came to the rescue. Pip arrived only a few days ago and is currently nestled safely in O'Keefe's rucksack ready to come out at bedtime."
"George, you're making no sense," Evelyn was still at a loss.
"Really?" George frowned at her. "God, you're slow to catch on, aren't you? Good job you're so damn pretty."
"Fuck off," she glared at him. "And will you just tell me now what the hell you're harping on about?"
"Seeing as you asked so nicely," he smirked. "Pip is O'Keefe's teddy bear."
"His what?" Evelyn pulled a face. "Are you being serious? A fucking teddy bear?"
"Embarrassing isn't it," George shook his head. "A grown man needing a teddy bear to sleep with at night in the middle of a war?"
"I don't need him to sleep with," O'Keefe denied. "My Mom just sent him to remind me of home."
"So you wouldn't care if everyone in the company found out about the cuddly creature you sleep with at night just to remind you of home?" George raised an eyebrow.
"No," O'Keefe answered almost convincingly.
"Interesting," George mulled that over, scratching his chin pensively. "How would you feel if Pip just happened to disappear?"
"Fine," O'Keefe said, but his voice squeaked a little and it was obvious that it would be far from fine.
"You sure about that Patrick?" George leaned in closer towards him. "What if Pip was to disappear and return mysteriously with certain parts of his appendage missing? How would you cope if your beloved Pip returned to you with only one eye and no stuffing?"
Evelyn shook her head. This was ridiculous. There was no way the guy was that bothered about a bloody stuffed toy.
"Listen buster," Evelyn growled at him. "You keep your fucking mouth shut or it won't just be the teddy that is suddenly missing certain parts of his appendage. Got it?"
"Yes Ma'am," O'Keefe squeaked.
"I mean it," she wasn't satisfied. "I've worked too damn hard to let someone like you ruin this for me."
"Yeah you've kind of done that on your own," George chuckled to himself. But the grin on his face was quickly wiped away when he saw a deadly glint in Evelyn's eyes.
"I mean it," she warned O'Keefe, trying to ignore George's comment as best as she could. "I grew up in South Philly and I know how to do some serious damage to you and make it look like an accident."
"Wow, did anyone ever tell you how sexy you are when you get all feisty like that?" George smirked.
"You can shut up too or you'll be missing something as well," she snapped. "I'm not in the mood for this bullshit."
"Jeez calm down. Must be the hormones," he whispered loudly to O'Keefe. "Now get out of here you little scamp," he said with a creepy kind of smile on his face. "And remember what will happen to you and Pip if anyone finds out about our little secret."
"I know," O'Keefe nodded as George let go of him and he rushed away as quickly as he could, managing to slip on the same patch of water again. With a grimace, he got up again and scrambled towards the door. Just before he went through it, he stopped and looked back at Evelyn. "Congratulations by the way."
And with that he was gone.
Evelyn let out a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. She could only hope and pray that he would keep his mouth shut.
"Do you think he'll say anything?" she asked George.
"You better hope for our sake he doesn't," he answered.
"Our sake?" she wondered.
"Yeah," George nodded. "I'm an accessory to a crime now."
"Being pregnant aint a crime, George."
"I know that," he rolled his eyes. "But threatening and roughing up a replacement probably is."
"Don't worry," she sniggered. "I'll be sure to keep your name out of it if he rats us out."
"No way," George disagreed. "If we go down, we go together. I meant what I said Ev; I would do anything for you. And that goes for little George or Georgina too when they get here."
Evelyn just looked at George. She wanted to berate him for even thinking that she would name her child after him, but that meant actually acknowledging the child out loud which she just wasn't ready to do. George must have sensed what she was feeling because he squeezed her shoulder and smiled.
"You'll come around to the idea," he said. "You've got like seven more months to get used to it."
"I don't think I will," she mumbled. And she really believed that.
… … …
That night
Evelyn wiped her sweaty palms on her trousers as the medic from Able Company came in to take over from her in the aid station. It was nine at night, and Evelyn had asked Joe to meet her outside when she finished. Malarkey had arranged a poker game and everyone was going, so she decided this might be a good time to talk to Lieb on his own.
She saw him the second she headed down the steps and onto the path. In the dark, he was illuminated by only the pale moonlight and the cigarette dangling from his mouth. He smiled and threw it on the floor when he saw her approaching. If he noticed the way her body tensed and the lack of joy at seeing him on her face he didn't let on.
"Hey," he said. "How was your shift?"
"Fine," she answered, a little more abruptly than she had meant to.
"Was it busy?"
"No, not really," was all she replied.
She had promised herself that she was going to try and stay calm and act like normal when she finally saw him, but she was failing miserably. She was so nervous. She was terrified. How was he going to react? Was he going to yell? Was he going to end things with her? Thoughts were swirling around her head at a million miles an hour. She tripped over the toe of her boot and would have fallen flat on her face if Lieb hadn't grabbed her quickly by the elbow.
"You drunk?" he teased, letting go of her arm once she had righted herself.
He couldn't wait for the day when they could walk arm in arm without having to worry about anyone seeing them. Since their conversation in the aid station the other day, he had been thinking a lot about their future together. He knew with every fibre of his being that he was hopelessly in love with Evelyn. And now that it was beginning to feel like there was a chance of them surviving this thing, he found himself thinking more about life when they returned back home.
They took a left at the end of the path and headed down towards the edge of camp where there was a small wooded area that was obscured from view by the rest of the camp. It was somewhere that they could go and sit quietly without being disturbed by anyone else.
They sat down on a soft mossy patch and the stars were shining through the gaps in the trees. It was beautiful. Liebgott took a look at Evelyn beside him and thought she was even more beautiful than their glorious surroundings. Her pert little nose and the soft pouting of her rose coloured lips; the gentle curling tendrils that escaped out of her bun and framed her face. She was perfect.
But there was something off about her. It might not have been obvious to someone else, but over the last few years he had memorised every little detail about her. The way her nose crinkled when she laughed, the crease that appeared in between her eyebrows when she was concentrating on something. The way her nostrils flared when she was angry about something. And right now, she was picking at her fingernails in the way she only did when she was nervous.
Evelyn knew Liebgott was watching her but she just continued staring straight ahead. She couldn't look at him. She couldn't bear to see that loving look that she knew would be in his eyes, because she was completely and utterly terrified that it would be the last time she would see it once she told him her news. When he placed an arm around her shoulder, she allowed herself to be pulled against him and she savoured everything about him. His smell, the way his body felt pressed against her, the steady rhythm of his breathing. He pulled back to gaze down at her face. He tilted her chin up slightly so that he could kiss her. His lips brushed over her own gently and she felt like she could have cried there and then. Reluctantly she pulled back before he could deepen the kiss and she took a deep breath.
"Joe, we need to talk," she said.
"Why do I get the sense I'm not going to like this?" he let his hand drop from her face.
Evelyn just looked at him sadly. She didn't know how to say it.
"I don't understand," Liebgott shook his head, mentally jumping to conclusions of his own. "I thought things were going great with us. How do I always manage to fuck all the great things in my life up?"
"Things are great with us," she mumbled.
And they were. Which was why this was killing her.
"Then why are we about to have the whole 'let's end this thing' talk?" he snapped. "And don't think I don't know the tone because I do. I've had this conversation with my fair share of girls and this is how I've always begun it."
Usually Evelyn would have allowed her insecurity to get the better of her and she would have demanded to know just how many girls he had been with (and subsequently broken up with). But she just didn't have the energy or inclination.
"I'm not breaking up with you, you idiot," she sighed exasperatedly.
"You're not?" he grinned with relief. He held out a shaking hand to show her how frightened he had been and then pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. He took a long drag to calm himself down. "Christ, I was terrified for a minute then."
"Sorry," she mumbled. "But we still do need to talk about something. It's important and I… well, I don't even know how to say it."
"Tell me," he urged.
"I can't," she whispered, feeling herself starting to cry. "I can't say it because I'm scared."
"What of?"
"Of what you're gonna say," she answered truthfully. "I'm scared of you leaving me."
"Ev, there is nothing you could ever say to me that would make me leave you," he grabbed her hand. "I've actually been thinking a lot and I-"
"-I'm pregnant," she blurted out, completely cutting him off.
Lieb just stared at her and blinked, as though he was trying to process what he has just been told. Evelyn felt sick to her stomach as she waited anxiously for him to say something. But only silence filled the air between them. In the distance there was the sound of someone shouting across the other side of camp followed by voices laughing.
"You're pregnant?" Liebgott muttered seemingly more to himself though than to her. "You're pregnant?"
A huge smile broke out across his face and let out an almost excited yelp, before grabbing her face and kissing her.
"We're having a baby?" he chuckled in wonder, placing a hand on her still flat stomach in awe.
"You're happy about this?" Evelyn looked at him like he had grown another head. What was wrong with him? This was not the reaction she had been expecting. This wasn't the reaction she was sure she wanted. He looked overjoyed at the news. Why did he look so happy? Why was he not feeling the same dread that she felt?
"Of course I am," he frowned at her. "This is amazing news. I've always wanted to be a Dad and now I'm gonna be."
"Oh well I'm glad I could make your dream come true," she stood up angrily. She had to get away from him. She wanted, no needed, him to be as upset about this as she was. Heck, him breaking up with her over it would have been easier to deal with than this. At least she would have been prepared for it.
"Evelyn, what's wrong?" Lieb stood up and reached for her but she pulled away from him.
"What's wrong?" she exclaimed. "I just told you I'm pregnant and you're behaving like it's the best thing that's ever happened to you."
"That's because it is," he answered. "I don't understand what's wrong with you. You said you were frightened to tell me in case I broke up with you. So you tell me and I'm happy, yet you're behaving like I'm the one who's crazy? What the fuck?"
"You're not supposed to be happy," she stamped her foot in frustration.
"I'm not? So how am I supposed to react?" he asked. "The person I love more than anything in the entire world just told me that we're having a baby and I'm supposed to be unhappy?"
"Yes! None of this is good news. I'm gonna get kicked out and sent off back home to explain to my family that I got myself knocked up in the middle of the fucking war," she growled, completely ignoring the fact that he had just told her he loved her for the first time. "My whole life is ruined. I don't want this baby, Joe."
"You don't mean that," he said.
"I do," she told him. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it. I don't want to have a baby right now and especially not like this."
"Ev, don't say things like that," Liebgott said. "A child is a blessing."
"To most people," she argued. "But not to me."
"Sweetheart, you need to calm down. You're just shocked and panicking and that's understandable," Lieb tried to soothe her. "This doesn't have to be as bad as you think. We'll get married before they ship you home, and you can go and live with your folks- or mine even- until I get back and then we'll get-"
"-Married!" she sneered. "Have you completely lost your fucking mind? You've really got it all figured out, huh? Just put a ring on my finger then send me off to wait for you. We've never even discussed our future together before this happened and now you're suddenly declaring that we're getting married."
"Would you rather I just told you that we could have a child out of wedlock? Or even better I could just leave you to deal with it on your own?" he argued. He was trying to keep calm and remember that she was just being over emotional, but he was quickly losing his temper. "You're being ridiculous and you need to calm down."
"Don't tell me how to feel," she spat. "I'm not your fucking wife yet so don't think you can tell me what to do."
"I'm glad you're not my fucking wife," he threw his cigarette on the floor and glared at her, his eyes blazing angrily. "I'm not doing this with you. I'm trying to deal with this maturely and you're just throwing it back in my face."
"So now you're saying I'm being immature?"
"Yeah I am."
"You know what? Maybe I am," she told him. "But that's only because you don't seem to be getting it into your head. You think if we get married, we can be a little family and it'll all be alright. Well it won't be alright, because I don't want this baby. Do you not understand that?"
"You've made it pretty obvious," he answered. "But now that it's happened, there's not exactly anything we can damn well do about it is there?"
"That's not true and you know it," she said.
"So what? You give it up for adoption?" he threw his hands up in the air. "That doesn't solve the problem of you getting booted out of Easy. And can you really imagine giving away your child once they're here. I sure as hell can't."
"We don't have to let it get that far," she mumbled. "There are…options."
"Please tell me you're not talking about what I think you are?" he growled at her. Her silence all but confirmed it. "You wanna go and find some woman in a back alley and have her take care of the problem? Are you for fucking real? You're gonna let some butcher do that to you and to our child?"
Evelyn started to cry. It sounded horrible but she didn't know what else to say. At present it seemed like their only option.
"There's other ways," she said. "A friend of my sister's got in the family way and she just drank a bottle of gin and had a really hot bath and it went away."
Liebgott shook his head and turned away from her. He felt physically sick at what she was suggesting. This wasn't the Evelyn he knew. That he loved. This wasn't his sweet Evelyn who wouldn't hurt a fly.
"I can't believe I'm hearing these words come from your mouth," he spun back around to face her. His jaw was clenched angrily and he felt his hands tensing into claws at his sides. "That's my child that you're talking about killing it. I can't even look at you right now. You disgust me."
"Joe," she pleaded with him, reaching for him.
"Don't touch me," he pulled away from her. "Don't fucking come near me. I need to be as far away from you as possible right now. You've already made up your mind and I feel like nothing I say is ever going to change it."
"This is for the best," she sobbed. "Why can't you see that?"
"Fuck you Evelyn," he snapped. "You know, you're so much more like your brother than people give you credit for. And I'm telling you now that if you do this, I will never ever forgive you."
And with that he stormed off. Evelyn sank to the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest feeling more alone and scared than she ever had in her entire life.
It was over an hour later when she heard quiet footfalls approach. She looked up, hoping to see Liebgott.
"Ev, it's raining," Eugene touched her shoulder.
It was? She hadn't noticed that she was soaked to the bone.
"Liebgott told me what happened," he murmured, pulling her up to her feet.
"He hates me," she whispered. "And he has every right to. But I just need him to see that I can't do this Gene."
"I know cherie," he kissed her forehead. "Come on, let's get you dried, huh? Everything'll be better once you're in some clean clothes and have a good sleep."
"I wish it was that simple," she muttered.
But nothing was simple anymore.
