Innocence (22 page)

“What the heck has she been telling you? Honestly, that girl wouldn’t know the word truth if it hit her in the face. She is after money, no doubt to take back to her drug dealing boyfriend.”

Calvin stepped forward needing to correct the evil woman. “She finished it, and she isn’t with him. Instead, she is scared and looking for someone to love her, but clearly the word ‘love’ means nothing to you. What mother,” he said, marching forward pointing his finger in her face, “would allow their daughter at her most vulnerable state to walk the streets, how can you not care? No shame? She is frightened and yet, she is the one holding the grudge with you…yet you have turned it onto her. She is broken, has no one and nowhere to go and yet you…you…” He gritted his teeth.

“Calvin,” he heard his mother’s voice from behind as she touched his left shoulder. “Step back.”

“No,” he growled. “She,” he said, pointing to Rosalind, “what she has done. I saved your daughter. I,” he said, thumping his chest, “I stopped your daughter from jumping off the bridge. I saved her. I was the one who coaxed her down,” he screamed.

Tears ran down his cheeks and could feel his mum holding onto his shoulder for comfort. He had to do it. He had to make her see how weak her daughter was and her mental state.

Rosalind widened her eyes, glaring at him.

“Yes, I saved her, I stopped her,” he said lowering his voice in heartache. “All she needed was someone to reach out to and help her take care of herself. She has nothing…nothing. You imagine feeling that lonely,” he said, glaring deep into her eyes through the tears.

“I have spent a few days listening to your daughter, trying to help her, guide her, get her the help she needs, but as my good friend keeps telling me!
She isn’t my problem
, but I have made her my problem. I want to help her, and no, it’s not just because she’s expecting your grandchild,” he snarled. Calvin didn’t want anyone assuming that, but they would, of course they would, and he’d be the first to admit when he saw her bump, he had to do what he could to get her down from the bridge.

“Calvin,” his mum muttered.

“No, Mum,” he said, turning his head to stare sharp at her. He watched his mum gulp. “Even you would admit you were fooled into the real reason why she left the village.” He turned his head back to meet Rosalind’s eyes, unfathomable. “Weren’t we?”

Rosalind still looked gormless, frowning like she had no idea what he was talking about.

“Don’t you care your daughter was about to jump into the river and take her and the baby’s life?” he sneered.

She stared at him, shocked, like she had no idea what was going on with her daughter, puzzlement across her face and her eyes roamed all over the room, like the walls would give her answers.

“I’m sorry.”

He shuddered.

“Sorry! Is that all you can say. Sorry,” his voice rose. “Well, you're saying it to the wrong person, but then why would you wish to waste your breath on
your
daughter, when she is the one who has disgraced you. I mean heaven forbid she would turn out to be the little angel you had wished for, but noooo, she had to get herself knocked up, didn’t she?” he roared.

Rosalind stared at him wide-eyed and held her chest tight, not releasing a single breath.

“Yes, I know. I asked her. I needed to know why you hated her so much, but then she was about to blacken the Richards’ name wasn’t she…getting pregnant so young,” he snarled. “I mean, how the hell dare she?”

“Are you going to allow him to talk to me like this?” Rosalind said gazing at his mum.

“Yes, yes, I think I am. Secrets have a way of coming out in the open, they always do eventually. Only Sophie, has been in trouble since leaving the village hasn’t she? Trying to make a life for herself, only she managed to fall into the wrong hands, and when you're homeless and have nowhere to go, you become desperate and as her parent, the one person in the world she wanted to rely on and beg for help you let her down so cruelly, by turning your back on her. What was she meant to do?” his mum asked her.

Calvin was delighted she defended Sophie, but then what had she done wrong in the first place? Apart from become pregnant by him?

“I think my mum, is just as hurt as I am. When Sophie needed you, you were never there, but then when you did help her you forced her to do something she didn’t want, isn’t that right?” Calvin snarled more.

“What?” Rosalind said, bewildered wide-eyed.

“Abortion,” Calvin reminded her.

He watched her mouth drop.

“Yes…you forced her to kill her unborn baby.” Torrents of tears ran down his cheeks. “My baby,” he spurted out and could no longer take the lightening pain in his chest. He had to get out of the house before he blew up and did something he regretted.

Calvin ran for the door and quickly opened it, the warm, hot, muggy air hit him in the face. He could not take the stabbing pain in his chest. He couldn’t take the intense agony, feeling sure he was about to drop to the floor and die in grief.

“Calvin,” his mother said, placing her arm around his shoulder to offer comfort. “I know how you’re hurting.”

Calvin, in anger, lifted his shoulder and elbowed back not wishing her to crowd him. Not deserving the comfort. His mum stepped back, and he turned to glare hard at her.

“It’s my fault that this has happened. I am to blame. I wanted Sophie that night. I begged in my heart for her to turn up and when she did…look what I did,” he cried out. He curled his body over clutching at his stomach. The tears streamed down his cheeks as he broke down, never had he felt so bad.

“Calvin, this is not your fault,” his mum argued.

He lifted his head, only just able to see her through the tears. “I made her pregnant.”

“We need to take him home,” his father said.

“Where is she?” Rosalind screamed.

“Our house,” his mum informed her.

Calvin managed to drag his bottom into the car, feeling his perfect life had shattered and he had no idea what had really been happening behind his back. He longed for her to turn up to that darn party, and now all it had left were bad memories and a scar for life.

* * * *

Sophie tried to get her head around the news that had unfolded and wondered where Calvin’s parents had taken him. She sat in the drawing room, gazing around fighting the tears, aware her demon had returned, the one she had tried so hard to push to the back of her mind and instead…it came back with a vengeance, like a tornado and nothing would stop it, leaving nothing behind but heart break. The truth was all those years ago, she’d confided in the one person she should have trusted, little did her mother know the real ailments to what happened.

The whole situation had got out of hand and left her resenting the fact she’d confided in Calvin last night, told him the real reason to why she left the village. No way on God’s earth did she suspect Calvin had been the man she’d made love to in that barn, and at the time she had enjoyed it. He’d been the perfect man to take her from being a girl into a woman.

Bile filled her throat as she thought back to that night and how they engaged in the most wonderful intimacy and how he explored all her contours and relished her innocence. She had been anxious at the time, about to have him poking his manhood into her, and she’d be the first to admit it hurt when he stretched her, but…she smiled, he felt good. He filled her to the brim and made only the slightest of movements, allowing her to adapt to such a large member. He’d kissed her throughout, held her tight, made sure she was okay, he had been sincere and loyal and that she appreciated. No other man had treated her so elegantly and soul wrenching the way he had.

It hadn’t been until two months later she’d realized she had missed her period and immediately went to a pharmacy to get a pregnancy test. She used the money she begged off her father, not wishing to alarm anyone if the test was negative. She honestly thought there would be a mistake, however, she’d had sex with Calvin, so there was a big chance she could be pregnant. She snuck to the chemist to get a test and headed back home to do the test.

She peed on the stick and anxiously had to wait a few minutes for the result. Her stomach had been in knots, but her periods had always played her up no-end of times and she’d been back and forth to the doctor. She had been put on various contraception that never worked. There were other methods, but the doctor said she was too young and therefore wouldn’t try them on her.

She sat nervously on the toilet in the bathroom of her en suite and waited for the result. Twiddling her thumbs, it felt like the longest two minutes of her life, sitting restlessly, fearing the result. Time’s up! She turned the stick over to discover the dreaded word highlighted, pregnant. She was sure she heard “Ta Dah.” Her next action was to tell her mum, and that was when everything unfolded.

“Mum…Mum,” she said and found her mum busy working on something at the dining table. Sophie held her head low.

“What!”

“I have something to tell you,” she said anxiously.

Sophie watched her mum lift her head and stare into her eyes. “Make it snappy, I’m a busy woman. What have you done? I know that look, young lady.”

Bile filled her throat and it felt like the oxygen had been cut off from her brain, feeling sick and dizzy, as if she were going to pass out.

“I erm…” she hesitated.

“Spit it out, Sophie, for goodness sake. I have things to be doing!” Typical of her mum always pushing her to the side like she was a hindrance.

“Well…promise not to be mad at me?” she asked terrified of the outcome. Her heart galloped inside her chest. Her mind went crazy and her body so tender it was soon to shatter.

“Sophie, please, just spit it out.”

“Promise not to be mad at me?”

“I promise,” her mum said rolling her eyes and stood up tall holding her hands on her hips. Sophie debated not telling her and figuring out the mess herself, only she had no idea what she was meant to do. Yes, she had learned about sex and contraception at school and she remembered him wrapping his willy up for protection, at least she thought he had. Either way, she was pregnant and her life had been tipped upside down within seconds.

“Sophie…”

“Well…” Sophie stared into her mum’s eyes.

She shook frantically. Sophie cleared her throat, aching in every limb possible, concerned about her mum’s reaction, scared to tell her she’d had sex with a man…a boy, afraid to admit she was no longer a virgin, but had experienced a man. And how wonderful he had been.

“Sophie, will you tell me please, time is ticking. I have to be places,” her mum said impatient and glancing at the wall clock.

“I’m…I’m…well, I’m…” She glared into her mum’s eyes. “I am so sorry,” she said when torrents of tears flooded down her cheeks and her knees collapsed from underneath her. She landed on the tiled floor and held her head in her hands feeling the pain and devastation she was about to cause. She was about to disappoint her mother, who would resent her and no doubt shout the odds, followed by a lecture on boys and sex.

“Sophie, what is it…have you failed something?”

She knew her mum stood close, but her mum had never been one to put her arm around her and offer comfort. She nodded her head up and down answering her question, she’d failed and big time.

“Oh, darling, I am sure you could re-sit it. I will get your father to talk to the principal and well…don’t worry.”

Sophie lifted her head out of her hands and gawked at her mum seeing her crouching before her, cocking her head to the side, already she could see the disappointment in her mum’s eyes.

“It’s not that kind of test I failed.”

“Oh really…then what?”

“Mum…I’m pregnant.”

Her mum widened her eyes in sheer horror. She stood and stepped back from her. “You are what?”

“Pregnant.”

“Oh my dear goodness. You stupid girl…what have I told you about boys?” she shouted.

Sophie cowered.

“Well, we need to get this matter dealt with immediately. You’ve done a test?”

Sophie nodded.

“Then we need to call the doctor…you stupid girl…you do know what this means don’t you?”

Sophie had tears spilling down her cheeks.

“You have to get rid of it, it’ll ruin your chances of having a life...any sort of life, and your father has put you through the best education…he will go crazy. I see no other choice.”

Sophie had been booked in to have the termination, but to start the process she had to take a pill eighteen hours before the procedure. At the time Sophie was rubbish at swallowing pills and also at the same time was thinking about what she was doing and the consequences she’d live with for the rest of her life. As she placed the pill in her mouth, her mum stood watching her, telling her father must not hear about the situation. Sophie couldn’t bring herself to look at her mum. She had the water on stand-by, but all she thought about was killing an innocent baby, a baby who had done nothing wrong, it had been created by her and a boy being silly, and now…she couldn’t do it. How could she go through with it? When her mum had suspected she’d taken the pill and the coast was clear, she spat the pill out, as having an abortion was not something she wished to do.