Page 66 of His Wounded Heart

She doesn’t say anything for a long time, and I don’t try to push her. She’ll say something when she’s ready.

She pushes back a little, so that she can look into my face. “Do you want to know something amazing, Simon?”

“Sure.”

Please let it be something good.

“Even with all that scum swirling around me, when I see those lines on the pee stick, I know at that very moment that a miracle is growing inside of me. I know not everyone feels that way; I listened to Wanda bitch about being pregnant the last two times. But for me this was a miracle, and I didn’t care that I wasn’t going to get my happily ever after with Brantley, because I was going to get one with my child.”

Her words wash over me. This. This is how I wanted my wife to feel about us having a child together.

“You’re right, Honey. That is amazing. What’s even more amazing is that you were nineteen when you were thinking that.”

Trenda let out a half laugh. “I kind of wasn’t nineteen. I was actually kind of a mother already to my sisters, and I love them to death. But my child? I can’t begin to tell you how I felt knowing that I was going to have a baby. I knew I could, and would, survive anything to keep my child safe. I was determined to build a good life for them.”

I bent and brushed my lips against hers. How could I not? Yes, Bella is a miracle, but Trenda needed to know that she is a miracle too.

“So did you tell Brantley, or just leave?” I ask.

Trenda’s arms sneak around my waist.

“I confront him when he comes home. I tell him I know about his wife and that I’m pregnant.” She squeezes me with all of her might. I wait for her to continue. She doesn’t.

“Then what happened?” I’m sure I don’t want to know, but I have to know.

So softly, in a voice that doesn’t sound like hers, “He calls me awful names. He accuses me of sleeping with someone else and says the baby can’t be his.”

I struggle to hear what she’s saying. And when I can make out the words, they make no sense. How could anyone doubt Trenda’s integrity?

“He finally tells me it doesn’t matter.”

Trenda takes in a big gulp of air, and her body quakes. She looks up at me, and now the tears are there.

“Tell me Baby. “Finish, Baby. Finish it, and it will finally be over.”

Tears are slowly dripping down her face. “He says that I have to get an a-a-abortion. I have to l-l-leave in th-th-three hours. And…”

Her words trail off. I can’t imagine what else she could possibly have to say. I don’t want to know what comes after the ‘and.’

“Trenda?”

“He tries to give me a lot of money from his wallet. It was a lot. He grabs my hand and tries to force me to hold it, but I can’t. I won’t. That’s when he hits me and I end up on the floor.”

The last words she says without tears. In fact, she sounds angry. Not anywhere close to the level of rage that I’m feeling.

She tries to let go of me, tries to wiggle out of my arms, but I refuse to let her go. She’s staying right where she is.

“Brantley who?”

She laughs tiredly. “Are you sure we’re not related? You’re sounding like Evie, and you’re doing quite the accurate impression of my big brother.”

“Trust me, we’re in no way related. Give me a last name.”

Chapter Sixteen

I snuggle even closer. He smells like pine, leather, and something else, but the combination soothes me, makes me feel safe.

“Trenda, answer my question.”