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ALLIE
Ihadn’t slept at all last night, or the night before, or even the night before that one. I was in a constant state of worry that Harlan had seen right through Mom’s lie about me being pregnant and needing an abortion when, really, it was her. He had caught Mom puking the other night, in the midst of morning sickness.
Originally, I had thought he’d put two and two together, but for the past few days, he hadn’t said or done anything that made me think he was suspicious of us. And I was thanking whoever the hell was watching over us that we had made it to Friday without a scratch on her from Harlan.
Sitting in the doctor’s waiting room, I grabbed Mom’s hand and squeezed hard, my knee bouncing nervously. This was it. We were so damn close to getting her an abortion and setting her as free as she could be from Harlan. At least then, he wouldn’t get that urge to kill her over cheating on him, which she certainly hadn’t done.
But … she hadn’t told me what she had done to get pregnant.
And I was afraid that I didn’t want to know.
Though chaos unfolded outside, the doctor’s office was deathly quiet, and it made me so freaking nervous. Jace placed a hand on my thigh to stop it from bouncing and squeezed gently.
“It’s okay, Allie,” he whispered into my ear. “Deep breaths. We’re almost through it.”
After blowing out a couple deep breaths, I squeezed my eyes closed. “What is happening?” I asked, stomach in knots. “The appointment was scheduled for a half hour ago. Why aren’t they calling us in?”
The clerk sitting at the front desk smiled at us. “It’ll be a few more moments. With everything that has been going on these past few days, we’re having trouble finding nurses and doctors to come into the office. Most live on the bad side of town, so it’s difficult for them.”
Nodding my head politely at her, I swallowed.
Mom squeezed my hand tighter. “It’s going to be okay, sweetie,” she said, pulling me closer to her and talking as if she was really trying hard to remind herself that this was the end, that she’d soon be free. “You’re going to do great. Nothing to worry about.”
“I want this to be over with,” I whispered.
“Me too, sweetie. Me too.”
“Allie Hall,” the nurse called from the back door, adjusting a clipboard in her hand.
I shot up and pulled Mom up with me, my stomach in knots. This was it. We were about to finally finish this after living through the past week as bundles of damn nerves. It was about to be over for good.
Before I could get two feet, Harlan grabbed Mom’s wrist. “You don’t need to go in with her, honey. This town is in too much chaos already. I’m sure they don’t need a woman who’s going to do nothing but cry hysterically back there with them.”
Mom tensed, and I pulled her back anyway.
“It’s okay if my mom comes in with me, right?” I asked the nurse, pleading with her with my eyes. If this didn’t fucking work, I would be devastated—absolutely devastated.
The nurse smiled. “Of course. It’s no problem.”
When I continued to tug Mom, Harlan tightened his grip on her.
“Honey,” he said in the strongest, strictest tone I had ever heard from him. “You’re not going in there with her. You’re going to stay out here with me. Do you understand?”
Mom smiled nervously with her brows furrowed together, grabbing my shoulder. “Harlan, she’s my daughter. I don’t want her to go in alone. She’s terrified of what they’re going to do to her and the baby. It’s this one time, and it’ll only be for a few minutes.”
“If she was terrified, she shouldn’t be fucking my son.”
“Harlan, she—”
“You’ll stay out here with me, honey.” Harlan stuffed his hand in his right pocket jacket, and Mom’s face paled, her whole body going rigid. “Do you understand now?”
My entire body tensed because … I didn’t have to see what was in his pocket to know he had brought a fucking gun to the doctor’s office and was threatening to shoot Mom dead here if she didn’t cooperate.
I just … didn’t know how to tell Jace that his father was armed without something happening to Mom first.
I glanced over at Jace, who stared at me with both worry and a quizzical expression, as if he didn’t understand why my expression had turned from anger to terror in a matter of milliseconds. Wanting to show him somehow, I very slightly nodded to his father, but he still didn’t get it.
“Allie, it’s okay if your mother doesn’t want to come in,” the nurse said.
Fuck, this was not what I … had wanted to happen. Not now. Not fucking now.
As if she realized that Harlan wouldn’t let her go anyway, Mom ushered me along with tears in her trembling eyes. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s a quick procedure. A few minutes, and you’ll be back out. Go on.”
“Jace can go with you,” Harlan suggested. “He was the one who got you pregnant.”
Swallowing hard, I bit back my tears and held myself together. “No, I don’t want him to come in with me,” I said because I needed him to stay out here and make sure that Harlan didn’t take Mom away and kill her then.
All I wanted to do was run into Mom’s arms to tell her that I loved her more than anything, but I couldn’t do that. I sucked it all up, turned around, and walked to the nurse who held the back door open for me. We were fucked—absolutely fucked.
