AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My shoulders drop in relief. “No. Absolutely not.”
Dr. Murphy smiles brightly. “Good. Good. And what is your relationship with the father?”
Isn’t that the question of the hour? I couldn’t answer it even if I tried.
Prior to my kidnapping, Trigger and I had never discussed labels. We never talked about being in an actual relationship. The only thing that we agreed on was that, while we were sleeping together, we weren’t sleeping with anyone else.
I run my fingertips over my palms, focusing on the tingling sensation it sends up my arms.
“I don’t really know at this point.”
Dr. Murphy swivels her stool to the counter, placing her tablet down before rolling the stool until she is right in front of me. “What do you mean?”
“Well, to be honest, at the time we were just sleeping together. We would hang out and all that, but only because we’re a part of the same crowd. We were always around each other, intended or not.” I shake my head, sniffling back the tears that were clogging my throat. “It lasted about five, maybe six months.”
“Why did it end?”
My eyes try to focus on the purple and blue tie-dye clogs Dr. Murphy’s wearing. My gaze zones out as my mind wanders to the day I made the biggest mistake of my life. “I was raped,” I whisper, the words tasting like poison on my lips.
“Is that what he told you? That, because of what happened to you, things between the two of you were done?”
“No.”
“Does he know about the babies?”
I nod my head. I can feel my courage slowly slipping away as I try my hardest to regain focus on the swirling pattern of her shoes.
I force my eyes closed, trying to concentrate on the cool room. I push away thoughts of the mildewy cabin from before. “He found me there. He brought me to the hospital.”
“Have you seen him since then?”
“Everyday.”
“I don’t think you should worry about him not being with you.” I open my eyes to Dr. Murphy’s comforting smile. Her demeanor becomes slightly more serious as she asks, “I need to know something else, Heather.”
The concerned tone in her voice rattles me as I focus on my breathing. “What?”
“How are you feeling about this pregnancy?”
The question is simple, yet so complex. There’s no time for me to hold them back— the tears fall freely from my lids as my breath hitches in my chest.
“I don’t know. I’m honestly too scared to think about it.”
“Why is that?” Dr. Murphy pushes a small tissue into my hands.
My hands tremble as I use the delicate tissue to wipe my soaked cheeks. “Everytime I think about being pregnant, I think about the rape. And I don’t want to think about that. So I shut out the thoughts.”
“You do know that this pregnancy has nothing to do with the fact that you were assaulted, correct?” Dr. Murphy asks gently.
I scoff, willing the tears to stop falling. I point at my head. “In here I know that. I absolutely know that.” I squeeze my eyes shut, shaking my head back and forth. I know I have to talk about this, but the pain is just too real, too raw. “When I close my eyes and try to think about the fact that Jamie and I made life,twolives, the thought is always tarnished by what happened and finding out about them at the hospital afterwards.”
Dr. Murphy waits patiently as I work through the turmoil going through my mind.
“One minute I’m lying on the floor in a nasty cabin with a man I don’t know who’s doing things to me I could never imagine. The next thing I know, I’m in a hospital room finding out I’m pregnant after just having a rape kit done on me. It’s kind of hard to differentiate the two things.”
Dr. Murphy nods her head, offering her hand to me. I cautiously reach out, and she covers my hands with hers. “I am here for you, Heather. Every single step of the way, I will be by your side, but you have to promise me something.”
A whimper escapes as I nod.
