Chapter 2 - The Silence Broken
The silence returned,
but it was heavy now.
I turned back to the bed,
dropping to my knees.
Megan was curled into a ball,
weeping silently.
"Meg,"
I whispered,
my hands hovering over her.
"I'm so sorry."
"I'm so incredibly sorry."
She didn't look at me.
"I told you,"
she whispered,
her voice thick with tears.
"I told you everything would fall apart."
"Who did this?"
I asked,
my chest tightening.
"Was it her?"
Megan didn't answer right away.
She just clutched her stomach,
protecting our unborn child.
"She came here,"
Megan finally said,
her voice barely audible.
"When you were at work."
"Last week."
"And the week before."
Each word felt like a knife in my heart.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because she said she would take the baby,"
Megan cried,
finally looking at me.
Her eyes were red,
filled with absolute terror.
"She said she has lawyers."
"She said she would prove I'm unstable."
"She said if I told you,
she would make sure I never see our child again."
I felt a wave of nausea wash over me.
My own mother.
The woman who raised me.
"She did this to you?"
I reached out,
gently touching the edge of a dark bruise on her calf.
Megan winced slightly,
but she didn't pull away.
"She pushed me,"
Megan whispered.
"Into the coffee table."
"She said I was taking you away from her."
"She said I didn't deserve this family."
I closed my eyes,
tears stinging my own face.
The guilt was overwhelming.
I had listened to my mother.
I had let doubt creep into my mind.
"I will never let her near you again,"
I promised,
May you like
kissing her trembling hands.
"Never."
