Erin rolled over in her bed and sat up with a groan, clutching her stomach. She swallowed hard, fighting to keep down the nausea she had been fighting for days now. Nearly fainting, she willed herself the keep from getting sick again, to no avail. Clapping her hand over her mouth, she hurried up the stairs to the bathroom. She clung to the toilet, miserably heaving the contents of her stomach. She kneeled there for a moment, gasping for breath and swallowed again. She was startled at a knock at the door.
“Erin, are you okay?” Taylor questioned from the other side.
“Shit,” she muttered. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Are you sure? It sounded like you were sick.”
Erin washed her hands with soap, then turned off the hot water and rinsed her mouth with the cold. After she spat, she opened the door and said, “I’m fine. I’m probably just coming down with some virus. I’ll be okay in a day or so.”
She quickly hurried by Taylor, not stopping to see if he believed her. She had managed to keep her sickness hidden from the family, since she didn’t get sick very often, mostly early in the morning. But if what she suspected was true, she wouldn’t be able to hide it very long.
How can this happen now? She wondered, settling down on her bed. Let me think; Derek and I had sex when I last saw him about three weeks ago. You’re most likely to get pregnant ten to fourteen days before your period; my period was due a little more than ba week later. I should have gotten off it last week but I passed it with only a couple days of spotting, even though it’s always been so regular. Then there’s the fact that I haven’t been keeping much down for at least a week. And Derek and I wanted each other so much at the time that we didn’t even bother with a condom like we usually do. Great time for me to have run out of birth control too. I’ll have to go to the drugstore nearby and get a test to be sure. I kind of hope I am, I miss having a baby around, maybe a little girl this time. Derek and I were planning to have another baby soon anyway and I’ll be getting out of here next month after I turn eighteen. But will we be able to afford it now that I’m still out of work? Oh God, will Derek and I be able to handle it if I’m pregnant again?
****************************************************
Terry stood in the middle of her mother’s study, contemplating what to do. For nearly three weeks she had been trying to discover for herself her mothers secret, determined to find some clue. She knew her mother wouldn’t tell her, no matter how she pleaded. Since then she had decided to figure it out on her own and had been going through her desk, files, loose papers, anything that would give her a clue. She had been through everything she could think of and now she was lost. Feeling frustrated, she clenched her fists and searched her mind for an idea. She couldn’t be at a dead end, not now. She was too far involved now and she had to know.
The closet! Why hadn’t she thought of that sooner? She eagerly opened the door and was disappointed to see only shirts, pants and skirts hanging in orderly fashion. Shoes were lined neatly at the bottom. Her mom, always the neat freak. Once again discouraged, Terry began to close the door but stopped when she saw a glimpse of metal. Intrigued, she pushed the clothes aside and brushed her hand against the cool side of a filing cabinet. Terry had never seen it before and only briefly wondered why her mother would keep it hidden.
“Damn it!” she cursed when she found it locked. Searching her memory for something to open it with, she remembered several keys in her mother’s desk drawer. She eagerly grabbed every spare key she could find and excitedly began fitting each key into the lock of the filing cabinet. After trying only a few keys, she gave an elated cry when one of them turned in the lock and happily pulled open the top drawer. Tax forms, medical and dental records, none of which she found very helpful. Shutting the top drawer shut, she pulled open the second. Her heart gave a thump when she found a folder titled COURT HEARING, ’79 and anxiously yanked it out. She saw that it concerned Elizabeth Joan Thomas and Carlson Michael Mason, her mother and father. As she read through the court records, she felt herself weaken and began to wish she had never wondered what her mother’s secret was.
