SECRETS OF THE PAST
Chapter Twenty-One

What Lies Ahead

Franklin ran up the stairs to call Leah. He did not want Erica at that moment. He wanted Leah.

He called. Leah answered.

"Leah, we need to talk," Franklin said in a hurried voice.

"If this is about you suing me for kicking you in the balls, it won't work." Leah waited for some silly comment.

"No, Leah. I forgive you for that, but I really need you. My uncle, father, and I are going to Iraq tomorrow. I need to see you tonight. Please say you'll come." He would do anything for her.

"What?" Leah thought he was joking.

"Please, Leah. I want to be with you before I go, because if I don't come back, I at least want you to be my wife." He was ready. No more lies.

"Please, Franklin. You're insane. Let's talk about this tomorrow." She was about to hang up.

"No. Now, Leah! Please," he insisted.

"Oh, okay. I will be there soon." She hung up, put on a sweater, and took her mom's car to his house.

When she got there, Rose looked terrible and his father was drinking. She knew then that Franklin was telling her the truth.

She went to his room like she always had, running up the stairs. She saw him sitting there with tears in his eyes.

"Franklin!" She ran to him.

"Leah, thank you for coming. I just didn't want to be alone." He held her tight. She felt so good to him.

"It's okay, Franklin. You'll be okay. How come you never told me you passed the test?" She touched his face.

"I didn't pass. I failed on purpose, but they are drafting me anyway. For some reason, they chose to pick on the Abagnale men, and I sure as hell don't know why." He sat down with her on his bed.

"Me either, Franklin. Thanks for calling me instead of Erica." She sat down, too.

"I wanted to. I needed you. Erica may be a girl I use only for sex, but Leah, I am in love with you, always have been, and I will never stop loving you, that's why." He got down on one knee, held a ring, and put it on her finger.

"Will you marry me?" Franklin looked into her eyes.

"Franklin, I can't possibly." She thought he was joking again.

"Just say yes." He said it sincerely.

She looked into his eyes and cried. "Yes!"

He hugged her, brought her downstairs to his mother and father, and told them that he had proposed. Jack smiled at his son and congratulated him. Rose was in utter shock that Franklin had proposed. Just then, the phone rang. Franklin answered it.

"Erica!" He looked at Leah and told her he would be in his room. She understood.

*****

When he got upstairs, he started to speak.

"Erica, I hate to do this to you, but I can't be with you." He waited for her to yell at him.

"What?" She knew Franklin hated her, but why was he acting so cruel all of a sudden?

"I know what I said. And I am sorry. But I have to be true to my heart, and my heart loves Leah," he said, holding the phone away from himself.

"Okay, Franklin. If that's what you must do, then fine. I admit it hurts real bad that you led me on, you son of a bitch! You just wanted to fuck. Was that all it was, Franklin? Did I mean nothing?" She started crying.

"No, you weren't just a fuck, Erica. Please understand. I do care about you." He meant that with all his heart.

"Fuck you!" She hung up, crying.

He felt like a bastard, doing this to Erica, but he had to, and he wasn't about to tell her why, either. She didn't need to know.

He hung up and went downstairs to Leah. He grabbed her and carried her up the stairs.

"Franklin, put me down. Please!" She laughed, as he had never done that before.

"Sorry, Leah. I need you now, sweetheart." He had a wicked smile on his face. He lay her on the bed, kissing her. Making her go out of control.

"Leah, I want a baby tonight." He couldn't believe he had said that, but he wanted her.

"What?" She looked into those baby blues and just fell in love with him all over again.

"I want us to make love until we are so tired we create a baby, or at least try." Franklin knew he was way out of his league to ask that of her.

"But Franklin, I can't have a baby now. I am not even out of high school." She stood up, pacing the room, thinking of what he had asked her.

"Next week you will be." He tried to make her see that he needed her in every way possible.

"Why are you afraid? Do you think you are not coming back?" She looked at him. He stared down.

"Leah, my father is a pilot. He will fly. My uncle is a doctor, but I am useless. No doubt I am gonna be in the field, and I possibly could die." He put his hands through his hair, waiting for her to come to him.

"Don't say that. You were never useless. Franklin, you got the best grades in the school." She tried to comfort him, but she knew there was no way in hell he would believe her.

"Sure. Maybe Grandpa will help me find my way if I'm dead," he said out loud, out of frustration.

"Franklin, don't say that. I need you. I love you, and I am terribly sorry that I kicked you." She came to him and knelt at his feet, hugging him.

"It's all right." He smiled and looked down at her.

"Did I hurt you?" Leah looked up at him.

"A little." He clenched when she touched him.

"Sorry." She kissed his thigh.

"You don't have to apologize." He patted her head.

"But I want to." Leah admitted that, although she had felt good about hitting him, she was sorry that she had done that.

"I am so in love with you, Leah." He picked her up and kissed her.

"Is that so?" Erica asked.

"Erica!" Franklin turned around to see Erica standing at his door.

"Asshole!" Erica was really pissed off.

"What are you doing here?" Franklin asked.

"Well, after our phone call, I came to see what this was all about. After what you told me earlier today, I thought we really had something." She walked around, eyeing them.

"Erica, you don't understand. Franklin has to leave you," Leah told her.

"What are you saying, Leah?" Erica asked.

"Franklin is going to Iraq tomorrow," Leah told her, waiting to see if she believed her or not.

"Really? Oh, no. I am sorry, Franklin. I didn't know." She sat down in the chair near his desk.

"I didn't want you to know, Erica." Franklin went up to her.

"But why? We are still friends." Erica did not know why he was doing this to her. Why would he lie?

"I couldn't hurt either of you. Besides, like you said, Erica, we hate each other's guts." Franklin tried to make things right.

"I thought we had gotten past that." Erica looked at him, wanting to punch him.

"We did, but you're not like Leah." He told Erica the truth.

"What do you think I am, Franklin? All body and no brain?" She looked at him, stood up, went to his bed, and sat down.

"No. It's just that Leah knows everything about me, and…well…frankly, you don't." He sat on the bed with her, trying to make her understand why he hadn't told her.

"All right. So you confided in her. So? Why couldn't you tell me?" Erica looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"I don't know. This whole thing is just insane." Franklin was now terribly frustrated.

Erica saw the ring on Leah's finger.

"Leah, is that what I think it is?" Erica asked her.

"Yeah, Erica. Franklin proposed to me." She held up the ring so she could see it better.

"Great!" Erica threw up her hands and shrugged.

Erica sat down, and Leah comforted her.

"Franklin, have you ever thought whether you got me pregnant that night?" Erica looked up at him.

"Nope, Erica. I didn't." He hadn't thought about that at all.

"Well, if I am, you can always see him or her." Erica would not stand in the way of her child's father.

"Thanks, Erica." He went to her and hugged her for understanding him.

"You two hungry or anything?" he asked them.

"Nah. I'm not, Franklin. I should get home. Mom needs me," Leah said, grabbing her car keys.

"Are you sure you don't wanna stay, Leah?" He would have begged, but he didn't want to seem desperate.

"I will see you before you leave. Okay? I promise." Leah kissed his lips.

"Okay." She didn't know, but she broke his heart when she left.

Erica got off his bed and went, too.

"See you, Franklin. Can I write to you?" Erica asked as they walked down the stairs.

"Yeah. I would like that, Erica. You're such a wonderful girl. I am only sorry that I didn't meet you first." He touched her cheek.

"No, Franklin. It's my fault. I never told you I was in love with you." She kissed his cheek.

"It will be okay, Erica. I promise I will come back. Then you can kick my ass." He smiled at her as she started to walk down the driveway.

"You bet I will. Bye, Franklin." She laughed and walked home.

Chapter Twenty-Two
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