My Lost Love

Chapter 10 - Changes

"I told him over the phone," Nya began, speaking of her boyfriend Mario. "He was quiet. I wouldn't say speechless but just quiet because he had nothing nice to say. Finally, without a real reaction, he told me we would talk about it the next day. I was waiting for his call all morning but instead he showed up at my doorstep with an envelope full of cash. With the most sincere tone, he told me he wasn't ready to be a father. He just got signed and he was ready to work on his first album." Nya stared straight ahead as the memory played in her mind.

"Just because he's not ready to be a father doesn't mean you're not ready to be a mother." It was so upsetting for Isabella to hear Nya tell this story. "Trust me, you're going to want to keep it." Of course, Isabella didn't believe in abortions but she understood that Nya had her own beliefs. Still, she had to at least try and change her mind.

"I don't know if I can either. My family and I are working on the school and it's coming along great. This will definitely slow me down."

Isabella twitched a smile, trying best to conceal her growing frustration. "Listen, when you laid down with him, you two had to know this was a possibility."

"I never thought of it that way. We were always protective."

Isabella shook her head, knowing Nya was smarter than she seemed. "The only way to be fully protected is to not do it at all." But Nya already knew that. "Listen, when I was a little girl, I remember when my mom got pregnant. It was such a cool experience for me. Watching my mother's stomach grow, feeling the baby kick, buying clothes and toys."

Nya narrowed her eyes in confusion. "I thought you were the youngest."

Isabella looked down to her fiddling fingers. "I am," she said softly. All the memories rushing back to her almost made her cry. She then looked back to Nya. "Look, I've never been pregnant. So I can't really know how you feel. But seeing how my mother grieved when my baby sister's life was taken from her..." Isabella looked away and wiped her tears. "I don't think you would want to go through that. At some point, I just think you'll regret it. I get you may not want to do it alone but you have your family."

Nya smiled at her.

"And you even have me."

"What happened to your baby sister?"

Isabella looked at her with tears still pooling her eyes. "Um, my mom had a stillbirth. I don't know why. I was never told." She sighed heavily. "Her name was Sophia."

Isabella's story did have an impact on Nya. Deep down, she knew it wasn't what she wanted but she just needed to talk to someone about it. Not an ounce of her regretted telling Isabella. But now she needed to tell Michael. Isabella respected Nya's wish to keep quiet about it. Nya was going to tell Michael when they got back to Encino. But day after day she kept putting it off.

~*~

December 1981

Michael noticed a change in his best friend. She lived across the street but always refused to see him. She only ever wanted to talk on the phone. Michael never celebrated his birthday but Nya always felt hers was the most important thing in the world. When she said she wasn't doing anything that year, he knew something was definitely going on with her.

After finishing up some work with his brothers, Michael decided to visit her against her wishes. Her car sat snug in the driveway so there were no excuses as to why she couldn't see him or talk to him. He knew she was home.