Secret Love

Chapter 31

Toni was sitting in the living room trying to stay calm about the situation. She had talked to her mother about it so the boys were with her and Katherine. They'd been hanging out a bunch lately. The surprising thing was that Toni was mad at Janet, just concerned. It had been a couple of days and Janet hadn't even called but based on her location, she was getting closer to LA. Toni had time to think about everything that happened and she came to the conclusion that Janet was doing drugs again but she got the sense that the drugs were just the surface.

She laid down on the couch and closed her eyes. She prayed that Janet was safe and that she was in a good headspace. A door closing woke her up. She didn't know how long she laid there but she knew that it had been long enough. Getting up, she saw that it was Janet. She ran and hugged her. "Baby, I'm so happy you're okay. Don't scare me like that, again." Janet hugged her back.

"I'm sorry, honey." Toni pulled Janet to the couch.

"Sweetie, what's going on?" Janet took a deep breath.

"I've been struggling to stay sober. For a few weeks after you got out of the hospital, I was doing good. Then I just gave in."

"Why, Janet. I told you that it wasn't your fault what happened to me."

"I know, it wasn't that."

"Then what was it?"

"I'm pregnant."

"What?"

"Yeah, about three months."

"What the hell, Janet. That means you got pregnant while I was in the hospital."

"Yeah." Tears came to Toni's eyes.

"You say that you would never cheat on me."

"I know. I didn't."

"How else would you have gott..." That's when Toni felt her heart break. "Oh no. Please tell me what happened didn't happen."

"I can't." Janet's voice broke.

"Do you know who it was?"

"Yeah."

"Why haven't you reported it?"

"Because the guy is just as much of a victim as I am."

"What do you mean?"

"It's too much to explain right now but just know that I would never cheat on you."

"Good."

"Listen. There's some things about you that you don't know and I feel like you need to know these things."

"Okay."

"Firstly, something I never told you was, that I was raped for the first time when I was 11. He was a friend of my father's and when it happened I tried to commit suicide. Ever since then, I've struggled heavily with Bipolar Disorder. Which is only one of my diagnoses."

"Wow. Why didn't you tell me before, baby?"

"Because everyone I've told has either run in the opposite direction or has treated me horribly. Plus, I thought I had control over it."

"Well sweetie, I'm here for you and the baby. Have you been to any appointments?"

"Now I just found out this past week. I should go and get a checkup to make sure that the baby's okay. I'm actually thinking of getting an abortion."

"That makes sense. I don't think I'd be able to have a baby conceived from rape."

"But the thing is if the man had bad intentions than yes, abortion without question but this wasn't like that."