When Stars Intertwine

Chapter 48

"No, I'm not going to help you get rid of our child."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Can you even hear yourself?" He asked.

"Loud and clear."

"You're asking me to help you kill our child!" He raised his voice.

"I'm asking you to help me protect our child from the torment of this world!"

"I will not terminate my child!....As long as you're with me, that child will never be a slave."

"What if we get captured tonight or tomorrow and I get sold off somewhere I can never be found?....you will not be there to watch our child whipped and tortured, I will be the...."

"What if we make it to France or whatever safe place we might find ourselves and we've already gotten rid of our child?!" Harry interrupted.

"What if this, what if that?! I'm not taking a gamble on an innocent child!"

"Well I am, it's my child too!"

"It's easier for you to say that because you have no idea what it's like to be a slave!"

"Of course I don't know what it's like, but I've got eyes, I can see all the horrors and you'd be mad to think that's what I want for our child!"

"Then if you were sensible enough, you'd know that by getting rid of it, we are saving it from a lifetime of misery," she said firmly.

The door to the pantry opened.

"I will not have bickering in my house," the old woman said calmly. "I had enough of that with Liam's father and mother.... It didn't end well." She looked at Anna and said, "I know a way, I will help you."

"No you will not! You have no right woman!" Harry roared.

The woman ignored Harry.

"Just remember as I help you that you might be losing the only thing that will give you real pride and joy that you've never experienced before, so, I'll give you tonight to think about it." She turned and said as she closed the door, "if I hear another sound, you're both out of here." 

After a long silence, Harry said, "I'm sorry .... You never told me or gave me any impression that you didn't want children, I would have been more careful."

"We should have been careful either way," she said quietly. At this point wishing she listened to Stacy and drank some cotton root tea. Harry took her hand carefully.

"Anna, if we get captured, they're are killing us. We killed a sheriff and other men. There's no selling you anymore, just death by hanging. We only have two options left.... live or die. If we die the baby dies with us, if we live the baby lives with us." He rubbed a tear from her cheek.

"We have to survive Anna, all three of us."

She choked out a soft cry. He wrapped his hands around her. "We will be okay, we will survive this, we will be a family." He moved back and looked at her, "we'll have a little boy....or girl or both or just boys...."

She smiled tearfully.

"Oh! you're smiling," he grinned. "how I've missed that smile," he added and kissed her.

"I just don't know what to do, I don't even know who I am anymore, I killed people, and now I'm pregnant, on the run," she sniveled.

"Hey, look at me," he said cupping her face, "you did what you had to do to survive and the baby is our blessing, our joy. We have to get through this so we can both hold our baby in our arms..." he smiled wistfully, "you are going to be a great mother."
She blushed.