"Are you are pregnant Tamia?!" Lorraine exclaimed as she barged into the bathroom where Tamia was standing naked after a bath.
Tamia found out that she was pregnant about six weeks into her pregnancy. With no idea of how she would go about revealing the news to her parents, she decided that I'd be best to keep the detail of such a fiasco, to herself.
Though Tamia's body was changing rapidly and the need for her monthly supply of feminine products had subsided, she continued to collect the items in an effort to ward off any suspicion which may arise.
With every passing month, it became harder for her to disguise her now protruding belly bump. After consulting with her friends who encouraged her to talk to her parents about it, she was set on doing just that. However, fear had become her best mate and no matter how hard she tried she could not escape the hold of it's piercing fangs. Causing her to defer the matter to a date which, in her view, would be deemed more appropriate. But even after after five months the opportunity still hasn't presented itself.
The towel collapsed on the ground as her mouth flew open. How could she be so foolish as to leave the door open? She searched deep inside her brain for the best response to give her mother but it seemed as though both her mouth and her brain were experiencing paralysis.
"Tamia, I'm speaking to you!" Lorraine demanded.
But still Tamia was unable to respond.
"Answer me goddamn it!" She shouted, punching the door then stepping towards a trembling Tamia.
"Yes!" She muttered in a brittle tone.
"What?! When did this happen? Tamia, I don't understand how you could keep something like this from me, I am your... I just can't..." Lorraine responded as she shook her head profusely. Turning on her heel she stormed out of the bathroom.
With a sob of despair, Tamia threw herself onto the floor as tears gently cascade down her cheeks.
"What am I going to do?" She wondered. Tamia was became more perplexed by the decision she made to carry her unborn child to full term without even the assurance of who the real father is.
When Tamia first discovered she was pregnant she had every intentions of termination the pregnancy. But her mind quickly changed the day she went to the Center for Termination of Pregnancies.
Minutes away from having the abortion she thought she wanted, each second felt like a second closer to murder rather than the blessed relief she had imagined.
Overwhelmed with guilt and fighting back tears, she was led by two nurses into the operating theater. The doctor, a fatherly-looking man in his late fifties, was sitting awaiting her arrival. He was kind and reassuring.
"Tamia," he said. "Are you ready? If so, we will give you an injection in the back of your hand then transfer you to the table. Is there anything you would like to say?"
"Yes," she answered. "I'm really sorry, but I've changed my mind." Instead of being upset or annoyed with her for wasting their times the members of the team seemed to be overcome with a sudden, unexpected euphoria.
The doctor broke out into a huge smile,"Congratulations! Well done, you won't regret it. Even though you are young and it may be difficult at times, you will overcome all those obstacles. Though I perform many abortion procedure, it's not something I enjoy doing. I myself have three kids and I couldn't imagine my life without them, though they can be such pain in the rear sometimes." He chuckled.
The two nurses who had led her into the operating theater - with, she thought, slightly disapproving eyes - seemed delighted and relieved about her decision.
One of them even told her how she'd been trying for a baby for years, without success and she didn't understand how women who are blessed with the ability to conceive would do such an awful thing like have an abortion. "You are won't regret the decision you've just made. It's a wonderful, beautiful thing- a blessing from God and I wish you the best of luck" she said with a reassuring smile.
As Tamia reflected on the selfless decision she has made to keep her child she wondered if it was, in fact, the best choice. At somewhere between five and five and a half months into her pregnancy, she has found it harder to manage on my own. She has tried contacting- on numerous occasions, the three guys she slept with that month she thought she conceived, but as soon as she told them the situation they have all become unobtainable...
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Finally managing to compose herself, Tamia wrapped herself into a towel and made her way to her room. She searched through her closet, in an attempt to find a sweat suit that was loose enough to fit her now protruding belly bump. Recently it has become very hard to find an outfit that fits, she has moved from 123 lbs to 155 lbs in a matter a of months.
"I don't understand you, Tamia! Your father and I have been working very hard to ensure that you get the best education and everything to your comfort. How could you do something so careless and stupid? What is the matter with you?" Her mother belted out as she barged into Tamia's room uninvited. Tamia wasn't surprised, she knew that sooner or later her mother would've been back for answers.
"Mom I'm sorry I didn't mean for this to happen, it was a mistake... I wanted to tell you, but I just didn't know how to!"
"What do you mean by it was a mistake? Huh? Was the guy's penis mistakenly plunged inside you?..And what do you mean by you didn't know how to tell me? Have I ever been hard on you at any point, huh? I have always been lenient, but maybe that wasn't good enough, I should have been more difficult-- stricter..."
"Mom, please, I promise I will get a job and be more responsible, I know you did your best... I'm so sorry to disappoint you, I understand your anger, I will move out!"
"Tamia, shut your damn mouth because all you are doing is making things worst, we need to sit and discuss this with your father as soon as he gets home!"
Silence echoed between the two. Tamia didn't know what more to say, she couldn't argue with her mom, but she wasn't sure whether or not she was ready to sit and have a discuss-- especially with her father. Her father can be a very difficult person, she knew that he won't take things as easily as her mom did and that's because he has warned her, on several occasions, about these kinds of situation.
She was often warned about how difficult it was for him growing up because her grandmother gave birth to her father at the tender age of fifteen.
"How far along are you?" Asked Lorraine with her hand positioning on both of her hips.
"Huh?" Asked Tamia not certain whether or not she didn't hear the question or if she just wanted her to repeat for emphasis.
"I said how far along are you? Do you know?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it's somewhere between five or five and a half months," She replied skeptically.
"What?! Tamia how the hell did you manage to hide this for so long?! I mean, wait didn't you collect your feminine products last month? What did you do with them?"
"Yes I did!" she cried "If I didn't then you would've been suspicious! Mom I'm really sorry, I wasn't thinking strai..."
With the raise of her hand, Lorraine shook her head in frustration, cutting Tamia off from what she was about to say. One thing Tamia knew Lorraine didn't like and that's pleading for mercy for something which could've been avoided.
"You keep saying you are sorry, but I don't get why you didn't tell me! Who is the father, I need to have a word with him!" She asked firmly.
"Uuuum" That was her only response.
"What?" She chuckled, a kind of serious half-hearted abrupt chuckle. "Do you mean to tell me that you don't know who the father of your child is? Young lady, I think I brought you up better than this. I always say to you that actions have consequences, you can't just go around making stupid decisions and don't expect to face the consequences. So do you know who it could possibly be?"
"Yes, well... Kinda, it's one of three guys."
"Three guys?! Oh, my god, Tamia are you serious?! I can't believe you are my daughter, I just can't! Where are your values, young lady?!" She continued. "Listen to me Tamia, you need to contact those three guys and find the father of this baby. I'm not going to allow my grandchild to be grown without a father in his or her life, you've made a grown up decision of conceiving a child so you need to make the adult decision of finding the father!"
The reaction Tamia received was expected, but somehow she felt as if she was caught off guard.
"Mom?" She said softly, trying to get her mother's attention who was fidgeting anxiously.
"I think there may be other guys involved!"
"What?!"