“What did she say, Lucy?”
My voice was barely audible, and it took me two tries to get it out. “She . . . she said if I terminated the pregnancy, she wouldn’t press charges against Greg.”
I averted my eyes, unable to look at Drake. He was pro-life and so was I.
“I argued and argued with her, but my mom wouldn’t budge. I told her I loved him, and we were going to make it work. He was enlisting in the Army, and I was going to finish as much school as I could, either get my GED or try to graduate early, and then move to wherever he was. But that didn’t happen.”
My hand went to my stomach in a protective gesture, just as it did back then. “She told me that wasn’t an option. I was an embarrassment to our family, and there was no way I could have a baby at sixteen. That’s when my dad came home. He took one look at us, and my mother started to cry as she explained everything. I’ll never forget it. I’d never seen my dad so disappointed. He didn’t say much except that I needed to listen to my mother, and if I didn’t, he’d be calling his friend in the DA’s office. But I wanted our child.”
Drake pulled me into his arms, but I gently pushed away from him.
“Lucy, let me help you. Did you put the child up for adoption? Is that what happened? I’ll help you see him or her, if that’s what you want.”
I looked up at him, my heart breaking. “My mother wasn’t bluffing. The next day, she gave me the option to either go with her to the clinic or to the police department. I didn’t know what to do; I was so terrified. She took my phone from me, so I couldn’t call Greg.”
Tears were now flowing freely down my face, and I didn’t bother wiping them away. My voice hitched.
“I went online and looked at the laws, and she was right. Because he’d just turned nineteen and I was hours away from being sixteen, it was illegal, and he could go to jail. It broke my heart, but I couldn’t ruin Greg’s life.”
Drake’s face paled, and I knew this was it. Terror struck my soul. So I leaned in and kissed him, knowing it could be the last time our lips met, the last time I’d be able to taste him. Maybe it was unfair of me to do, but I needed it.
When I pulled back from the kiss, I looked into his worried eyes. “I’m so sorry, Drake. I had an abortion.”
His face fell, and suddenly my eyes weren’t the only ones filled with tears. I was sure we’d never recover from this.
Drake stared at me and I went to hug him, but he quickly stood and lowered his head, not allowing me to embrace him.
“I’m sorry you went through this, Lucy, but did you contact a lawyer yourself?” he asked, and I shook my head. “What about this guy, Greg?” Frown lines bracketed his mouth, and the dimples I loved were nowhere to be seen.
“I wasn’t able to talk to him until after. Like I said, my mom took my phone away from me.” I sniffed, trying to regain my composure, but I was a mess. “Plus, he had a future ahead of him. I knew he’d tell me not to do it and he’d take whatever punishment he had coming to him, but I just couldn’t. So I broke up with him, and he went to basic training.”
Drake’s voice was tight when he asked, “Do you still love him?”
“In a way, I think I’ll always love him, but it was young love. It’s not like how I feel now.”
My heart screamed at me to tell Drake I loved him, but now didn’t seem like the right time. Not after all I’d just hit him with.
“Where is he?”
“He died. Well, he went missing after he was deployed to the Middle East, and that’s the last I heard of him, and the last time I saw my parents. But I have more to tell you.”
Drake was leaning against the door with his arms crossed. His body language was so closed off, all I could think of was that he wanted to escape and get away from me.
“My name wasn’t always Lucy Washburn. I was born Abigail Winston.”