Free Where Secrets Lie by Donna Marie Lanheady Page A

said.
    Sara’s mouth was agape. “We can what?”
    Brian clasped Sara’s hand in both of his.
    “ If we stay they’ll make you have an abortion.”
    “ But where would we go?”
    “ I’m not sure yet, but if we don’t go, we’ll have to do things their way. Do you want that?”
    Sara pulled her hand away from his.
    “ I already told you I don’t, but Brian, I don’t think I can leave.”
    “ I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do, Sara. It’s up to you.”
    “ We’d miss graduation.”
    “ Yeah, I guess we would.”
    “ That’s crazy, how can we do that?”
    “ I think they’d still give us our diplomas. We’d just miss the ceremony.”
    “ Do you want to leave?” Sara searched Brian’s face for any sign of deception. She needed to know what he really wanted, what he really felt.
    “ No, but I can’t tell you to have an abortion either, I just can’t. If you want to have one, I’ll be there for you. If you want to leave, I’ll do that. I just want you to be happy.”
    Brian was doing his best to be supportive, but in essence, he was leaving everything up to her, and it was too much to decide in an instant.
    “ I don’t know what to do, I need to think about it.”
    “ Ok, but we don’t have much time. If we’re going to leave, we have to do it before Friday.”
    ~
    Sara went to bed that night without a resolution. The pleading from her inner voice came back with a vengeance. Running away was in a whole different league than getting married. Brian was on the verge of making huge sacrifices without knowing everything about the baby’s possible origins.
    Sara couldn’t justify keeping the entire truth from him anymore, but how could she tell him now? No matter what she chose, the repercussions could be calamitous. There didn’t appear to be a right answer.
    After a restless night, sudden pain disrupted her sleep, and the sensation of wetness brought her awake. It was early morning, still dark outside, and she stumbled to the bathroom that connected her bedroom with her sister’s. Once there, she closed the door to Katie’s room before she turned on the light.
    As soon as she reached the toilet, a gush of liquid flowed from her as though she were urinating. She looked into the bowl and was startled that it was a deep, dark red. While she stared at it, another stream of blood began to escape. She tried to hold it in, but her contracting muscles could not stem the flow. Watching the blood pour out of her body precipitated a surge of panic.
    She almost called out for Katie to go wake up their mother, but another flow started, and she gritted her teeth against the cramp that accompanied it. When it ended, she could see pieces in the toilet that looked like clots of blood. She flushed the water and did not look into the bowl again.
    She pulled a bath towel off the rack on the wall, rolled it into a tight cylinder, and laid it against her stomach. She placed her forearms on the towel and leaned over, which forced the towel to press against the waves of cramps that continued to rack her body.
    Sara shut her eyes and willed the sun to come up and, with its rise, bring her mother to her side.
    ~
    Lee situated another pillow beneath Sara’s head.
    “ How’s that, honey?”
    “ It’s good, Mom.”
    Sara was ensconced in her bed with every imaginable whim within her reach. The novel she was reading and her favorite magazines lay next to her on the bed along with the remote control for the television, which usually resided in her parents’ bedroom. A steaming cup of chicken broth, a glass of apple juice, and a plate of saltines were on the nightstand as well as a dainty antique silver table bell, which Lee always gave to them whenever they were sick.
    Lee had discovered the bell at a flea market when the girls were still quite young. They were supposed to ring it when they wanted to call for her, but Lee was so adept at anticipating their needs that they rarely got the chance to