Beauty from Ashes

CHAPTER 42

CHAPTER 42

“Have you had an abortion before?” the nurse asks me.

“No.” I’m shaking. I shouldn’t be shaking. This is a safe procedure. Everything I’ve read online promises me that it’s safe. And I’m not alone. Something like twenty or thirty percent of all women in America have done what I’m about to do.

It’s no big deal. Like getting a tooth pulled. Uncomfortable for a short time, but then the problem’s taken care of for good.

I shouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t gotten into that big fight with Jake.

He’ll never forgive me after this.

“Are you ready?” the nurse asks.

I nod my head and sign the form she’s holding on her pink clipboard.

It’s silly for me to be thinking about my foster mom. Not at a time like this. I haven’t talked to Sandy in years. Haven’t thought about her in years. So why am I so worried all of a sudden about what she’d say?

I could always change my mind. I already signed the form, but what’s the nurse going to do? Strap me into the stirrups and force me to go through with it?

I could get up and walk out right now. If I weren’t so stinking mad at Jake, that’s exactly what I’d do.

“All right,” the nurse tells me before she bustles out of the room, “all I need you to do is hop into this gown, and I’ll be back in a few minutes to check up on you.”

My relationship with Jake is never going to recover from this.

And that’s the only reason why I’m here.