Rewritten (Unwritten Book 2) (3 page)

He puts his hand on my shoulder, offering his condolences.

I look at him, even more confused now. “Are you serious? There’s a chance she could come out of this?”

“Now, don’t get me wrong. That was one case. One, unbelievable case, but yes, there is a chance.” He looks at me, giving me a does-that-make-sense look.

I nod, “Thanks Doctor.”

“I take it that is the road you want to take? Keep her alive for the chance… Maybe we could have two miracles on our hands,” the doctor smiles fondly.

I look to Diane with my eyes open wide. “Um… uh… yeah…” I stutter, not sure what else to say.

“Ok then. We will keep you posted. This has been a really interesting case so far. Who knows, the birth of your child could make world-wide news if Jacquelyn wakes up.” He turns to walk out the door leaving us alone.

Diane sits with her hands covering her mouth, in shock once again. She’s speechless and stares blankly at me.

“What do I do now?” I say, genuinely asking her opinion.

“Charlie, I am so sorry. I am not sure what you should do. What do you want?”

“Fuck Diane, I don’t know. And now there’s a chance she might actually wake up?” I turn around throwing my arms in the air.

“Well, what is your situation with my daughter?”

“Situation? Really Diane? I told you, we’re together.”

“Did you choose to tell her about Jacquelyn?”

I turn around, frustrated, “Choose to tell her? Are you kidding me right now? Of course I told her. We love each other, Diane.”

“Ok, so what was her response?”

I drop to the seat again, putting my head back in my hands, “She said it was up to me. How do I know what to do? But now it looks like I don’t even have a choice. I can’t tell them now, ‘No, I don’t care about this crazy woman who’s pregnant with my child, and now that there’s a chance she could live, definitely pull the plug.’ Fuck, that would send up red flags everywhere. But,” I pause, “I have no other family. This could be my chance. My child…” my voice cracks as I try to fight back tears.

“Has this ever happened before? I mean, to any of your escorts or clients, the pregnancy thing? You’ve been doing this for how many years now? Something like this has had to have happened…” I’m searching for anything that will help make up my mind.

Diane sits down, tilting her head to the ceiling, sighing deeply.

“What? What is it Diane? What happened?”

“Oh, Charlie,” she shakes her head, “shoot, we were able to live the last twenty-five years with only Nichole discovering the truth. I was really hoping she would never know.”

“Who are you talking about? Know what?”

Diane hides her face in her hands, shaking her head as tears fall down her face.

“Tell me Diane, what are you talking about? What does Nichole know?”

“Charlie,” she pleads, “You have to promise to keep this between us, our little secret. I really do not want Allison to find out the truth.”

“What? No Diane, I love Allison, I won’t keep anything from her but you need to tell me what’s going on.”

“Please, she does not need to know,” her voice cracking with what sounds like fear.

“Diane, tell me.”

Diane looks down, whispering her confession, “Charlie, I am not Allison’s birth mother.”

“What? What does that mean? Who is? How does she not know that?”

“Oh, Charlie, we were all so young and living a carefree, fabulous life in San Francisco where everyone loved everyone. We thought we were invincible.”

“And…”

She takes a deep breath, “Allison’s father and I enjoyed a very open, sexual life. We love each other and have never cheated on each other but we would, um, welcome other sexual partners into our lives,” she pauses looking around the room at everything but me before she continues.

“A female we would welcome often was my best friend, or whom I thought was my best friend, Robin. Charlie, there is a reason I stress so much about you supplying the condom and always making sure that you discard it by either keeping it with you or flushing it in the restroom.”

“Yes, so what did she do?”

“My husband and I never worried about protection when we were making love but when we welcomed other people into our bedroom, Kevin decided he should wear one. Using a condom was so new back then and we never paid attention to them, especially when we were with her. Turns out she was jealous of our life, my life really, and she wanted Kevin for herself. She purposely got pregnant by poking holes in the condom.”

“And Allison…?” I ask in disbelief.

“Yes Charlie, Allison was the result of that poked hole.”

“So wait, where’s Robin? How does Allison not know her birth mom?”

“That was such a horrible time in our lives. We already had Nichole and did not intend on having any other children, especially with someone else.”

“So…?”

“Robin was ecstatic as this was exactly what she wanted. Her little plan had worked perfectly. She, of course, made the situation worse and really strained my relationship with Kevin. I accused Kevin of having an affair with her outside of our threesomes. It was not until I found the condom wrapper, randomly, one day under our bed. I noticed it was a different brand than what Kevin would normally purchase. I held it up to show him to accuse him more of a possible affair and that is when I saw the pinholes through it. Then things got turned all upside down. With Robin I mean, Kevin and I were mending our relationship. So, we did the only thing we could back then. We got ready for a baby in our lives and tried to work out how we would work custody with Robin, which was horrible since I was absolutely disgusted with her. I never understood how she could do something like this on purpose.”

“Ok, so where’s Robin now?”

She sighs again, “Charlie, she had complications and passed away during child birth.”

“What?”

“I know. I have always felt regretful that I was happy she passed, she got what she deserved.”

I look up, shocked at what just came out of her mouth.

“I know. I am a horrible human being. But it was the truth.”

“So then you just raised Allison as your own?”

“Well, yes, she was. Well, she was my husband’s. When I first saw her though, I knew it happened for a reason and I loved her just as much as the day I first held Nichole. We decided to never tell her and to live our lives like I was her mother.”

“Ok, wait, Nichole and her are what, four years apart? So how does Nichole know? She can’t remember something like that being so young.”

“Nichole found out the truth when she was thirteen. She needed her birth certificate and mindlessly I told her where they were. When she saw Allison’s she saw Robin’s name down as her birth mother.”

“Wow, so you told her everything?”

“Oh no, how do you explain that to a teenager? She just assumed that Kevin had an affair and I thought it was easier to brush it under the rug and let her believe that. We were trying to teach her about abstinence at the time, not the possibilities of threesomes. Kevin doesn’t know she saw the birth certificates. I have regretted leading her to believe Kevin had an affair ever since. I see her with men now and I know she acts allusive with them because of my lies that men cannot be faithful. Then when her only boyfriend cheated on her…” she looks down shaking her head not finishing her thought. “She’s never been close with Kevin either. I was just so terrified she would tell Allison. I was willing to do anything to protect our secret.”

“So, let me get this straight, you guys had a threesome, this Robin chick got pregnant on purpose, the baby was Allison and you let Nichole believe all these years that your husband cheated on you rather than explain the truth?”

She looks up, ashamed, “Yes…”

“Man, you’re a piece of work.”

“Charlie, I know. I have made some poor decisions with my life. But this, I cannot tell you how sorry I am.”

“You have to tell Allison.”

“No! No, Charlie. She already hates me. If she finds out I am not her birth mother she will think she never has to forgive me.”

“I can’t keep this from her. If you don’t tell her, I will.”

“Just wait. Please. I
cannot
tell her over the telephone. If she has to find out about this it needs to come from me, and I would prefer that she finds out in person.”

“Fuck, Diane, how do I keep this from her?”

“Please, Charlie. She will hate me even more if she hears it from you. If I have to tell her then I promise I will tell her when she is back from Paris.”

“You promise? As soon as she arrives back here?”

“Yes, Charlie. I promise,” she starts to cry.

I’m so numb from this whole situation that I don’t even think to comfort her. I just stare off into space before mumbling as I walk out the door.

I
t’s one in the afternoon in Paris and I just finished my first show as the lead photographer. Once I’m alone I can’t help but jump and up down, excited it went so well. This is exactly what I needed. Something to get my mind off of this baby and what is going to happen with Charlie. I still have no idea. Really, I don’t even want to think about it. I’m at that stage where I just want to close my eyes and put my hands over my ears saying, “La, la, la, la, la,” like I don’t hear or see what’s going on. I know I can’t do it forever but it’s helping me get through the day for now.

Not thinking about the time zone difference, I pick up my phone to Skype Charlie. It’s four in the morning in San Francisco and I feel horrible when I hear the sleep in Charlie’s voice as he answers. “Hmm, morning love,” he says yawning and stretching out his arms.

“Oh, Charlie, I’m so sorry. I forgot you’re in a different time zone. Were you asleep?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m always happy to hear from you, no matter what time it is. How is your day going?”

“Oh, Charlie! I just finished my first show as lead photographer!” I’m smiling from ear to ear, jumping up and down.

He laughs, “You’re so cute. I’m still trying to get my eyes to focus and all I can see is you jumping up and down with the phone. I love you so much.”

I laugh, trying to stand more still. “I love you, too, baby.”

“I’m so proud of you. So tell me about it.”

“It was amazing. Everything I have ever wanted. I can’t wait to upload them. God, I hope Alex is happy with them.”