The Peters

Pamphlet

[Taissa's POV]

It was 6am and I was wide awake, staring at the ceiling in the dark. It was silent, minus the deep breathing of Evan beside me. Tessa was pregnant. My 15 year old daughter was pregnant. A gasp left my mouth as I began to cry, sitting up and picking up my pillow, shoving it against my face. She was pregnant with Devin's baby. He had to have known that she was my kid. "Babe?" I heard, and dropped the pillow, trying to wipe off my face. "Are you crying?" His voice was sleepy, but I could see him trying to focus on me.

"No." I said, fluffing my pillow with on hand, the other furiously wiping my cheeks again and again but the tears wouldn't stop. The bed side table flicked on as Evan sat up, his face creased with worry.

"Yes you are." He stated, pulling my hands away from my face. "Stop Tai, we're okay. Everything will be okay." I pushed myself against his chest so he'd hug me.

"No, Tessa's pregnant. She was raped. Quinton is going to university next year. And Olivia isn't her happy little self anymore, she's scared and sad."

"That's just since this happened. Tessa will be ok. Olivia will be ok. Quintons just growing up." He tried to assure me, rubbing my back. I laid back down in his arms, letting him whisper sweet nothings in my ear until I was calmed down.

**************

"Let's go." I said, pushing the door to Tessa's room open. She glared at me, shaking her head stubbornly. "Come on. I'll get your dad to carry you out if you can't get up." That made her get up, following me downstairs to the car. She had a doctors appointment for the baby, just to make sure the test wasn't wrong. It made me want to cry again but I couldn't do it in front of her. We drove in silence, her face straight and pale. Her hair was wavy today, I highly doubt she even brushed it. I pulled up and parked, pulling the key out and picking up my purse. 

"I don't wanna do this." She whispered, her lips in a tight line. I could see in her eyes that she was starting to panic.

"It will only be a few minutes, and then we'll know and have options." I said calmly. "It'll be fine." She nodded uncertainly and then got out, I followed. We walked in and took a seat in the waiting room. It was filled with 20-40 year old couples and one very old woman who looked in her late 60's. Tessa picked a chair that wasn't sitting by anyone and I sat next to her, hating the smell of this place. It only took 15 minutes until her name got called. She got up when the nurse came, starting to walk away and stopped looking back at me.

"Why aren't you coming?" She said in a quiet tone, sounding younger than she was. I pushed myself up, feeling kind of happy she said I could come, any other doctors appointments she has I have to wait for her.

"Can you hop up on here please?" The nurse smiled, patting the bed. Tessa did as she asked and hopped up, laying down. "How long do you think you've been pregnant?"

"Maybe a week?" She said very quietly, breathing heavily. I took a seat in a hard black chair and crossed my legs, tapping my fingers against my leg anxiously. The nurse filled out a paper, asking Tessa about her period and weight and more.

"It's too early to see if you are pregnant on the ultrasound, so I need to listen." She said, picking the stethoscope up that hung from her neck and poking the tips in her ears. Tessa used her feet to push her back off the bed so she could lift her shirt up and she could see her abdomen. The nurse put the end of the stethoscope against her stomach, moving it around slowly and then stops her, a smile growing on her face. "There's a strong heartbeat." I closed my eyes, running a palm over my forehead roughly. I heard a whimper and quickly re-opened them. "I'll give you guys a minute." The nurse said, her smile gone now that she saw that this wasn't a happy occasion. Tessa brought her hands up to her eyes, taking ragged breaths as she cried. I pushed myself up, walking to a side of the bed and running a hand over her head.

"We'll deal with it." I whispered, trying to keep myself together. "There's a lot of options."

"I don't want to be pregnant." She grabbed her hair, starting to tug on it with frustration. The nurse came back in maybe two minutes later, eager to move on. Tessa was still a mess, but I sat back down.

"Okay, well that's all we can do for you today. Here's all the options that you can choose from. I booked an appointment for a month from now, just a check up but it can be cancelled if you choose to terminate." She said handing me a card with a date on it, and three pamphlets that had the exact same thing on each.

"Thank you," I gave her a weak smile as she walked out. I pushed myself up again, stuffing the papers into my purse. "Come on," I said softly, biting the inside of my lip everything my eyes would water. "Tessa let's go now." I had to say a bit harsher, but it worked and she got up. Her face with red and wet and she tried to dry it with her sleeve but it was no use. I pulled an arm around her as we walked out; the whole way home she just cried and I had to sit there and take it. I couldn't tell her to stop. I couldn't even cry myself. Everything would make it worse. We got home and Tessa ran to her room, not wanting to see anyone. Evan saw her and immediately his face turned white. I sighed, placed a hand on his back pushing him into the living room.

"She's pregnant." He stated, his voice heavy and upset. I nodded, my lips tightly pressed together. His curls sank with his head, and he pulled me in close. I was on the verge of crying when I saw Olivia out of the corner of my eye, her face now pale too. I couldn't pay attention to her right now because Evan mumbled something.

"What?" I said, pulling away to look at his face.

"An abortion." He said, nodding to himself. I furrowed my eyebrows watching him and his seriousness.

"Ev, we can't decide that." I said, looking him in the eye.

"Yes we can, we're legally allowed to choose for her."

"But we aren't." I growled, when he took a step forward looking over my shoulder to the hall. "Evan, just let it be." I pleaded, putting my hands on his chest. A large breath flew from him and he stepped away, running a hand through his hair angrily. I glanced back to Olivia who was still sitting in the chair, her little mouth open wide in awe.

"Tessa is having a baby?" She whispered to herself, but both of us could here her. It made me want to throw up at the fact that she wasn't joking and I could truthfully tell her that her big sister was pregnant.