A Secret Hiding Place

Chapter 3: Truth Come to Light

(Unedited, First Draft)

Recap from 'The Kept Secret' epilogue chapter, but in Ayanna pov

Chapter 3: Truth Comes to Light

As the days turned into another week, I felt even more lost with myself. How was I going to raise a baby when I was still a child also? Ryan made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with the baby, so I was on my own with having to figure this all out.

The first thing I needed to do was tell my parents. I could tell they could see something wasn't right about me, but haven't yet asked me about what's going on. I just felt ashamed knowing I had followed right in the same line as they did at my age. They wanted the best for me and being seventeen and pregnant wasn't what they had planned out for me at this age.

It was as if her motherly instinct had kicked in hearing a knock coming from the other side of my bedroom door. I knew it was my mother, and I was too scared to confront her about this journey I had put myself on; I didn't know how she was going to take the new. "What's wrong Ayanna?" she asked, opening the door.

I was laying on my stomach with my face buried in the pillow, trying to forget all this emotional stuff going on around me, "It's nothing mom." I didn't want to tell her, but I knew I couldn't keep it a secret for much longer. "Mom, do you ever regret having me at such a young age?"

I could tell my question startled her, as she let out a heap of air. I was already aware of the past that her and my father shared and the thing she did when she found herself pregnant with me. "Not one moment; you were the best blessing I could ever have at that time," she spoke while whipping the hair from my face.

Knowing then it was time to come clean, I turn and sat up praying that she didn't freak out too badly, "Mom, something happened between Ryan and me that night, we went to prom."

I watch as her eyes grow larger than life has she started understanding what I was going through, "Does he know?"

Tears started falling down my cheek as I shook my head, ""Yes, but he just laughed at me and said I was nothing but a loose girl when it could be anyone's." I then brought my knees up and laid my head down on top of them and started crying once again. "He's the only guy I've ever been with, though, and he knows that."

She started rubbing my back up and down, something she did since I was little to help calm me down when things become too overwhelming for me. "Honey, it's going to be alright. You have your father and me, plus don't forget Ashton. He was worried about you when he heard you crying in here.

Lifting my head and gazing back over to her, I still felt lost and hopeless about everything, "Mom, what am I going to do? You know Dad most likely going to kill Ryan, and this could also break the partnership he was with Mr. D'amore. I don't want this affecting the family."

My mother let out a deep sigh before laying a lit kiss on my temple, "What are you wanting to do, Ayanna?"

I knew she wouldn't like my idea, but it was the only thing I could think about doing, "Go into hiding with the baby, somewhere Ryan can't find me." I wiped the remaining tears and sat up straight. I was done feeling sorry for myself at this point and knew I needed to toughen up. "If he doesn't want anything to do with the baby, then that's his problem, but I'm not going to give up on it."

"Ayanna, I don't think going into hiding will be the best solution. You have to think about the other people in your life and that want to be a part of that baby's life, like Ryan's parents," she explains from her own personal experience.