Be With Me

Chapter 21

Later when Rafaela was done with her classes, James drove to her university to meet her, he found Cynthia there waiting for her as well.

"James..." She said smiling.

"Hi." He said a bit apprehensive thinking she was going to try and lecture him as well, just like everyone had been doing.

"How are you?"

"I guess I am alright. I am waiting for Rafi. I got her an appointment to a doctor in an hour." He explained.

"Have you guys decided what you want to do?" Cynthia asked looking at him, like studying his face. James looked down at his feet and shook his head.

"Not yet..." He said. "I think I want to keep this baby but I truly don't know what Rafi wants, it's her decision too."

"You want to have the baby?" Rafaela's mother asked rather surprised and James noticed her tone.

"Why is that a surprise? Do you also think it's a mistake to keep the baby? Do you think we're not capable of doing it?"

Cynthia threw her hands in the air in peace. "I am not attacking you, put your guards down." She told him.

"I'm sorry, it's been a hard day..." James excused himself.

"It's not that I don't think you're not capable of doing so, it's that you're both so young, that's all...remember that I am not here to attack you but to try to help."

"I know all that, I'm sorry, really...your husband was in our house this morning and it wasn't nice. Then my father was just pointing out his finger at me like I have done something wrong... Rafi is my girlfriend, we live together it's not like what happened is some sort of a crime!" James tried to explain. "Why is everybody telling what we should do now? No one truly cared, but you... and now everyone thinks they have a say in our decision."

"John was in your house this morning?" Cynthia asked almost ignoring everything he had just said. She got rather stuck on that part.

"He wanted to take Rafi to abort but I didn't let him. He was even aggressive with her I must say." He explained.

"I'm sorry James... I didn't know he had gone there, not at all... God...." Cynthia breathed still shocked with the news. She was about to ask how the whole thing was but they spotted Rafaela coming up. She approached them with a smile on her lips.

"Hi!" She exclaimed kissing James first. She loved when he'd show up by surprise to catch her at the end of classes. "Hi mom."

"Hi Sweetie." Her mother kissed her tenderly.

"I got us an appointment to a doctor, some mother of Corinne's friend suggested this one. We need to go." James told her.

"You got the money?" Rafaela asked surprised.

"Yeah... I'll explain later. We need to go."

"Do you guys mind if I go with you?" Cynthia asked them.

"No mom...not at all." Rafaela said.

They drove to the hospital all in silence. Rafaela was sat by her mother's side and James on the back. He bounced his legs up and down as he looked out at the street, his fingers intertwined in themselves and his hands resting on his knees. He was nervous. Rafaela bit her lower lip constantly feeling her stomach flipping and her mother breathed heavily as they approached their destination.

"We're here." She said parking the car.

James held Rafaela's hand as they made their way inside and Cynthia went to do the check-in at the reception, then, the three of them waited. James continued bouncing his legs as his nerves were taking over and Cynthia patted her daughter's hair feeling her nervous too. After a couple of minutes a nurse called them in.