"No I f**king well wasn’t. Do you really think I would ruin my entire marriage over a scum bag like him?"
"Why did he make it up then?"
"Because he's a lying cheating scum bag who fancies me."
"So nothing ever happened between you?" Tina asked, trying to get the story straight in her own head.
"Yes." Chloe whispered
"So what happened?"
"Well about a month ago I was having dinner with him because Jason was called to a meeting and so I had to entertain him as I had done so many times before. He was pretty mad about Jason not turning up as apparently they had a contract to sign so when we got back to my house he asked if he could wait inside until Jason came back. I said yes and we went in, watched a movie and had coffee. At about midnight Jason still wasn't back and I went to bed feeling really tired and went out like a light… The next thing I remember was waking up with a man lying on top of me with one hand over my mouth telling me that as my hubbie had done a runner I ought to be a good girl and stay nice and quiet or I'd live to regret it. I struggled and tried to free my self but he was too strong for me." She started crying again and Tina went over to hug her. "He raped me Tina." She said softly "And that's why I came to see you. You were raped and you can tell me what to do."
"I wish I could tell you what to do but I can't. You've just got to try and get on with your life and forget about him."
"I can’t," She said "I want to, I want to forget this whole mess ever happened but I can't. I'm having a baby Tina."
"Oh… Is it his?" Tina asked Chloe, stroking her back trying to make her feel better.
"That's the worst part." Chloe said into Tina's shoulder. "I don't know."
Part four
Tina walked into the spare room to wake Chloe as it was getting on near eleven. As she reached the bed she saw Chloe curled up like a baby with her hands rapped tightly round her stomach and tear stains on her face. Tina wanted to pick her up and tuck her away somewhere safe where all this would stop happening. She looked around her house and remembered her beautiful child, husband, job and baby to come. She had been so wrong about Chloe being less mature than her, if anything it was the other way round. Chloe had been out there in the real world with the drug dealers, police and rapists while Tina had been over here playing mums and dads and worrying over things like weather she'd get that promotion or if the nursery would be ready in time or if Lou would be jealous of the new baby. All though Tina knew what it was like to be raped she had no idea what Chloe was going through. She was pregnant and didn't know who was the father of her baby. It didn’t really matter anyway; neither father wanted anything to do with her or the baby.
She stared down at Chloe wondering if to wake her from her dreams that were making her toss and turn and cry but she didn't think her dreams could be as bad as the reality was. As she pondered over this Chloe opened her eyes.
"Tina?" Chloe asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"Yeah I'm here." Tina said soothingly.
"But where am I?" Asked a confused Chloe
"You at my house." Tina said but when that made no impact she added "in Australia."
"Why?"
"Because of Jason and the baby." Tina said, not wanting to be the one to remind her but not really having a choice. At this news a small tear slid down Chloe's face.
"I thought that was just in my dream." She said quietly: almost ashamed to have forgotten.
"I'm afraid not." She said giving her a reassuring smile.
Tina walked out and left Chloe to get ready. She went down stairs and started cooking a lovely breakfast for her poor friend. It seemed the least she could do after all Chloe had been through. Tina pulled out all the stops and by the time Chloe reappeared there was a breakfast fit for a king lade on the table. Chloe looked much better than she had done the night before Tina was glad to notice. Her hair long was tied back in a plat and her skin was glowing from the bath she'd just had. Her clothes still looked as though they were made for a younger thinner person. They probably were thought Tina: they were made for the old Chloe. As the old friends sat down to breakfast Tina suggested that they should go shopping and get things for their babies. This took Chloe as a shock. Infact in all the time Chloe had been here she didn't think she'd noticed Tina's bump and if she had then she'd made no comment on it. Tina chuckled as Chloe's eyes widened and looked her up and down for the first time in years. Chloe could be so absent minded but you could hardly blame her as she had a lot on her mind.
"Ok then shopping it is." Chloe agreed, wondering how on earth she was going to afford to have a baby when all she had was around a thousand pounds that she'd taken when she cleared out the joint account.
Part five
Chloe was sitting in the small room with a roller in her hand listening to some particularly horrid music with no words. Chloe had always hated this type of music, she thought sounded like people playing guitars very badly and shouting down the microphone. But as this was the only station her radio would get she turned it up. It was better than listening to Tina and Sean arguing about her and in this room there was little else to do. As soon as Tina had found out that Chloe would be staying with them for a while she insisted on re-decorating the spare room for Chloe and the baby. This meant changing the cream walls to a horrid lemon yellow (because the didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl, Tina had said) and getting a nearly new cot for when the baby came. So Chloe sat there listening to the music and waiting for the paint to dry so she could do a second layer, which was about as much fun as watching paint dry. No, it was watching paint dry.
Down stairs the argument went on. It was the same argument they'd had every day since Sean had found out that Chloe was staying and the one they would probably have every day until she left. He said she was there to try and break up their marriage and she said that she was an old friend who needed their help. He would point out that it would mean that they would soon have three children in the house and Tina would say that they would have had three children in the house any way but now they would have four children and two grown ups. It took him a few days to work out that she was calling him a child. And so it went on, each day getting longer as they found some new aspect of Chloe's life to disagree on. It always ended with Shaun storming out to work and Tina crying on the floor.
Today as Chloe slowly made her way down the stairs trying to avoid the broken plates that she'd heard being thrown a few minutes ago she noticed something different. Instead of Tina being crouched by the door crying her heart out she was nowhere to be seen.
"Tina?" Chloe called quietly, trying to see her friend among all the mess.
"Over here." Came a small voice from the near the sofa
"Tina!" Chloe said running over to where she thought her friend was. "What happened?"
"Oh nothing, well the usual and then after he left I got like pain in my stomach and I… I think I'm having my baby."
"You can't be having your baby Tina your only 7 months pregnant."
"I think I'd know better than you if I was having my baby. I have been through this before and I think I know what contractions feel like!"
"Are you sure? I mean it could be those hicks thingies you know the false ones before you have the baby."
"No Chloe this is for real so would you stop bloody messing around and call an ambulance."
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