The words replayed in her head like a broken record. Eden cringed in disgust. She couldn’t understand how this happened. She took her birth control religiously and hadn’t discarded her pack of pills until last week. She couldn’t understand how she was pregnant.

Twelve weeks pregnant to be exact. After knowing what she now knew, the thought of growing Jermaine’s seed made her sick.

“What did I do to deserve this?” Eden asked as tears fell from her eyes.

Her tears were so heavy that they dropped straight to her lap and tore a hole in the paper sheet. It was hard to believe that the man she once loved was someone she didn’t know.

Brenda was stunned by Eden’s outburst. She had known Eden and Jermaine since college. The two of them were inseparable. She needed answers. Brenda tucked her professionalism and got into friend mode.

“Spill the beans Edy. I thought you would’ve been happy about this. The last time we spoke you said-”

“I know what I said the last time we spoke Brenda. Damn,” Eden snapped.

She didn’t mean to be so abrasive, but she couldn’t control her anger. Jermaine had asked her to have his child right before having unprotected sex with her sister. He had played her, and she never saw it coming.

Eve knew that at this moment Eden’s pot was boiling over. The last thing she wanted her to do was snap at their friend.

“Edy, calm down. Brenda didn’t make Jermaine do what he did. Don’t take it out on her,” Eve said soothingly as she ran her hands over her sister’s goose bump covered arm.

Eden sobbed. She knew she was wrong for her snappy response, but she couldn’t help it.

Brenda was accustomed to patients snapping, but when it came to people she knew personally, she snapped back.

“I’m waiting on my apology,” Brenda said as she rolled her neck like a common guttersnipe, instead of the educated doctor that she was.

Eden chuckled.

Anytime her friend transformed from professional physician back to “Beat a bitch Brenda” it was comical to her. She was thankful for the slight distraction because it was the first time she had laughed in weeks.

“I’m sorry Brenda. I didn’t mean to turn on you like you were the enemy. It’s not your fault,”

When Eve suggested she take a pregnancy test, she had no idea that the test results would be positive. Even though giving Jermaine a family was once her heart’s desire, now it was a nightmare. She hated the baby growing in her womb just as much as she hated the man that placed it there. This baby was a trap, a tether to keep her to the man that she no longer desired.

“Apology accepted. But seriously, I want you to stay calm. Babies are a bless-”