She looked at her bare hands. The large platinum 5-carat wedding ring that she once drooled over was long gone. After being released from jail, Eden had taken the ring back to the hotel and given it to Richelle to pawn. She knew the girl wouldn’t receive the full twenty thousand dollars, but whatever the Pawn shop chose to give her, would be more than she currently had.

“It will be performed upstairs. I’m going to need you to sign a few consent forms once we get you up there and before we get you prepped. When you’re done, the nurse will help get you changed into a gown, then start your I.V. The whole process of getting you prepared, and the evacuation will take about thirty minutes.

You’ll be rolled into the recovery room for an hour after the procedure. After that, you’ll be able to leave. You may experience bleeding and cramping for seven to fourteen days after the procedure. Do you have any questions?” Dr. Young asked.

Eden couldn’t speak. She was ragged with emotion. Instead of speaking, she shook her head left to right slowly, letting Dr. Young know that she had no questions.

She tried to hide the tears forming in her eyes, but the tears fell before she had the chance to wipe them away

“Ok Eden. I’m going to step out while you get dressed. I’ll be back in a couple minutes, then we’ll go upstairs.” Dr. Young said somberly as she stepped out of the examination room.

Brenda said a silent prayer for her friend. She prayed that this chapter of Eden’s life wouldn’t leave her mentally broken.

“I wish you’d reconsider, but I know you won’t.” Eve sighed.

“It’s for the best. I can’t miss a man that was never mine and I can’t miss a baby that I don’t want.” She lied.

Her voice cracked as she spoke. She turned away from Eve, because she knew her sister would be able to tell that she didn’t mean what she was saying.

Eden’s heart ached. In the past she believed that when she became pregnant, she and Jermaine would be in the doctor’s office listening to the heartbeat of their baby together. But he had altered those plans.

“We’re ready Eden.” Brenda said as she cracked the door open and poked her head inside.

Eden cried silently. She was walking into the operating room with two heartbeats and walking out with one. Envy and Jermaine would pay dearly for that.

CHAPTER 5

“An abortion,” Eden thought to herself as she lay in the middle of her childhood bed.

She was in so much pain that she couldn’t think straight. The cramps that ripped through her body were unlike anything she ever experienced. In addition to the cramps, resentment now resided within her.