Lola took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure if it was time to respond yet. It was incredibly difficult to hear these things. To hear how they came into her life, to relive it. To see it from his eyes.

“So,” Mark turned to face her, his knee braced on the console. “Do you hate me?”

“Hate you?” she said. “No…”

“No?” he breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m trying to understand…” she began. “You thought I didn’t know anything, but you stayed anyway.”

Mark nodded.

“But who were you working for? When did you meet Kyle? How long did Kyle do this kind of work? When did you stop?” she took a breath. “How far is this, are these even your real names? Am I even O’Neal? Oh my gosh…I’m light headed,” Lola said holding her forehead.

“Lola, geez,” Mark said, rubbing her back. “Take a deep breath. You’re an O’Neal. These are our real names. You met us in time.”

“Met you in time?!” she panicked. “What does that even mean?”

“It means that this story gets deeper.”

“And here I thought you two were just normal guys from the Community College,” she laughed under her breath. Then a thought occurred to her. “Wait, are you even a journalist?”

“Yes, well,” he hesitated, “yes, I do get paid for journalism.”

“But that's not all you get paid for?”

“No.”

***

Lola toyed with the fraying hem on her jean shorts. Mark’s words circled in her mind over and over. She wished she could have asked for more information, but his phone had rung and he apologized as he dashed from the car leaving her alone.
She had driven home slowly, and had managed to pull all the way into the driveway before she had remembered her phone sat on the counter. So, she turned back around to get it, but as she had gone into the house, any feeling of comfort had vanished. This wasn’t her home anymore. It was full of secrets. Secrets that were buried deep within the walls, laden in the carpet. She grabbed her phone and ran back out.

Now, as she sat on her bed she stared out her locked window, her fingers shook, and she tried to focus on what she knew to be fact. She repeated them under her breath. “First, and most important, Kyle was my husband, and I’m pregnant with his child. This is real. Second, he had left me clues to solve an impossible mystery. Third, Mark is here and I‘m not alone,” she said to herself twice.

But as she reviewed her truths, the gray circle of doubt crept in.

Who had Kyle worked for? How much of their life was a lie? Had he ever planned on telling her the truth? What was the truth?

As she rocked back and forth trying to regain control of her heart rate, determined not to have a panic attack, her stomach tightened, and a small sharp twinge stabbed at her side. Her breath stopped. She held very still as sweat perforated her brow. Her belly relaxed for a moment, then spasmed again.

“It’s okay,” she said to herself. “I’m sure this is normal for 25 weeks.” She took a long inhale followed by a slow exhale. Then the pain came back again.

Lola heard footsteps rustling just outside her door.

“Mom?” Lola tried.

Her mom pushed open the door slightly holding a bag of chips. “Lola, these are terrible, you gotta taste it," she laughed. "Honey?”

“Something’s wrong,” she said as tears filled the brim of her eyes and her heart started to race. Her breath shortened and the room began to spend. She sat down as quickly as she could before it all went dark.

***

Lola's eyes flitted open to the bright lights of the hospital room. She felt the all too familiar tubes running from the crook of her elbow up to the IV. She took a deep breath and immediately regretted it as the smell of cleaners burned her nose.

"You're awake!" Her Aunt Myra, wearing the brightest orange skirt and mismatched floral top, set down her crossword puzzle and walked briskly to her bedside.

"You gave us quite the scare! There I was, knee deep in the petunias when Charlie comes running out, you remember Charlie, handsome man I met down there at the skating rink? Anyway, he came running out with the phone saying your mother had called and you were in the hospital again! So I came as fast as I could, straight away! Well, I had to change out of soiled britches, I didn't think they would let me in like that! The first thing I could find was this! Don't tell Charlie though...but this was a gift from Bill last year. Do you remember Bill? Oh that doesn't matter!" She gave a cheerful laugh. Then her face turned serious.

"They said it was stress, sweetie - what brought you here, all those cramps. Praise Jesus they weren't real contractions! They thought it might be best for you to sleep here, just for observation."

Lola tried to force her mind to be more awake, but she was having trouble.

"The baby," she whispered with sudden realization. "She's going to be okay.” Unexpected joy and relief seeped through her.

"Oh sweet child, she is!" Aunt Myra stooped down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I'll tell you what, you get some rest and I will get back to that crossword. There will be plenty of time to talk later." A sheet of paper beside Lola caught her attention, and she picked it up. "Meat and gravy? That's what they're serving you later? I'll go pick you up something good." She winked, and gave her hand a squeeze.

Thank you so much for sharing this with me! This was the last chapter! Now the story will continue using the daily prompts! My goal is to write 2-3 parts each week. For more info about freewrites, visit