Two Weeks (The Baxter Family #5)(36)

He didn’t want to wait for someone else to start talking. “First, thank you, Mom.” Cole looked from her to Elise and back again. “For meeting with us.”

“Of course.” His mom leaned forward in the chair, fully engaged. Ready for whatever came next. Cole had told her just the basics. That Elise was, in fact, pregnant and not happy about it. The other details he wanted his mom to hear for herself. So she wouldn’t come in with any predetermined responses. Just real, genuine conversation.

His mom’s wisdom at its best.

Next to him, Elise crossed her arms and stared at her knees. Cole cared about her more than he wanted to admit. But she needed to let her walls down. He put his arm around her shoulders. “Hey.”

She looked up for a brief moment, then back down again. “Cole . . .” she whispered. “I don’t want to do this.”

His mother must’ve heard her. “Elise, whatever it is, I understand.” She hesitated, her tone kind. “That’s why we’re all here.”

“Please, Elise.” Cole tried to make eye contact with her. He dropped his voice to a whisper. He remembered when she had made up her mind about this visit. The words she had said. “You promised.”

Something about those last words seemed to get Elise’s attention, snap her out of her emotional collapse. She turned to Cole and then to his mom. “I’m sorry.”

His mother waited. Cole, too.

Elise sat a little straighter and took a long breath. She faced his mom and tears filled her eyes. “I’m pregnant, Mrs. Blake. I found out for sure at the crisis pregnancy center.” She sniffed and wiped her tears with the palms of her hands. Her determination seemed to build. “But I’ve already decided . . . I want an abortion.” She paused but not long enough for Cole or his mom to say anything. “It’s not really a . . . a baby yet. I’m not that far along. I found a website that said it was just an embryo, cells and tissue.”

Cole looked at his mother. “Mom . . . I thought maybe if . . . if you told Elise your story . . .”

“Sure.” His mother nodded, and Cole could see the past filling her expression. She wasn’t smiling anymore. “Would you like that, Elise? Do you want to hear what I went through?”

Elise squirmed in her spot on the sofa and finally folded her hands in her lap. As if she was only here to keep her word. “Yes.” She looked at Cole then back to his mom. “Cole says it’s important. I should hear it.”

His mom seemed to think for a minute. Like she was trying to decide where to start. “I moved to Paris after high school. I wanted to be an artist.”

Elise’s eyes lit up for the first time today. She was softening. Anyone could see that. “I’m an artist, too.”

“Yes.” His mother looked interested. “Cole told me. He says you’re very good.”

Cole had seen Elise’s website. It wasn’t public, but it had a dozen paintings she’d done in the last year. All of them were good enough to hang in a gallery. At least Cole thought so.

“He’s kind.” Elise smiled at him. “All the time.” She turned to his mom. “What happened in Paris?”

“I made bad choices.” His mom laced her fingers together and stared at her hands. At her wedding ring, maybe. Then she focused on Elise again. “The details aren’t important, but before I knew it I was pregnant.”

“And you weren’t married?” Elise looked at both of them.

His mom nodded. “Not close.” She took a quick breath. “And my family was this . . . God-loving group. Extraordinary people. All of them. They didn’t do the things I was doing.” A heaviness seemed to land on his mother.

Cole had never actually heard this part. About the rest of the family and how his mom might have felt she didn’t live up to their expectations.

“My mom’s like that.” Elise was definitely more engaged now. “So what did they say?”

“I didn’t tell them at first.” His mom hesitated. “I was a world away in France. I figured I would take care of the situation before anyone knew. So one rainy Friday morning I took a cab to an abortion clinic and paid for the operation.”

Elise’s eyes grew wide. “That . . .” She looked at Cole. “That was . . . ?”

“Cole. Yes.” His mother folded her arms.

Her eyes were shiny, Cole thought, like right before she cried at sad movies.

She took a quick breath. “I paid the girl and an hour later I was lying on a sheet over a cold metal table. And for the first time I heard the voice of God.”

“God’s voice?” Elise was on the edge of her seat. “I don’t understand. He talked to you?”

“I think so.” His mom angled her head. “It’s been a long time, but there was definitely this voice. And it told me to leave that place. Get up. Get dressed and leave. As fast as I could.”

“Wow.” Elise was obviously gripped. Her arms had goose bumps. “Then what?”

“I listened.” His mother looked down again, like even this many years later she couldn’t imagine what she’d almost done. “God was telling me it was wrong. It was murder.” She shook her head. “And I couldn’t kill my baby. No matter how I wound up pregnant.”