"Did you know?"

"What?"

"Did you know." Josh said slowly with anger evident in his voice. Just by looking into her son's eyes, Karen didn't need to ask what he was talking about, she already knew.

"Raleigh." Karen sighed.

"So you did know. And you didn't tell me. My own mother knew and you didn't fucking tell me!" Josh screamed at her as tears streamed down his face. He didn't care that he was screaming, or even swearing at his own mother. What he cared about was the fact that everyone he cared about betrayed his trust and kept something that big away from him.

"How was I suppose to tell you? It was yours and Raleigh's business, not mine! I didn't want to interfere and I'd hoped Raleigh would have told you herself. I just didn't want to see you hurt."

"You were trying to protect me. Well I'm sick of everyone trying to protect me! And as far as I'm concerned, you and the rest of this god forsaken town can never speak to me again!" Josh ran upstairs and Karen heard his bedroom door slam. There would be no talking to him until tomorrow, when hopefully he had calmed down some.

~*~

Hearing the front door close, Janie went to see who it was. "Ray, where have you been? It's pouring out, do you want to get pneumonia?"

"You know what, Janie? I just ruined any chance what-so-ever I had of getting back with Josh and completely killed his self-esteem. I realize this may be hard for you, but could you try not lecturing me for once?" With that, Raleigh left a very shocked Janie at the bottom of the stairs as she ran upstairs. Slamming her bedroom door closed, she went into the bathroom and leaned against the sink. She slowly allowed her head to come up and she looked at her reflection. She watched as a tear escaped her eye and rolled silently down her flushed cheek. Shaking her head, she softly asked the reflection, "Who are you? This girl isn't me."

Turning around she collapsed against the wall. Bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, Raleigh sobbed into her arms. How do things change so fast?

There was soft knock on the door and Raleigh didn't even bother to say anything or look up to see who had entered her bathroom. She already knew. "I brought you some dry clothes."

Raleigh lifted her head and wiped her tear streaked cheeks. "Thanks."

"Can we talk about something?"

"If you're wanting to tell me ‘I told you so,' you can really keep it to yourself." Janie sighed and shut the bathroom door before sitting on the tile floor beside her little sister. "That's not what I wanted to talk about with you."

"Then what?" Raleigh choked back another sob. She hated crying in front of people, especially her family.

"Do you remember what I told ya'll about Jake?"

"Yeah. You said you told him you were pregnant and he accused you of sleeping with another guy. When you proved that you didn't, he wanted you to get an abortion. So you sent him off. And he never looked back with regret. Why?" What was her sister getting at? And what did any of this have to do with her and Josh?

"Well, I lied."

"You lied. About what exactly?"

"Everything. Mommy and Daddy didn't like him, at all. That was no secret. But he treated me like a princess. He was the greatest man I have ever known. And I screwed things up with him."

"How?"

"I didn't tell him I was pregnant until after the operation. He wanted to know why I had been so quiet around him, why I was acting so different. He did accuse me of cheating, but he wasn't a jerk about it. And I decided I couldn't keep it from him anymore. So I told him and he was devastated. He said there was absolutely no reason for me to have had that done. There was no reason for me to kill our baby. He left because he couldn't be with someone who would do that. Not because I was pregnant to begin with."

Raleigh watched as her older sister wiped the tears from her face. She couldn't think of what to say and no words would come out when she opened her mouth to speak. Janie had had an abortion? Did anyone know this?

"Don't tell mommy and Daddy, ok?"

"The truth? Why not? The man they had thought deserted you because he had gotten you into trouble was really one of the greatest guys Memphis has to offer. And he had left you because you killed his baby. Everyone thinks you had a miscarraige, Janie!"

"I know, Ray. I know that. I just don't want them to think less of me for lying to them all this time. They give you a lot of credit for telling them the truth."

Silence filled the room for a few moments before Raleigh sighed. "So why did you tell me all of this?"

"Because my Memphis guy was exactly like Josh. He adored me and I pushed him away because of one mistake. I just wanted you to know what happened with us. I didn't try hard enough to get him back. Maybe if I had we'd still be together and I wouldn't worry that one day the truth would come back to haunt me. Don't make the same mistake I did. You can get him back."

"He couldn't even stand to look at me when I went after him tonight, Janie. I already lost him."

"Hon, you lost him when you let yourself believe you've lost him."
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