An Unexpected Love (Women's Fiction/BWWM Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

her.
    “Stay away from me.” She wailed in her
hands. “I think about that every day. Because of that miscarriage, my body was
never the same. I haven’t been able to get pregnant since.”
    “You can’t blame that on me.” Corrine
burst into tears. “The doctor said you’d have lost the baby anyway. He said—”
    “Shut your mouth before I smack the shit
out of you.”
    “It’s the truth! He said you’d never carry
that baby to term.”
    “ You made sure of that, didn’t you?”
    “This isn’t fair, Val.” Corrine’s lips
trembled. “You’ve put this on me for the last ten years, and it isn’t fair.”
    “You took everything from me.” Valerie
lowered her hands. “Ever since we were kids, you hated me. You were always
jealous, and you still are. Just admit you’re happy I can’t have children.”
    “Stop it!” Corrine slapped tears. “You
know damn well I wouldn’t want that. I love you, Val. I know we’ve had our
problems, but I love you.”
    “Then how come you’ve never shown it?
Today is a good example. You came over here for David, not for me. How many
talks have we had because of what I’m going through?”
    Corrine rubbed her forehead.
    “Everyone else has talked to me over and
over and tried to console me. They know how much it kills me that I can’t have
a baby. Where have you been, Corrine? Where?”
    “You won’t let me be there for you.” She sniffled. “Whenever I try to be nice
to you, you think there’s some hidden agenda.”
    “Because there always is.”
    “You can blame me for a lot of shit.” Corrine
pointed to her. “But don’t blame me for you not having a child. I’ll take the
blame for anything but that.”
    Then she marched out of the room.

 

CHAPTER SIX
    “Having dissociative identity disorder is
just…hard.” The heavy-set black woman with the corn rolls rubbed her hands
together. “Sometimes I feel like I’m from another planet.” She looked at the
small group of people who sat around her in a circle. “What was really
difficult was dealing with what my father had done to me. The different
personalities helped me to forget about being molested.” She looked at Layla,
who glanced away. “I’ve felt like I’ve been in a war with myself for twenty
years. A part of me wanted to conquer my demons, but the other felt I needed to
hang on to them to survive.”
    “How did that make you feel?” Dr.
Livingston scribbled on her notepad. “How hard was it to have to hang on to
these personalities?”
    “It was hard.” A tear ran down the woman’s
chubby cheek. “I felt like if I had someone who truly cared about me, than I
wouldn’t have needed the personalities. It’s like a prison.”
    Layla inhaled and wiggled her foot.
    “There’s no other way to describe it,” the
woman’s voice drifted.
    “Thank you for sharing your story, Janet.”
Dr. Livingston patted Janet’s hand. “Anyone else?”
    The group dropped their heads except for
Cross who’d once again been staring at Layla the entire time.
    “Layla?” Dr. Livingston smiled at her.
“Would you like to say something?”
    Everyone looked at her.
    “I don’t think I’m ready,” she told Dr.
Livingston.
    Cross chuckled. “Is anyone ever ready?”
    The group grinned. Layla tapped her foot.
    “It’s okay.” Dr. Livingston touched Layla’s
thigh. “You know we’re here for you.”
    “It’s just funny.” Layla exhaled into her
palms. “I’ve done this a million times, and it’s never easy.”
    Cross leaned forward and clasped his
hands. His attention irritated yet comforted her at the same time.
    “I checked myself back in because I fell
off the deep end again,” Layla said. “I started hallucinating, and I thought my
house was on fire.”
    Dr. Livingston nodded.
    “It’s amazing how real it all seemed. I
smelled the smoke. I saw the ashes.” She touched her arm. “I felt the heat on
my skin. I…” She clasped her hands.
    “I’m sure that was scary,”