Chapter 10

Katherine unwrapped the test and held the little stick in her hand, reading the instructions on the back of the packet. She had to hold it in her stream of urine for a few seconds and then looked at the flimsy paper. Why did the manufacturers have to make it so difficult for women to get a pregnancy test and she looked at the strip dangling from the end of her fingers, manoeuvring the tiny paper between her legs and the seat of the toilet.

Soaking her hand, she drenched the strip in her pee, her heart skipping a beat when she heard the front door slam and checked the bathroom door was locked. She brought her knees up as she withdrew her hand from underneath the toilet seat and put the strip inside the little plastic holder sliding it across and waiting for it to go blue or not.

It mustn't go blue, she mustn't be pregnant. Of course, she had had a bit of tenderness in his breasts, but that could be hormones, or growing up, she was only eighteen after all. It might be breast cancer, or all sorts of things, she didn't have to be pregnant. She may have missed three periods but she was stressed at school, her A Level exams were approaching and they were vitally important, and stress does weird things to the human body, not to mention the fact she was never regular anyway.

She looked down at her bosom, the soreness wasn't the only change, her bra seemed fuller and there was a definite change to the nipples, but this could easily be just growing pains, she was growing into a woman.

Apart from the missed periods there will little to suggest she might be pregnant, and her periods were never like clockwork – she could have two in a month or none, but she had never gone three months before. She had been feeling fine, eating well and although she felt a bit tired, her exams were approaching and she was working hard, she certainly didn't feel pregnant.

Katherine looked down at the strip, two minutes had passed and it was still thinking about it. She washed her hands and sat down to wait on the toilet. Of course, if she was pregnant then it would change everything. She wasn't quite sure who she had sex with around the Christmas Party, if she had had sex, although she had woken up slightly sore so she guessed she might have done but didn't even though if she gave consent or not.

This worried her, could she be carrying the child of a rapist? It didn't bear thinking about and she closed her eyes and looked towards the bath. If she had a child then she would end up sharing a bedroom and staying in the little town, her dreams of going to University would be over.

But she wasn't pregnant and she looked at her watch, four minutes. Just one minute to go so she knew she wasn't pregnant. Obviously she wasn't, she wasn't ready to bring a child into the world and she certainly didn't have the money. She wondered what her friends would say, they would probably call her a slut but she wasn't pregnant, she could feel it. If she was pregnant then surely she would be able to feel the "thing" growing inside of her, and she couldn't so she wasn't knocked up.

With a beep her watch indicated that it was time to look at the pregnancy test and Katherine brought it down from the shelf with an anxious grin.

"Oh fuck," she called out loudly as she looked at the blue line and then had to wipe her eyes to remove the tears. Callum had promised Rachel and her had not had sex that night, so just who was responsible for her baby?

Charlotte brought the coat in tighter as she stood on the corner of the pub car park, waiting for "Ethan" to turn up. He told her 1pm and not a minute later, but it was ten past, the rain was beginning to fall and she needed to speak to him.

At twenty past one, a slick BMW drew up alongside her and he motioned for her to get into the passenger seat. "Ethan," Charlotte asked, her long black hair stuck to her head and he snorted.

"Yeah, bit wet there," he chuckled.

"Well you are bloody late," Charlotte started, her eyes fizzing with annoyance and Ethan pulled his coat back to reveal his shirt cuffs.

"I was dealing with business, someone couldn't or wouldn't pay me," he said with a grin, pointing to the red stain that was clearly visible. His smile turned to a grimace and he stretched. "You owe me one four," he told and Charlotte bit her lip and took out a small bundle of notes."

He snorted. "This isn't one four. Fuck me, you trying to pull a fast one."

Charlotte sighed. "It's eight hundred. I need a bit of time to get the rest."

Ethan pulled his jacket back and stretched his shoulders. "First loan and you try to scam me."

Charlotte squealed and he raised his eyebrows. "Late payment of two hundred and–"

"Two hundred," Charlotte squealed. "Now come on."

"Fuck me lady, your debt now stands at one two, you got two weeks."

"Two weeks," Charlotte cried. "I'll not get it within two weeks." Ethan scowled and grabbed her by the throat, pushing her into his car seat.

"You fucking will." Charlotte squealed and looked down, the blood-stained shirt cuff directly in her eye-line and Ethan snorted. "Unless you want your face rearranging."

He dropped his hand and nodded towards the door. "One two, two weeks time. I'll be in touch." Charlotte sighed and put her hand on the door handle.

"Oh and don't think I don't know where you live. You babe, are Charlotte Wilson, live at 14 Riverbank, have two children, Lewis and Katherine and a husband." Charlotte shrieked.

"How the hell? You leave them alone?"

"Oh I will," Ethan promised with a smirk. "As long as you pay me what you owe. Now get the fuck out of my car, you're making it piss wet through."

Charlotte sighed and opened the car door, stepping out into the rain and watched as her loan shark sped out of the small car park and splashed a couple waiting by the pavement. She groaned and walked towards her house, a fifteen minute walk away, but was distracted: a betting shop with a dozen fruit machines. Surely her luck had to change some time?

By the time she got home, she was cold, wet and miserable – her trip to the bookmakers had been an expensive visit. She opened her front door to the sound of Katherine's music, which was turned down after she called up the stairs and poured herself a large glass of Joseph's whisky.

She muttered to herself and started cooking dinner. Lasagne was a quick tea and was on the table when Lewis and his father arrived home. Her cooking skills were complimented and as Lewis and Katherine filed off towards their bedrooms or someone else's house, both of whom appeared very pre-occupied with themselves

Joseph sidled up to his wife and kissed her on the cheek and then on the lips, driving his tongue into her mouth. She smiled back and looked at him. "Good day at work?"

He nodded. "Very. But I have been very busy," he replied. "And could do with some lovely kisses and cuddles from my gorgeous wife." Charlotte giggled.