Matters of the Heart

Abigail grabbed on the door knob and pulled on it as it creaked open. Her eyes widened as she noticed who was behind the door, Angie's eyes lased with disgust as she took one long, hard look at the girl who stole her son from her.

“Abigail”, Angie strode into the tiny, cramped flat Abigail and Austin were temporary living in and studied her surroundings. “I can't believe he left all that luxury to settle in this dump with you”, she turned to face her as Abigail pushed the door behind her and clutched nervously at Austin's sweater she wore when she missed him terribly. It smelt of him and made her feel he was still with her whenever he was at work.

“How did you find us?”, she stuttered nervously as Angie walked towards her

“A pregnant girl and a boy willing to throw away his life stupidly because of her, it wasn't hard for the PI to locate the both of you”, her eyes dropped to Abigail's baby bump and rose her eyes to look at her again.

“I'm sure you're happy now? Aren't you?”, she rose her eyebrow and Abigail blinked in confusion. “That you made Austin turn his back on his family to pursue a life with you?”

“Austin and I love each other”, Abigail retorted with her eyes dropped to the floor. She couldn't stand the way Angie was looking at her, like she was a worthless, piece of pregnant trash.

“You seduced him, and you knew that he would do anything for you. So you trapped him with a baby”

“I didn't mean for any of this to happen”, Abigail felt tears building up in her eyes

“But it did and now my poor son is working his fingers to the bone so that he can take care of you and your-”, she pointed at her baby bump in disgust, struggling to say the next word

“Austin cares about me and this baby”, her voice rose as anger was building up inside her, tears already streaming down her face. “He wants us to be a family”, her voice broke as she couldn't help herself anymore. Angie scoffed mockingly.

“Family?”, she let a bitter laugh. “What do you know about family while your own kicked you out to the curb as soon as they could because you were behaving like a flozzie?”,

Abigail's glowing eyes shot up to Angie's as she continued to hurl insults at her.

“Why are you being so mean?”,she questioned as she found her way to a seat and rubbed her belly, looking down on it

“You'll are nothing but a useless wh*r* Abigail”, Angie continued with the insults, finding it to her satisfaction by seeing Abigail cry. “The last thing I want is for Austin to wake up one day and regret ever running away from home with you because his life will be meaningless at that time”

“He won't”

“Only if you let him go he won't”, Angie stood above her and searched inside her bag and threw an envelope on the table. “A hundred thousand”, she pointed at the envelope. “Take it and disappear”

“What?”

“Take the money and walk out of my sons life Abigail. Give him a chance to live his own life without worrying about having responsibilities weighting him down”, she said and Abigail rose her eyes at her, wiping her tears off.

“If you really love him like you claim you do, let him go”

Abigail placed Emily on the bed and tucked her in, careful not to wake her up. It was already a struggle to get her to sleep because Stephanie secretly gave her a chocolate bar before dinner. When she finally felt asleep on her lap because she grew tired to talking to herself, both her and Stephanie were relived.

After kissing her goodnight, the everyday guilt washed over her as she looked at her daughter's face, she was the splitting image of Austin, especially when she was asleep. She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if she chose to stay? Would they have been the family they've always wanted to be? Would he still love her and their daughter the same way he vowed to when he found out she was pregnant? Would things still be the same?

Those questions haunted her each and every day, but she consoled herself every day that she took the best decision for the both of them. He had big dreams he needed to fulfil. He had been accepted at an accoun