Light in the darkness

1. First hello

All nine months passed in a blink of an eye for Alice. Way too fast than she wanted to admit. It still felt like she found out that about her pregnancy yesterday. She couldn't believe she was carrying a child. Her child.

In the beginning, she wasn't even sure how to cope with all of the doubts and fears inside her. Was Alice Smith, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks really going to become a mom in less than nine months?

Impossible.

Well, it wasn't as impossible as it seemed to be for Alice. Even though she couldn't picture herself with a little child, she realized how much she had already loved her baby after revealing the news to Hal.

He was everything, but over the moon with the news. His furious eyes were a picture, Alice couldn't get out of her memory. No matter how badly she wanted to forget this image, she remembered every single detail about his expression.

"We will fix this mistake"

His words were still ringing in her ears as if he said it a few seconds ago. A mistake? It hit her like nothing else before. At that moment she knew that she was going to protect her child at all costs.

It took both Alice and Hal some time to think it all through. The moment Hal came to see her after the biggest fight they had ever had, Alice believed, he changed his mind. Nothing more wrong.

He didn't come to apologize as she thought at first. Instead of taking the responsibility for her and the child, he came up with another idea how to get rid of the child growing under his girlfriend's heart.

Moving into the Sisters of Quiet Mercy facility and arranging a quiet adoption.

A quiet adoption? What was it even supposed to be? Alice swallowed the lump in her throat as she fought back the tears that stung in her eyes.

He truly was about to do everything to see the back of Alice's baby, so did his parents. As it turned out, they agreed to pay for Alice's stay at the Sisters. It shouldn't even surprise her. They were 'the Coopers' after all. The perfect family.

Life wasn't a fairytale and she found out about its cruelty faster than a teenager should. No matter how badly she didn't want to agree to Hal's offer she didn't have another choice.

As a mother, she wanted what's best for her child and the thought of not being able to give it to her baby was the only reason why she agreed to Hal's offer.

If only she could've afforded her baby prosperity. If only she had had more money. If only she had been having made another choice. If only...

***

Alice's head hit the pillow the second, she heard her son's cries. It was over. After a very long and painful delivery, she could finally see her baby for the very first and the very last time in her life.

"You did it great, dear." Sister Jenkins sent the teenager a warm smile and let go of Alice's hand. She was the one Alice was holding onto when she was doing her best to deliver her son into this world.

She couldn't tell if it was the sweat, the tears, or both streaming down her face, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was her beautiful child wrapped in a blue blanket that was keeping him warm.

Sister Jenkins handed a little baby boy over to his mother, despite Sister's Woodhouse stern glance. Alice wasn't supposed to even see her baby, not to mention holding him in her arms. As a facility, they couldn't allow her to bond with a child, who was going to be taken away in a matter of a few minutes.