Hiding Place || Tori Kelly

Romans 12:12

"Baby, that's-"

"I knew it. I knew y-"

"André, it's not yours,"

continued

André's smile dissipated and his joy quickly turned to anger. "I'm sorry, what? You've been stepping out on me?" He said in a voice that was two hops away from calm. Tori dropped her spoon in her bowl and turned towards her husband.

"Of course not," Tori defensively replied. "That's disgusting of you to even think! I would never cheat on you!" Tori fought. André shoved the picture towards Tori with a look of confusion.

"But yet, this baby isn't mine!" He sarcastically yelled. Tori snatched the picture from under André's fingers and shoved the picture in his face.

"We didn't even know each other then!" She yelled, pointing to the date that clearly predated their relationship. He hadn't even noticed that he had completely skipped over the numbers that clearly dated the picture three years before they'd gotten together. "I was in an abusive relationship. I did things that I thought I had to because I didn't want to lose him. We broke up and while I was touring, I found out that I was pregnant. I carried him to twenty weeks before they found the hole in my amniotic sac that had been leaking for a while. He died before I even got to meet him," Tori explained. André's expression softened.

"Tori. I-"

"It's fine. You didn't know. But, did you ever stop to wonder why?" Tori muttered, before taking the picture and leaving out of the kitchen. André felt like a jerk after that. And his cravings started to set back in. He wished that he had read the picture. He wished he could go back. But, now he was forced to reconcile, while staying sober.

Quickly, André followed after her but was met with a door in his face. "Tori, I'm sorry," André yelled through the door. "Come out or open up. We can talk about this. I didn't mean to upset you," he apologized. Silence kept the German basketball player company for a little while before he heard the bedroom door unlock. He slowly entered to see Tori sitting on the bed in tears. "Baby, I'm sorry. I don't know why I would even assume something like that," he whispered. Tori looked up at the man before her but held the picture close to her heart.

"I wanted to tell you for so long, but I didn't want you to look at me differently. I wasn't pure when we got married and I already felt terrible about that. But, the fact that I carried another man's child inside of me, just made it worse. And I know you weren't either, but it's not the same," Tori sulked. André held his hand under her chin and pecked her lips.

"You are perfectly imperfect. I am not in judgment of you, because you know all the things that I've done. So what, I wasn't your first? I'm gonna be your last. That's all that matters to me. And hey, we can make our own baby guilt free. Not to replace the one you lost, but to fill the void. I've always wanted to have kids with you and I think that now that I know this, I want to even more. Clearly, you were meant to be a mother if God allowed you to get pregnant, so why not?" André shrugged. Tori stared blankly at him and held up the picture.

"This is why not! I can't go through another heartbreak like that. I suffered in silence for months, because I was the good Christian girl who didn't have sex with a guy she wasn't married to! And when I got pregnant, I suffered my consequence. I lost my baby, I alienated myself from my family and friends, I did my time. I'm not trying to be punished for something else by losing another child. No. That's why not," Tori replied, before walking into the bathroom and locking herself away for hours. André's skin started to crawl as the incessant hounding of his demons pounded against his skull.

fin

2:30 PM

Tori and Alexa sat in bikini's with their feet in the jacuzzi on Carlos and Alexa's balcony. The guys were getting food from Johnny Rockets and the kids were in the playpen watching the IPad on the other side of the balcony. "I wanna get in so badly," Tori whined, wrapping her arms around her torso, slightly cold.