Confessions of Ashlee: Part One FINISHED
SenkoTwiik:
Chapter 5:
“Okay… so what do you want here?” Mom asked, raising an eyebrow after Sharon didn’t say anything for a moment.
“We have reason to believe that the children in your household are possibly being neglected or abused. You are currently only under investigation. When we receive a tip or a formal report is filed, we are obligated to investigate.”
“Come in.” Mom sighed, after being sure that CPS actually had a warrant to enter and search the house.
CPS was at the house for a total of two hours, searching for evidence of neglect/abuse, examining us and taking statements. Ms. Taylor told my mom that she had received a report against this household, stating that:
-The three younger children weren’t fed enough, and were dressed in raggedy clothing
-Mom was hitting me, Aubrey and Adam
-Mom left Adam, Abbey and Andrew home alone
-Aubrey and I were promiscuous because Mom told us to be, and one of us was pregnant
-We stole and skipped school
-We lived in a filthy house
-Mom, Aubrey and I were on drugs
-We had a physically abusive male figure in the house (father/step-father)
My mom talked the worker through all of those, proving that they were lies, except Aubrey being pregnant.
“Okay, first of all, my kids get plenty of food. Their clothes are normal, not raggedy. My house is nowhere near filthy, and I never leave my kids unless Ashlee or my mom is here to watch them. My oldest daughter is a lesbian, and has been with 1 partner for the past year. My kids go to school everyday unless they’re sick. My daughter Aubrey is a straight A student. We are not on drugs, and I have been single for over 10 years. No adult male lives in this house. The oldest male here is my 6 year old son. My kids don’t steal and I NEVER hit them.”
She had to explain to the worker a little more in depth about the legal situation surrounding Aubrey’s pregnancy. She told the worker that she had no idea that Aubrey was even active until it was too late, and that Richard was facing jail time for the abuse and as soon as the unborn baby was proven his. Mom showed Ms. Taylor all the legal paperwork from her part of the case file to prove that she was telling the truth. Talk of the trail was a long process, full of explaining about the charges of abuse and criminal actions with a minor.
At long last the worker wanted to speak to Aubrey privately to confirm that this was true and that she was in fact pressured and abused by Richard, and that Mom really didn’t have any prior knowledge of these actions. Afterward, CPS confirmed that the report filed against our family was void because of heresy.
So we were out of the woods for at least a little while longer. Things just started to get better again. Aubrey’s appetite was back and she was able to stay awake more often. She had 2 more weeks until the next ultrasound to determine the baby’s gender. We had just gotten into feeling comfortable again when a new can of worms opened with a visit from Grandma.
“Nadya, something has been worrying me.” Grandma started as soon as she entered the house, sitting herself down on the recliner.
“Mhmm…What’s that?” Mom asked, only half paying attention, filing a chipped nail.
“I have been hearing some things when I’m out and about in town. People are saying that your daughter is pregnant, and I think you need to set the record straight so that people won’t think negatively of you. We all know Ashlee’s chosen lifestyle can’t result in pregnancy.” Grandma said slowly, trying to form her words just right to keep from setting Mom off on her.
“Well, Ashlee certainly isn’t pregnant. But it doesn’t really matter what I say to people, they all have their minds made up. And I’m ready to deal with that. As the mom of a teenage mother, I know I am going to face judgment.” Mom replied coolly. She now dropped her file on the couch arm to make eye contact with her mother.
“Mom of a…? But you just said that Ashlee wasn’t pregnant.” Grandma stated, easily confused in her old age.
“She’s not. Aubrey is.” Mom said, with such poise and calm collectiveness. She knew what was going to happen and braced herself for the reaction.
“WHAT?! Nadya what are you talking about? You must be joking!” Grandma stammered.
“Well, if I was joking, that would be a pretty cruel joke for me to make about my own daughter.” Mom replied again.
“What have you gotten her into?” Grandma demanded.
Needless to say, that wasn’t the right question to ask my mom and it sparked an argument of serious proportions. They yelled at each other for a little bit and Aubrey got involved, trying to calm everyone down like she usually did. Grandma went on to say that Aubrey was just a little girl and couldn’t possibly be a good mom, and that it would be unfair for an infant to be under her supervision. Of course mom retorted by saying that Aubrey was a responsible, intelligent young woman that would be a great mom with a little bit of work. Grandma suggested that Aubrey should terminate the pregnancy before it ruined her life, and Mom quickly came to the rescue.
“My daughter was assaulted! And that sure as Hell is not the baby’s fault! This family chooses life. That’s what I have always believed and that’s what I have raised my kid to believe. I will not tolerate someone suggesting that I murder my own grandchild, in my own house! So, no. This is not your place to say anything here. I, for one, am proud of Aubrey. She is doing the best that she can do. What do you want from her?”
They continued to scream and fight about the matter until Aubrey became unable to bear it and ran off to our room. Mom literally shoved Grandma out of the house and told her not to even contact them until she changed her tone, because Aubrey didn’t need anybody to make things more difficult for her.
In a way, I understood my Grandma. Though she was cruel in her words, she meant well. She just didn’t believe Aubrey could be a mother, especially with what she had to learn from. She thought that Aubrey or her child shouldn’t have to suffer for Richard’s actions. But like Mom said, I would never be able to support her in the idea of termination. We just don’t believe in that sort of thing. Besides, Aubrey was four months along, and in our fair state, it would be illegal at this point. I know in my own heart that the thought never once crossed Aubrey’s mind.
But I still agreed with Grandma on the fact that it was going to be a very difficult, maybe even impossible future for my poor sister to have, and part of it was my mom’s fault, just like Grandma said. I still worried about what was going to happen, though not as much in the recent weeks. At first, worry drove me crazy, but then I thought, if there was a way, it would be done, and if there wasn’t… we would cross that bridge when we got to it. I expected failure, but I thought that it did me no good going nuts over it. Neither Aubrey or Mom were worried, and neither of them listened to me anyway, so why should I? So I put it out of my mind, and the worry only cropped up every now and then, when I let myself dwell on the possibilities.
I have to admit, I was very proud of my mom at that moment. The way she stood up for Aubrey like she did was exactly how a mom should defend her children, fiercely. However wrong and stupid she may or may not have been, she wasn’t going to let anybody make life harder on her child. She was right there when Aubrey needed her defense, and it was honestly a touching moment, where it really didn’t matter if she was right or wrong. What mattered was that she was there to help and be a good mom for one shining moment. If she could actually keep that going, then maybe everything really would be all right.
Katie:
oh WOW another brilliant chapter. brilliant doesn't even begin to describe it!
SenkoTwiik:
Chapter 6:
Before Aubrey went in for THE doctor’s appointment, the prosecution lawyer assigned to the case got in contact with mom, who had to be present with Aubrey in court since she was a minor. He said that there was a way now that we could help make the court case go by faster and have Richard and his family out of our hair sooner. Now that Aubrey was at least 16 weeks along, an amniocentesis could be done to determine if the DNA between the baby and Richard matches. That would be the only way to prove he was guilty of anything more than battery.
So that everyone is up to speed, an amniocentesis test is done when a nurse inserts a needle into the abdomen of a pregnant woman and sucks up some of the amniotic fluid from her uterus. The fluid is then sent to a lab for testing. It is usually done to test for a number of genetic disorders including Down Syndrome and Fragile X syndrome.
Mom talked to Aubrey about it and she agreed that it would be a lot easier on her once he wasn’t around to worry about. He had tried calling as well as coming over to our house on a couple of separate occasions, hoping to talk to Aubrey so that they could “work it out.”
He said he loved her and still wanted to be with her. He said that they could fix their problems, and that he could bring himself to love and support ‘her’ baby, still not saying that it was his, when he knew it was. He kept going on about how he has changed and all that. He’s changed…yeah right. As soon as Aubrey would say no, he would go back to yelling at her and threatening her.
He really just wanted her to drop the charges, and was going about it all wrong. Mom got a restraining order put against him and his entire household except Megan. A restraining order would have been impossible with her, since she and Aubrey went to the same school.
She went in for her appointment to get both her amniocentesis test and the ultrasound done on the same day, just to get it out of the way. She was going to get it done and come right home because she had homework to finish and mom had a nail appointment to go to.
Aubrey came back into the house alone, half-smiling. She had her hand on her stomach and winced coming up the steps on the porch. I asked her if she was okay and she nodded, but said that the test was really painful for her and that she hated it and wanted to lie down. I helped her onto the couch and got her a blanket. She said that the nurse was really rough with her and really mean, so her belly was sore. But the DNA had been collected for testing, and the results would take anywhere from 2 weeks to 30 days to be returned. The lawyer had told mom over the phone that Richard was also going to the lab for a DNA test later this week.
“Don’t you want to know the baby’s gender?” Aubrey asked, from her spot on the couch where she was laying. I had gotten up to put the kettle on the stove for hot tea, since it was such a cold day outside.
“Yeah, I was just waiting on you.” I replied, coming back to the recliner to sit down.
“It’s a little girl!” She said with a smile.
“For real? What are you going to name her?” I asked, not sure if she already had names planned or not.
“I haven’t really decided yet. I want to give her something with personality.” Aubrey answered, placing a hand on her chin to think. She suddenly frowned, as if remembering an unfortunate detail. “Ashlee, when I was getting the ultrasound, they said that the baby’s brain didn’t look quite right. What could that mean?”
I looked at her for a second, not sure what she meant. “It didn’t look right? They didn’t tell you anything?” I asked. I didn’t know anything about ultrasounds or brains, so I wasn’t a good person to ask.
“They said some big words, and just that it didn’t look 100% normal. But that they would run another series of tests. The amnio-one was one of them, and they did a blood test too. That same mean nurse gave me this.”
She pulled back her sleeve to show a large bruise starting to form in the crook of her arm.
“Jeez!” I said. It looked painful. “Are you worried?”
“Yeah, of course I’m worried. But they said that her face and neck looked really good, so it probably wasn’t Down Syndrome. They said it could even be nothing at all, just that she is a little slow at this stage of development. But the tests will shed more light on the situation. Until then, I need to stay calm. Stress isn’t good for me or the baby right now.”
Things were uneventful for the next three weeks, as we waited and waited on the results of Aubrey’s test. We were sitting at dinner one evening, just talking about how our days had been and Aubrey mentioned that Mrs. Sellman, the school counselor has been talking to her about the adoption option. The two of them agreed it might be the more positive option.
“Huh?” Mom asked, “You’re thinking about giving the baby up for adoption?”
“I’m thinking about it still. But Mrs. Sellman said that I would be able to continue my life, and the baby would be able to have hers. If I gave her up, she would be put in a good home, and I will have done the best I could to make sure that she was going to be taken care of. I owe her life and I will give her that. But I don’t know if I can be the one to provide the life she deserves.” Aubrey said, slowly and as if she were reading from a script.
“What exactly did Mrs. Sellman tell you?” Mom asked.
“She just said that it was going to be really, really hard for me to finish school and keep my grades up with a baby. She said that I was still young and should be able to do the same things other teenagers do, and that I really didn’t need to ruin my life and my daughter’s because of someone else’s mistakes.”
“That really isn’t any of her business. She’s supposed to be there to listen to you, not preach at you like this.” Mom said, slightly irritated.
I honestly thought that adoption was a good idea. Mrs. Sellman was right, in my eyes anyway. Sure, having a kid didn’t ruin your life. My best friend Tiffanie had a baby and her life was doing okay. She was a home-school student and she still had fun from time to time. But in all truthfulness, she wasn’t an excellent mom. She didn’t have as many things to lose as Aubrey did. But the counselor was right about the fact that maybe another family could take better care of Aubrey’s baby than she could. There were so many couples that wanted children, but couldn’t have them. Maybe this would be a blessing for some loving family. Like Aubrey said, she owed the baby life, whatever that meant. And she really wanted to give a wonderful life but may not be able to. This could have very well been the answer that Aubrey needed.
Over the next couple days, Aubrey seemed uneasy. She always wanted to be alone in our room, or took long showers to be by herself. I think that Mom had secretly talked to her, trying to get her against adoption. I don’t know why she would do that, but it had to have been something like that, because my sister was suddenly going through a mental crisis. She seemed confident of the idea at dinner the other night, but now she didn’t want to talk about it.
Eventually some good news came, temporarily putting the worry out of Aubrey’s mind. Mom came into the house with a copy of the test results in an envelope and gave them to Aubrey when she got home from school. The DNA test was positive. Richard was the father, and that proved his guilt. All we had to do was be at the hearing in court. There was no way we could lose. The results also came up negative on all the genetic problems that it tested for. So the baby did not have Down Syndrome or Fragile X syndrome. According to the test, everything was okay.
However, the day after this, the doctor called the house to make a special appointment with Aubrey, concerning the results of the other tests she took.
Katie:
aww~!wonderful senko! i LOOOOOVED that! I am so scared to see what happens with the baby!
Stelio Kontos:
*eats popcorn while enjoying the drama*
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