At first, Ethan remembered Ingrid's pregnancy and how she was dealing with it all on her own, perhaps. The fact that his parents had not asked him yet about the pregnancy meant that her secret was safe... at the moment. He felt relieved. But with him locked on the other side of the world, help was the last thing Ingrid was going to receive from him. When he heard Elena's words, he found himself in a confused state. What did pregnancy hold on some women? Ingrid could have terminated hers at the slightest chance, same as Elena. Whatever it did to them, or changed them to these supermoms, he hoped that it was sincere... mostly Elena's. He knew why Ingrid still had hers around... and it wasn't because she wasn't a murderer, or because she was a Catholic girl or a good girl of any sort for that matter. He knew why.
"I'm sorry to ask Elena, but have you talked to Ingrid since... you know?"
"Since you raped me. It's since you raped me!" She reminded him, the somber tone in her voice. "What are you trying to say now? That you didn't do it?" Ethan looked away, embarrassed, and kept quiet. "No, I've not." She told him later on. "We only spoke on the day of the trial. I've never seen her since then."
Ethan closed his eyes before he cleared his throat to speak again. "Could you go and talk to her about the situation-"
"I'm not going back to Washington, Ethan. Whatever Ingrid has to do to deal with her pregnancy, that's on her. It's her problem."
"Elena please... you promised to help her."
"As you promised a lot of things too. By raping me you told me 'no' to those promises, and now I'm telling you 'no' to a promise I made too!" She responded back rudely. He shook his head in disbelief. What had happened to her in that short while? She was cold to him, bitter and showed no remorse.
"What's wrong Elena? Why are you doing this?" He asked, troubled by her brute response.
Elena raised a brow. "You really want me to answer that?" She squeaked. "Ethan I loved you. I was really, really in love with you. I was willing to settle down with you and start our little family together. Me and you, as you had always wanted, and I, as I was hoping for. But then you raped me. You! The man I trusted! And then you lied in court and hurt my feelings even more!" She was now crying again. The mood was none but somber. "Did you really have to lie in court? Did you? Why did you do it? Why lie?"
His eyebrows shot up. "Because I was scared!" He grunted.
"Scared? Of what?"
"Of this." He pointed to his face. "Being away from my family and friends... and mostly being away from you."
"Stop bringing me into your support statements Ethan, I won't feel sorry for you."
"I'm not..." He cried out. He brushed back his hair and shook his head. "Elena I'm not. You don't know how much I wanted to tell the truth that day in court, Elena. I wanted to."
She yelled at him, louder. "So why didn't you?"
"It's because of my stupid father and his manipulation over me."
"Argh! Ethan! Why won't you just accept your mistakes? You just lied so that you could protect your dignity and continued to ruin mine in the process!"
"That's not what I wanted I swear!"
"But yet you did! You made me look like a slut in front of everyone. And it has cost me to this moment. You chose dignity over me. You're just like your father. A man who prefers dignity over honor."
Ethan felt embarrassed. "Elena I had no choice. I didn't want to lose you."
"But Ethan, you hadn't lost me!" Her eyebrows shot straight up and her voice pitched higher. "Ethan, you had a choice! Me or him!"
"You had sent me away Elena, denying to grant me your forgiveness. I had no choice."
"I had lost you. I was over with you. As far as I'm concerned you were gone. But on the other hand, you still had me. And yet you chose your father."
"Elena, he's my father. And he's my family as he was that day... I had to go with him."
"I thought I was your family," Elena mumbled, hurt.
Ethan shook his head sobbing. "At that moment Elena, you weren't."
"Oh?" She scoffed. "It's funny how we are now alike Ethan." Elena drawled.
"Alike?" He asked, confused. She was just full of surprises today. He looked at the ring in his hand. He slid it in his jacket pocket when the officers patrolling hadn't had a keen eye on him.
"You say you didn't see me as a family then... like I don't see you as one now. We are never going to be a family as either of us had hoped for. And we are never going to see each other again, so I might probably say this."
"What? Say what?" Ethan inquired lustily, knocking his crutches to the floor from the leaning spot on the table they had been resting on prior.
"This baby inside me, Ethan... I'm gonna give birth to it. I think it's a boy." Her face glowed up. "I'm gonna have him, and he'll live. He's never going to know you. He's never going to know about the father who raped so that he could be here. The baby will grow and one day perhaps if I'm lucky, I'll find a loving husband, who will take care of us. Nothing will make me happier than that." She said. He could feel the hurt, anger, sincerity, guilt, and happiness embedded together in her statement. She looked assertive.
"Elena... don't do this to me. I'm the father!"
"I know, I know." She cohered, calmly nodding her head. "But you'll never be the dad. I thought that you'd be a man enough to accept your mistakes Ethan, but it looks like you aren't ready yet. Try that and maybe when you get out of here... you'll find a woman who'll give you children that you'll father and dad them. But as for me Ethan, whatever story you were thinking to write with me... forget it. The pen's dry... the ink is over."