"You really love that baby... don't you?" Layla asked as she scoured her eyes at Elena's belly.
"With all my heart... as any mother would." She answered.
"Not all mothers love their babies," Layla told her.
"How do you know?" Elena asked, confused.
"Because Lance was adopted. If his mother did love him then he would have grown up a much different man."
"What makes you say that?"
"As I told you before, I know a lot of things..."
Elena gulped. "But I love my baby, I hope you know that. I hope you aren't getting your theory wrong with me."
"I know." Layla sighed a sudden gust of air. "And you would do anything to protect its existence. Like telling your parents or even better yet, your so-called boyfriend."
"I'll tell them. All of them, I just need time."
"All of them?"
"Yes."
"Even Lance?" Layla asked. Elena grazed her eyes at the older woman daringly. Her statement was cold as the January wind and sharp like the cutting edge of a knife.
"Even Lance." She answered later on.
"Why haven't you told him yet?" Layla asked again.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be talking confidential and private matters about my love life with you."
"Oh, I see." Layla cohered as they came past a large mango tree. There were no mangoes on them, its ripening season not being close. "You don't know your boyfriend that well Elena, that guy is a psychopath."
"Oh my god, you're bringing the Lance crap back once again?" Elena asked.
"Elena I'm trying to tell you something. The baby in you, Lance is not a fan of things that are not his."
"Please don't start with that. Just don't."
"You're going to listen to me."
"No, I won't."
"Yes, you will," Layla said as she took Elena's hand. "What are you still doing with him? Are you even in love with him?"
"I am." She responded guiltily.
"No, you're not and it was well written in your face earlier on in the room."
"We had some little understanding. That was all, as normal couples do."
"Tell me that you're happy being with him... tell me and I'll leave him out of this topic. Tell me you're happy."
"I'M NOT! Okay?" Elena blurted at her in a sharp audible crack. Layla took a step back. Elena's voice had shaken her. "I'm not." She shook her head. She sat down on a makeshift bench below the tree.
"Then what are you still doing with him? In Mexico? You went as far as to bring him along to Mexico?"
"I'm frustrated with everything that Ethan put me through, Mrs. Purcell... I really am. I'm trying to pull myself together and it's not been easy. I have him, and he's willing to stay with me here. When I tell him I will not be returning to the States ever again he might opt to stay here with me. Because he loves me and I want to work on something with him."
"Elena, it doesn't have to be him..."
"I have no other choice."
"But you do... Elena, you do have a choice. There are millions of men out there who would take one look at you and fall in love with you on the spot. You are attractive and young and beautiful and trust me, any wise man would be lucky enough to have you."
"Until they figured out that I was gotten pregnant by r*pe."
"They don't have to know about that..." Layla told her, as she looked into Elena's hopeless dark eyes.
"So you want me to continue lying about my child's existence?"
"You're literally lying now? To Lance, your mom, your dad... can't you see it?"
"That is a different situation," Elena mumbled as she got up and walked away. Layla followed her immediately.
"There are people who care for you Elena and trust me Lance is not one of them."
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Elena shouted at the skies as she whipped around, one hand on her belly. "What's wrong with you? You tell me that Lance is bad. You tell me that I'm not supposed to trust him. You and Ethan warn me of how dangerous and bad he is... what the fuck are you guys talking about? Lance Harper? The one and only Lance Harper?"
"Yes, what if I tell you that there's something about him that you have no clue about?"
"SO TELL ME!" Elena hissed as she slammed her hands on her laps.
"It is bad Elena... and I'm sorry I can't tell you. I'm so sorry. But it was bad."
"How do you want me to believe you if you can't tell me?"
"If you want to know... go ask Ethan. It's not my story to tell..."
"When did this happen? Whatever you mean? And I'm sure if there was a thing to be told to me by Ethan, he would have already told me."
"Tell you? And why would he do that?" Layla asked. "So that you would go running to the police to rat Lance out?"
"Wait... it involved cops? Was it that bad that it involved cops?" Elena gasped. "You didn't report him to the authorities?"
"Like you went to report Ethan to the police personally?" Layla asked sarcastically. Elena frowned. "I want you to answer me and I want you to be honest. In another life, if you and Ethan were in that bedroom, and no one ever heard your cries or you crying for help... if the police never found you... would you have gone personally and reported him to the police?"
Elena remembered the incident at the hospital where her mother Lynn had urged her to stand trial to testify against Ethan. She recalled how she had denied from the first moment that her mother had asked her to help put Ethan behind bars. She had refused point-blank.
"No... I wouldn't." She answered her, embarrassed.
"Why?" Layla asked.
"Isn't it too obvious? Its r*pe. And you've seen how everything has turned out badly for me after that day in court."
"It was r*pe, I won't deny it. But deep down Elena you still cared for him-"
"I didn't!" Elena hissed, shaking her head in disagreement.
"He told me you did..."
"That was after I discovered I was pregnant with his baby. How can I go on hating a man when he holds such an important piece of my life?"
"So you love him."
"What?" Elena asked, stuttered.
"You could no longer hate him... so you mean that you love him."
"I didn't say that." She said shaking her head. "I'm not in love with your son anymore, don't get a wrong hint about that."
"But you do care for him...?"
"Yes, I do. He's my baby daddy. That's why and that's only why."
"Ethan cares the same way, if not too much about you Elena... and that's why he sent me here. He's still in love with you from what I could tell." She chuckled. "Elena you have to listen to him... to us. Please."
"He sent you?" Elena asked.
"Yeah. You think I gave a dime about what you were going through?" Layla asked Elena. It was a question that needed no answer. The Purcells had never gone to personally apologize to the Stenfields and more importantly to Elena for what had befallen her. "But when I saw the fear in his eyes for your wellbeing and the concern in his voice, Elena I had to do as he wanted. He may be far away from you but I want you to know that he sleeps every day with you on his mind, and wakes up the same way. He always hopes you're safe and that you're enjoying life as it comes. And he hopes that you will one day find it in your heart to forgive him."