Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
L ight blinded me as I struggled with the disorientation of being somewhere I shouldn’t be and in a time that wasn’t mine.
The hall was Easter egg yellow with cream Formica flooring, soft music, and landscape photo prints in black frames.
The linger of bleach and fragrance read clinic.
I opened the nearest door, knowing what I had to do, even if it was hard.
I had to tell this Britannia what she’d told me in the other time, before she chose the abortion.
Inside, the glaring brightness faded, leaving me, Britannia, and a petite blonde woman in a lab coat who was handing her a paper cup of medicine.
“Who the hell are you?” Britannia barked. Her blue flowered exam gown wasn’t flattering, but they rarely are.
I raced forward and knocked the pills out of the doctor’s hand. They scattered on the floor as I tugged Britannia off the exam table.
“Sorry, she changed her mind,” I said, pulling Britannia out into the hall and away from the agape doctor. Britannia had gotten over the shock and was now full-on fighting me.
“Get your hands off me.” She pushed me so hard against the wall that it knocked the breath out of me. She turned to go back to the doctor.
I grabbed her arm and hung on as she tried to shake me off. She slapped me hard, her fingernails scraping across my cheek. I didn’t let go.
Holding my burning cheek with my free hand, I spit out, “Look, I’m from the future.
There, you told me you really regretted this, and you wanted the baby.
Whatever choice you are making here needs to be your choice not your father’s.
In that time, you screwed everyone’s lives up because you made a bad decision.
A decision that wasn’t the one you wanted to make.
Don’t have regrets. Choose the life you want to live now.
Trust yourself. Defy your father if that’s what you want. You can thank me later.”
My vision misted and dimmed as security guards stormed down the hall. The nine seconds were up. Britannia’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly before the hall went black.