Olivia by M'Renee Allen

The Past
     
     
    She never wanted kids.
    She was happy with her life, just the way it was. Clara O’Toole stared down at her belly. It seemed even larger today than it had yesterday. Her old clothing no longer fit. She was forced to wear the hand me downs her neighbors had given her.
    It was embarrassing, demeaning. Women of her stature didn’t wear hand me downs. But her husband, Roger, said the economy was too bad for her to continue spending money the way she had been. They had to save for the baby, he said.
    She didn’t want to save for the baby. She didn’t want this baby, period. This whole experience was turning into a nightmare. Clara had thought marrying the town’s wealthiest man would grant her the freedom and riches she desired. The youngest of six, no one had ever expected her to marry so well.
    In truth, she hadn’t expected it either. But Roger had moved to the small town of Ellisville and fell in love with her the moment he laid eyes on her. For months he’d given her whatever she wanted, until a tornado came through town and destroyed most of the homes.
    Having lost almost everything, the people no longer flocked to the clothing store Roger owned which meant he wasn’t spoiling her the way he once had been. However, the drastic state of their finances wasn’t dampening the happiness he felt over her being pregnant.
    If anything it was making him feel optimistic. He already had names picked out for the child she was carrying. If it was a boy, the child would be named Roger after him. If it’s a girl, they would name her Olivia, after his grandmother.
    Clara didn’t care what the baby was called. She saw this child for what it was, a money grabbing distraction that was going to force her to gain weight and eventually lose her husband’s interest. Soon, she would be just like all the other fat cows walking up and down the aisles of her dad’s small church. She would no longer be known as pretty little Clara Rose. And it was this baby’s fault.
    If only there was something she could do to get rid of it.
     

Chapter One
     

The Doll
     
     
    “Ayanna make sure you pack your tooth brush,” Dana called upstairs to her six-year-old daughter who was getting ready to spend her first weekend with her dad since he and Dana got divorced.
    “Okay mommy.”
    Holding her house phone to her ear, Dana walked away from the staircase and back into the kitchen where she finished wrapping turkey sandwiches for her daughter to take with her. Her ex-husband didn’t like to cook.
    Though she knew he wouldn’t let their child starve, she wanted her baby to eat something besides pizza and hamburgers. Dana listened as her mother chatted away on the other end of the phone.
    “Dana, are you sure you can afford this new house? And why did you have to move all the way to Ellisville Mississippi. That’s the most backwoods place I’ve ever heard of. I got the picture you sent me. There are no houses around you. You’d have to go miles to reach your nearest neighbor. Who will you run to if you need help? You should’ve just moved next door to me.”
    And have you dictate how I raise my child, no thanks, Dana thought. But that wasn’t what she said.
    “Ma, how many times do I have to tell you that Ayanna and I needed a fresh start?”
    “Yeah, that’s what you say. But I know the real reason why you moved there,” Harriet continued as if her daughter hadn’t spoken. “You’re trying to get as far away from that bastard ex-husband of yours as you can.”
    “Mama!”
    “Well he is a bastard. I knew his mama and that woman was loose back in the day. She probably has no idea who his father is. And Kelvin is just like her. I don’t know why you’re allowing my granddaughter to go stay with him, and by herself? Even when you were married he never kept her alone. What if he loses her?”
    Dana rolled her eyes. Her mom was constantly telling her how it wasn’t wise for her to let Ayanna visit Kelvin by herself.