𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐄
Thea Quarts was never loved correctly. Not by her family, nor her lovers. She'd always wore a mask to cover up her families brutal truth, causing her to be unknown to who she truly was as a person. But when she meets a quirky p...
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CHAPTER ONE AND THE WORLD WENT QUIET
In the year: 1939
A DISGRACE. That is what Ethel Quarts had been calling her daughter, Thea, for the last nine months of the unwanted pregnancy. Thea was beginning to think it was her actual name.
While Ethel continued to braid up her hair, Thea sat on the edge of her elegant-styled bed, her feet nuzzled comfortably into fluffy slippers. Her gaze fell to an impregnated belly, and her eyes softened.
"I believe it will be a boy." Thea couldn't help but smile at the thought of her child cradled in her arms.
"What makes you say that?" Ethel questioned with the underlying tone of frustration in her voice, "You have no reason to think anything of this baby...no one will know of this."
"Mother I—" Thea hisses when she feels her mother accidentally pinch her skin. After a few moments of silence, Thea speaks again, "I never meant for this to happen."
"You never meant to be a whore, huh?" Ethel's lips press together into a faint frown. "You never meant to go against your religion and sleep with a man before you have married?"
Of course, that is what her mother was most upset about. Being the wealthy Christian family of Chattanooga, Tennessee, meant being the perfect Christian and the moment you make a mistake is the moment you go against god.
"You seem excited for this child that was never meant to be, why are you happy to carry a sin?" Ethel was now standing in front of her daughter in her nightgown, arms crossed and her black hair in a bun.
Thea was hurt by her mother's words, "How dare you call your grandchild a sin?"
"That is no grandchild of mine." Ethel shakes her head, "And that is no child of yours...what happened to you? You were meant to be the tamed child, Harper and Ava were the only two meant to give me problems."
Becoming slightly snarky, Thea mumbles, "I suppose this was the only way I could get your attention."
"Excuse me?" Ethel squints, waiting for Thea to repeat her words.
Thea only flutters her lashes, "It's nothing."
Thea didn't know what else to say, she didn't want to sound bratty or sound like someone looking for attention but the truth is—she was looking for that attention.
Thea tried not to be angry with her mother. She was just a widow doing her best in a bad situation.
With Ava suffering from such a rollercoaster of emotions every day and Harper's major anxiety problems, it was easy to forget about Thea.
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But Thea always found ways to distract herself, always finding a new shiny thing to fixate on. And for the last nine months, she's been fixated on the baby growing in her stomach day by day.
She couldn't stop daydreaming, she and her child sitting on a porch as they watched the sunrise. Thea's cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much.
"Sleep. Dr. Sinclair will be here first thing in the morning for your check-up, so make sure you're dressed." Ethel ends the conversation there before leaving.
Once Thea was sure her mother was gone, she quickly got comfortable as fast as she could(though limited by her pregnant belly) and rested her back on the headboard of the bed.
Thea softly soothed her belly, smiling sadly, "It's just you and me, baby...I promise that you will be very loved." She continued to whisper sweet things to the baby throughout the night before finally falling into the daze of slumber.
✸
Thea's blood-curdling scream awakened her entire home during their sleep. Fire. That's all Thea could think about. Her insides felt like they were burning and hardening, sending her into a wave of panic.
Her eyes teared, vision blurred before focusing on her mother who came running in as fast as she could. Harper and Ava entered cautiously.
"Breathe, Thea, Dr. Sinclair is on her way." Ethel positions Thea on her back.
Thea was now covered in sweat, the air felt thick, her skin was hot and her face was wet with tears. For just a second of curiosity, she drops her sights on the blood that has now stained her sheets.
So much blood.
Her panic grew further.
"Enough with the screaming, will you?" Ava complained as she stood on the opposite side of the bed with her fingers massaging her temples, "You're having a child not getting stabbed to death."
A faint snort is heard from Harper.
Thea grunts as pressure grows down her body. "...shut up—just shut the hell up!" She wanted to further her sentence but the pain cut her short.
The doorbell is heard ringing.
"Ava, go get the door now."
"But I want to—"
"Now!"
Ava leaves, soon returning with a strawberry blonde with an olive complexion, her uniform looking freshly ironed. "How long?"
"Almost thirty minutes," Ethel answers the doctor.
"Ms. Quarts," Dr. Sinclair makes her way to the front end of the bed, seeing pools of blood coat the sheets. She frowns slightly.
It doesn't go unnoticed by Ethel, "What? What is it?"
Thea looks up worryingly, "what's wrong?"
Dr. Sinclair looks towards Ethel, "She is losing more blood than usual."
