Unbroken

Lamar yells, “Ain’t nobody gonna want you after me. You got two kids. Your body is sloppy, and I’ll tell everyone you slept with all my friends.”

Katelynn’s eyes swell with tears, her vision blurring as his words sink in. This is the man she thought she loved. They have been together almost three years. They share a one year old son and a six month old daughter. Her chest tightens, and the room feels suddenly too small, the air thick and heavy.

Lamar notices her crying and laughs. “My girl is about to pull up.”

Anger cuts through her sadness. “You are seriously telling another woman to pull up to my house?”

“Yeah,” Lamar says. “She’s a real woman. She has her own everything, and she takes care of me.”

Something inside Katelynn snaps. She starts throwing his clothes at him, shirts and shoes flying across the room, anything she can grab. Fabric slaps against the walls and the floor. Lamar laughs harder, the sound sharp and cruel.

“You are weak,” he says.

He grabs his bag and walks out the door. Moments later, a small brown car pulls into the driveway. He gets in, and they drive away, the engine fading into the distance.

Katelynn sinks onto the living room floor, her body heavy, defeated by the exchange. Her phone buzzes. A text lights up the screen. “I don’t want you or the kids.”

Her fingers go numb as she drops the phone. Her one year old crawls over to her, his small hands pressing into her chest as he settles against her, warm and trusting. She wraps an arm around him as sobs shake her body.

Staring at the ceiling, she feels a deep sense of disgust with herself and with how she allowed this relationship to reach this point.

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Over the next few hours, Katelynn pulls herself together and bathes the children, washing away the sticky heat of the day. She dresses them, packs what she needs, and straps them into the stroller. The wheels creak softly as she pushes it down the sidewalk toward their doctor’s appointment, two miles from home. Her legs ache by the time she arrives, but she keeps her head up, focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

The checkup is routine. Healthy weight. Strong heartbeats. When the doctor gives them a clean bill of health, relief settles into her chest. She thanks them, straps the children back in, and walks home beneath the fading afternoon light.

Once inside, she cooks dinner, the smell of seasoning and warm food filling the kitchen. She moves on autopilot, waiting for her mother to come home from work. Exhaustion catches up to her, and she and the children fall asleep.

Around six p.m., the front door opens. Nora, her mother, walks into the house. Katelynn jumps up to greet her. “How was work today?”

“Stressful,” Nora says. “They walked out a nurse today, and they did it in front of everybody. It was so ghetto.”

Katelynn laughs, sinking into the sofa as she listens. She hands her mother a plate of food, watching her eat while she talks through the day. The normalcy of it all feels comforting, grounding.

Later, Katelynn goes back to the room to check on the babies. Eventually, they all end up on the sofa together, the glow of a movie flickering across their faces. One by one, their eyes grow heavy, and the house settles into quiet as they drift off to sleep.

---

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It is about three in the morning when Katelynn’s phone rings. The sound cuts sharply through the quiet. She blinks herself awake and answers, her voice rough with sleep. “Hello.”

The number is unknown, but her first thought is Lamar. Maybe he needs her help. It would not be the first time.

A woman’s voice comes through the line. “Is this Kate?”

“Yes,” Katelynn says, sitting up in bed, her heart beginning to race.

“My name is Jamie,” the woman says. “Lamar is telling me that you’re obsessed with him and won’t let him go. I just wanted to get your side of things.”

Katelynn’s stomach twists. “Really? I’m not about to explain myself. He comes over and bothers me, and it’s never about the kids. And now I might be pregnant again.”

There is a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the phone. “Is that true?”

In that moment, Katelynn realizes Lamar is listening. She can almost picture him sitting there, smirking.

Jamie’s voice softens. “Woman to woman, I have to tell you something. I have herpes. I take my medication and everything is fine, but we do sleep together without protection. I just wanted you to be aware.”

Katelynn gasps, her chest tightening as tears spill down her face. “Oh my God.”

“I’m so sorry,” Jamie whimpers. “Can you let me know if you are pregnant? He told me he was okay with not having any more kids. I thought he loved me, but this is just crazy.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Katelynn says quietly.

She hangs up the phone, her hands shaking, and goes to her mother’s side of the room. Her voice breaks as she speaks. “Mama, this girl just called me and told me she has herpes and she’s with Lamar. I need to go get checked.” Her sobs deepen. “I think I’m pregnant again too.”

Nora sits up slowly, her eyes still half closed. “What?” she says, then steadies her voice. “We’ll go to the doctor in the morning. It’s okay. Just calm down and try to get some rest.”

But rest never comes. Katelynn lies awake, staring at the ceiling, her thoughts spiraling. The darkness presses in around her as if the answers might suddenly appear above her, but the room stays silent._