Because You Loved Me by M. William Phelps Read Free Book Online Page A

day. Donna, a twenty-nine-year-old mother of three children—a boy, aged three, a girl, five, and a boy, nine—had lived with her husband next door to Jeanne for the past two years. They were good friends. Nicole had recently started babysitting Donna’s kids. Through that, Donna and Nicole had become close. At times, Nicole confided in Donna about “teenage” problems she felt she couldn’t discuss with Jeanne. On that Wednesday, the previous day, Nicole showed up to babysit, but seemed worried about something.
    “What is it?” asked Donna. She was genuinely concerned.
    “Can you go to the store and get me a pregnancy test?” asked Nicole. She was terrified. “I think I might be pregnant.”
    “Nicole…what do you mean?” Donna knew Nicole had been seeing Billy. She had even met him a few times. She thought he was a presentable boy, well mannered, but extremely quiet and reserved. She knew Nicole loved Billy and had been having sex with him; Nicole had even told Donna Billy was her first. But like everyone else, Donna saw the relationship as the beginning of a long list of romances Nicole was going to have throughout her teenage years. Let that first love run its course and she’ll be fine, Donna assumed.
    “Don’t tell my mother, please, Donna,” pleaded Nicole.
    “OK,” said Donna, for the sake of the conversation. Yet she decided when the first opportunity presented itself, she was going to let Jeanne know what was going on. Ultimately, Donna went down to the store and picked up a pregnancy test and brought it back to the house while Nicole waited. With Donna there, Nicole went into the bathroom and took the test.
    Now Donna, looking out her window, believing Chris and Jeanne were out there talking, was prepared to tell Jeanne the results of that test.
    Donna stepped out of her house and walked across the lawn. When she reached the little trail beyond the brush and trees, she noticed several police cruisers and ambulances lined up and down the street. Cops were beginning to block off the area with yellow crime-scene tape.
    “What the hell is going on?” Donna said out loud to no one in particular.
    Then she saw Chris.
    “Hey, Chris.”
    Chris didn’t react. As she approached, Donna noticed it wasn’t Jeanne standing beside Chris, but a police officer.
    “Chris,” Donna said, “what’s going on here?”
    “I thought it was going to turn out to be something silly,” recalled Donna. “No big deal. Maybe Drew and his friends had gotten into some trouble. Drew was hanging around with the wrong crowd and he and Jeanne were at odds during much of that summer.”
    Donna got closer to Chris. He was walking in circles again, trying to understand what he had just found.
    “Chris, what the heck is happening?” she asked again.
    At first, Chris had a hard time speaking. Then, according to Donna, he blurted out: “She has to be dead…. There’s blood everywhere. I don’t know how she can still be alive.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    Chris didn’t answer. Instead, he dropped to his knees and cried. Then he stood and walked around as an officer followed him wherever he went. For a few minutes, recalled Donna, that’s all Chris did: drop to his knees, cry and get up to walk in circles. At one point, Donna heard Chris shout, “Why…why would someone do this to Jeannie? Why did this happen?”
    “I just shut down,” remembered Donna. “It’s disbelief. You cannot comprehend what someone is telling you. Nothing was registering.”
    Donna’s kids were alone at home. She was worried about them and needed to get back to the house. One of the officers told her they had to talk to Chris alone. She would have to leave.
    “Someone will be over to speak with you soon,” the officer told Donna.
    As she walked back to her house, more cruisers arrived. Soon the entire street was blocked off.
    When Donna got into her house, she huddled her children around her and hugged them. Then she stood by her