Page 44 of Finding Forgiveness

“Connor.”

“She doesn’t want you here in Sydney with him?”

“No. She hates him.”

“Can I ask why?”

“You know how I told you we used to date?”

“Yes.”

“I was sixteen and he was nineteen.”

“I see. I get that you were young, but so was he. Three years isn’t much of an age gap.”

“There’s more to it. I … umm, got pregnant.”

“Oh,” she says, jotting something down on the pad in front of her. “And this is the reason why your mother doesn’t like him?”

“Yes. She says he took advantage of an underage, naive girl. She refers to him as a predator.”

“And do you think she is right? Because the age of consent in Australia is sixteen.”

“I know, and no I don’t. He didn’t do anything I didn’t want him to. We loved each other, and it was me who was putting the pressure on him. I wanted to take our relationship to the next level, but he thought I was too young.”

“And the baby?”

I bow my head as tears cloud my eyes. “I’m not ready to talk about that yet.”

“That’s fine, Cassandra. As I’ve told you in the past, we’ll work at your own pace. Can I ask how Connor reacted to the pregnancy?”

“I never told him. He was attending university when I first found out. He had exams coming up, so I had planned to tell him when he was home for the Christmas break, but then something happened.”

“The thing you’re not ready to talk about I gather?”

“Yes,” I say nodding once. I can feel all those emotions I’ve buried so deep rising to the surface. “It was a dark time in my life for many reasons, and I had no choice but to break it off with him.”

“And your mother? What was her reaction to all of this?”

“She was furious, and threatened me.”

“With what?”

“She said if I continued my relationship with him, she’d have him arrested.”

“For what?”

“Having sex with a minor.”

“But you weren’t a minor.”

“I know, but my mother is very calculating. Connor was studying to be a lawyer back then. He was following in his father’s footsteps, and I knew if she got her way, he’d lose everything he’d worked so hard for. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“I’m not sure how she planned on destroying him if you weren’t underage.”

“Believe me, she’d find a way. What Doctor Amanda Lewis wants, she gets.”

“And is this the same threat she’s using to try and get you back to Melbourne now?”