Stolen Love by Joyce Lomax Dukes Page B

to Charles, “I'll be in my room. I think Mom and Dad have gone to bed.”
    Charles said, “I'm going to call Ashley, and then I'm going to bed, too.”
    He did not call Ashley. Instead, he decided to go see her. He wanted to say goodbye and let her know he would be back home when she returned with her family.
    He took his uncle's truck and parked it up the street from her house then walked back to her house. Afraid to knock on the door, he saw her through the window putting on her shoes.
    Her parents were sitting on the couch. She told them she was going to meet Tiffany. Ashley went out the door; starting up the street, she heard something on the side of the house.
    She started to run back inside but Charles grabbed her, pulling her to the side of the house. He wanted to talk to her without her parents seeing him.
    It was so dark on the side of the house that Ashley could not see who it was. She started hitting and kicking him. He pulled her to the ground to calm her down, but she kept fighting him.
    Charles was saying, “Ashley it's me, I need to talk to you,” but she was not listening to him. She was not hearing his voice at all.
    She continued kicking and punching him and out of anger . . . he raped her.
    Charles could not believe what he had done.
    Ashley was crying, he whispered to her, “I'm sorry.” but she did not hear him.
    She never knew who he was.
    Charles heard Tiffany call out, “Ashley is that you?” Charles ran.
    Ashley called out, “Tiffany help me.”
    Tiffany ran into the house screaming, “Mr. and Mrs. Richards, help!” She ran back outside with the Richards right behind her.
    They took Ashley inside. Her father asked her, “What happened?” She told him that someone grabbed her when she went to meet Tiffany and pulled her to the side of the house and onto the ground.
    Tiffany asked Ashley if she knew who it was that grabbed her. Ashley whispered, “No, it was too dark.” Mrs. Richards took her daughter to the bathroom to clean up.
    Tiffany picked up the phone to call the police but Mr. Richards took the phone from her and said, “No, Tiff.” Tiffany went into the room with Mrs. Richards and Ashley. Ashley did not want to go to the hospital and did not want to call the police. Tiffany said, “But you were raped, you need to call the police.”
    She said to Tiffany, “I can't.” and pleaded to parents, “Please, Mommy, Daddy. No.”
    Tiffany just hugged Ashley and Ashley's mother said, “You have to promise us you will never tell anyone, not even your parents.”
    Tiffany promised Ashley that she would not tell.
    The next morning they went on their trip. Ashley told Tiffany never to tell Charles and Dru what happened.
    Charles got up the next morning too afraid to tell his aunt and uncle what he had done. Friday came and Charles was extremely ready to go home.
    When Charles got on the train, Dru said, “I will tell Ashley good bye for you.”

Chapter Two

    Summer was finally over, Charles and Dru went off to different Law Schools.
    Ashley and Tiffany went back to high school. After two months of school, Ashley became sick and discovered that she was pregnant.
    Her parents moved away to the next town. They didn't want anyone to know their daughter was having a baby.
    Tiffany kept her promise; they didn't see much of each other.
    Ashley found out she was having a girl, and she told her parents she wanted to name the baby Marley.
    When the baby was born her parents let the adoption agency take the baby away. Ashley never even got to see her baby girl.
    Her parents told her “You are going back to school and to college! Forget you ever had a baby.”
    Her parents told the agency their daughter got pregnant from a boy that didn't want anything to do with her or the baby. They wanted the baby named Marley.
    The Agency knew nothing about the rape.
    Ashley finished school; the next year she went off to college to study law, which is where she saw Tiffany again.
    She told Tiffany she lost