In the absence of a husband or a father, the decisionwould be made by her closest male relative, and this was her"brother."So, Gia had no other option...but to remain in the village. On the daythe portal would open, she was discretely placed under house arrest bythe other travelers. That day she cried out of sheer frustration.Chapter 9 - Being a motherAfter that it was Gia's turn to avoid the other travelers. Sheisolated herself in her life with Nayla, who helped her deal with herpregnancy.On the. Just the eight hour ride alone was further than I had ever traveled in my life and I spent most of the trip looking out the window. When we got to the port I stood there on the pier staring at the ship. It was bigger than any building that we had in our town and I was going to spend seven days - seven glorious days - on her.I was sitting at a table with Sarah, the others were off shopping or something, and she asked me why I was there. I explained to her about Ben and the tent and how I. Something in me died at that moment and I stood dumbly as he thrust the compact disk into my hand - daring me to look at how much of a 'slut' my mom really was.I had stumbled backward, through the doorway, controlling my feet as I wanted to run as fast as I could from there. As I strode quickly away from his door, Gord shouted after me, "You had your chance and fucked it up!"Last night, after meeting my mothers lover, had been the longest of my life.The pictures I had witnessed were nothing. It could be late, though." I don't care. I want to hang out."He gave a fist-pumping victory salute before slipping the phone back in his pocket.The already long day seemed to drag on even longer with the prospect of seeing Julie waiting for him. Her texts were growing increasingly flirty, pointing toward even better things to come. Since losing his last girlfriend due to the long hours, he'd been in a three-month drought. Porn was a poor substitute, and he was beginning to go a little.