Sat down with my old friend alcohol last night and figured this out. My thinking has cycled between wanting to believe her (someone here called it codependency) and skepticism. Look at the arguments for belief:
-I've spent practically every weekend for the past six months with this girl. She's always saying how lucky she is, how much she loves me, that I should go home to meet her family, and we'd considered her moving in with me. I knew she was a little unstable, but I felt a real emotional bond, and that with enough support and encouragement she could grow out of her irrational thinking.
-When I kicked her out, she was hysterical. I actually asked her, face to face, if on some level she'd wanted the "rape" to happen. She seemed shocked that I could think that, and on her way out she told me she'd thought I was "the one" and that she'd believed we would get married eventually. Over the next few days, she texted that she was so hurt that, having already felt "dirty and broken", her boyfriend would accuse her of cheating. She said I had no idea what it had been like for her, that it was so hard to talk about, and that she couldn't believe I actually thought she would have wanted it to happen.
Personally, I wouldn't be able to lie like this. It's been hard for me to comprehend how any guilty person could act so sincere. But then we have some glaring contradictions:
-The story about the "rape" itself doesn't add up. Conceding that some women may "shut down", it still doesn't make sense that she would have to go along with it based on threats against her career. She's been in the Navy for awhile, she knows her ship and the people on it. How did she end up alone with him in the first place?
-She didn't tell me when it happened, and probably wouldn't have said anything without the pregnancy. Her excuse is that she didn't know how to tell me, and was trying to erase it from her memory. Even if that's true, it means this could have happened multiple times, which she would've concealed for the same reason.
-As best I can tell, the earliest prenatal paternity test is at around 9-10 weeks. Any earlier would be too dangerous for the child. I really don't get this one. If this was a ruse to get out of our relationship, why did she pack all her things to go home with me for Thanksgiving? Why did she seem so desperate for me to believe her, and why did she start screaming when I told her to leave? Maybe she knew I wouldn't believe I was the father (I'd been careful) and was just using the rape excuse to explain her cheating?
-When I came back to see her, she told me she needs time, and that she's too messed up to see me. I accepted that, mostly because I was feeling guilty. I tried to check on her a few times this week, with practically no response. When I told her to be at my place last night, she responded instantly. She said it's not a good idea "yet", that I don't need to see her struggling like this, and that she's not doing well. When you're hurting like that, you want to be with someone who cares about you. I can't imagine she spent the night alone in her barracks, so she was probably with a guy- maybe the father, maybe someone else. I've got a good job and a stable life, and she's a mess with few close friends here, so I could certainly be useful to her. But she's clearly avoiding me, maybe because she knows I don't believe her lies.
Last night she texted that she couldn't come over because her doctor had ordered her to spend the day in the hospital. I didn't reply, and I have no intent to contact her again. Thanks all for the tips about Cluster B/BPD. I had never heard of these conditions, but they describe her pretty well. I couldn't understand how someone could be so immature, selfish, and manipulative, but it makes a lot more sense if she's a borderline sociopath. It's been a fun six months, and I'm lucky I didn't commit anything to this girl or wind up taking care of her kid.