48Chapter Two
I stuck my hand in the shower the next morning, testing the water. This morning, I woke up to anger at my mother's irresponsibility.
Both she and Mr Mathew's were adults. They should have known better. It surely couldn't have taken too long to be safe. A few extra seconds? I wasn't sure exactly how long as I had no experience whatsoever in this area.
I stepped into the shower and sighed as the warm jets fell on my body.
My mother should have been more responsible and careful. It was disbelieving that she hadn't learned from her last time.
I was the result of an unplanned, teenage pregnancy. My mother was seventeen, and I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that she was my age when she was pregnant with me.
My mother faced so many difficulties when this happened.
Her parents, having found out, disowned her and gave her a week to pack her things. I didn't know much about my grandparents except that they were Sri Lankan and moved to America when my mum was just two.
This made me partly Sri Lankan too, and I had inherited the very dominant south Asian genes. I had dark brown eyes, black hair and brown skin.
My mother's sister, my Aunt Em, took my mum in. At the time, Aunt Em was twenty-six and had already started a job. She was fully capable of helping my mum.
She then paid for all the medical bills my mum had and paid for my mum to finish her SATs. After I was born my mother took care of me during the day and took night classes while my Aunt Em watched me at night.
Aunt Em also paid for me to go to preschool while my mum finished her last years of college.
Aunt Em never married. She had no family of her own and insisted that we were all the family she needed. She was a workaholic.
I sighed again as I turned off the shower and started shampooing my hair.
Couldn't she have learned after everything she went through last time?
Later that morning I sat in the kitchen alone, buttering up a piece of toast. My mother had left for work early as she had a photo-shoot to prepare for.
As I took a bite of the buttery toast, I heard the front door open and shut and footsteps. I didn't even bother checking who it was, only one person would come over unannounced this early.
"Hey Tay," my best friend said as she entered the kitchen.
"Morning Sam," I greeted her through a mouthful of bread.
Sam and I met when my mum and I moved into this house when I was six, after my mum decided it was time to finally move out of the shelter of Aunt Em's kindness and stand on her own two feet. She had just finished her degree in photography and fashion.
To this day, Mrs Watson's chocolate chip cookies reminded me of that day eleven years ago when Sam, her mother and her two older brothers, Owen and Josh came over with a plate of those scrumptious cookies to welcome us to the neighbourhood.
Sam and I instantly connected when she told me that she was the same age as me and liked all the same cartoons I liked.
"Hand me the butter will you?" she requested as she sat down, flipping her bright red hair over her shoulders and dropping her bag on the floor.
Sam had a thing for constantly changing her hair colour. Her original hair colour was a mousy brown, but it had been changed so many times that some people didn't know that.
The first time she changed it was when we were fourteen and her parents finally, after a year of nagging, let her dye it. She got it coloured black so that it would match mine. Six months later it turned blonde. And in the following years it had been dyed, ginger, black with blue highlights, strawberry blonde, auburn, dirty blonde and once when she felt extra creative, she got the Jack Barakat trademark skunk hair.
I pushed the butter dish along with the knife towards her and grimaced as I watched her heap her piece of toast with butter.
"That is disgusting," I said as she bit into it and some butter ran down her hand.
"This is delicious," she retorted taking another bite. "Butter is fucking amazing."
"I swear, the amount of butter you eat must not be healthy. Your body is probably drowning in cholesterol and you're going to die of a heart attack," I said as I finished off my toast.
She rolled her eyes and took an exaggeratedly slow bite of bread.
If it was another day I would have gone on longer, complaining about this obsession she had with butter, but my mind was partly still on my mother's unplanned pregnancy. So I simply rose and headed over to the sink with my plate while my best friend sat at the table making noises of pleasure as she devoured her toast.
"So I've been thinking," she said as I turned on the faucet.
"About?" I asked as I scrubbed my plate.
"It's time I changed my hair colour. I've had the Haley Williams look for too long. I mean, I'm getting bored of seeing the same colour every time I look in the mirror. Like I dyed my hair in the beginning of the summer, that was around June and now it's September."
"Oh yes, three months, so long," I drawled sarcastically as I rinsed the soap off my plate.
"I know right!" she agreed, ignoring my sarcasm. I rolled my eyes as I placed the plate on the dish rack.
"You should come with me," she continued, "give yourself a new look."
I turned around, leaned against the counter and crossed my arms facing her. "Here we go again. No way in hell and I colouring my hair, Sam."
"Aw come on," she begged.
"No thank you," I shook my head.
"Don't be so boring," she continued, "at least get some highlights!"
"I'm fine like this."
"But your hair has been the same colour for so long."
"Sorry to break this to you Sam," I said, "but not everyone gets bored of their hair colour every couple of months."
"Well they should," she frowned. "It's like watching the same movie over and over again, you eventually get bored."
I laughed as I walked out of the kitchen. I heard a chair being pushed back and the kitchen tap being turned on as I started climbing the stairs. I grabbed my bag from the floor of my room and made my way back to the kitchen where Sam was now placing her plate beside mine on the dish rack.
"Guess what happened at my house last night?" she said turning around.
"Your mum gave you a lecture about killing your hair by dying it so much?" I guessed as I picked up my car keys from the counter.
"Yes, that," she said waving a hand in a dismissive gesture. "But that's not what I'm talking about at the moment."
"Then what happened?" I asked as I exited the kitchen.
"Big drama scene," she said as she picked her bag up and followed me out. "Veronica and Owen broke up."
"Oh," I said dragging out the syllables, as I unlocked the front door.
Owen is Sam's older brother, three years older than us and currently back home from university for holidays. Veronica, his girlfriend who went to the same university as him, lived a few streets away from us and hung around the Watson house a lot.
"That was actually expected wasn't it?" I mused while Sam followed me out the door. "They're always fighting."
Sam nodded as I locked the front door.
"Yeah it was," she said as she started walking across the lawn towards the garage. "But Tay, this was so dramatic! Screaming match, right in our living room!"
The roll-up garage gate was open; my mother had probably forgotten to close it. Sam made her way towards the passenger side of my car.
"Woah," I said as I hit the button on the remote on my keychain, unlocking my car with a beep. "What was it about?" My mind was only partly interested, the other part still being fixated on worrying about my mother.
Sam pulled open the passenger door and threw her backpack into the backseat of my beautiful, light blue convertible that was a sweet sixteen present from my very wealthy Aunt Em.
I still couldn't believe that I owned this gorgeous car.
"I'm honestly not entirely sure," she said frowning as she got into the passenger side as I climbed into the driver's seat and tossed my own backpack beside Sam's.
"Veronica was saying something about how his room was always dirty, something about boxers and socks everywhere," she said as I started the car and put it into reverse. I nodded understandingly, the few times I've been in Owen's room it had always been a mess. "And Owen said something about Veronica being high maintenance."
"Bad move Owen," I said pressing the down button on the garage gate remote.
"I know right? He's pretty stupid."
"But to be honest, Veronica is pretty high maintenance," I said now driving down the street.
"Yes she is. I know that very well," Sam nodded, "but what kind of moron calls his girlfriend high maintenance?"
"Owen isn't the most tactful person ever," I added as I slowed down at a stop sign.
"No he isn't," Sam said shaking her head. "Anyways, then Veronica was in total denial and ended up calling him a nice choice of words."
I gave a short laugh despite my mood. I've heard Veronica when she was angry on a few occasions in the year she was together with Owen, and that girl knew how to curse.
"Then she said something about how she'll never have sex with him again in that dump of a room. You could imagine that that part was a bit awkward for all of us listening in from the kitchen," Sam said laughing slightly. "You should have seen my parents' faces; priceless."
"I bet," I laughed. I could just picture the uncomfortable expressions on the kind faces of Mr and Mrs Watson.
"And then, I think at that point Owen forgot that he was at his parents' house, because you know what he said?"
"What?" I asked actually hooked now.
"He was like, 'I don't really care; the sex isn't eve that good'. It took a lot of self-control from me to not laugh at my parents' faces and also to not puke.
"Damn Owen," I laughed, my worries replaced momentarily by the humour in this.
"I know!" Sam gushed. "And then, I could tell that Veronica was really angry. She like, made this noise that sounded like… I don't know, a whale being harpooned or something. Then she was like, 'As if you're a God in bed."
I started cackling at this and Sam continued.
"Oh that's not the worst. Then Owen was like, 'That's not what your sister said', and Veronica screamed. And used some more lovely words on him and then Owen said he wanted to break up and Veronica screeched an agreement at him, Veronica then called him some more sweet names and left, slamming the door behind her."
"That's like something out of a soap opera," I cried as I overtook a vehicle.
"I know right," Sam agreed enthusiastically. "Owen has been in his room ever since. He didn't even come down for dinner and his bedroom door was still shut this morning. So I still couldn't congratulate him for finally getting rid of that hag."
I laughed at this. Sam utterly despised Veronica as according to Sam, she wasn't 'Miss Perfect' like Veronica. Also, Veronica didn't hide her distaste for Sam's quirky hair colours and personality.
"Good riddance," she said, leaning around to the back and unzipping her bag, rummaging around for something. "How was your night anyways?"
I shrugged, the shortly forgotten worry, creeping back into my mind again. "Not much," I lied, "my mum and I just watched Criminal Minds."
I didn't want to tell Sam until I was perfectly sure about this. And my mum didn't tell me if she was okay with me telling people. The last thing I need is my mother's wrath. So, I kept my worries to myself.
"Oh," she grinned, "it's always fun to watch those shows with your mum. She gets very angry and… verbal."
Sam had always found my mother's anger at the criminals extremely amusing and sometimes she'd join us and watch my mother instead of the show.
"Mhmm," I mumbled, not really in the mood to talk anymore, worried that I might end up telling everything to Sam.
Finally finding what she wanted, Sam straightened up, her iPod in her hands.
Without another word, she plugged it into my car's music player and started scrolling around for a song.
"Time for some amazing music," she said. "Here we are," she pressed a button and Dear Maria, Count Me In by All Time Low started up and a huge smile spread across my face.
Count on All Time Low to cheer me up.
"Amazing music alright," I said grinning as Sam started singing along to the lyrics, slightly off key, swinging her head around in a crazy head bop, her red hair flailing around.
Laughing at how crazy she looked, I started singing along too.
The school day seemed to drag, but it also seemed to be moving too fast. I wanted the horrible day to end, but I also didn't want to get to the doctor's appointment, that may change mine and my mother's life as we know it to come any sooner either.
I was distracted all day at school and I faced some repercussions as a result of that.
Today was the day that not one, but two of my teacher's decided to call me out in class, and as I wasn't paying attention, I couldn't answer either question. I felt my face grow warm again, even now, hours after the events had occurred.
School was over and I was driving home with Sam in the passenger seat once again.
Sam was currently talking non-stop about something. She started up the second we met up at the exit of school, and now, halfway home, she was still talking and I had no clue what she was talking about.
My mind was on my mother's maybe-pregnancy.
I wondered if my mum made enough to support two children. She surely did, Les Vetements was quite a popular magazine.
Then my mind started wandering to whether she should work while being pregnant. What if she tired herself out and something happened to the baby?
But how will we live without her working? Maybe we could manage on my salary from my part-time job. But we'd have to move to a smaller house.
Surely Aunt Em wouldn't let it go to that though.
But what if my mum spends all her extra money on my new sibling and she won't have enough money to send me to college?
That's just a selfish thought, I thought to myself. And my mind drifted to another train of thought.
What will Kyle say when he finds out that my mother is carrying another man's baby? Would he still stay with my mum, or will he abandon her?
What will Mr Mathews say when he finds out that my mother is carrying his child? Will he help her out? Or will he be one of those people who'd give her some money and tell her to do whatever?
"What do you think about that, Tay?" Sam asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Huh," I said unintelligibly, looking around at her for a second to see her looking at me, waiting for a response. "Uh, yeah I totally agree," I said taking a chance. Sam raised an eyebrow at me.
"You think that Anna-Bitch was right to say that you should have just slept with Jared?" She said questioningly. Anna Brookes is head cheerleader at our school and now, the sworn enemy of my friends.
"What?" I exclaimed caught off guard. I had no recollection whatsoever of Sam saying this.
Jared is my ex-boyfriend, whom I broke up with about a month ago when I caught him cheating on me with Anna Brookes
I felt the familiar sense of disgust that filled me whenever I thought of him reappear.
When I caught him, he tried reasoning with me and excusing his actions by saying that he only had to do that because I wouldn't sleep with him.
He tried blaming me, by saying that a man had needs to be fulfilled, and that since I wasn't helping him there, he had to get it done somehow.
This was him trying to convince me not to break up with him.
"I knew you weren't paying attention to me," Sam said grumpily. I cringed at her hurt tone and the expression on her face.
"I was paying attention to you," I said weakly trying to deny the truth.
"Uhuh, then you agree that Jared was right to cheat on your just 'cause you didn't sleep with him?"
"Tha- I didn't- Um…" I stuttered, letting my voice trail off. Sam gave a triumphant look and shook her head at me.
"Yup, you weren't listening to me."
"It's not that I wasn't listening to you…" I said feebly. She raised an eyebrow at me.
"Uhuh."
"I… I just got distracted."
"You've seemed a bit off all day," Sam stated after my unsuccessful excuse.
"I have not," I said, trying to deny it again.
"You have too," Sam said immediately, shooting down my excuse. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong."
"Please, you barely ate today, and today was pizza day," she said as if that explained everything.
I considered just telling Sam about my worries, but I didn't want to freak her out with a false alarm. And I was sure that my mum wouldn't be very pleased with me telling Sam this, when both of us were still trying to wrap our heads around it.
"I guess it's just PMS," I said, hoping she'll buy it. I glanced over at her and she was looking at me appraisingly.
I mentally crossed my fingers, wishing. I was now turning down out our street, Maberry Road.
"Alright then," she finally said, and I barely held in my sigh of relief.
"Coming over to my place?" she asked as I turned into my driveway and pressed the open button on the garage remote. "We can congratulate Owen together."
I gave her a small smile as I started pulling into the garage. "Sorry, not in the mood," I said apologetically.
"Fine, go wallow in the mood swings of PMS alone then," she grabbed her bag from the backseat.
"Thank you," I said rolling my eyes as I picked up my own bag.
"I'll come over if I feel better," I said over the hood of the car as we shut the car doors together. I'll be coming over with the news of a new sibling or with the story of the false alarm, I thought.
"Whatever," she called over her shoulder as she exited the garage.
"I'll see you later," I called out as she walked towards the hedge that separated our lawns.
She turned around and gave me a smile and a wave before jumping over the hedge with the grace that comes with years of practice.
I smiled slightly as I pressed the button to shut the gate and made my way to the door in the garage that led to the kitchen.
It was later that day, and I was in the doctor's office with my mum who sat on the bed in the middle of the room in a hospital gown with her legs dangling over the side.
I stood beside her as she chewed her lips and wrapped the corner of the hospital gown around her fingers.
The nurse had taken the tests and now we were, very impatiently, waiting for the verdict.
To keep my mind occupied, I read the many posters about everything to do with the female reproductive system and pregnancy that covered the walls.
I was currently reading one about labour and I grimaced as I read about the contractions and the pain described along with pictures.
I never want to get pregnant, I thought as I turned my attention to a model of a baby in a uterus.
I walked towards it hesitantly and read the label beneath. It read; a foetus in the uterus at five months.
I raised my eyebrow at how tiny the thing was.
"It's the like the size of a banana," I said to no one in particular. I stared at it for another moment, and then, without thinking, I reached out and touched what looked to be like a plastic model, but the baby was soft and squishy, and seemed to be removable.
Curiosity won over me and I slowly pulled it out.
"Taier!" my mum snapped, "What are you doing?"
I gave her a smile. "Want to touch it? It's like… rubber."
She glared at me and opened her mouth to say something, that's when the door opened and I whirled around in the direction.
It was the doctor.
I immediately turned around to stuff the baby back into the uterus before the doctor saw, but in my haste I knocked the model onto the ground.
"Tay!" my mother cried.
The doctor paused as she closed the door, her hazel eyes amused.
"I'm sorry," I said as I bent over to pick the uterus up. "I'm so sorry." I placed the uterus back on the surface it was on, but the baby had rolled over and was beside the doctor's feet.
"Shit," I cursed as I scrambled that way. "I didn't mean to." The doctor laughed as my mum buried her face in her hands.
But before I got there, the doctor bent over and picked the model up.
"It's alright," she said as she walked past me to the model of the uterus. She fixed the baby back in with incredible ease and turned around to face us, pushing back her honey blonde hair behind one ear.
"Good lord Tay," my mother said quietly while my face grew warmer.
The doctor just laughed. "It'd actually surprise you how many times this happens. Usually it's a nervous father-to-be."
"I shouldn't have touched it," I said glad for my dark skin that hid my blush. "Sorry."
The doctor gave me a warm smile and then turned her attention to my mum.
"Well then, I am Doctor Green, Mrs Joyce, are you ready for your results?" she asked walking across the room to stand in front of my mum. I went and stood next to my mum and grasped her hand in my own, the incident from before already forgotten by this more serious issue.
"Miss Joyce," my mum corrected with a nervous smile.
"Oh," the doctor said consulting the clipboard in her hands. "Yes, I'm sorry, my bad." She smiled once again.
My mum said nothing in response, and we both looked at Doctor Green expectantly.
"Alright. Well, I have the results right here," she gestured to the clipboard. My mother's clammy hands squeezed my own tighter.
"And?" I insisted nervously.
"Well, I don't know if this is good or bad news," she said studying our expressions. "But you are, in fact pregnant."
I heard my mother's sharp intake of breath and my hand was squeezed even tighter. I went still, I froze.
I should have been prepared for this, with my mother telling me about her five positive pregnancy test results and having a whole day to think about it. But the truth was, I was still hoping for this to be just a false alarm. And all of that hope was just crushed down by this pretty, kind faced doctor and her clipboard.
"Are- are you sure?" I managed to stutter.
The doctor nodded. "Positive."
I winced as my mum increased the pressure on my hand.
"Judging from the looks on your faces, I think saying congratulations is not the right thing to say?" the doctor said looking at us thoughtfully.
"It's not that…" my mum said somewhat defensively, "I'm just… a bit shocked."
"It's totally normal to be surprised," the doctor said shooting my mother a comforting smile. We both nodded mutely. "So, I'm guessing this is going to be a single mother thing?"
"Um, yeah," my mother said her voice trembling slightly.
"The father, if I may ask?"
"My… my friend," my mother said. I looked down at her confused, she avoided my gaze. I guess she didn't want to say 'my boss'.
"Well, okay," she said, "I'm not going to pry. But it would be somewhat necessary to maybe get a history of him. You know, if his family has any genetic diseases and things like that." She gave us another of her comforting smiles.
"Alright, I'll get back to you on that…" my mother said quietly. We were silent for a while and the doctor looked like she was considering something.
"Will you be considering abortion?" the doctor asked hesitantly, and I immediately tensed up and looked at my mum, I didn't really think about this option.
But my mum was shaking her head vigorously. "No," she said a little loud, as she wrapped an arm around her belly somewhat protectively.
"No," she repeated again quieter and gave the doctor a smile which the doctor returned easily and with that, walked over towards a table in the room.
"Don't worry mum," I said quietly as my mum bit her lip again. "I'm here for you."
"Thank you Tay," my mum said, giving me a watery smile. I disengaged my hand from hers and wrapped my arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. I then, inconspicuously flexed my hand, trying to regain some feeling in it.
"You've got a very supportive daughter," the doctor said walking back towards us, a smile on her face, her clipboard abandoned and in its place some papers.
"My Tay is the best thing that has happened to me," my mum said regaining some of her confidence. I felt my face go slightly warm.
"Stop it mum," I mumbled.
"You two look incredibly alike," the doctor said conversationally as she stood in front of us again.
"We do, don't we?" my mum said smiling up at me. Some of the colour had returned to her face now. "Well, except for the fact that Tay is younger and prettier."
"Mum, I may be younger, but you are way prettier," I mumbled taking my hand off her shoulder now.
The doctor laughed. "Alright, so, the father won't be in the picture?"
My mother nodded. "Not the first time," she added. The doctor looked at me.
"Ah," she said knowingly. "So you've got experience."
My mum laughed. "You can say that, yes. I had a lot of help from my sister back then."
"You must have been very young then?" the doctor said this conversationally and not at all like she was prying.
"Teen pregnancy," my mother replied, the defensive tone back in her voice. Doctor Green smiled, her expression indifferent and not containing any of the judgement my mother expected.
"So despite your experience, I think it'd be good for you to get some… support from other women in the same position," she continued and she held out one of the papers in her hands. It was a green leaflet of some kind.
My mother took it and I looked at it over her shoulder.
On the cover, in white flowing print, it read Single Mothers' Society, and there was a picture of a pretty blonde woman smiling down at her protruding belly, her arms wrapped around it.
So, are you going to be a single mother? Read a paragraph at the bottom of the page read. Want some help and support from other women in the same situation? Head over here, a society made of single mothers, where you can make friends with women that you can relate to, and get help and support from the experienced advisers.
"I don't need this," my mother said looking away from the leaflet and at the doctor.
I shared the same expression on the face of Doctor Green, one of complete shock.
Why would she not need this? This place seems helpful.
"Why is that?" the doctor asked, her fair eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Every other single-mother-to-be I showed this to was pretty excited about this. And they all found it incredibly helpful to have other people to go through this with."
"Well, I've already been through this before. I didn't need… a support group when I was seventeen, I don't need one now. And besides, I have Tay to help me through this."
My eyes widened. I didn't want to be her sole support through this.
"Trust me, Miss Joyce, I've dealt with many single mothers and they all found this really helpful. It helps a lot to find people to talk to who are relatable to your situation." She smiled at my mum, another one of those warm smiles, "Just think about it."
"Sure," my mum said, and I knew from her tone that she was not convinced, but the doctor looked reassured.
"They meet every Thursday. The address is in the leaflet," she said. Then she picked another leaflet from her hands, this one was purple.
"So, you're still at six weeks into the pregnancy," the doctor started as she handed the leaflet to my mum, "but I think it's time you start eating a bit healthier."
My mum grimaced as she looked at the purple paper.
"I hated the food my last OB/GYN put me on last time," my mum wrinkled her nose. "So… healthy."
The doctor laughed. "But it's all for the health of you and your baby."
"I know," she said sighing, "That's the only reason I did it."
"Yes, because your blood sugar is a little high," the doctor saw our panicked expressions and immediately continued, "It's nothing to be worried about. It's just better to be careful."
We both nodded our heads in unison.
Doctor Green headed back towards the table and scribbled something on a paper. She walked back and handed it to my mum.
"Here are some prenatal vitamins you should start taking," she said and then smiled yet again. "Well then, you are free to go. I'll see you again in… six weeks."
"Thank you Doctor Green," my mum said smiling back at her.
"Please call me Kim, we'll be seeing each other quite a lot now I think," she laughed.
"Well then, call me Natalia," my mum said.
"Alright," the doctor made her way towards the door. "Well then Natalia, I'll leave you to change."
With another smile to the two of us, she exited the room.
I sat on the bed as my mum climbed down and started pulling on her pants.
"Wow, I still can't believe this is real," I mused out loud as she pulled the hospital gown over her head.
"You can't believe it? What about me?" she said as she handed me the gown, I took it and handed her blouse to her.
"So this is really real," I said running a hand through my ponytail.
"Pretty darn real," she replied buttoning her blouse over her still flat belly.
I hoped off the bed as she slipped on her flats. We exited the building, both of us lost in our own heads.
"I'm surprised at how well both of us are taking the news," I said as we entered the parking lot. I was genuinely surprised; I didn't expect either of us to be so calm about it. Other than the initial shock in the beginning, we didn't react too much.
"Same," my mother agreed as we walked towards the general direction her car was parked at. "It was surprising that I even managed to speak after hearing the confirmation. I was so shocked."
"I can't believe I'm gonna have a little brother or sister in like… eight months," I said astounded as we located her red Chevrolet.
"I can't believe I'm going to have another child," she said rubbing her belly softly. Both of us were quiet again, as my mother unlocked the car and we got in. We were still trying to wrap our minds around the new baby.
I felt warmth in my belly growing as I settled down in the passenger seat, at the thought of a baby in our household in a few more months.
I felt my heart swell at the thought of having a little sibling.
I didn't expect myself to be happy earlier today at a confirmation, but right now, what I was feeling was without a doubt, happiness.
I pulled out of my oblivion and realized that my mother hadn't started the car yet.
I look at her inquiringly and saw her just sitting there, staring at her stomach, silently rubbing her hands over it again and again.
I was just about to tell her to return to Earth, when I saw a tear drop down onto her lap.
"Mum," I cried alarmed. "What's wrong?"
Another tear just rolled down her face in reply. "Mum! Don't cry. This will be good, I swear. And I'll be here through it all."
She shook her head and finally looked up at me. Her eyes were shining, swimming in tears, but her lips were stretched in a smile.
"Nothing's wrong honey," she said softly.
"Then why are you crying?" I cried, still alarmed despite her smile and words.
"I'm… I'm happy," she said as another tear trickled down her cheek. "I'm going to have another baby," her voice cracked at the last word.
Finally understanding where her mind was at, I smiled back. "And I'm going to be a big sister."
She laughed through her tears.
"I already love this kid," she placed a hand in the general location the pea-sized baby would be.
"This is going to be great... I think," I said as I felt my eyes prickling, tears threatening to leak out.
"Come here Tay," she said, seeing my own tears and pulling me towards her. "It's going to be great."
Author's Note:
So, what'd you think?
As I always ask, please leave a review! Your opinions mean a lot to me. And how am I supposed to get better without a bit of criticism?
Thank you for reading! xx