Through Thick And Thin

“Maybe someone had better finish the job he started.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“And what is that?”

“My back needs a scrubbing, baby,” she said as her phone vibrated wildly against the wooden nightstand. Chad passed the phone over to her and looked at her as she frowned.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s Amanda. She wants us to have drinks tonight.” Chad sat up in bed and looked at her.

“What do you mean, ‘drinks’?” he asked. There was an intent look in his eyes. “Are we talking strawberry milkshakes or strawberry daiquiris here?”

“The latter,” she said in a low voice.

“Damn it, Amelia…” he started as he looked at her. “Have you not told your sister you are expecting?” he asked and she shook her head. “Why the hell not?”

Amelia sat back on the bed and sighed. She was stressed out about telling her sister because Amanda had been talking about having children for the longest time and somehow, nothing was happening. Amelia never wanted to intrude by asking her about it but she knew something was wrong. Otherwise, her sister would have been pregnant by now since she had been trying for almost a year now.

“I don’t know how to,” Amelia said in a soft voice.

“What do you mean?”

“Amelia has been talking about having a baby for a very, very long time and she doesn’t know that I know but I do.” A strand her hair gently fell out of place.

“Know what?”

“She has been trying to get pregnant since mid-last year,” she said in a soft voice. “And here I am pregnant and I wasn’t even trying.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “It was just a thing that happened one night when we were both horny without any protection.”

Chad slowly moved to where she was and looked at her.

“Are you sorry about it?” he asked with his hands on her shoulders.

“No, never.” She looked at him and shook her head. “I don’t think I have ever had anything so blessed and exciting happen to me and even though I would do without the nausea, I would not do anything differently.” She leaned her head on her own shoulder and then kissed his hand. “Nothing would ever make me regret starting a family with you.”

Chad leaned in and kissed the back of her head.

“Even a jobless bugger like me?” he asked and she nodded. She shifted her weight and turned around to look at him.

“Especially a jobless bugger like you,” she whispered. “No offense.”

“None taken,” he said with a smile. She leaned in and kissed him softly. He pulled back and held her face in his hands. “You can’t keep this baby a secret forever, you know.”

“I know,” she whispered.

“Then you have to tell her. Hopefully tonight.”

“I will,” she said and he raised an eyebrow over the other. “I promise.”

*****

After leaving work that evening, Amelia was especially tired. She was not sure whether it was her expectant state or the fact that she had literally squeezed four meetings in one day. She never thought she would be so tired of just sitting down. She looked at her cold orange juice and took a long sip. She was toying with her straw when she saw her sister walking towards her.

“I see you already got started,” Amanda said as she gave her sister a quick hug. She sat down across from Amelia and looked around obviously trying to find a waiter. “Why did we have to come to a restaurant?”

“What’s wrong with a restaurant?”