CPOV
I looked over to Ana as we drove to my offices, wondering whether to just go back home again. This morning had been a shambles, so much so that my wife had vomited because of another's actions. All in all, not something Ana or I would like to go through again.
We had visited the doctor's office this morning, to register Ana and for her also to be checked over for her pregnancy.
From the second my wife's name was called and I stood up to go with her, the aged midwife made it clear that it was not proper for me to be in there.
A man had no right to be in the room as far as this old woman was concerned. We are there to hold our clean baby in the end and are expected to have nothing to do with anything between conception and after the birth. I wanted to be there for every part of Ana's pregnancy, Ana wanted me there too. Despite how much this woman protested, neither of us would budge.
"Do you have to push on my stomach" Ana asked her, as I saw the alarm on her face. She was lay on a doctor's bed being poked and prodded by this woman.
"I am just doing my checks, that is all." she said, basically telling my wife to lay back and stay quiet.
"It is just I have suffered with sickness in the past which I thought had ended, but with you pushing on my stomach, it is bringing the sickness back again."
"Enough" I said, startling them both. If she is making Ana uncomfortable, I want her to stop.
"This is why men are kept from the room. Men are too squeamish to handle the reality of pregnancy and childbirth."
"Holding my wife's hair back while she vomits has no effect on me. I am there when she needs me and that is what matters. Seeing someone purposely make her feel sick, is what I am angry about."
As if on cue, Ana reached for a bowl that had been left on the table beside her, her breakfast promptly returning.
I held Ana while she vomited, as thankfully the woman left the room. She returned moments later with a man, my father's age and a younger woman more like my own.
"Mr, Mrs Grey, I am Dr Sanders. Nurse Ida has informed me of your sickness Mrs Grey."
"Nurse Ida is the reason my wife is currently vomiting" I said angrily as the young woman came forward, placing a cup of water into Ana's hand.
"Thank you" she said quietly, her voice hoarse as she took sips of the water.
"How bad has the vomiting been" the doctor asked.
"A few weeks ago, it was most morning's but it has been days since I have vomited like this" Ana told him, wiping her mouth.
"You arrived here from England recently, how was the voyage" he asked us.
"Calm actually. I spent a lot of time resting as well as touring the ship. When we departed, I was queasy with the movement but that did pass the longer we were on board."
"Did you see a doctor before you left England" the old woman asked, being shushed by the doctor here.
"No, we only found out about my wife's pregnancy mere days before we set sail" I told her angrily, not wanting to speak to this woman any more.
Ana took my hand into hers, instantly calming me down. While we spoke, I was happy to see that Doctor Sanders had sent Nurse Ida from the room, informing us that Nurse Clara would take over my wife's care. I was worried about her age but watching her speak to Ana, she was very knowledgeable and polite. She made my wife and in turn me at ease and that is what we needed as we are facing the unknown, of what to expect with pregnancy and childbirth.
"I wonder how old Clara is" I said absent-mindedly as I stopped the car outside of my office building.
"Thinking of another woman. You are a married man Mr Grey."
My head quickly turned to Ana, shocked that she would think that I would look at another woman that way. Her beautiful smile halted the quickening of my heart.
"You are the only woman for me Ana" I told her, kissing the rings I had placed on her finger.
"I know my love, I was teasing. I do wonder why you are inquiring about her age though."
"She is the woman who will be looking after my wife and delivering our child into the world. She is knowledgeable but also young."
"You are twenty-one Christian, think how much you have accomplished at your age. From speaking to Clara, I do believe that she was encouraged to follow her dreams, just like you encourage me to follow mine. She is competent, she knows what she is doing and despite her age, I feel comfortable in her care."
"That is all that matters then" I smiled, placing a kiss to her lips.
I climbed out of the car, making my way over to Ana's side where I took her hand, helping her out. I was excited to show Ana the business I have built up, in the three years the American side of our company has been open.
"Come, please be careful on these steps as they can be slippery."
We carefully manoeuvred our way up the steps and towards the front door of the building.
"Welcome back Mr Grey" Robert, the doorman said.
"Thank you, Robert. I would like to introduce my wife. She is to be given immediate access to the building at any time."
"A pleasure to meet you Ma'am" he said, tipping his hat to Ana.
"You too" she smiled to him as we made our way through the door he held open and into the warmth of the building.
This building thankfully had elevators, so we were soon inside, and on our way up to the tenth floor that held my offices.
"I did not expect you to introduce me to your doorman" Ana said, breaking me from my thoughts of the work I knew lay ahead.
"Robert came with the building" I laughed. "The company that was originally in this building was one of the first that I purchased here. I was looking for a base, offices that were big enough to expand as the business did and this was the perfect place."
"So, you came to buy the building, purchased the company that owned it as well and in turn, a doorman" Ana said, giggling.
"Pretty much" I laughed, as the doors opened before us and we stepped out of the elevator.
"Christian Grey laughing. Alright an imposter has been sent from England. I do believe that a policeman needs to be called" we heard behind us, turning to see Ros with a smile on her face.
"Very funny" I told her.
"I do think so" she laughed, approaching and shocking me, by hugging Ana. "It is so lovely to finally meet you and to see him like this, I only wish he had met you sooner."
"It is lovely to finally meet you too" Ana laughed. "Christian and I did meet, many years ago although I was a young child then."
"If you class as being in the same place, although never speaking a word to each other meeting, then I suppose we did."
"Wherever you met, it was fate" Ros said, and I had to agree.
"How is everything going" I asked her.
"Very well, I have put a few prospective businesses on your desk for you to look at now you are back. All companies that you own are in profit. Those that are not doing as well as others, did receive a visit from me and a few stern words so I expect them to pick up soon."
"I am sure they loved that" Ana laughed.
I knew she was speaking more of a woman giving out orders, than being told to work itself.
"They realised very quickly to listen to my words. They know the consequences otherwise. No work equals no pay check at the end of the month."
"I had better behave then" Ana laughed.
"You can do anything you want to do Ana" Ros laughed.
"After this morning, what I would like to do is have a cup of tea and something light to eat."
"Come" I told Ana, leading her to my office where she took a seat on my couch. Ros knew of Ana's pregnancy, she was the only one though.
"My apologies for not being here when you arrived Mr Grey" I heard from the door as Michael entered.
"It is alright Michael, I would like to introduce you to my wife. Ana this is Michael, my assistant."
"It is lovely to meet you" Ana told him, shaking his hand.
"You too, Mrs Grey" he replied, before asking us if we would like anything.
"Some tea and a sandwich for my wife. Coffee and a sandwich for me as well please" I told him before he left us alone.
"We discussed me coming here to work but not what I will do. I do not want to take another person's job Christian. You already have an assistant" Ana told me as I took a seat by her side.
We had a discussion yesterday about Ana coming back to work. There is no doubt that I would love her by my side all day, everyday but like all plans, they can change or at least be adjusted according to circumstance. The main circumstance being her pregnancy. Ana gets tired easily, and I do not want her to work long day's but I want to include her in the business as I promised.
"I would like you to work with the mergers and acquisitions department. To be included in the meetings and bless us with your input. You have already proved how adept you are to work in that department with your work in England. We do not know how you are going to feel going forward in the pregnancy, you could be running around like Geoffrey or sleeping all the time. I do not want you feeling the pressure of dealing with one business on your own, although I know you can. I want you to be part of my team and when the time comes that you need to rest, to step back, you can without worry. If you are too tired to come to the office but still want to continue working, there will be papers, spreadsheets you can work through from home."
"You want me to be included" she asked.
"In everything Ana. I do not want you worrying that you are of no use to the company because you are pregnant."
"I would like that" she smiled, kissing my lips. "If I had to step back, then there will be someone who can take over what I do."
"Until you return again."
"With a child, that might be a little hard. Although we have many hands around us that would willingly look after our baby, I want it to be us who raises them, not a nanny. Do not get me wrong, I am very happy that my own parents were absent for so much of my life and I was able to have Charlotte who is the only parent I know. I grew up resenting them though and I do not want our child to do that if neither of us are around."
"I agree, we created our child together, so we should raise him or her together. I know I will be here during the day, but I will be sure to make up for that when I am at home. With regards to your work. If you decide to come back in a year, ten, twenty years, it does not matter how long, I will always want you by my side."
"I love you Christian" she said, resting her head on my shoulder as I ran my hand lovingly over her stomach.
"I love you, my beautiful wife."
A knock on the door, had us both sitting up, as Michael entered with our lunch.
"Thank you" I told him before he left us both alone again.
"Oh, this is going to be hard" Ana sighed.
"What is it" I asked.
"It will be hard, remaining a profession distance from you at the office. I do not want to make anyone uncomfortable if they were to walk in on us kissing."
"They would have to get used to it, as I cannot stop kissing my wife."
To prove my point, I kissed Ana before a knock came again, proving Ana's point in fact. We have to behave in the office.
…
I had introduced Ana to all of my mergers and acquisitions team as we had sat in the meeting that Ros held, just that afternoon. As I thought, Ana was full of ideas for the work we had ahead.
"I thought pregnancy was supposed to mess with a woman's brain" Ros said to me quietly as Ana spoke to a few of my team about the restructuring of a business Ros has purchased while I was away.
"My wife is incredibly intelligent and just like with you, that intelligence should be encouraged. Pregnancy or not, you cannot argue with how smart she really is."
"I was not going to. Will Ana be here every day you are" she asked me.
"For now. If it becomes too much though, I am sure she can work at home for as long as she is able. Ana wants to work, she wants to be involved. I will not discourage her."
We only stayed at the office for a few hours today before I took Ana home. She did say she was fine but after the long day we have both had, her tiredness was taking hold.
...
"What time is it" Ana mumbled, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"It is just after five. Close your eyes and sleep longer, you obviously need it."
"If I sleep any more, I will not sleep tonight" she told me, sitting up on the couch where only moments ago she had been lay sleeping. "Where is everyone."
"Paulina and Geoffrey have continued their adventure around the park. Paulina is just bathing Geoffrey because as usual, I think he brings most of it back with him."
"That is my brother" she laughed. "He was not born to stay clean for long."
"I can certainly agree with that and I do not think Paulina fared much better from what I did see."
Geoffrey and Paulina came to join us for dinner, a lot cleaner than the last time I had seen them.
"What made you so dirty this time" Ana asked them, before taking a bite of her meal.
"I wanted to stroke the duck, but I fell in."
Ana choked on her food at Geoffrey's comment, as I quickly patted her back. Her laughter was not helping in the slightest to dislodged it.
When she finally swallowed the small piece of meat she had been eating, Ana turned to Geoffrey.
"You were stroking a duck" she asked giggling.
"I was trying to, but my foot slipped. Mama went to grab me and then her foot slipped in as well."
"You two are a danger to yourselves."
"I would agree, although I think Geoffrey is a danger to us both" Paulina said laughing.
When dinner was over, we moved into the drawing room, so Ana could get comfortable while she drank her tea. At the moment she had a children's book in her lap as she read to Geoffrey. Charlotte was happily knitting away for her grandchild.
"What age do children start school here" Paulina asked me.
"Usually five, although some schools require a child to be older. It depends if he attends a private or public school."
"I do not know what the difference is apart from having to pay for one and not the other."
"Private school, I do believe will be better for him. Class sizes are smaller and would give focus more to an individual child's needs than competing to be heard in a class of twenty. Some children take home classes, have private tutors until they are of age, but I do not think Geoffrey will be behind because he has had the perfect tutor, you."
"Did you attend a private school" she asked me.
"I did. My parents were able to afford for me the best education, one I think Geoffrey would enjoy too."
"As a parent, I cannot deny that I want the best for him."
"The best he shall have then. Geoffrey is old enough now if you would like him to go, otherwise we can wait until august or September when the new intake begins."
"The summer or autumn would be preferable to start. It will give Geoffrey longer to settle in and also me time to prepare him for what is to come."
"And for you to get used to him not being by your side all the time" I told her.
"That more than anything" she smiled, looking to her son. "It had always been the two of us against the world until we met Ana and in turn you. I know it will be only a few hours that he will be gone but it will be a big adjustment for us all."
"I know you will worry, we all will. I can guarantee that Geoffrey will enjoy it though. Making friends with children his own age, learning new games, reading new books he has never read before. It is a whole big world out there for him to explore. A new adventure every day within the classroom and beyond."
"He will like that. If he speaks to a duck and wants to stroke it, who knows how he will be with another child."
"We will find out soon enough" I laughed.
"What is so funny" Ana asked, closing the book she had finished.
"We were just talking about ducks, children and schooling."
"Am I going to school" Geoffrey asked.
"Soon little brother, soon" I told him, seeing the excitement on his face.
…
Climbing into bed that night, Ana was sat up, reading some papers that Clara had given to her.
"Do you know, I am expected to drink two pints of milk a day and avoid sour and salty foods."
"Two pints a day. We will need to purchase a cow and keep it in the courtyard" I told her, earning a giggle from my wife.
"Do not worry, Charlotte has said she will order more milk, so I can have as much as I want when I am here. I was speaking to Paulina while you were out in the courtyard with Geoffrey before he went to bed. She was telling me about the birth."
"And what did she say" I asked as Ana put the papers down, lying beside me in our bed.
"That it is painful, and the only relief from that pain is when our child is born."
"I wish I could do something more for you at the time, to take that pain away from you."
"Having you by my side, despite what is proper or not and encouraging me until we have our child safely in our arms, that is all I need."
"I will be with you throughout Ana. I know there is the caesarean option, but I will not sacrifice you. The results from that is a safe birth for a child but most often death for the mother. That is no option at all."
"I will welcome the pain, just like I will be here to welcome our child. Clara said a home birth is safer to ward off any infection that I may catch by chance at the hospital. Having our child in the comfort of our home, bringing them into the world surrounded by the love of our family is the perfect place to be."
"I agree. We can either have our child in here, although I hear there is a lot of mess, or we can use one of the guest rooms on the floor below, just for that."
"I would prefer another room and then after we are both cleaned up, we can come up here and get to know our little one in comfort."
I could not wait to meet our child, although not too soon. As Ana let sleep take her, I lay awake for hours wondering what our child would look like, which part of their parent's traits they would inherit. Their mother's beauty and grace, their father's stubbornness no doubt. No matter what they are like, they will be surrounded by love.
Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Until next time, take care.
Caroline.