Chapter 2 of 2 today … don't miss Ch53!

(15/10/2018)

CHAPTER 54

On Tuesday, Elizabeth excitedly ran over their options for their Hawaii trip. She decided on an all-inclusive resort in Maui that had a private beach and huge lagoon pool. After looking at the photos, she wished they were going there sooner than a further three months away. She booked everything to depart the day after Christmas for two whole weeks.

After school that afternoon, Elizabeth ran into Cassie when she was walking back to the car with the girls.

"Hi Elizabeth."

"Hi Cassie. How are you?"

"Better."

Elizabeth could still see the colourful tinge of bruises on her face.

"The police ended up arresting him and there is a restraining order in place now."

"That's good. Does he know where you are?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Well, you give me a call if you have any problems at all."

"Actually, I did want to ask for a favour."

"Yes?"

"Bailey really wants to come and see the girls. He's really missed Eve."

Elizabeth smiled. "Of course. Why don't you both come over for dinner on Friday night?"

"Are you sure? I wasn't inviting myself over."

"Yes. Around 6?"

"Great. Thanks Elizabeth."

On Wednesday morning, Jack had left early when Elizabeth pulled herself from bed. The dizzy spells had been progressively getting worse and the headaches were fairly constant. She had decided she should go back to see the doctor, thinking it all started when she got punched by that jerk in the bar.

It was only when Viola had mentioned that she had headaches through the pregnancy that Elizabeth had thought for a split second that the headaches could have been caused by something else.

Elizabeth had very few headaches while pregnant with Halley or Gracie but with Eve they had been terrible until about halfway through the pregnancy. Now sitting there on the edge of the bed, she noted the similarities between now and when she was pregnant with Eve.

But no. It wasn't possible. She had a contraceptive implant. She couldn't get pregnant.

Elizabeth walked into the bathroom slowly, turning on the water and stepping into the hot stream. She stood there for a long time, her hand absentmindedly running over her stomach.

She stepped out of the shower and dried off looking at herself in the mirror. Turning sideways. It had to be her imagination but it did look like there was a definite bulge there. She didn't start to show until well into the pregnancy with all three of the girls. No this was definitely her imagination getting carried away. She was just bloated from dinner or something. Her clothes still fit. She hadn't had any problems with buttons or zips. But then again she had been wearing a lot of dresses lately and her loose shorts. Nothing that would have felt tight in the last two weeks at least.

She stood there for a long time looking at her reflection, her hand running over her belly. Counting. Eve was 6 months old when she had the implant put in. May. Over three years ago.

Elizabeth ran to her dresser and fumbled around inside. She knew there was a box of tests there somewhere. She found it and stripped off the plastic as she made her way back into the bathroom. She found the expiry date. Another two years left.

She pulled out the three foil wrappers and tore open the first one. Two minutes later, she was pacing the bathroom floor, not knowing what to do. She felt confused and slightly scared as to what she was about to discover. She took a deep breath and turned to look at the result.

Two pink lines stared back at her. A tear slipped down her face.

Jack noticed Elizabeth was very quiet. Unnervingly quiet.

She said nothing through dinner.

She barely said anything as she put the girls to bed. They begged her for a book.

"No" was all she said. There were no tears or tantrums. The way she said it was enough. The girls went to bed without any arguments.

She cleaned up the kitchen without a word.

She curled up in bed with barely even a goodnight.

Jack was worried.

He came and sat beside her, his hand running through her hair.

"What's the matter, baby?"

She stared at him for a moment. "Nothing."

"Please talk to me. Let me help you."

"You can't."

"I can try."

"I'll tell you tomorrow night."

"Why tomorrow?"

"Please Jack. Let me be. I will talk to you tomorrow."

So he left her.

On Thursday, Elizabeth had called in sick from work. That morning she had pulled out her jeans and pants that she normally wore in the cooler weather and she was right. They didn't fit. Her favourite jeans gaped open. She couldn't even do up the zip. She threw on a dress instead.

Elizabeth drove to Viola's and picked up Oscar on the way to school and then dropped all four kids off. Viola had still been unsure but since Elizabeth practically drove past their door, Viola couldn't say no. Elizabeth dropped Eve off for her second day of childcare. Eve had been so excited. She loved playing with all of the other children. Elizabeth had been worried that there would be tears but if anything it was the opposite. Elizabeth was sad that her baby girl was growing up.

Elizabeth had called her gynaecologist the day before and got a morning appointment. As soon as she walked in, the doctor recognised her.

"Oh Elizabeth. How have you been?"

"Good thank you, Dr Joan."

"What can I do for you today?"

"I have a contraceptive implant but I believe it may have expired."

The doctor looks at her notes. "Yes, you were sent three reminders to come back."

"I never received them."

"The secretary left a voicemail as well."

"I didn't receive that either."

"Is this your phone number?"

"No. It's a 2 on the end. Not a 7."

"And your address?"

"No. That's my old address. I moved when Eve was born. I thought it had been updated with you."

"So you didn't receive any reminders?"

"No."

"Your period never came back?"

"No."

"And you … forgot?"

"Yes. I just remembered."

"Alright, well we can replace it if you like."

"I think it's too late for that."

"You suspect you might be pregnant?"

"Yes, it appears likely."

The doctor looked at her screen. "It would have expired in May or there abouts. Alright, let's do a test to confirm and then we will go from there."

Ten minutes later, after another positive test, Elizabeth was laying down on the bed as the doctor prepared the ultrasound machine.

"We might not see anything if it is early on, but we'll just check. You'll have to come back for a better scan with the sonographer in a few weeks anyway."

Even now as Elizabeth lay back on the bed, she could see the slight bulge of her tummy and knew things were further along then she could have ever imagined.

The doctor pressed the cold wand low on her pelvis and she watched as the black and white streaks came into view. Elizabeth knew this procedure. She'd been through it several times before but now her heart was beating a million miles a minute, waiting for the white blob to come into view that she would recognise as their baby.

A split second later, there it was. She could see it now and she was right, it wasn't a blob. She could see the shape of its head, body, arms and legs. The tears filled her eyes as she stared at the sight in front of her.

The doctor made a lot of measurements, before she ran the cursor over the flickering on the screen. The sound of the baby's rapid heart beat filled the room and Elizabeth smiled through her tears.

"That's perfect, Elizabeth. You have a very healthy baby here so far. By these estimates, you're already 10 weeks."

The doctor pressed a few more buttons and the baby disappeared from the screen. She removed the probe, printed off some pictures and put them with her notes.

"Come back and take a seat, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth sat up slowly, her legs dangling over the bed. She slowly climbed down from the table, wiping the gel off her belly and fixing up her clothes.

When Elizabeth was sitting back in front of the doctor, marginally more composed, the doctor handed the pictures to her.

"I'm going to guess and say this was a bit of a surprise."

"Yes. It was."

"Were you planning to have any more children?"

"Not at this stage, no."

"It looks like you will be due end of April or early May. We will know for sure at your next scan. I will get some blood work done and it might give us a better indication as well. You have had some symptoms though?"

"Dizziness and some headaches. The same as for my last pregnancy."

"I have to ask, will your husband be happy with the news?"

"I'm not sure. Things have been a bit stressful lately but I think he will be happy after he gets over the initial shock."

"Okay, well we will need to make another appointment in a few weeks time."

"Thank you, doctor" she said as she rose to leave.

Elizabeth got back to her car. She had the rest of the day off until 3pm when she had to collect the kids. Her mind rested on Jack. She had to tell him. She called him, not sure if he would answer.

"Hi Beth. Is everything okay?"

"I need to talk to you. Can you get away at lunchtime if I come and pick you up?"

"I'm sure I can manage it."

"I'll pick you up at 12."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, Jack. I just need to talk to you."

"Okay. I'll see you then."

She went and got some sandwiches and drinks from Abigail's. She sat and had a coffee while she was waiting. As she stared at her coffee cup, she realised that was a habit that would have to go again. She sighed louder than she realised.

"Whoa. You okay?" Abigail stopped on her way past.

"Yes, fine."

"What are you doing in here today?"

"I wasn't feeling well this morning so I called in sick. I'm feeling better now though."

"That's always the way. Half of it is that you feel so stressed about calling in sick, I think it makes your symptoms worse."

"You know I've never thought of it like that before but you're probably right."

Abigail brought out her order to go.

"Thanks Abigail."

"Who's the special lunch for?"

"I'm just picking up Jack for lunch. I thought I may as well make the most of being on my own."

"Good idea. You two need to take some more time to yourselves."

"I know. It's hard with three kids though." Soon to be four, she thought. Four kids.

Even though Elizabeth had realised she was probably pregnant again the day before, it was different once she had seen the image on the screen. The shock of the whole situation was still playing over in her head.

"Elizabeth?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you're okay? I know you said you were sick, but you look very pale."

"I'm fine. Thank you for the lunch. I better go if I'm going to pick up Jack on time."

She drove to the base and pulled into the visitors bay. Jack was there a minute later, climbing into the passenger seat and leaning over to kiss her hello.

"Hey. I've got to tell you Beth, you have me really worried."

"No Jack. We used to do this sometimes when I had a day off work or when it was just me and Eve. Not so much since you've been back though. Your days are hard to keep track of at the moment."

"Tell me about it. But why aren't you at work today?"

Elizabeth had driven out of the base and was still another five minutes from the lake.

"I wasn't feeling well this morning."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm much better now, thank you. Are you with Shane again today?"

"Yes." Jack began filling her in on his day and she was grateful for his conversation. Not only did it remove the focus of his questions away from her but she could tell he hadn't paid attention to where they were going.

She parked the car and he was still talking. She kept asking him more questions, keeping him distracted as they stepped out of the car and walked across the grass. Elizabeth reached for his hand as she lead him along before she put the picnic blanket and food down. He went to sit down but she grabbed his arm, pulling him back toward her. She didn't want to wait any longer.

"What is it?" he asked in surprise.

"I have to tell you something, Jack. I know it's going to come as a shock since I told you that it couldn't happen but I was wrong."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm pregnant."

"What?" He stared at her, not comprehending.

"You heard me. I'm pregnant."

"How?" He shook his head. "You said you couldn't get pregnant."

"Yes, it seems the contraceptive expired." She saw the shock on his face and interpreted it as disappointment. "I'm sorry."

His face broke into a grin as his hands cradled her face.

"Why are you sorry?" he said before he leant into kiss her. She could feel how happy he was just from that kiss. He held her close to him, his lips pressed to hers, all the emotion, love and desire conveyed in that one moment.

"You're not upset?"

"No. I'm in shock because I didn't think it was possible. But happy … so, so happy" he said as his hands wrapped around her holding her tight. He pulled back suddenly, looking down at her. "But are you upset? I know this wasn't what you wanted. We talked about maybe considering it but …"

"No Jack, I actually am happy about it. It was a huge shock though."

"You found out yesterday? That's why you were so quiet?"

"Yes, I figured it out yesterday morning but I had it confirmed today. Do you want to see?" she asked.

"Yes, of course I do."

Elizabeth sat down on the blanket and pulled the photos out of her bag. Jack eagerly sat down beside her. He stared at the photos for a long time. Elizabeth was worried that he had stopped breathing at one point.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. I just realised that we're going to have four kids."

"Yes" she said, giving his knee a squeeze.

"Four children is … a lot."

"Yes." Elizabeth was well aware of that fact. One that had been at the forefront of her mind for most of the morning.

To be continued …

Most of you predicted this was coming … hope it didn't disappoint ;)