Chapter 5:
The Farm
"Emily, its mom, please call me back when you get a chance."
"Emily, it's your mother, call me."
"Emily Rae Dawson, call your mother NOW!" My mother yelled at me through my voice-mail.
I had been avoiding phone calls from my family since the day I found out I was pregnant. I was probably causing more family drama but between the pregnancy and school just starting up they were the last people I wanted to deal with.
"Are you excited for classes to start back up?" I asked Jonathan as we were getting ready for school.
"The sooner classes start the faster I get my degree." Jonathan replied as he packed his textbooks in his book bag.
"That's true." I acknowledged as my stomach started to get queasy again. I lay down on the bed, hoping to get it to settle down. Jonathan looked at me for a moment before leaving the room. After a few moments, I grabbed the bag of sour patch kids I had laying on the nightstand. I popped one in my mouth and hoped I could feel a bit better before my first class of the day.
Jonathan came back into the room holding a cup.
"Here." He said, handing it to me and going back over to his book bag.
I sat up and took a sip of the liquid that sat inside.
"Last month all this baby wanted was Thai food, now all he/she wants is sprite and sour patch kids. This can't be healthy." I thought out loud.
"Its not. That's what the vitamins are for." Jonathan remarked while he made sure he had everything. I had packed my bag the night before incase I was going to feel sick the next morning.
We both had classes at 8, not together but still it was getting to be time to leave. I put the cup on the nightstand, pushed myself off of the bed and quickly finished getting ready.
"You're sure you're up for this?" Jonathan asked looking at the alarm clock on the nightstand. I could tell he wanted to leave for class.
"I have to be. There's no way I'm throwing my education away because of a little morning sickness. Besides I'm ten weeks along now, hopefully there will only be two to four more weeks of this." I answered picking up my book bag.
We walked in silence for a few minutes before Jonathan asked, "What time is your ultrasound tomorrow?"
"11:30." I replied. I knew he wanted to be there for the ultrasound.
"I'll still be in class at that time. Bring me a sonogram if you're able." He said. I nodded. I was glad he wanted to be as involved with the pregnancy as he could be.
"You know I will." I told him. He looked at me and nodded. About 15 minutes later we were on campus.
"I'll see you in an hour." Jonathan said as we parted ways. Our next class was together so that would be fun...maybe.
…
"So how was your first class?" Jonathan asked me as I sat down next to him for our next class.
"I'm positive that Professor thinks I'm a spaz. I ended leaving class three times because of my morning sickness." I answered.
"Did you tell him why you were leaving so much?" Jonathan inquired.
"He was the first one out of the door. I'll try to talk to him later." I said just as our Professor came in.
…..
Jonathan and I spent most of the morning in class. Then Jonathan went to work while I went to the library and we eventually met at home. He barely said "hi" to me before grabbing one of the tacos I had made and went into the room he used as an office. I watched him turn on his laptop and pull out one of his textbooks as he got started on his homework. I had finished most of my homework except for some reading.
Deciding to leave Jonathan be, I grabbed one of my textbooks out, sat on the couch and started to read the assigned chapter. Around midnight I put my books aside and decided it was time for bed. I walked by Jonathan's office to see he was still working on his assignments. I walked into the room and up to him.
"I'm going to head to bed." I told him.
"Go ahead. I should be there shortly." He answered, still focusing on his work. I nodded and left the room. After I got finished getting ready for bed, I looked back in on Jonathan. His fingers were still typing furiously on the laptop.
Jonathan's P.O.V
The first day of class came and went. Emmy was sick but with time she'd get over it and could hopefully be more comfortable the rest of the pregnancy.
Today was Emmy's ultrasound. I felt impatient and wanted the class to end. I wanted to know how things were going with the baby.
Class had just finished and I was packing my things up when I heard my cell phone buzz. I quickly got it out knowing it would be Emmy. Instead of a call she sent me a picture text. I opened it to see a sonogram with the captions "Pretty cute huh?" A second later I got another text that read "Heartbeat" when I opened that one I heard the flutters of my child's heartbeat.
I had just walked out of the classroom when Emmy called.
"How did things go?" I asked her.
"Things are looking really good. The baby has a good strong heartbeat and I have a few more sonograms to show you." I heard Emmy's voice say. I could tell she was excited. I smiled at her enthusiasm.
"I look forward to seeing them."
Emmy's P.O.V
The semester went on and I was starting to feel better. I was about four months pregnant and the morning sickness had died down. Jonathan was super busy and I hardly saw him outside of school. Then he was home he was always studying.
I had just finished cooking dinner when Jonathan came home. He walked passed me and put his book bag down on his desk in his office. I put some food on a plate to take to him but was surprised to see him coming back out.
"Here." Jonathan said, handing me an envelope.
"What's this?" I asked as I opened the envelope to see two tickets to Iowa.
"I figured we would go out that way for Spring Break. I have the week off and it would be nice to get out of Gotham for a while." He replied, taking the plate of food I had prepared for him.
"You want to go to Iowa?" I asked a little confused.
"No but you do. Don't even bother trying to deny it." Jonathan dictated, before going back to his office. I stood in the kitchen not believing what just happened. Spring break was only two weeks away and I hadn't told my parents anything about Jonathan or the pregnancy. Actually I hadn't talked to them for about two months now. I loved Iowa but I wasn't sure how I felt about seeing my family.
…
'I can't believe I'm back.' I thought to myself as Jonathan and I got off of our plane. Once we got our luggage and rental car, we headed for my family's farm. I drove since I knew the territory better and he wanted to work on homework.
"So here's the deal with my family…" I started to say when Jonathan interrupted me.
"So you wait until after you get me here to tell me there's a deal with your family?" He was clearly unimpressed.
"Well, the thing is…my dad didn't want me to go out to Gotham. He will pull every string he can think of to try to get me stay here in Iowa. They don't know about you or the baby and they're actually don't know we're coming." I explained.
"Well that's not my fault now is it?" he asked. I shook my head. I had been avoiding them and didn't really want to face them.
"No its not. Just don't expect to be there the whole week."
…
After an hour and a half, we pulled into the dirt driveway in front of my parents' house. It was still early afternoon so my brothers and father would be out in the field working. My mother and Grandma Marge sat on the porch crocheting and gossiping.
"Are you kids lost?" My mother asked standing up and walking over to us as Jonathan and I got out of the car.
"Hi mom." I greeted her while I walked over to Jonathan. She stared at me for a moment.
"Emily!" my mother exclaimed happily coming over and giving me a hug.
"It's so good to see you, I didn't realize you were coming back home." She chirped, as Jonathan started to get our bags out of the car.
"Yeah I thought we'd surprise you." I explained. As much as I was dreading this trip, I was happy to see her.
"Well you did. Who's your friend?" My mom asked, now eying Jonathan.
"Mom, I'd like you to meet Jonathan." I introduced the two of them. Jonathan and my mother shook hands.
"Why don't you two come inside? I have some chocolate chip cookies that should be ready soon." My mom suggested, as Jonathan and I grabbed our bags and headed into the house with Grandma Marge close behind.
"Emmy! Its so good to see you my dear." Grandma Marge smiled at me.
"Hi Grandma." I greeted, giving her a hug.
"Who's this handsome young man?" she asked me winking at Jonathan.
"Grandma Marge I'd like you to meet Jonathan." I said putting a hand on Jonathan's arm.
"Nice to meet you." He said to her.
"Nice to meet you." Grandma Marge said with an impish smile. She then motioned for me to lean in.
"Emmy, you need to tap that dear…he's a hottie." She "whispered" loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Grandma!" I said shocked by what she had said, while thinking 'I kind of already did.' I looked over to Jonathan who seemed surprised by my Grandma's assessment of him.
"Emmy why don't you go put your suitcase in your room and show Jonathan to the guest bedroom?" My mom suggested as she took the cookies out of the oven.
"Actually Jonathan will be staying in my room." I informed her. She paused for a moment. My mother was a very traditional, no sex before marriage kind of person. Where she didn't know Jonathan and I were married, I could just imagine what was going through her head at this point. She stood up and plastered a fake smile on her face.
"If that's what you want, dear." She said through tightly pressed lips. I nodded and walked with Jonathan up the stairs to my room.
Once in my room I closed the door and turned back to Jonathan.
"My mother's going to murder me." I exaggerated, putting my suitcase on the bed.
"I highly doubt it." Jonathan said following my actions.
"I'm sorry about my Grandmother; I forgot to warn you that she's more boy crazy than a teenage girl." I apologized, sitting on the bed.
"She's…interesting." He assessed as he sat next to me.
"Are you alright?" he asked as I placed a hand on my stomach and stared off into the corner. I nodded, this wasn't going to be a fun week.
…
I helped my mom set the table while my grandma flirted with Jonathan. I had just finished setting the table, when I heard a loud clutter of mens' voices fill the air. The door opened to reveal my brothers. It took them only a few seconds to notice I was there.
"Emmy!" My brother Karl said smiling and coming over to me. He picked me up, twirled me around and set me down in the crowd of my brothers. They all spoke at once asking me all sorts of questions mostly revolving around when I got there and how long I would be staying. It was good to see them. I had always been close with my brothers.
I went to introduce them to Jonathan when my father came in. He took a look at me, huffed and walked off to get changed to dinner.
...
Once we were all sat around the dinner table my mother started the conversation.
"So Jonathan how did you and Emmy meet?" she asked, hoping to get to know him better.
"We meet in a class; our professor had us do a group project together." Jonathan replied not really wanting to get into it. I could tell he was going to make me be the one who told them everything.
"Are you studying Psychology too?" Karl asked Jonathan. Jonathan nodded.
"Jonathan will get his Masters in Psychology at the end of the semester. He starts medical school in the fall to become a Psychiatrist." I said, knowing Jonathan wasn't going to be too open with them.
"Really?" my mother asked a little impressed.
"It would be nice to have a doctor in the family." My grandmother suggested blowing Jonathan a kiss.
"There's nothing wrong with being a farmer." My dad snorted/.
"No one said there was, Charley." My mother responded. We finished the rest of dinner in silence.
Jonathan's P.O.V
Emmy's family were interesting people. I watched Emmy interact with them trying to learn what kind of family bond they shared. Everything seemed to be pretty cheerful except when Emmy said I would be sharing a room with her and then again when her father was around. There was something going on between Emmy and her father and I was going to find out what it was.
