I have to apologize for the shortness, but I had to cut it off or it would have been too long! I hope you can forgive me and still enjoy it!
Chapter Sixteen
Unfortunately, Ella and George's little argument had taken place on a Friday afternoon which meant that they had all weekend to be around each other. Thankfully, George normally ran the joke shop on Saturdays with some of the sales associates he had hired.
That left Ella to herself in their big house. She felt terrible still and wrapped herself in a heavy blanket and lay on the living room sofa. Her stomach was churning and her head was reeling from the previous day's events.
Her heart hurt because George hadn't even tried to understand her feelings about the situation. She couldn't figure out why he wanted a child so bad. He had to now that they had no idea what they were doing.
George was right though, she couldn't change it, but she couldn't learn to be a mother in the next eight months either. Ella had no experience with babies. Sure she had held a few over the years, but that was as far as her knowledge went. And even though George had his nieces and nephews he hadn't raised them, only been an entertainment to them.
Ella laid around in her misery all day, hardly eating anything. She couldn't, she felt too bad. She barely moved as that made her stomach turn over and her head spin at the same time.
Eventually, she heard the front door open and close and then George's familiar footsteps moving through the house. She heard him pause at the entrance to the living room, but he didn't say a word. With some serious effort Ella craned her neck around to look at him.
George caught her eye for a brief second before he turned on his heel and clumped up the stairs. Fifteen minutes later she heard the door open and close again. He was gone.
Tears slid down Ella's cheeks onto the couch pillows that they had paid so much for. Her own husband hadn't said hello to her, he had barely acknowledged that she even existed. When the sun fell and the moonlight was streaming in from one of the windows, Ella stood on weak legs, her head spinning at a violent rate. She slowly made her way upstairs to the bedroom where George's work clothes were laying all over the floor. She slowly picked them up and tossed them into the dirty clothes hamper. Then she simply fell into bed, pulling the covers to her chin.
That whole night she didn't feel George return to bed and she slept restlessly. Ella couldn't sleep, but when she tossed and turned her stomach lurched and she felt more awful.
She was up with the sun, but continued to lay in bed, unmoving. The door creaked open and George looked in at her. Ella met his gaze and he slowly stepped into the room.
He looked well rested so Ella assumed when had gotten from who-knows-where that he had slept in a guest bedroom. It was Sunday which meant that Lee would be in charge of the store and George didn't have anything to do.
"You look miserable," he said quietly.
"Well I feel about the same," she responded.
George cautiously stepped forward. "Did you eat anything yesterday?" He asked.
Ella only nodded.
"What?" He pressed.
"Crackers."
"You only ate crackers?" He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"I didn't feel like spending the whole day in the bathroom." Ella looked at the wall.
"Is it that bad?" George moved to sit on the edge of the bed.
"It's pretty bad," she murmured.
George rested a hand on her hip. "Well then let's go find you something to eat. You can't live on crackers."
Ella shook her head. "I'm not getting up. It only makes it worse."
"Alright then, let's start by sitting up." George reached around her and stacked the pillows, propping his wife up on them. Ella clutched her head and closed her eyes.
When she opened them again George was staring at her intently. The held each other's gaze for a few moments, not speaking.
"So are you really not excited?" George asked quietly.
Ella studied him before answering. "What do we know about having a baby? You can't possibly thing we're ready for this."
"I do think we're ready. Ella, we love each other. We can get through this. I know it." He scooted closer to her and took her hands in his. "Not first-time parents know what to do. We've made it through so much, we can do this," he said earnestly.
Ella removed her hands from his. "We have gotten through a lot, but we're not where I wanted to be before we had a baby. George, you left me standing in the kitchen on Friday, you didn't say a word to me yesterday, and then went who-knows-where leaving me again."
"Ella," George began, but she cut him off.
"No, you listen to me now. I'm not thrilled about this situation. I'm terrified. This could so easily go wrong and leave us worse off than we were before. But you were right about one thing. There's not a bloody thing I can do to change it now." Ella took a breath. "I need you now. I need you more than I've ever needed anyone. A baby changes peoples' lives dramatically and we were just getting comfortable."
George stared at Ella. "I've never seen you afraid, Ella." He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "Don't worry. We'll figure this thing out, I promise," he murmured.
Ella pulled away and took his face between her hands. "Don't you dare walk away from me again. Not in the next eight months anyways."
George smiled. "I won't. I swear. I'm so sorry, I was out of line."
"Yes you were." Ella leaned forward and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Now love, I can't let you wallow around and starve today. How about a hot bath and then we'll see about some food."
Ella nodded and allowed George to help her out of bed and into the adjoining bathroom. He ran the water and put some bubble bath in the warm water.
Ella stripped down and so did George, to her amusement. He sank into the water and reached out a hand to his wife. She took it and sat between his legs. Her head fell back on his shoulder and he kissed her cheek.
"George," she whispered.
"Hmm?"
"I love you."
George splayed his hands over her still-flat stomach. "I love you, too."
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Happy reading,
Avonmora