*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter. they were greatly appreciated. thank-you all so much.
Natalie:
*ONE MONTH LATER!
Angelina, my brother and I are on our annual beach trip to Ocean City, Maryland. John and I have decided to take a little break from one another while he talks to his wife. He needs to focus on ending things with her before something more ever happens with us. Two times I have slipped up and had sex with him. I can't let it happen again. He needs to leave his wife. I am sitting on the beach keeping a close eye on Angelina who is playing in the water with my brother. She loves her uncle. They are having a good time as they jump the waves in the ocean. I can hear Angelina's laugh all the way over here. She is so happy. She has been happier since John came into her life. It has been a good thing for all of us. I am snapped out of my thoughts when my brother's girlfriend Aspen interrupts my thinking by saying, "Nat, I got some French fries do you want some?"
The smell alone makes me want to throw up. I usually love French fries especially boardwalk French fries but something about them makes me nauseous. "No thank-you," I say, "I'm not feeling well."
"Are you sure? You didn't eat any breakfast this morning either. You have got to be hungry," she says to me.
"No. I'm not hungry. I'm just not feeling that great lately. I think I have some type of stomach bug. I haven't been able to keep anything down."
"I wasn't aware there was a bug going around," she says. "You don't look pale or anything."
She's right. I don't think there is a stomach bug going around. I don't know. I just feel icky. "I don't know. I just keep throwing up. Every time I see food or smell it I need to….." I start to say before the urge hits me and I throw up in one of Angelina's buckets.
"Are you okay?" she asks me when I finish.
"Yeah," I say. "Now."
"Maybe you should go back to the hotel and lay down. Your brother and I can handle Angelina. You should go get some rest so we can hit the boardwalk tonight," she says.
"I couldn't ask you to do that. Besides I'm all…" I start to say before I am once again throwing up in the bucket. "Okay," I say when I finish "maybe I will go lay down. I feel horrible."
"That's a good idea. We'll be all right. You go get some rest."
"Thanks," I say getting up and folding up the chair I was sitting on. I take the bucket with me to clean out back at the hotel. I trudge through the sand and it is a lot of work. I throw up at least 2 more times on my way back to the hotel room because of the smells in the air. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. I get back to the hotel room, clean out the bucket and lay down in bed. I fall asleep instantly. I feel bad because I should be spending time with Angelina but I am just not feeling up to it. I sleep for a good 30 minutes before my phone wakes me up. I grab it off the stand and look at it. I see John's name highlighted on the screen so I answer it. "Hey," I say.
"Hi, how's the beach?" he asks cheerfully.
"I don't know. I'm in the hotel. I don't feel well," I answer.
"What's wrong?" he asks.
"I just feel sick. I keep throwing up. I just feel blah," I say. I love my description of how I feel; icky and blah, I think they say it all.
"Oh. Maybe you have some type of bug."
"Maybe," I say. "So what are you up to? Did you talk to Ashley yet?" I ask.
"No. Not yet," says John, "I don't know what to say to her. She's in one hell of a mood though."
"Why?"
"I have no idea. She said she was going to the bank to talk to them and stormed out of the house. I have no idea what her problem is. She didn't say anything to me."
"I see," I say.
"Yeah. I think she's going to lose it about something. You should have seen her slamming drawers and slamming doors. I couldn't bring anything up."
"She is mean huh?" I ask.
"Yeah but she was fine until she got the mail then she made a phone call and was on her way to the bank."
"Maybe she's pregnant," I say with a small laugh although I know that if she was pregnant she wouldn't be going to the bank and I'm sure she would have told John.
"Nat, that's not even funny. I can't have a kid with her. I am trying to leave her."
"I know," I say. "It was an unfunny joke," I say. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," he says and I can hear him chuckle.
"What's so funny?" I ask.
"Nothing. I'm just thinking about how this is going to go. I might have to go into the witness protection program."
"I don't think it will be that serious," I say. "I think you're overreacting."
"Nat, you don't know her. She has a temper."
"I bet she does," I say. "I've heard about her. Why you would ever marry someone like her is beyond me."
"It's beyond me as well," he says. "A poor lapse of judgment on my part but it will all be over soon."
"Yes it will," I say as the hotel door opens and Angelina walks in with Aspen and my brother. "Hey, I'll talk to you later. I have to go. Good luck."
"Thanks. Love you," he says.
"Love you too," I say with a smile. "Bye."
"Bye," he says before I hang up the phone.
"Who was on the phone, Mommy?" asks Angelina.
"Your dad was on the phone," I say.
"Nat," says my brother. "You love him?"
"Yes," I say, "I do."
"You do?" asks Angelina with her eyes growing bigger. "You love my daddy?"
"I do," I say. I don't think it's a secret now.
"He's married, Nat," says my brother.
"I know we are just friends," I say. "I can love a friend right?"
"I guess," he says. "So what happened to you at the beach?"
"I got sick so I came back here to rest."
"And how are you feeling now?" he asks.
"I'm good. I feel much better," I say. I do feel a lot better now. My sickness seems to come and go at times. Hmm. It makes me think.
"Glad you're feeling better," he says. "We wouldn't want you to miss the boardwalk tonight."
"Me either," I say as I see Aspen looking at me.
"Well, I told Angelina I would take her to the hotel pool so we are heading down to the pool. Do you want to go with us?"
"No. I'm all right," I say.
"Okay," he says, "Let's go, Ange."
"Bye, Mommy," she says giving me a hug.
"Bye, Honey," I say with a smile as she goes with her uncle toward the door.
"Aspen, are you coming?"
"No. I want to talk to Natalie for a couple minutes," she says.
"All right," he says. "You two have fun with your girl talk."
"We will," I say with a smile before him and Angelina leave the hotel room. "So what are we talking about?"
"Natalie, I'm not trying to pry but you were just sick an hour ago and now you're perfectly normal. Is there something going on?"
"What do you mean?" I ask. "I was sick earlier but now I'm better. I think I'm over the bug. Although the last time I was like this I was…." I stop myself realizing that the last time I was that sick during certain periods of time I was pregnant with Angelina.
"You were what?" she asks. "Pregnant? Are you pregnant?"
"I don't know," I say. Other than sickness I haven't really had any other symptoms. "What is the date today?" I ask.
"June 18th," she says.
"The 18th? I am late. I'm at least 4 weeks late," I say.
"4 weeks?" she asks.
"Yes four weeks. I thought I had it a few weeks ago when it was just spotting. I figured all the stress I was under at the time made me skip a period. I didn't think anything of it."
"I think you're pregnant," she says.
"Me too," I say. "Me too," I say again. I can't believe it. I just remember back to that night over a month ago not the night on the couch but the one after Max beat the crap out of me. The only time John and I had unprotected sex. I can't be pregnant. This has to be my nerves.
"I think you should get a test," she says.
"And where are we going to find a pregnancy test at the beach?" I ask.
"We'll have to drive to a store in the area," she says. "Let's go."
"Now?" I ask.
"Now," she says.
"All right," I say.
We stop to tell my brother that we're running out on an errand for a few minutes and we'll be back shortly. I have never driven 20 minutes just to get a pregnancy test. I think it's a bit ridiculous it's not like I can go to the doctor if I am pregnant until we get back to Hershey but then I remember I don't have a job which means I have no insurance. What am I going to do? We stop at a Wal-Mart, pick up a test and head back to the hotel. As soon as we get back to the hotel I go into the bathroom to take the test. It's like déjà vu. I pee on the stick, wait two minutes which once again seem like years before I look at the results. I pick it up off the sink and talk about déjà vu I am feeling the same way I did 8 years ago. Scared, nervous and I look down at the results and almost faint. PREGNANT is as clear as day on the digital screen. I don't even cry. I'm just at a loss for words; I'm pregnant. John and I are having a baby. John has got to be one of the most fertile people I have ever met or maybe we are just fertile together. I don't know but we're pregnant. I walk out of the bathroom with the test in my hand and Aspen says, "So what's the verdict?"
"I'm pregnant," I say just as my brother and Angelina walk into the hotel room.
*A/N: So what did you think? Please review and thank-you for reading.