Chapter 6

When Angela woke up the next morning, she was greeted by the same symptoms as yesterday. Sighing, she realized that she was probably going to have to get used to this for the next couple of months. She'd had morning sickness with Jonathan, but it had been more hit and miss rather than an everyday occurrence. She wished that was the case now as feeling sick on a daily basis was going to make keeping this pregnancy under wraps that much harder.

After taking a few deep breaths, Angela was able to keep the nausea at bay enough to get up and ready for the day. As she went to get in the shower, she stopped to give herself a once over in the mirror. Other than still looking tired and a little green, there were no other outward indications of what was going on. She'd read that women often started to show more quickly with a second pregnancy, so Angela knew she was going to have to get creative with her wardrobe sooner rather than later to keep people from suspecting. And it was important to her that nobody find out until she and Tony had a plan and a path forward; not to mention that she knew that when things went wrong in a pregnancy it was generally during the first trimester.

A little while later, Angela again pushed through the kitchen door, but this morning, her senses weren't met with the suddenly egregious smell of eggs. Instead, both Sam and Jonathan had bowls of oatmeal and pieces of toast with jam in front of them.

"Morning, Mom," Jonathan said without looking up.

"Are you feeling any better, Angela?" Sam asked.

"I am," Angela said even though it was mostly a lie. "A full day and night of rest helped tremendously."

Tony turned around from the sink and could tell that Angela was not being completely honest but immediately realized that he couldn't let on that he knew while the kids were in the room.

"Morning," he said, suddenly nervous.

"Good morning," Angela replied, giving him a weak smile to try and cover the nervousness that she was suddenly feeling.

Everything was the same, yet everything had changed.

"Can I get you some oatmeal and toast?" Tony asked.

Without even thinking, Angela replied, "Just juice and coffee."

"Are you sure? It would probably be good for you to eat something to help you continue to feel better," Tony said, his eyes pleading with her.

"You're right, Tony. Thank you. Maybe some yogurt with fruit if we have any?" Angela replied as she chided herself for not realizing that starting today, it wasn't about her anymore. And hadn't she read somewhere that coffee had become a 'no no' while pregnant? So many things that she was going to have to brush up on quickly.

"You got it," Tony said with a smile.

"I'm sorry, Tony," Angela said as soon as the kids had left the kitchen to finish getting ready for school.

Keeping her voice low, she continued, "I guess I'm still in shock, so thank you for watching out for me. I mean us," she finished with a small smile as her hand went immediately to her stomach.

"Always," Tony said. "How are you really feelin'?"

"About the same as yesterday which is going to make it infinitely harder to keep this a secret," Angela said with a sigh.

"I figured. That's why I switched to oatmeal and toast for the kids. I know the smell of the eggs got to you yesterday. If you want, in the mornings, I can start bringing you some crackers and tea first thing. That seemed to help Marie when she was pregnant with Sam."

"Oh, Tony, that would be wonderful. At least for the next little while until this subsides."

"Whatever I can do for you and for…our baby," he finished in a whisper.

"Our baby," Angela repeated softly as they both just looked at each other in amazement.

"Bye Mom, bye Tony," Jonathan shouted from the living room breaking the spell and bringing Tony and Angela back to reality.

"Bye, Sweetheart," Angela replied before looking back at Tony saying quietly and a little nervously, "I need to be going as well. I should be home by around one this afternoon."

"I'll be here," Tony replied, starting to feel his nerves again.

Angela managed to keep her mind on her work and the important creative presentation that she had this morning as she took the train into the city. She needed to snap into work-mode Angela and be her usual smart and charming businesswoman self; maybe more so than ever before in order to prove to herself that she could handle both her career and this surprise baby.

A few hours later, Angela sighed as she found a seat on the train and sat down. The presentation had gone well, and the client had congratulated her and the team on what a thorough job they'd done on the creative concepts for the new campaign. For Angela, the real victory had been that she'd managed to get through it without feeling nauseous and without anyone realizing how distracted she actually was.

This was going to be challenging especially while she was still hiding her pregnancy. But, even when her coworkers found out, how would they react? What would the Board of Directors say? She was an unmarried, single woman who was having a baby with her housekeeper. None of that was going to go over well with the powers that be. Of course, she was the president and that carried some power and prestige. She only hoped it was enough to weather the storm that she could almost see coming.

Tony, for his part, had spent the morning lost deep in thought; so much so that he'd run the dishwasher twice before realizing it. He just couldn't stop thinking about what a mess everything was; a wonderful mess but still a mess, especially when it came to his job.

He'd come to the conclusion that he simply could not keep taking a paycheck from Angela; not while she was carrying his baby and certainly not after the kid was born. But, if he wasn't working for her, what reason did he and Sam have for continuing to live here? He knew he couldn't stomach living anywhere else, and it made sense to stay from a practical standpoint, but the idea of "mooching" off Angela almost made him sick. Maybe he could continue to do the housekeeping here, without being paid, and find another job as a housekeeper somewhere else in Fairfield. He wondered halfheartedly if Mrs. Randolph might still be looking for help.

The bigger issue was that Tony knew he didn't want to be a housekeeper for the rest of his life. He'd known that when he'd taken the job with Angela, but the other benefits that the job provided for both him and Sam made it impossible for him to say no. But now, with a new baby coming came new expenses. And there was no way in hell he was going to let Angela pay the majority of them. He knew she wouldn't have a problem with it, but he did. This was his kid too, and he was going to take care of him or her.

But how much could he contribute with only a high school education? Before he'd become a professional baseball player right after high school, he'd had thoughts about going to college. Sure, it wasn't something that many kids in and around Pitkin Avenue aspired to do, but he'd always thought he was smart enough, and he knew he wanted to do something with his life. So, what about now? If Mona could go to college at her age, why couldn't he? Maybe take a couple of night classes at Fairfield Community College and see how it goes. Granted, only being able to go part-time, meant that it would take him more than four years to get a degree. At least, though, it was a start and a stepping stone to making more out of his life and maybe someday to be worthy of being a true partner for Angela.

Just then, Tony heard the front door open and close and, as he walked into the living room from the kitchen, there was Angela standing nervously in the foyer with a tentative smile on her face.

"Hi," she said as she set her purse and briefcase down.

"Hi," he replied before they both walked slowly over to the couch and sat down…