Work in Progress: Study of a Mad Golfer's Daughter

Inspired by Andrea Churchill's Work in Progress: Study of a Mad Golfer. Both the idea AND the title character belong to her. Although I don't own Bessie, I love the character, and I'm honored to come up with this story for her. UGH! Do I HAVE to go up to 100? I'm not sure if I can, or WILL do anything of the sort, I'll do my very best, and I promise that I will actually finish this, whether or not I write 100 "chapters."

Although Andrea gave hers the highest rating, I'm only giving mine a T rating, and I'll do my best to make sure there's nothing "too mature" in here. If there is, PLEASE don't be afraid to tell me.

And one more thing. I don't own any characters in this chapter. They all belong to Andrea and Disney. So anyways, happy reading lads n' lassies!

Strawberry, Part 2

The next morning Bess wasted no time checking her underwear again. There were more spots than before, but she wasn't bleeding heavily and no clots were found. She even wiped herself with toilet paper just to be sure, and all she saw were pink smudges. "If that's all it is, then everything should be fine," Bess reassured herself. "Right now let's just focus on telling Dad about the pregnancy."

From the docks near Archie's home to Killigan's island, Bess wouldn't allow herself to think of anything except figuring out the best way to tell her father the news. Once she reached the giant castle doors, she still felt unsure of what exactly to say. Was there even a right way to tell Duff Killigan that he was going to be a grandfather? Bess felt her entire body tremble and took a deep breath. "Let's just get this over with." Using both arms, she opened one of the doors with all her strength and walked inside.

"Hullo!" Bess called. She didn't see her father anywhere, but she did smell something cooking.

"Is that you, Bess?" a familiar voice called back.

Bess followed the scent trail into the kitchen and found her old nanny cooking by the griddle. "Hullo, Abby."

Abigail quickly flipped a pancake and walked over to Bess. "Welcome home, sweetheart!" She greeted Bess with a warm smile and wrapped her arm around her in a loving embrace. "How was your trip?"

"It was…fine, I suppose," she muttered in response, turning her head away.

"Are you hungry at all?" Abigail focused her attention back on the griddle. "I wanted to surprise you with breakfast all ready for you, but I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I went ahead and made all of your favorite foods." She picked up the pancake with her spatula and set Bess's plate on the table. "Go ahead and help yourself," she insisted.

Bess sat in her seat and looked at the breakfast Abigail prepared for her. She was impressed with how much of her favorite foods she had included on her plate: two pancakes; one filled with chocolate chips and the other filled with blueberries, fresh tattie scones with butter, hot sliced square sausages, homemade baked beans, and an Aberdeen rowie with strawberry jam spread on top. It made her feel horrible that none of the food looked appetizing thanks to her nausea, but she couldn't let Abby's hard work go to waste, so Bess took a few small bites of her rowie. It was at least tolerable for her to eat thanks to the strawberry jam. If this keeps up, strawberries may become my lifesaver for this pregnancy.

"Soo Abby, is my dad home?" Bess asked as she licked the jam off her fingers.

"He is, but he's locked himself in his lab, so he may as well not be here at all."

Bess sighed and shook her head. How typical. Although…now that she thought about it...Duff's absence may actually work in her favor this time. After all, he can't get angry about her pregnancy if he isn't around to know about it.

"...Do you think he'll come out at all?"

Abigail rolled her eyes. "Knowing your father, he'll probably stay shut until you go back to school." Her eyebrows began to furrow in anger. "But you know what? He should be down here with you! It's your first day home for Guardian's sake! I'll call him down right now."

Bess immediately shot up out of her seat. "No, no that's okay. I don't want to interrupt his work. I have all summer to see him, so I'm in no rush."

Abigail gave Bess a puzzled look. "Are you feeling okay, hon? You seem rather jumpy."

Bess felt her heart stop in a brief panic. Oh no…Abby suspects something...I can't have her rat me out to Dad!

"A-Aye, I'm okay," Bess stammered. "But what about you, Abby? What have you been up to?"

Abigail's eyebrows slowly softened and her face lit up again. "Actually, it's funny you should ask. I've been working on a new painting, and I would love to hear feedback from my old art teacher once she's done with her breakfast." She gave Bess a quick wink.

"Oh, I can finish my food later." Bess grabbed her plate and placed it in the refrigerator. "I'd much rather see my old student's new artwork."

Abigail gently laughed back in response. "All right then. If you say so." She led Bess up the stairs and into her bedroom, where a wooden easel holding a canvas of an unfinished painting stood in a corner. "Well, here it is," she moved the easel out of its hiding place and into the light for Bess to see. "What do you think of it so far?"

Looking closely at the canvas, Bess could recognize the green grass of the island, as well as the blue waves of the ocean. She also made out Charlie's head peering out of the water looking down at two unfinished blobs on the shore. "I think it's coming along nicely," she commented. "But what are those round shapes supposed to be?"

"Oh, those are seals," Abigail explained. "I haven't quite worked out the details yet."

"Seals?" Bess asked. "Have there been seals on the island?"

"Just two, and only for a short while. A mother seal and her pup settled on the coast a few months back, and Charlie somehow really took a liking to them."

"Aww he did?" Bess cooed, smiling widely.

"Yeah, he would swim around and play with them whenever they came around." Abigail shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand why he was so fascinated with them. I thought he was going to gobble them up at any moment, but he never did."

"Maybe Charlie has a soft spot for wee ones and bairns," Bess suggested. "I mean...he was always gentle with me as a wee lass."

"Huh. I suppose that makes sense. He seemed to especially adore the small pup and treated it like his own." Abigail sighed. "No wonder he looked so distressed when they stopped showing up."

"Charlie may be a big beastie, but he is a pure big sweetie as well," Bess giggled. "I only wish I could've seen the interaction for myself."

"And that's what I hope to accomplish with my painting: to make you feel as though you're there with Charlie and the seals."

"Oh, I have no doubt that you will succeed in that endeavor, Abby. I look forward to seeing how it turns out."

"Thanks Bess. I appreciate the encouragement."

This gave Bess an idea. "Hey Abby, are my old paints still in my bedroom?"

"They should be," Abigail replied. "Why? Did you want to paint something?"

"Aye, I was thinking we could do some painting together; just like old times."

"Sure! That sounds like fun!" Abigail exclaimed. "You go on ahead and find your art stuff. I'll meet you in your room."

"Works for me!" As Abigail picked up her easel, Bess made a head start for her bedroom. I should've thought of this ages ago! she laughed to herself while searching her closet. I can make the news to Dad with a painting. Would it make a difference to his reaction? Most likely not, but it was better than finding the right words with the same intensity as diffusing a bomb, and what better way to release all the stress than with art? The only problem was deciding what exactly to paint. A sonogram picture? Something golf related? Whatever she painted, it couldn't be too obvious or else it would ruin the fun…not to mention Duff wouldn't explode as quickly if it took him a while to understand it. Bess could feel the rush of inspiration gushing through her mind as she rummaged through her old art supplies.

"Ooh Bess!" she heard Abigail exclaim from behind. "Looks like your period started."

Bess instantly froze at Abigail's words. "My…what?"

"Y-Your period," Abigail repeated, slightly confused. "Your pants are red, so I assumed that your period just started because…what else could it be?"

Wouldn't you like to know, Bess thought. Without missing a beat, she made a hard dash towards the nearest bathroom, pulled down her pants, and sat on the toilet–where she found that her worst fear had been realized. Instead of pink smudges, her underwear was now drenched in deep red blood.

"Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no," she whimpered. "Please tell me this isn't happening right now…" As she cleaned herself off, she constantly checked her tissue and the toilet for clots, and while nothing was found among the mess, she had a feeling this would not end well.

"Are you alright, Bess?" Abigail asked from outside the door. "Do you need pads or something?"

Bess took a brief moment to swallow the lump in her throat and fought back the tears welling up in her eyes. The last thing she needed was for someone to see her cry, even if it was Abigail. "Aye, some pads would be nice," she managed to breathe out loud.

"You got it. I'll bring back a few and some clean pants for you."

As she waited for Abigail, Bess could feel more tears leaking out as well as the lump coming back to her throat. "No! Not yet,"she ordered herself. "Abby will be back any moment now, and I don't need her asking questions if she sees me in tears."She took a deep breath. "Once I get the pads, everything will be okay." But the longer she waited, the harder her emotions fought back, and with brute force. Bess held it all in as much as she could, but somehow her tears overpowered her strength and flowed out freely like waterfalls…and she didn't bother to stop them. At that point, she didn't care if Abigail or even her father heard her cry. No matter what he'd do to her, nothing could compare to the agony of sitting alone in the bathroom during a possible painful miscarriage, so why force any part of her body to contain itself? If her uterus was flushing everything out, why couldn't her eyes do the same?

Just then she heard a soft knock at the door. "Bess?" Abigail called. "I've got your stuff right here. Would you like me to hand them to you or leave them by the door?"

Bess tore off a new square of tissue and gently wiped her eyes. "Um…leave them by the door, please Abby."

"Sure thing," Abigail responded. "I'll wait for you in your room, and then we can start painting."

As she stood up to grab her things, Bess took one more peek inside the toilet, but like before, she found nothing but blood. "Something's not right," she noted. "If I am miscarrying, shouldn't I have found blood clots by now?"The heavy bleeding certainly indicated that a miscarriage was happening, but there were no clots to confirm it. If there were no clots, was she miscarrying at all? And if not, why was she bleeding so heavily? Bess found this all puzzling to say the least.

"Strawberry, what is going on with you, wee one?" she asked while softly rubbing her abdomen. "Are you alive or not?"

"Would you like me to perform a full body scan, Miss Elspeth?" Bess felt herself jump at the sound of Hondscioh's voice above her. She had forgotten just how loud the castle's homing computer could be, especially in such a small space.

"I can determine the wellbeing of your embryo for you."

Of course! Why hadn't she thought to ask Hondscioh for a health scan? She could've saved herself all the worry if he had told her what was going on.

"Uh…aye. Go ahead and do a scan on me, please."

"Certainly, Miss Elspeth," Hondscioh confirmed. "Before I begin, I must ask that you stand perfectly still so that I may receive an accurate reading of you and the embryo."

"Um, sure thing." Bess placed her back to the bathroom wall and stood as straight and still as she possibly could. "Is this good, Hondscioh?"

"Affirmative," replied the computer. "Commencing full body scan."