No Strings Attached

Part 22 : No Strings Attached

I waited, holding my breath.

Happiness danced in his eyes and a smile played across his lips as he stared at me.

He was... pleased?

I looked away, unable to meet his gaze.

He placed his thumb under my chin and turned my head towards him, "You mean....?"

"Yes." I whispered looking downwards at my stomach.

"I'm going to be a Dad?" he questioned, persistently

"Riccardo..."

"A baby." He swallowed, "A real baby. An Alonso baby. F*ck! Kimberley I-- I don't know what to say! This is..." His smile stretched out wide, "This is incredible!"

I sighed deeply, "Rick... I need to tell you something."

He smiled, "Anything."

I looked away again, "I'm having an abortion."

"YOU WHAT?!"

Horror spread across his face. Anger. Rage. A pulse rapidly beating in his temple, spittle flying out of his mouth.

Oh no. This was not what I had bargained for.

"Rick, I can't deal with this right now, you know how busy I am. Work is just so stressful right now."

"THEN YOU'RE FIRED!"

"Rick, don't put me in this position... please."

"It's a baby! It's our baby! Our child, Kimberley? And you want to get rid of our child? My child? No, it's not going to happen. This is the start of a whole new chapter of our lives. It's a baby Kimberley! This is what we wanted, what we dreamed!"

"We never had this conversation, Riccardo! Not ever! You think I'm ready to have your child? You couldn't be further from the truth. Children are for people that actually have their sh*t together. Mature people that know things, maternal things. We've been together for five minutes! I'm-- not ready for that."

"Don't do this Kimberley." His jaw tightened, "Please don't. This is a baby - our baby. Don't you realise how lucky we are?"

All the time I didn't meet his gaze but finally, I looked up at him, "Rick, I have to do this. I can't be a mother. Not the type of mother a child deserves." I was just getting to grips with how to be a wife, and now I had to throw mother into the mix?

"You must be mad. You must be ill Kimberley because I know this isn't you right now. My Kimberley is rational. My Kimberley thinks things through. You think I have a paternal bone in my body? Before I met you, if anyone told me I was going to be a father, I would've laughed in their face. But with you, can't you see it Kim? It's always been different with you. You made me want all of this. A family of our own, marriage again, children we would look after, love and cherish. Us. You and me. We'll work it out together."

"I can't do that Riccardo! You've got this all wrong. I have to have an abortion."

"Mierda Kimberley! You're too damn headstrong!"

"I can't look after a baby Riccardo! What kind of mother would I be? How can I possibly have a child? Not just for my body image but for me! I have to look after it and bathe it and feed it and everything! I'm not ready for that!"

"But I am!" He roared, "What if we can never, god forbid, concieve again? Then we'll never have a family! A family Kimberley, a real family, our family! We're married now. That's logically the next step. A baby." he looked down to my stomach, "A real baby. An Alonso."