Baby on Board

6

I keep seeing pregnant women everywhere. It's almost like I'm being stalked by baby bumps and I simply cannot escape them. This is probably an exaggeration but I can't deny the fact that it seems as if every woman in London is expecting. Sam laughed when I told him of my theory and tried to assure me that I only thought that because I have baby on the brain. There weren't more pregnant ladies roaming the street, I was simply noticing it more because I was now one of them.

I'm in the eggo is preggo club!

"Why are you crying now?" Sam asked in his irritated voice. His tone did nothing to calm me down as I burst into even more tears. "God, if this is what it's going to be like for the next nine months, I think I might actually have to move back into my own place."

My head snapped up at hearing those words and while they would have been music to my ears a few weeks ago, right now, it was the worst news I've ever heard. "You can't leave me!" I wailed. "I'm pregnant!"

Finally understanding what was behind the waterworks, Sam laughed in amusement and came over to where I was sat to wrap his arms around me. Since he broke the news to me that I was pregnant- with Isaac Fletcher's baby, no less!- I've flitted between being ridiculously excited about being a mum and equally terrified that I'm going to be a mother to a real, live human baby. 

I wasn't cut out for motherhood. I could barely keep a cactus alive when I was a teenager and those buggers need only the minimal amount of care and attention. Imagine me having a dependant! You hear those stories about parents forgetting their babies in cafés or losing them in Tesco or locking them in the car and having to phone the police to come and break the window. The worrying thing is that all those scenarios would be my reality once the baby arrives. 

"Char, you're going to be ok," Sam reassured me, his voice having lost the annoyance it held previously. When I'd calmed down enough, Sam slumped down on the sofa next to me and watched me carefully. "I know you don't want to hear this but I really think you need to tell-"

"No!" Cutting him off, I send him my best death glare. "I am not telling Isaac. He doesn't need to know."

Sam arched his eyebrows. "He doesn't need to know? Charlotte, are you even listening to yourself? He's the father of your baby and he's going to find out eventually. Would you rather that he hear it from you or just randomly bump into you in a few months time and it's like, 'Holy shit!'? Because those are your options." 

I knew what Sam said was true but there was no way I could tell Isaac. I was just a one night stand, after which, I was supposed to flit away and the whole thing would become a distant memory. Turning up and announcing that I was having Isaac's baby wasn't part of the deal and even if I did grow a set of balls and pluck up the courage to tell him, he wouldn't be interested. He has his own life and I'm pretty sure that I do not register in it, let alone a baby being part of the grand plan. 

Despite reassurances from Sam that Isaac would be happy with the news of impending fatherhood and assume his role with great enthusiasm, I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted him to do so. If there was anything worse than parenting, surely it would be co-parenting. When would Isaac have the baby- every weekend or every other weekend? Who would have the kid for Christmas- me or him? What type of school would the child attend- state or private? It will be a logistical nightmare and Isaac and I would fight and the child would be in the middle and we wouldn't be able to reach an agreement and... Nightmare of the worst kind.