Heartbreak Hotel (Editing)

Chapter 81: Good Mother... Bad Mother

I stood silently in Liana's kitchen. My head down, fiddling my with my hands, leaning against the sink with my legs crossed out in front of me as she told me about some of the things she had going on. Something about work...Sasha getting on her nerves...and recent connections she had made with new people on the nursing board of the hospital she worked at. There was a reason why I was visiting her. She cared for babies in the nursery after giving birth and often was there while the mother was giving birth to the child. I had done some research-secretly buying out books and magazine articles out book stores anytime Michael and I would go out-but, everything was the same. They all said that child birth was different for every woman. The contraction was desctibed in one article to be worse than period cramps. This only made me worry even more. I was going into this having no clue what to expect at all. I mean there were so many things that could possibly happen: my baby could be born with a birth defect, or maybe I could die while giving birth, or what if I miscarried? All of this was going through my mind and I wasn't even that far into the pregnancy. I don't know, maybe I was just overreacting as usual.

It had only been a day since I found out about the baby, and I still hadn't told Michael. I wanted to make sure everything was safe and secure before telling him about it. I had scheduled a doctors appointment that would be that coming Monday, after my twenty-second birthday, and I was both nervous and scared to know what would happen. I-

" Aaliyah Dana Haughton!"

I jumped as fear struck my bones. " What? What?!" I held my hand over my heart as it began to beat out of my chest.

" I have been calling your name for the past ten minutes." She said, as she placed her hands on her hips.

I took my hand away from my heart and placed it in my hair, digging my fingers in my hair. " God, you almost gave me a heart-attack."

She studied my expression for a moment before placing the rag she was holding down on the counter. Her big brown eyes was filling with suspicion and concern. " You look really tired, Ali." She told me. " You gettin' enough sleep."

I snickered and turned away from her. Pretending like I was whiping something off the with a wet dish towel. " I've been getting too much sleep." I said.

" Too much sleep?" She asked. "What do you mean?"

"I've been really tired lately." I told her softly. Normally I was the kind of person to get straight to the point, but this...this was different. I was acting like a sixteen year old who had just got the disturbing news that I was pregnant. Rather than an almost twenty two year old married woman who had just found out she was pregnant.

"I didn't wanna say anything, but..." I turned to her as her sentence trailed off. Raising my eyebrows, waiting for her to pick it back up again.

"But what?"

She chewed her lip, hesitating. " Um, honey?" She asked. " Are you gaining weight?" Her voice was shaky and nervous.

I looked down at my body. I had on a pair of jeans and my favorite sweat shirt. Hiding the obvious small bump forming in my stomach. I simply shrugged my shoulders, letting my head fall to the side in a pose. " I don't know, am I?"

She took her fingers and pushed my head up to study my face. " Yes, you're cheeks are getting chubby."Then she finally asked the question. " Are you pregnant?"

I knew the question was coming, but I didn't know how long it would be before she actually asked me. Now I just stood there. Letting her eyes burn into my soul. I was stuck, and I couldn't get that one simple word out. So I just simply nodded my head. Two quick nods to confirm that question she had asked me.