Baby on Board

14

"So, what are you going to do today?" Isaac's attention is firmly on his daughter. Thank God, because if he dared to look in my direction, I might just pounce on him and take advantage of him here and now. "Are you going to see your mother?"

"Ew, no!" Martha quickly snapped. "Bitch, are you deluded? Have I been lobotomised? I don't have the energy to pretend to like anyone today and to be honest, while I try to see the best in people, some of those fuckers make it so damned hard. Now, I'm not saying that I hate her because hate is a strong word, but if I were a bird, I know who I'd shit on. That's all I'm saying."

Standing up from the breakfast table, Martha takes her cereal bowl to the sink and rinses it before adding some liquid and washing it thoroughly. All the while, Isaac tried to call out to his daughter. He wore a concerned look on his face but the more she ignored him, the more frustrated Isaac became. He moved his arm from around me and ran his hand through his hair and sighed heavily. His blue eyes followed Martha as she ducked below to the lower deck before closing his eyes and dropping his head to the table. 

"She's infuriating," he grumbled. He turns his head slightly, his gaze reaching my face. With a smile, he reaches out a hand and lightly touches my stomach, his palm covering the entire bump that has slowly been growing. "You're not going to be that mean to Daddy, are you?" 

His hand lingers there for a few moments until the sound of his phone breaks the silence. Catching a glimpse of the caller ID, I already knew that it was his mother. Once Martha had heard the news that Isaac was going to become a father for the second time, Isaac decided that he should probably phone is family and break the news to them, too. He called his sister, Alice, first, simply because telling her that 'Charlotte is pregnant' wouldn't be that much of a shock. Well, the pregnant bit, maybe, but seeing as Alice at least knew who I was would soften the news. We'd met at Sophie and Daniel's wedding when she came as Isaac's plus one and although I remember being obscenely jealous of her on first meeting her, the announcement that she was Isaac's sister made me like her even more. 

After calling Alice to break the news and receiving the response of, '"Holy shit balls on fire!' Isaac bravely phoned his parents. His mum, Dita- because she hates being called Aphrodite- answered the call and promptly worried that there was something wrong. Seeing as he was calling Sydney when it was very early in the morning their time, I could see why she thought he was calling with bad news. After Isaac calmed her down and assured her that everything was fine, he quickly told her why he was calling.

Dita, for her part, went berserk. There was a lot of screeching and Martha winced whenever her grandmother's voice went shrill; I wasn't sure if Dita's reaction was good or not. Isaac wasn't sure either and he solemnly announced that his parents were booking a flight to come over here as soon as he hung up the call. Finally, the last person on his list of people to call was his sister, May. 

Isaac talked about her the least and I couldn't work out why. He seemed close to Alice so I would have assumed that he'd be as close to May but when it came to having to phone her, he was reluctant to hit the call button. Thirty minutes after he'd picked up the phone to call her, he finally hit the little green button and waited patiently for her to answer. 

When she finally did, the call was awkward, more so for me as I had to sit there and watch as Isaac announced that he was going to be a father. Silence greeted him from the end of the line and just as soon as the conversation started, it ended. May had left the call and subsequently, left Isaac in a bad mood that lasted the rest of the day. 

"Yeah, I know, Mum," Isaac's voice pulls me from my memories. He sounds stressed and mildly annoyed which instantly makes me look over to him with concern etched on my features. Isaac's pacing the room, a hand combing through his hair, and his jaw is twitching like mad. He listens intently to whatever is being said to him but that only increases his annoyance. "I said, I know. Well, what am I supposed to do? She doesn't talk to me, Mum." He pauses, no doubt listening to more of what Dita is saying. Suddenly, he's shouting. "I've tried that, too. Don't you think I've tried everything? After what happened between me and-"