Baby on Board

15

Martha, however, I saw every day. She was so excited at the prospect of becoming a big sister that she would constantly ask if we could go shopping to stock up on baby things. We hit Oxford street a few times and she eagerly choose some maternity outfits for me but I refused to buy any clothes for the baby until we found out the sex. That is, if we find out the sex. 

I was all for knowing the gender before his or her arrival. I like to be prepared and having a fully stocked wardrobe and a nursery befitting a boy or girl was rather important to me. I don't want to be rushing around doing all that after the baby's born. Where would it sleep in the meantime? In an open draw? Isaac, on the other hand, didn't want to know. He wants it all to be a surprise. Like finding out that I'm pregnant wasn't enough of a surprise!

Martha agreed with me, especially after Dita's prediction that we would end up having a boy. The day after I met Isaac's family, Dita turned up at my apartment- along with Martha- brandishing a baby name book. Taking a highlighter from her bag, she threw the inky pen and the book in my direction and told me to get busy while she supervised Martha in the kitchen. An hour later, I was stuck in the 'H' section of the book but at least I had some deliciously fresh madeleines to help me through the next god knows how many letters. 

Smiling as I remember how pleased Martha had been with her baking skills, I felt a pang in my chest that she'd gone back home. I'd briefly spent some time with her yesterday morning but I quickly left so that Isaac could spend the day with her alone. I knew he was devastated that she was going back to Sydney so I didn't want to intrude on some father-daughter time. While I was going to miss her terribly, Isaac was going to miss her more. 

"You got arrested?" I heard Sophie gasp from my office. It was followed by a raucous laughter that almost made me stop, turn around, and run in the other direction. The only thing that stopped me was curiosity. Who had been arrested? "Congratulations, honey! Welcome to the family. Charlotte got arrested once. In the Hamptons last summer. Oh, good times."

Walking into my office, I was ready to give my sister a piece of my mind. How dare she tell people I got arrested? Yes, it was true, but that doesn't mean she can go around, announcing it to the world. In any case, I still maintain that I am entirely innocent of the charges they threatened e with. I never assaulted that police officer. The words were on the tip of my tongue as I rounded the corner but they never passed my lips. As soon as I saw who Sophie had been speaking with, I dropped the paperwork in my hands and blinked at a furious looking Isaac Fletcher and a bashful Martha Fletcher. 

"You're supposed to be on a plane," I say to the teenager, walking up to her and wrapping my arms around her shoulders. "While I'm glad that you're not on the aforementioned plane, why aren't you?"

Isaac frowned. "She got arrested."

"Arrested?"

"That makes it sound so bad," Martha said. The blue eyes she inherited from her father rolled skywards. "He's overreacting. I was detained, that's all."

"Except, airport security didn't detain you," Isaac snapped. "They arrested you! Martha, do you know how serious this could have been? If Daniel hadn't come down to the station-"

"Wait a second," Sophie interrupted. "My husband knew of all this? That ratbag didn't Snapchat me to tell me. Strike nine hundred and three, Danny Boy."

Leaving the room while taking a selfie using the rabbit filter on Snapchat, Sophie continued to grumble about how her husband had all the fun. Blocking her ramblings from my mind, I turned my focus back onto Martha. 

"What did you even do to get arrested?" I wondered.

"I didn't get arrested!" She protested. "Whatever. All I did was create a scene on the plane and you know... other stuff."