The Clinch

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Gabriel and I had planned to tell our parents about the pregnancy over the weekend, but after a couple of mornings of waking up with intense morning sickness, my mother cottoned on and cornered me into telling her.

"Darryl, sweetie, you don't have to be scared; I just want you to tell me the truth. I won't do anything or tell anyone, I just need to know, honey what's going on..." She murmurs down to me whilst brushing strands of sweaty hair from my forehead and holding me close to her.

I'm such a mess right now; on the floor in my en suite with chapped lips and a half lucid expression. I've sweated through my pyjamas and I'm emitting some funky odour. But still I can't find it in me to move a single muscle.

"Mum" I whisper in a shaky voice and turn my head to face her direction "I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to happen like this; I'm on the pill!"

With a tiny, hopeful smile, she helps me to right myself. "It's okay baby, I understand. You're a smart girl, I know you'd never have had sex if you thought there was a chance you'd get pregnant. But it's one in a hundred, Darryl, this baby is divine intervention, he or she was supposed to happen."

I sob my agreement and pull the tiny sonogram picture out of my shorts pocket, rubbing over my little pea pod reverently with my thumb. "We're keeping it, mum. We were going to tell everyone this weekend at the dinner. Please don't tell daddy yet. He'll be so disappointed."

My mother gasps and accepts the picture as I hand it over to her. "Your father will be a lot of things when you tell him, but disappointed won't be one. It's your life and you can do with it what you wish; we'll support you every step of the way poppet."

"Thanks mum, thank you for understanding."

We sit like that; my mother rocking me back and forth as she tells me all about her first pregnancy and the joy of being a mother. So enthralled am I, that peace swamps my body. With my mother and Gabriel on my side I can do anything. And safe with that knowledge, I fall back into an exhaustion induced sleep.

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I mewl myself awake when I feel my body shift involuntarily towards whoever it is that's now weighing down the other side of my mattress.

Pawing my eyes open, I offer Gabriel a weak smile, which he returns before laying down beside me and wrapping his front around my back. "Hey princess, your mum called me. Bad morning?"

I hum my agreement and burrow against him. "Why aren't you at work?"

"I took my work home with me. You're sick baby, let me look after you." And as if determined, he wriggles from the bed and sets to making me as comfortable as possible. He closes the blind to block out the heavy midday sun, refills my jug of water and plumps up my pillows before resuming his position beside me on the bed. "There go. Now we can get comfy and watch some Die Hard."

And that's all we do for the rest of the day; just lounge around and watch Bruce Willis being a thug.

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The weekend comes and I'm gnawing on my nails as I nervously bounce my foot up and down. My sickness has receded some, thanks to a prescription of anti-nausea pills, and life has gone back to some semblance of normalcy.

I go to work, come home, eat, hit the gym - hard - train with my boxing coach, go out for low fat bubble tea with Gabriel, go home and sleep. And when I sleep, I sleep like a freaking log. I'm so exhausted all the time, and after spending an evening in the cafe with Gabriel and Google, I found that tiredness and morning sickness are a couple of expected perks to being pregnant.