𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙸 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 | 𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐑𝐊 [Collins]

Chapter 26 - Journey to acceptance

(revised)

"What are your plans for today?" I asked her.

"Nothing special. Just rest, I guess," she told me.

I had come that morning to check on her, as I did every day. I was more than worried about her since that evening, when she had almost ripped my arm off my body to control her pain. I had tried to make her change her mind, in vain. She refused to see the doctor and assured me she felt better, but it was not enough.

"What about you?" it was her turn to ask. "Are you going to spend your day worrying about me, watching my every move?"

"At least, one of us takes it seriously," I snapped back.

"I'm fine," she sighed.

I did not want to fight anymore, and so I did not say a word. I probably avoided conflict a lot with Freya. She had quite a temper, I had seen that in Duxford, and Andrew had experienced it several times. It was hard to reason with her, even more now that she had lost her husband.

"Let me do that," I told her as I noticed she wanted to lift a heavy pan to put it in the cupboard. This time, she listened and stepped aside without arguing.

"You're unbelievable..." I sighed. "You're almost seven months pregnant and you still want to do everything on your own."

"What? I'm not gonna spend all my days in my bed? I'd rather be dead," she complained.

"No, but I told you, you need to be careful!" I repeated for the hundredth time; and for the hundredth time, she grumbled with discontentment.

"I'm going to rest in the living room," she made sure I heard her. She was mad at me because she saw that as a punishment while all I was trying to do was protecting her from herself.

"While you're at it, could you bring me a cup of tea?" she asked in a playful voice before leaving the kitchen.

And so, I prepared her a cup of tea, happy that she had finally decided to listen to me. I joined her in the adjacent room with her hot drink and sat next to her.

"Careful, it's hot," I warned her as I gave her her drink.

"It's tea, it better be hot!" she made fun of my remark.

"You know what I mean," I defended myself.

"Yes Sir, I'll be careful not to burn myself Sir," she pretended to be obedient. Andrew's sense of humour had rubbed off on her.

I was about to laugh at her insolence when I heard the front door open and close. Andrew's mother appeared in the living room seconds later, to Freya's great surprise.

"Cathy, what brings you here?" she said as she got up to welcome her in an embrace.

"I wanted to talk to you sweetheart," she replied.

"Okay, come. Join us," she invited her to sit in the armchair next to us. "Would you like tea?"

"No, no, I'm fine," she declined. "Morning James," she smiled at me. I smiled back but remained silent. I knew the reason of her visit, and I knew what was going to happen.

"I went to see the doctor," Cathy started.

"What for?" Freya tensed, having a sense of what she meant.

"To know about your health, about your pregnancy. You didn't tell me anything about your last appointment."

"Because I'm fine!" she defended herself.

"No Freya. That's not what he told me. He said you must rest."

"That's what I'm doing!"

"Out of London."