Falling. Fallen

Chapter 17

The rays of the sun softly peeked through the white satin curtains and fell warm on Ana's face. She smiled in her sleep as she started waking and slowly opened her eyes only to close them again against the sunshine. She took a breath and stretching her arms above her head, moved her head to the side and saw Freddie sleeping soundly next to her. She was content there, next to him, cuddled under the huge warm duvet, their skin touching. It wasn't  long before sleep took her again and she fell into a deep sweet slumber with the man she loved next to her.

Freddie's eyes opened briefly and took in the sight of Ana's body sleeping soundly next to him. His fingers traced her back and moved down to her thigh that was peeking under the covers. He smiled as he remembered what he has planned for her today. He turned to his bedside table and opened the drawer. There it was, that small blue box.. Now was the perfect time to set up what he had planned. With trembling hands he put the final touch and made his way out of the bedroom and down to the kitchen. He hated being away from Ana when she would wake up but it was all part of what he had planned.

It wasn't long before Ana woke up too. Her hand searched for the other side of the bed looking for Freddie's warm body lying beside hers only to find an empty space. She propped herself up on her elbows and what she saw made her jump out of bed.

The floor was filled with red and white rose petals and the note on the back of the door wrote "Meet me downstairs".  She complied and putting on an oversized t-shirt opened the door and made her way down the stairs.

As she descended the winding staircase, she saw him getting down to one knee smiling up at her, clearly nervous.

Her breath was caught in her chest and her heart beat fast. This was so unexpected and yet something she really wanted. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and smiled at him.

"Um, darling.." he started looking into her eyes and trying to find the right words to ask her this but his brain had stopped. That's when he realized that he should have rehearsed this or at least think of how to ask her beforehand. But he had been caught up with preparing everything that that seemed easy to do. And yet, here he was scraping his brain for words.

"Yes, Freddie?" Ana's voice came softly. He hadn't spoken for a long time. She had an idea of what was coming but she didn't want to ruin it.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and went for it. "Ana, darling, will you do me the honour of..." but he stopped when he saw Ana's face turning white, her body clenching as she leaned forwards and threw up right there in front of him.

How embarrassing! Ana thought and although she tried to stop, she couldn't as her stomach felt like it was going to come out of her body.

"Ana!" Freddie ran to her just in time to hold her hair away from her face but she put her hand in between them and shook her head in denial.

When she finally managed to take a breath she hid her face away from him. That's when it dawned on her. Her stomach took another turn but this time it wasn't that she wanted to throw up.

"Fuck!" Ana cried and with one hand threw her hair out of her face, looking up to the ceiling.

"Darling, what is it?" Freddie asked in horror. "Was it something I did? Should I have waited longer? I should have, shouldn't I?" Freddie kept asking frantically believing he had just ruined everything.

Ana got up clenching her stomach and went back to the room locking the door behind her. Once alone, she sat on the floor, her back against the door, tears running down her cheeks. How could this have happened? Why was she so careless? She didn't want things to play out like this. And now what? She got up, put on her clothes and ran down stairs, leaving Freddie behind not paying any attention to him who was still frozen in place unable to understand what had happened.

***

It had been two days since Ana's embarrassing moment at Freddie's house. Since the moment she found out how her life would change completely from that moment on. She refused to go to work, it helped that her boss was actually a close family member,or even get out of bed. There she lay, motionless, in between blankets as the rays of the evening sun fell softly on her face, pondering what to do next. There was no doubt on what to do about it, she would never do anything else but that, however unprepared she felt. And there, somewhere between feeling sad and powerless, a ray of hope  and happiness of what a blessing this could be filled her heart with joy.  She didn't mind doing this alone. She was strong enough. But first, she had to sort some things out. It was time to talk to Freddie. But would she tell him the truth? Hmm..maybe not. She didn't want to make him feel like he had any obligation. But then again.. it wasn't fair on him to hide it. He had the right to know.

She had to think this through. The days were slipping away, she had to talk to him eventually. What should she do? What should she say?