— worries —
August 30th, 1939
"DARLING, I MUST leave now," Will whispered in his wife's ear as she clung to him, preventing him from exiting through the front door.
"No," Giselle complained, clinging to him tighter. "Don't go to work, just stay home for the day."
Will laughed under his breath. "I'm sorry, my love, but it's imperative that I go. I have a lot of work that needs to get done."
Giselle pouted, finally letting him go. "Fine. I love you, you know that?"
Will smiled, delivering a kiss to her lips. "I think I have figured that out already, darling." He gently moved her aside, giving her a few more kisses as if one wasn't good enough. "If I have time, I'll come home for lunch."
Giselle smiled, nodding. "Alright, I'll hold you to that."
"Oh, I'm sure you will." He gave her one last kiss before turning away and heading towards his car.
Giselle watched his retreating back with a melancholic smile. Tomorrow was September 1st. Tomorrow was the day it all happened.
Realistically, she knew she would still have a few months of time with Will before he would have to leave, but that still didn't make September 1st any less scary.
Because September 1st would bring fear, anxiety, death, anguish, and what felt like the end of the happiness Giselle knew.
She was petrified, and was beginning to feel that each moment with Will was passing by too quickly.
Her heart faltered in her chest as she watched him get into his car, and, normally, she would have let him drive away, but didn't. Because the pain in her chest began to feel like something else, something she was quite familiar with.
"Stop!" Giselle cried out, rushing towards Will's car as he began to drive. She was already crying, something that was beginning to happen more frequently these days.
Will slammed on his brakes, flying out of his car at breakneck speed and meeting Giselle halfway. "What is it?" he asked, brushing away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. "What's wrong, darling?"
"I need to go," she told him, her voice breaking. "The tree—it's calling me back."
Will closed his eyes, letting out a breath before tugging her into his embrace. "That's alright, love. Don't be so down, we'll see each other again."
Giselle shook her head, suddenly scared. "But what if it keeps me? What if I'm not able to see you before you have to leave?"
Will gently smoothed back some of the loose curls around her face as he tried to calm her. "Darling, I'm sure that won't happen. So far, it's only been keeping us apart for a few weeks, and I likely won't leave until sometime in the new year. Don't fret, love, have faith."
Giselle calmed at his words, leaning forward to rest her cheek against his chest. "Yeah, you're probably right. The most I'll probably be gone is a few weeks."
• — • — •
October 18th, 2019
THE STRESS HAD started to take its toll on Giselle, the emotion so strong that it had begun to affect her physically.
Headaches plagued her, food wasn't as appetizing, and any thought of the war or Will or the tree had her emptying her stomach in the closest available bathroom.
That was exactly where she was when Hester came home one day, following the sound of sobbing emanating from the downstairs bathroom.
"Child, what on earth are you doing?" The old woman asked, peering down at Giselle's fetal position on the bath mat in front of the toilet.
Giselle looked up, getting up to perch on the lip of the bathtub as she wiped her tears. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'm just so sick to my stomach with worry. It's been almost two months since I've been called back. I don't know what's happening or if he's okay or when I'll be called back or even if I'll be called back! I'm just so scared!" She wiped at her wet cheeks, trying to keep herself from sobbing all over again.
Something odd happened then. Hester's shrewd eyes softened, her pursed lips loosening into a small frown. She moved forward, easing herself down on the edge of the bathtub next to Giselle.
Hester pressed a hand to the spot between Giselle's shoulder blades, rubbing soothing circles along her back. "Remember what Jo—er—Dorothy said? She said that you should focus on the present, not the future. Focusing on the future and worrying yourself to death will do you no good."
Giselle nodded, setting her elbows on her knees and putting her face in her hands. "I know, but it's hard not to worry. I just love him so much. I can't lose him." Her eyes started tearing up, and she began to wipe at them, smearing her mascara.
"I know," Hester began, "but you need to have faith. Look towards the future in a positive light, not negative, and trust that everything will turn out exactly how it is supposed to."
Giselle looked to Hester, oddly comforted by her words. "Um, thank you, Aunt Hester," she said, shocked that she was saying such a thing to the woman she was convinced hated her.
Hester nodded, stroking Giselle's hair. "Come on, child. Why don't we distract you by making something to eat, yeah? How about fish and chips? You liked that last time I made it, right?"
Giselle had enjoyed the fish and chips, but the thought of eating fish suddenly had her stomach turning, making her nearly gag with nausea.
"Let's do something else. Just thinking about fish makes me want to hurl," Giselle said.
Hester nodded and stood up, heading towards the kitchen. "Alright, well, what about—" she stopped suddenly, slowly turning back to Giselle. She looked over the girl in curiosity, her thin, penciled-on eyebrows lowering in thought. "When was your last monthly bleed?"
Giselle laughed at the term, finding it incredibly archaic and—and then she paused, slowly losing her smile as the answer to Hester's question presented itself.
"Oh my gosh," she breathed out, having to look away from her Great Aunt's gaze. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh—"
"Calm down, Giselle," Hester urged. "Breathe. Are you alright?"
"No—no I'm not," Giselle told her, meeting her eyes again. "I'm so not okay." Tears were gathering at her waterline. "I haven't had it since—since July. Three months. I just thought it was stress—does that mean—am I . . ?"
Everything began to click into place—the headaches, nausea, food aversions—all of the symptoms she had deemed as stress were suddenly because of a baby. A baby that was inside her.
Her hand flew to her stomach, as if she could feel the baby. "Oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?" She looked up to Hester, begging for help with her watery eyes.
Hester set her hands on her nieces shoulders. "First, you're going to calm down. Then, we're going to go to the shops and get a test for you. Don't jump to conclusions just yet, dear."
Giselle nodded, then followed Hester to her car. She texted Ajay on the way back from the shops, when she had a plastic bag with a pregnancy test sitting on her lap. Ajay had become her best friend in 2019, and she needed a friend when she went to take the test.
He was sitting on Hester's front porch when they pulled up, his figure strolling across the distance to open Giselle's door.
"What's wrong? You said this was an emergency?"
Giselle nodded before pulling out the pregnancy test box and showing him.
His features slackened almost immediately in a mix of pity and worry, his face lifting to the sky as he sighed. "Oh, bloody hell," he cursed under his breath before looking back to Giselle with a small, forced smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine. Don't be too worried just yet, alright?"
"That's right, Giselle," Hester said as she moved out of the car. "It might just be a false alarm."
She would find out ten minutes later that it wasn't a false alarm.
The test was positive.
• • • • • • • • • • •
Words: 1,358
Question: What is your lucky number?
I think my lucky numbers are 1, 3, 5, and 7. I've always gravitated towards those numbers and have seen them pop up in weird ways throughout my life.
PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT TO MAKE ME SMILE!!!