Branch One Hundred and Ninety
Leslie had finally left the bathroom after saying she was going to freshen up. She sat on the water closet seat for a long time before she opened up the cabinet and took a pregnancy test. She could not help but blame herself for not getting pregnant and hearing the news about Jessica made her feel all the more sad.
She could not lie it was hard to be happy for her and she was trying her best. She opened up the test she bought a long time ago. Since she and Brian had decided to take the pressure off and trust the process she had stopped taking the test.
She took the test and when she finally had to see the results she was shocked at the stick staring at her. She had to take a couple more of the test just be to sure.
She stood beside the bed where her drunken husband was lying and sleeping so peacefully. She wondered how it was that he was okay with hearing about Jessica’s pregnancy. She did not expect him to be sad but at least he should have shown some emotions. He just chatted away and drank so much that he barely made it home.
“Brian,” she said shaking him. He shook on the bed and turned to his side using his fingertips to scratch all over his face and mumbling incoherent words.
“Baby,” she said again this time her shaking more violently. She held one of the sticks in hand with the double line across it and used the other hand to shake him.
His eyes opened slightly and he caught a blurry glimpse of her. “What is it?” he asked rubbing his eyes with the back of his palm.
“Can we talk?” she asked him shifting a little so he could sit up in the bed.
“About what?” he asked making no move to sit up. “What is the time?” he asked as his eyes landed on the bedside clock. “Have you not come to bed?” he added with a yawn following after he saw that it was past three a. m.
“No, I have not come to bed yet but can we talk? I have something important to tell you” Leslie said and he groaned before he struggled to sit up.
“Can it not wait till when we wake up?” he asked yawning again.
“No it can not,” she told him as she inched closer to him.
“How did you feel when Xavier and Jessica told us they were having a baby?” she asked him and his eyebrows knitted together. He wondered why she was curious about it and then it all made sense why she was awake at that time and why she wanted to talk at that time.
“Leslie” he said gently.
“Just tell me how you felt”
“Honestly?” he asked and she nodded. “I was happy for them. They do deserve happiness.”
“I was happy for them but I could not shake off the feeling of sadness that coated me so I know we agreed not to take the tests again but I took it”
“What?”
“Do not be angry but I took the test,’ she said again. He frowned. He did not like how downcast and sad she usually was when the test came out negative and he did not want to see her down.
“We are pregnant,” she said flashing the test stick in his face.
Brian felt himself awake as the stick flashed before him. “What do you mean?” he asked. Suddenly the sleep he had been feeling all this while had left his eyes and he was now sober and awake.
“I know only a doctor’s test can confirm it but I took all the tests we have left and every single one came out positive,” she told him.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
His hands went around her to wrap her in a hug. He signed in relief. He did not know what to expect but to hear her voice sound so joyful was almost a miracle to him. She has always had those down moments and days.
“Brian?” she asked when he remained in the hug without uttering a single word.
“I am so happy, my joy knows no bounds,” he tells her as he tightens the hug.
She wiggles in his embrace and waits for him to free her. His hands go to her face and he cups it in his. He kisses her whole face all over. “I love you” he whispered in between the kisses.
“I love you more,” she said with a giggle following the statement.
“How did this…..?” he trailed off before deciding against saying anything. He takes the teat from her and studies it under the bedside light. He raises his head to her face and plants a kiss on her lips again.
“Can we visit the hospital tomorrow?”
“Of course, we have to do so, I will tell Xavier, and then first thing in the morning we go to see the doctor,” he said taking her in his hands again.
At that moment she felt that his joy was overshadowing her own. She felt that when the news came she would be jumping all around the place but reverse was the case. She hoped the reality would set in later when it would be confirmed by the doctors because at the moment she did not believe that the test was real.
“Let us go to bed now, happy,” he said lying down and raking her to rest with him. He hugged her tightly as if he was afraid she would escape at night.
He held her and they both drifted into sleep with Leslie occasionally waking up at intervals worrying about how and if it was true that she could be with child at that very moment.
It was weird because it was all she wanted and now she had it. She did not know how to react.