Thalia’s Pov
I kept walking around the room, unsure of what to do. I couldn’t force myself to flee; I didn’t have any money or a place to go, and most importantly, I couldn’t leave the jerk to die alone.
He had done so much for me. In frustration, I threw myself on the bed and screamed. If he was my boyfriend, I’m sure he’d be completely crazy.
I was certain he’d lock me up and refuse to let me speak to any man. I would never date him; it would be like moving from a hot pan to a wildfire, he was clearly worse than Josh.
I began thinking about all the nasty things I would have had to endure if Brandon was my husband instead of Josh.
I’d be decaying in the ocean without even having the chance to attempt suicide, the man was way powerful. He was clearly capable of murder based on what he did to my clothes.
Nestor, on the other hand, indicated that I should forget about the incident. Brandon had a life-long learning experience, according to him.
I needed to be patient with him because he was unwell and paranoid. My head, on the other hand, was arguing with me.
I stood up and began pacing the room again, needing to clear my head. I needed to clear my thoughts, so I went for a walk along the beach, anything to keep my mind off the impending war within.
But it only added to my doubts, so I walked back into the house and went straight to the kitchen. Baking was a good way to keep one’s thoughts occupied but there was no flour, the moron couldn’t even purchase me enough flour, so I texted Nestor to pass through the grocery shop.
If I was going to stay, baking was going to be my new hobby. I flopped down on the bed and started playing a game. In seconds I heard people, so I jumped up quickly and put on a serious face.
Brandon stepped in first, followed by Nestor. “I told you she’d be here,” Brandon said as he handed me a pack. I rolled my eyes and asked, “So, what exactly is this?”
“Pregnancy test, go ahead and pee on it; we need to know if you’re expecting.”
I felt my stomach clench as I realized the moron in front of me needed a good flogging, so I swiftly removed my slipper and began threatening him.
“Calm down, Thalia,” Nestor advised.
“Don’t tell me to relax; why is he so stupid? What part of my period did he miss?”
“Thalia, a pregnant woman can get her period for a variety of reasons, one of which being implantation,” he explained. “You can Google this if you want,” he said.
I furiously gazed at him, wanting to punch him, but the jerk was correct. I hadn’t confirmed the pregnancy with any testing.
I was frightened of failure again, and I didn’t want to give myself false optimism. Throughout my marriage, I had conducted numerous home tests, all of which yielded disappointing negative results.
Yes, things were different back then, thanks to the monster I had lived with that made sure of it.
“You have nothing to lose, it’s only a test,” Brandon stated while he carefully removed the slipper off his face.
I turned to face Nestor, who nodded his head.
“Fine! I’ll take the stupid test,” I declared as I hurried to the bathroom, my heart racing. I didn’t want to see the depressing one line; a period was enough, but I needed to get the jerk off my back.
I peed on it slowly and closed my eyes, convincing myself that I’d be fine with the negative. To be honest, with the way things were going I was leaning towards a negative. I was apprehensive about what a positive meant.
I opened my eyes after counting to ten and saw two lines staring back at me. At first, I thought I was hallucinating. I had done that before when I was desperate. I hurriedly shut my eyes and opened them again, but the two comprehensible lines stared back at me.
I couldn’t speak, I was frozen in amazement; I’d been praying for the two lilies for four years but they never appeared, somehow I was terrified. It was one thing to steal your ex-husband’s sperm and cut off his testicles, and an all-new game becoming pregnant.
It was dumb terrifying. I let out a huge scream. Nestor and Brandon both came dashing and tried opening the door without knocking.
“Thalia, are you okay? Will you please come out?” Brandon ordered from the opposite side of the door.
But my attention was drawn to the two comprehensible lines; I was about to become a mother, a terrifying mother. Was it joining to be a boy or a girl? I couldn’t help but wonder.
“Please, Thalia, say something, you are starting to scare us,” Nestor said.
I awoke immediately from my stupor and stood up like a ghost. I brew my lips and gave myself small slaps to make sure I was in the right mind. I washed my hands before picking up the test and staring at it again. With a straight expression, I opened the door.
“Are you all right?” Brandon inquired with trepidation. “Did you take the test?”
I handed him the test kit, and I could see his face curling into a smile as he glanced at it with his eyes wide open. He pulled me out of nowhere and began spinning me. I had no clue where he obtained all of the energy, but he did.
He put me down and kissed my cheeks. The jerk was acting as if he was the baby’s father, I was very excited, it was the first time that I was seeing him that excited. “I told you,” he muttered, pinching my cheek, and all I could do was stare at him.
He quickly realized I wasn’t as enthusiastic as he was and quickly stopped.
“Thalia?” he asked as he ushered me to a seat, his voice loud with breathing and sweat on his brow. “Listen, Thalia, don’t let my folly overwhelm this good news,” he said.
“I want a formal test, and I want a doctor’s confirmation,” I stated. I needed to be sure, the home tests were never hundred percent true.
He said, “Of course, of course,” and told Nestor to get the helicopter ready.
“Sir, you do not appear to be in good health; you appear very exhausted,” Nestor said, “I’ll take Thalia while you rest.”
Brandon’s face became paler as he stared at him. With difficulty, he fought to stand up and walked to his painkillers. He had done too much in less than twenty hours and there was a limit to what his body could take.
He said, “I will be there for every scan and appointment until she gives birth, then you may bury my bones.”
The jerk was in pain, but he wanted to make amends for what he’d done to me the day before. I swiftly stood up and snatched the medicines from him.
He inquired, “What are you doing?”
“We can go for a scan tomorrow if you like, but you need to rest,” I explained.
“No!” he screamed.
“Brandon, you are acting like an adolescent once more?” I issued a warning, maybe that was the only way to get into his thick head.
“What if I don’t get up? What if I die in my sleep and never get to see the scan?”
“What if you die in the inept hospital?” I screamed at him
“Guys, guys, guys?” Nestor cut in.
“Nestor! Shut the fuck up!” We yelled at him.
“Stop fighting! I’ll go get a scanning machine and a doctor so they can do the scan here!” he yelled back.
We looked at him, humiliated, his suggestion was better than us arguing.
“That’s a lot better,” I responded, encouraging him to get on with it. We were left standing there with varying words as he exited the room.
I took Brandon to the bed, I told him he needed to rest. I was meant to be angry with him because of yesterday but his sickness always found a way to get him out of trouble. There I was helping him get into his warm clothes and under the covers.
For the first time, he was terrified of falling asleep, he was weird. It had to do with where he went in the morning but when I asked he only gave me a bunch of excuses. He didn’t think he’d wake up if he closed his eyes. I knew; his month was up, and he was living on borrowed time but he needed to chill.
While we waited for Nestor, I took his tablet and suggested we watch a movie but he wasn’t interested in the movie. He seemed quite enthusiastic about the baby and appeared to have done a lot of research.
He knew everything there was to know about motherhood, including the vitamins, the types of appointments, and the foods I was meant to avoid.
“I thought I was going to die before you found out you were pregnant,” he declared
I stared at him, unsure of what to say or how to respond.
“You’re going to be a fantastic mother,” he added.
“I’m not sure, and I’m having second thoughts about it,” I responded.
“No, Thalia, you will do great and Nestor will be hereafter I’m gone.”
“So you’re cool with Nestor now,” I chuckled.
“I’d be haunting him every day, for sure,” he responded.
I burst out laughing; he was correct; he would not rest in peace. He was definitely going to haunt us for eternity. I pinched him because I needed a laugh.
I said, “You’re going to wake up,” and he asked if I was still furious at him. He was a shrewd operator who always knew when to strike.
He would have gone into shock if I had said yes but I knew I was going nowhere and with the pregnancy news, everything was probably going to go back to where we left it. “No, I’m not furious at you,” I explained, “I guess the pregnancy test reset my settings.”
He laughed out
“But you frightened me; how could you do something like that to my clothes? Was it because you had purchased them? And why would you drink?” I inquired, but he averted his sight. We needed to talk if we were to move on from the incident.
“Brandon?” I called out.
“I’m not a violent person, and you can like Nestor or any other guy you choose,” he responded, “I was just upset at my miserable existence and envious of foolish Nestor.”
“Are you a jealous person?”
“I’ve never been, I’ve always gotten everything I wanted, but now I have something I really want but can’t get. I simply didn’t know what to do,” he replied.
The room fell silent as we just stared at each other silently; he wanted me, and it was evident from the first days I spent at his house. He asked if he could lie on my chest.
“Of course,” I replied, “he needed to rest, and it was the simplest way for him to do so.” He was snoring in a matter of seconds. It was a pity, but there was nothing I, or anybody else, could do about his condition.
After a few hours, Nestor arrived with some equipment and began installing it. Brandon was not to be awakened until everything was in place, so I chose not to wake him up. The same man who inseminated me waited at the door, perhaps irritated that his lovely evening had been disrupted.
I waved, and he returned the gesture with a phony smile.
I awoke Brandon after they were both finished; he was exhausted, but he was going to murder me if he missed the first scan.
Soon the gel was on my belly and Brandon was holding my hand like the father of the baby while Nestor was taking a video.
It was very difficult for the Doctor, especially that the pregnancy was not yet five weeks and I was bleeding but Brandon threatened him to look for anything that seemed familiar to a baby. It took him almost half an hour to confirm that there was a sack and indeed I was pregnant.
The look on Brandon’s face said it all and brought a smile to my face, all the doubts that I had were taken away. It was refreshing to see him full of life rather than his usual five seconds change of moods.
