And Baby Makes...Two

7

Nonny sat in her office at the public hospital, fatigued out of her mind as she watched the patients mouth move yet she couldn't understand a thing the patient was saying.

"Can you repeat that-"

Her assistant nurse quickly talked to the patient and wrote down a prescription before the angry patient left. Then she turned to Nonny. "I know you are my superior but today I have to be the one doing the reprimanding, Dr. Asher. What is wrong?"

"I am physically and mentally exhausted, for absolutely no reason. My mind is all foggy and it hurts my brain to even think."

"Maybe you should take the day off."

Nonny quickly got up. "That's a good idea."

She grabbed her things and went to the parking lot where she sat in her car. The baby growing inside her was definitely making her stupid today because if the assistant nurse wasn't present, she could have misdiagnosed a few patients.

And the tiredness! The damned tiredness! How do you wake up feeling refreshed and then an hour later it feels like your whole body has given up on you?! Pregnancy, that's how! Nonny hadn't expected to react this way and so early at that. She could only think in sorrow about the coming months. She definitely needed her mom this week and with a frustrated sigh, she finally called her family.

"Asaalam aleikum," she said as her mother's face appeared on the screen. The woman had on a bright pink burqa which revealed only her eyes with their permanent crowfeet.

"You!" her mother yelled. "Have you risen from the dead?!"

Nonny rolled her eyes and smiled. "I missed you too, mommy.  How have you been."

Her mother clicked her tongue. "You brother and sister are driving me mad. They have been getting in trouble at school."

Oh, the horrible siblings! Nonny was very glad when she went to varsity because her brother and sister, who were only 10 months apart but were born in the same year, were literally the worst thing to happen to her. Being around the now 17 year olds was like being in the company of 2 people that were still stuck in their terrible two's. Nonny loved them but she also hated them. It was 50/50.

"And dad?"

"Hee!!" Her mother clapped her hands dramatically. "That one, that one is worse than your siblings!!"

"What did he do?"

Her father was a successful surgeon and doctor and he was the one that had left Nonny her inheritance to either grow or carelessly use. She had done what he was hoping for and now the family name and business was growing. Andile 'Andy' was the reason Nonny was who she was today. He was a catholic church man married to a Muslim woman and somehow they had made their marriage work without mommy having to convert or dad having to convert even though mom had raised the children to be Muslim because dad wasn't around much when they were younger.

"Your father invited his church to come and host an all nighter in our garage!!" her mother shrieked. "Now I have to cook for so many people."

Nonny's frowned. "Are you complaining about his christian people of-"

"I am complaining about the amount of work he has put on my shoulders! Twenty people are coming. I don't like half of those people because they are fake friends to your dad but he can't see it, curse them. Anyway, why did you call me? I'm getting fat from this unnecessary stress."

"Um...I have news. I'm..."

"Pregnant. Yes. I know."

Nonny was shocked. "Who told you?"

"I can see you. Us, mothers...we know these things. I'll teach you someday. So...I take it that you and that ex husband of yours are back together?" Her mother was calmer than she expected.

"No-"

Her mother almost dropped her phone. "Omo! Nonny! Are you pregnant for someone you are not married to?! Come home now! I see you're in your car! Come here!"

Nonny cringed. "Um...mommy, there is no man."

The confusion was apparent in her mother's eyes. "Heh?"

"I...I had a procedure done at the hospital. In-Vitro...or artificial insemination where they take a stranger's sperm and-"

"Come. Here. Now."

The phone went black as mommy cut the call.
 
Nonny groaned before she started the car.

.

Mommy yelled so much that Nonny's ears were still ringing as when she pulled up into McDonald's parking lot.
She had received hours of lecturing, even her father and  siblings got the brunt of their mom's anger until she eventually calmed down.

"Do you want to eat before you go back?" she asked Nonny.

Nonny had declined and walked out, feeling frustrated. Her mother had followed.

"Nonny...I am just shocked," her mother explained. "Of all the options to have a baby you went and got a complete stranger's baby. What is going to happen when the child grows and wants to know their father? I feel like a child needs to grow up in an environment where both parents are present."

"Mommy, your support is all I ask for. I don't want to get married. I don't need a man to have a kid. I have everything that I want in life and I can provide for this kid without needing help. All I wanted was for you to at least be pleased that your getting your first grandkid."

"A grandkid whose father I will never meet?"

"Mommy, does it even matter?!" Nonny had shrieked. "You have two options here. You either accept me with my fatherless kid or you let me live my life, raising this baby alone and never letting you see us."

"That's harsh, Nonny."

"You have to choose. Now."

"I would never let  you go through this pregnancy alone. You know that. And I will love this baby because no matter what, it's your baby. I...I love you, Nonny."

Nonny hugged her mother. "I love you too, mommy." She smiled. "Can you come live with me while I go through this? This baby is making me a little stupid so I'm thinking of leaving my job for a while. Focus on something else that doesn't need much thinking."

"Of course."

Now, as Nonny sat in a booth, gorging herself on some McNuggets, she couldn't help but feel slightly relieved.

"Dr. Nonny," a familiar said from behind her.

She turned and her ex-husband stood behind her, his girlfriend staring at Nonny.

This day couldn't get any better, she sarcastically thought.