the grudge , e. call

ten; a maternal feeling

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The drive to Forks Hospital was tense. Maliah was anxious and Ilene was quietly disappointed, but still interested in showing support for her daughter. She had always figured that she would be a grandmother, but not at thirty-nine. Still, Ilene was standing by her daughter even if it meant that sitting behind her in a sterile waiting room to see an obstetrician at sixteen years old.

As they waited to get called, Maliah picked the skin around her thumb until she bled. Noticing this, Ilene grabbed her daughter's hand. "Hey, it's gonna be okay."

"I talked to Embry today," Maliah said quietly, so much so that it was almost silent.

Ilene rubbed her thumb on her hand comfortingly. "Yeah? How'd that go?"

Shrugging, Maliah said, "I told him I had food poisoning. He followed me to the bathroom and saw me throwing up."

"You have to tell him at some point, sweetie."

"And then this morning, Kim came up to me and part of me hated her a little bit even though she's one of my friends," Malian spoke. "She was telling me how sorry she was about the breakup and for a minute I hated her because Embry was upset with her and Jared when we got in our fight."

Her mother nodded understandingly. "Well, I don't think you should blame Kim. Or yourself for not agreeing to stop hanging out with her. This isn't either of your faults, it's Embry's. He is the one who messed up here."

"I know--"

"Maliah Ateara," a nurse called from the doorway to the back of the office. "You can come back now. A tech will be with you shortly and we're going to grab some vitals before you."

Once Maliah was in the hallway, they had her step on the scale, put a blood pressure cuff on her arm, took her pulse, and asked her if she drank or did drugs. They were then led into a cold room that was even more sterile than the waiting room. There was an ultrasound machine sitting threateningly beside the bed.

"Put the gown on and remove everything from the waist down," the nurse said coldly. "The tech will be in with you in just a minute."

After she took her pants and underwear off and put the gown on, a perky ultrasound technician came in, introduced herself as Carly and explained to Maliah the process of an internal ultrasound, which was necessary this early into her pregnancy. The beginning of the imaging was uncomfortable, but as Maliah adjusted she found that it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

Carly froze the screen and pointed at a dark blob. "That's the sac the fetus is in."

Maliah stared at the screen and her chest swelled with the maternal love that the snippet of What To Expect When You're Expecting she read on Google told her she would be feeling. Suddenly, her entire life became orbited around the little bean she saw reflected in black and white pixels. Then love shifted to panic. Wasn't she supposed to hear something? The little heartbeat that announced that her baby was alive and growing.

"Where's the heartbeat?" Maliah asked anxiously. "I did some Googling after I found out, but it said that there's supposed to be a heartbeat I can hear."

Adjusting the wand, Carly smiled and nodded. "We can hear a heartbeat as early as six weeks, but sometimes the baby isn't ready until eight or nine weeks. Baby is measuring right between that period, around seven weeks it looks like."

Seven weeks ago was her romantic dinner with Embry that he put together for her birthday. Italian food and love. The first time they said "I love you." The recollection made her tear up, a mixture of heartbreak and hormones overruling the hate she wanted to have for him because when it boiled down to it, she was carrying his baby and she knew that Embry was the great love of her life.

Noticing that she was crying, Carly pulled the wand out and set it back on the machine. "Did that hurt at all, hon?" Maliah shook her head and wiped her eyes. "Alright, well I'll come back after you see Dr. Hanson. I'll have some stills of the baby for you. You can feel free to redress in the meantime."

Maliah accepted that offer happily, and slid back into her underwear and leggings, feeling more human almost immediately. It was fifteen minutes before Dr. Hanson came in. She was an older woman with gray streaks in her eyes. She matched Carly's demeanor in a toned down manner.

"Hi, Maliah," she said warmly. "I'm Dr. Hanson, I'll be with you throughout your pregnancy and part of postpartum, at which point we'll refer you out to again general physician. Now, you're sixteen?"

"Yes I am."

The doctor nodded. "Have you decided how you're carrying out the pregnancy? Have you gone over all your options?"

Nodding, Maliah said, "I'm keeping my baby."

"Alright, well your blood pressure was a little high this afternoon, so we'll keep an eye on it and see if there's any changes. The fetus is measuring about seven weeks, which puts your due date around late December, but remember that due dates aren't concrete. The baby will come on their own time. Now, I'm going to write you a prescription for prenatal vitamins that'll be better for you than the over the counter ones. You can pick it up at the hospital's pharmacy on the way out. Do you have any questions?" Maliah shook her head. "Alright, well call us in three weeks for your next scan, honey. We'll see you soon."

Ilene and Maliah left the office with the sonogram pictures and the special vitamins. Maliah was filled with emotion and the overwhelming clarity that she couldn't go through this and maintain a clear conscience without telling Embry. That night.

She wanted him to be as involved as he wanted to be. Embry deserved to have the option to go to ultrasounds, watch his baby grow, have a chance to be a father. To feel the same awe and love that Maliah did when she saw the little blob on the screen of the ultrasound machine. He deserved a few sleepless nights with a newborn, to see his child's first steps, and to go through the phase where toddlers only ate chicken nuggets and Mac and Cheese.

Embry deserved all of that, even if Maliah didn't deserve a dignified, face-to-face break up.

In the front seat of the car after silent thought since the undressing portion of her appointment. "Can I borrow your cell, Momma?" Maliah asked with a small voice.

"Sure honey, grab it out of my purse."

She dug the phone out of the recesses of her mother's pocketbook and dialed Embry's number. He would be at home, she thought. And she was right.

"Hello?" His voice was deep, saddening, and refreshing all at once.

Maliah took a quivering breath. "It's me, Em. We need to talk. Can I see you tonight?"

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ivy speaks!

wow two updates in one month, who am i????? and i pinky swear that the reveals are coming soon what do i do if not build tension?

so just to clarify the timeline: maliah's birthday is in march, this chapter and prom takes place in may, thus explaining the december due date as aforementioned. sorry i like to know these kinds of things when i read such a story and even more when i write one.