Here's To Wishing I'd Never Met You!

First Movements

Chapter Seven... First Movements

I was lazing around on the lounge one afternoon at home watching TV. Kent was at school, Sam was at work, and I had the day off.

I was startled when I woke up one morning in my fifteenth week of pregnancy to find that I'd grown a definite bump overnight. No matter what I wore, it was blatantly obvious that I was pregnant. But I loved the bump. The bump made me smile.

And turned a few heads.

At school, people gave me odd looks. That was disturbing. It wasn't like I was a teenager who'd gone out screwing around. I was twenty-one, happy being myself and I was in a loving relationship when I fell pregnant. It wasn't my fault that he'd decided to skip town now, was it? I can't change his part in it at all...

Now I was eighteen weeks' pregnant, belly was growing and while laying on the lounge, I felt a weird feeling in my belly. I had felt odd little flutters over the last couple of weeks, but this seemed to be a bit stronger.

And then, I felt a definite kick.

"Holy...!" I breathed. "It kicks..."

Instinctively, I grabbed my cell phone and dialled Kent's number. I waited a minute before he actually answered.

"Paige?" he asked softly. "I was in class, you know."

"The baby kicked!" I squealed excitedly as it kicked again. "It's still kicking!"

"I know you're excited, P. But my teacher's pretty pissed that I left to answer my phone," he laughed. "I'll be home in an hour, okay? We'll talk then."

"I'm bored, you know," I sighed.

"Sorry, Paigey," he said softly. "I have to go. Talk to you in an hour."

"Fine," I huffed, and Kent hung up.

While I waited for Kent to come home, I laid back on the lounge to watch TV.

The next thing I knew, it was dark and I was covered in a blanket.

"Hmmm..." I groaned sleepily as I sat up.

"You've been out since before I got home," Kent chuckled. "And I got home two hours ago!"

"It's dark..." I mumbled.

"You rang me at four this afternoon," Kent reminded me. "To tell me the baby kicked. And I'd say you fell asleep about then, after you got off the phone."

"The baby," I smiled. "It kicked. It felt weird but... amazing."

"Is it kicking now?"

"No, it moves little bits every now and then. But I'd never taken too much notice until today, when it kicked. Now I'm like, fully aware that there's something in there. I'm excited."

"I can tell."

"Look, I'm happy about the fact that I know my baby is growing."

"You're cute," he laughed at my kid-like facial expressions.

I felt the baby kick again, and laughed.

"What?" Kent asked, confused.

"Here," I said, taking his hand and placing it over the place where my baby had just kicked me. The baby kicked again a couple of times, and Kent smiled.

"That's pretty amazing," he smiled.

"I know," I smiled happily.

Later that night my sister Penelope rang me. She wanted to come visit again, even though it had only been five weeks since her last visit. I told her she could, but I was busy with school and with work, and she wouldn't see me much. Instead, she decided to wait until I could come visit over Christmas, and she wouldn't have to get her husband to watch the kids. Although she brought baby Beatrice with her last time.

I watched some movie on TV about a teenage girl who got pregnant and her boyfriend married her. I wish that Ramone had been that much of a man, but he was clearly not. Fled at the first opportunity...

I knew that my life would be happier without Ramone, and that my baby would be better off without a father that runs like that, but I still had to wonder...

The baby kicked, and I smiled. I was almost halfway there. In twenty-two weeks my baby would be here, and I wouldn't need anybody but my child.