Jurassic Baby

5

The next morning I got up quite early and threw on some pyjama shorts and Owen's large t-shirt and went downstairs to go and make us all some coffee, but once I got down there, Maria was already sitting on one of the high stools in the kitchen sipping on a glass of water and eating some fruit. She had no make-up on and her face was soft and older looking. She was wearing a light dressing gown over a short nightdress and her hair was tied up in a tight, yet slept in, bun.

"Good morning Maria." I said softly as to not startle her and went over and kissed her cheek. She patted my arm gently and closed the newspaper I hadn't noticed she was reading.

"How did you sleep dear?" she asked me as I went over to the kettle. I flicked it on and hovered slightly looking for a mug, "cupboard on your left." she said helpfully and I thanked her before retrieving a mug.

"I slept really well thank-you, how about you?" I asked, waiting for the kettle to boil. I spooned instant coffee into the mug and put some milk in.

"Pretty good, but I could hear some banging and I wasn't quite sure what it was. Probably my air conditioning unit again, I keep meaning to get that looked at." she frowned and my hand shook slightly as I poured the hot water into the kettle, realising that she most probably heard me and Owen last night.

"That.. Um... may have been us. I'm really sorry." I giggled nervously and went and sat opposite her. She rolled her eyes at me.

"I might have known. I guess you two made up then?" she asked.

"Yeah, erm, I'm not sure if you said anything to him, but thank-you, if you did." I said, even though I was pretty sure she did say something.

"I should never have brought it up, but I just assumed considering the baby and how in love you both are, it might have been on the cards." she explained. I looked down at my coffee cup and bit my lip.

"Yeah, so did I." I admitted, "but it's really no big deal, we talked it out."

"I'm glad you did, I would have hated to tear you apart." she paused, "you're really good for him, do you know that, Rosie?"

"He's really good for me, too. We both have been unlucky in love and not exactly trusting of people, but we kind of fit." I said shyly. Maria shot me a warm smile in response.

"I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't see any grandchildren, but now that you're pregnant, it's the best thing in the world." my heart swelled with happiness at her words, knowing how thrilled she was.

"They thought it was a phantom pregnancy at first, as I did a test and it was negative." I said.

"A phantom pregnancy?" she questioned.

"Yeah, it's like when you crave a baby so much that your body convinces itself it's pregnant." I explained.

"I didn't know you two were even trying! So did you have troubles conceiving-"

"Oh no, no! That wasn't the case, at all. I had terrible morning sickness and I lost track of my dates, so we took a test and it was negative. In fact, I still had the morning sickness up until a few days ago. But, yeah, it was an accident, such a beautiful one at that." I said, smiling down at my stomach and cradling it with my hand.

"So how did they conclude you were actually pregnant?"

"Basically, we went to the doctor as we thought that something must be up. They did an ultrasound to spot for scarring or stray tissue to see if I had actually miscarried by the time I took the test, but it turns out that there was a baby inside of me!" I laughed a little as I told the story.

"Oh my!" Maria chuckled, "I bet it was a shock!"

"If I'm being honest, woman to woman, Owen was actually a little scared when we first thought I could be pregnant. But he told me about his father previously and he said-" Maria suddenly looked away from me, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring that up." I apologised quickly.