Book Three - Fighting For You

Chapter 2

Hello and here's another update. Woop! So thanks for your patience and I hope this chapter meets your expectations. :)

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I enter the toilets and see Nancy washing her hands. Seeing me enter, she dries them on a towel then pulls me into an embrace. We stand like that for a few moments, holding each other tight. When we finally pull apart, I see tears in her eyes. It’s hard to believe she’s married now. She and Jason had a longer engagement so they could get used to their new lives with Rose. It has been a tough few years for both of them but they’re still going strong.

“I’m going to miss you,” Nancy says. “Are you sure you and Sam are okay to look after Rose?”

“We’ll be fine,” I console. “Mum and Dad are looking after her and Lachie tonight then we’ll take them tomorrow. Now, don’t worry about anything. Just go and enjoy your honeymoon. I can’t believe you’re going to Mauritius.”

Nancy’s eyes sparkle and she breaks out into a grin. “I know! I mean, think of all that sun, sand and sea. I’m going to come home so tanned.”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “No you won’t, you’ll come home having not left your room for the entire two weeks. You’ll be high on sex.”

She giggles and shrugs in defeat. “You’re probably right. Jason is amazing in—”

I hold my hands up to stop her from talking. “Okay that’s enough, thank you very much. I don’t need to know the details about how good Jason is in bed.”

Laughing, Nancy turns back to the basin, turns the taps on and washes off the cake she got on her arms from hugging me. As we clean ourselves up we talk and laugh about the events of the day. The wedding has gone off remarkably well. It started off wet and dreary but when it was time to go to the wedding, it had cleared up nicely. Apart from the Lachie incident it had been disaster free.

“I’m really sorry about Lachie,” I say as I’m drying my arms. Nancy and I have managed to remove the worst of the cake, all that’s left is bits in our hair. Only nice long showers will get rid of that.

Nancy waves a dismissive hand and laughs. “Don’t worry about it...” she trails off as though deep in thought then she turns to me and asks, “Em, how painful is it giving birth?”

I turn to look at her quizzically. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was just curious...”

I gasp then grab her by the shoulders. “You’re not—?”

“No! This is not a shotgun wedding, Em. I know the wedding happened quickly but that was only because we decided it was the right time to marry. I’m only asking because Jas and I were talking about having a child.” She looks away and blushes.

I shriek and embrace her. “Oh how exciting! Well, it wasn’t too bad for me. It hurt a lot, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t unbearable. Water births are definitely the way to go. Any idea when?”

“No, it was just talk. It’s just...” Nancy trails off and bites her bottom lip nervously. “I’m scared, Em. Adopting Rose was sort of a cheat’s way out, you know? I automatically got a daughter without having to do any hard work. But now we want our own at some point and I’m petrified.”

Sighing, I lean against the wall and fold my arms over my chest. “There’s not much I can say to that, Nan. Everyone’s birthing experience is different. There are so many options to handle pain now so unless you went in without researching it first, it won’t be that bad. Do your research, have a plan in place and you’ll be fine.”