Clawen • What comes next

|| CHAPTER 39 ||

           

They were sitting in the consultation room of the doctor Claire had found. The doctor advised that Maisie stayed outside during the examination, but both adults insisted that she stayed. It had gotten to the point where having Maisie with them everywhere was normal. The girl had never been alone in public since they adopted her and probably not before either. And this wasn't the time nor the place to have her do that for the first time, plus she was only 11.

After the examination, Claire was sitting at the end of the bed with Owen by her side, holding her hand. The doctor had informed them that the baby was as good as could be expected and had then followed it up with a question. The question. "Do you want to know the gender?" Claire's expression changed instantly. Eyes wide, she looked up at Owen who looked down at her and squeezed her hand. "It's up to you honey" He said and Claire swallowed a big lump in her throat. The doctor was obviously used to situations like this and suggested that they wrote it down on a piece of paper that they got to take home. Then if they decided that they wanted to know, they just looked at the paper. Both agreed to that and was handed the paper a second later.

Leaving the clinic to walk to the car, Claire's arm through Owen's, holding on to it with her other hand. Maisie was by Owen's side, staying close. They entered the car park and went into the elevator. After the doors closed, Owen turned to Claire. "Claire, honey" In an attempt to get her attention. She hummed and looked up at him expectantly. "You haven't told Karen, have you?" He asked her, a sad tone in his voice, knowing that she hadn't but also knowing the reasons for it. Claire turned her eyes to the ground with a frown. "Why do you ask when you already know the answer?" She asked. "To be sure, hon" He said and put his hand on her head, pulling it to him to give it a kiss. "You know you can't avoid it" He said afterwards and Claire let out an annoyed sigh. "I know but...Dammit, you know my sister, Owen. This isn't going to be quick" Claire said frustrated and Owen hummed in agreement. "You still have to do it" He said. "I know" She whispered back sadly.

The elevator doors opened and they walked to the car. "I give you the rest of the day or I'm calling her myself" Owen said, knowing he was pushing her but with good reason. They entered the car with Claire sending Owen the death glare. "You wouldn't do that" She said, putting her seatbelt on. "Want to bet?" He asked. It took Claire some time and consideration but eventually she let out a defeated 'fine'.

She pulled up her phone, finding Karen's number in her contracts and calling her. "Wait you're doing it now?" Owen asked surprised, quickly looking over at her a few times, remembering to look at the road ahead. "You know me, I don't like procrastinating...Even though that's exactly what I've been doing" Claire said, realizing her mistake. Owen heard the beeping stop, followed by Karen's muffled voice. "Hey Karen" Claire said, her fingers nervously fidgeting with her chin. "Mhm...yea, okay" Claire said before pulling the phone away from her ear, putting it on speaker. Claire looked towards Owen and whispered almost silently. "She insisted" Not letting Karen hear. "Owen?" Was heard through the phone and he chuckled. "Hey Karen" He said smiling. "Is Maisie there?" Karen then asked and if Claire had learned anything from the girl, which she would like to think she had. She knew that Maisie wasn't going to say anything. "She's right here Karen" Claire said and looked behind her to find Maisie leaning forward to listen in. "Hi Maisie" Karen said cheerfully, making Maisie smile a little. "Hi" She simply said back.

Karen went on for a few minutes before remembering that Claire had called her, which didn't happen unless there was something she had to tell. She wished and hoped that her sister would eventually call just to talk, but that wasn't Claire. "Anyways...Why did you call?" Karen asked exhausted from talking too much. Claire smacked her lips and left her mouth agape, not knowing what to say. "We have some news, Karen" Owen then said, knowing that Claire would never get to that point by herself. "News huh. Last time your had news, I got a new niece" She said, followed up by laughter as a joke. The car was silent because this might be happening again.

"Guys?" Was heard through the phone after a good amount of silence had followed. "What's going on? Did you adopt another kid?" She asked sarcastically. Claire took a deep breath which Karen somehow heard. "Claire Dearing, tell me what is going on before I fly down there to make you tell me" She said. Claire knew she was joking but got slightly scared either way. Karen could be terrifying, in the right moments. "No, it's not...it's not that...exactly" Claire said followed by silence on the phone. She sighed deeply.

"Karen, I'm pregnant"

More silence followed and Claire felt like she was about to explode. She was about to ask Karen if she was still there when her voice was heard over the phone. Practically screaming with happiness and excitement, that never seemed like it was going to stop. Claire knew better than to try and stop her so she just let her get it all out. No idea how long time it took for Karen to get it all out of her system but when it did happen and she clamed down, she asked. "So how far along are you?" Claire sighed. She expected this question to come up and also knew that she couldn't lie, which made it worse because Karen would start complaining that she didn't tell her the second the found out. "Three months" Claire said fast and almost inaudible. "THREE MONTHS" Karen practically screamed. "Claire Dearing, why didn't you tell me earlier, you massive idiot" Karen then said. Claire couldn't help but laugh and Owen was surprised by it. He knew it was her sister calling her an idiot but Claire didn't normally take that kind of thing lightly. "Much love Karen" Claire said still laughing. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, a lot of stuff happened and I needed time to get used to the fact first" Claire explained and Karen made understanding noises over the phone, calming Claire down.

"Wait so that mean you were pregnant when you guys visited" Karen stated, sounding like a question but Claire knew it wasn't. "You are such a genius Karen, congratz" Claire said with a giggle. "I don't know what else to say. Owen how are you doing with this?" She asked sincerely. "Oh, I'm quite alright Karen, don't you worry about me" He said. "Good, that's good. Better than Scott" Karen laughed, making Claire and Owen laugh as well. "Claire can you take me off speaker?" Karen asked and Claire did.

At first, Claire had no idea why Karen wanted off speaker, until she asked how Maisie was doing with all this. Claire understood immediately. "Fine" Claire answered with a smile. Both Maisie and Owen were curious to know what they were talking about but both of them also knew to give the sisters privacy.

The conversation between the sisters, went on for another 10 minutes. Karen wanted to go on and on, not only about Maisie but about the pregnancy. "I have done it twice Claire" Karen said and Claire couldn't help giggle. They finally hung up after Claire had yawned twice in the matter of 20 seconds. "Go to sleep Claire" Karen had said concerned before hanging up with a few 'I love you's'.

I've got nothing to say, honestly lol