The Life of Sally Jackson

Chapter Nine

Sally returned to work again that Monday. She spent her time working extra until she asked for a raise and then she sought out a second job as well. She worked harder than she ever had in all her life. She needed to be able to pay for doctors appointments and she needed to be able to support this baby.

On her limited spare time, she started stocking her apartment with the necessary baby supplies, turning the tiny office into a nursery. 

In the first few months of her pregnancy she was scared. Terrified, really. She didn't know how she was possibly going to do this. She was all alone, she had nobody but herself. But she also knew that she was strong and she could do whatever she put her mind to. And she was going to raise this baby.

Towards the end of her pregnancy, she was excited. She was still a bit scared, of course. She figured she would always be scared, but she found herself looking forward to the due date anxiously. She couldn't wait to meet the little human she had growing inside of her. 

She thought about Poseidon often, though she tried not to. She knew that whatever they had that summer was over. It hurt to think about him, she was still heartbroken, after all. But she had to move on if she was going to do this. She had to be there for this child 100%. 

Everyday on her lunch break, she would go to a library and check out books on Greek Mythology. She read and read so many books during her pregnancy, trying to figure out the ropes of the kind of life her baby was going to have.

Every book that she finished left her feeling more and more discouraged. From what she could find, demigods didn't have good lives. They didn't live very long and they were hunted by terrible monsters. If what Poseidon said was true, if all the gods existed, then she didn't doubt that the monsters did too.

As the due date got closer and closer, Sally went to parenting classes and doctors appointments. She was at an ultrasound when the doctor asked her if she wanted to know the gender of her baby.

She thought about for a minute before nodding. 

"You're having a baby boy," the doctor said and she had cried tears of joy.

It was mid-August when she went on her maternity leave. Her baby boy was about to be born.