Downtown Idea

52. Junior's Farm

My first few months of pregnancy was....not easy. The whole having a baby growing in me was easy. Ashton freaking out all the time was the hard part.

I hit my second month and that's when we started telling people. According to my doctor my baby was the size of a raspberry. That inspired Ashton to make some Raspberry Chipotle Chicken. It was a little charred but hey, he was just starting to cook.

Every week he made something based on the baby's size. Nine weeks in was an attempt at Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Cherry-Thyme Pan Sauce. It tasted a little less than cherry, but this was attempt number 2. It almost didn't matter. Cherry sized baby loved it anyway.

At nearly four months in I was achey. At first I wasn't worried about it but then Ashton, God bless him, was freaking out about it so he called the doctor. It was just because my body was stretching. The moment I started showing Ashton started leaving a hand on my belly instead of my leg. Even though you could only really see it when I showed my stomach.

I was undeniably pregnant at about 5ish months. That's when we announced the baby to the world. Ashton made someone take a picture of his hands on my belly. He posted it with the due date, June of the next year.

Everyone was baffled. Michael wasn't even married yet and here we were married and having a baby. Some people wanted to know the gender but what really struck me was that we didn't know the name. We hadn't even thought about names.

The next week or so we threw names back and forth. In the middle of one of these name-sparring-sessions Ashton dropped some news I was not thrilled with.

"Yeah, we are going on tour for the new album." He said scrolling through his phone, "Olivia?"

"What!?" I said, "How long? No, Emma?"

"We leave next week." He gritted his teeth, "Too 'Friends', Cleodipeda?" He said slowly.

"Ashton. I'm almost to the 8 month mark. I can't travel much longer." I was upset, "What the fuck was that name? Sophia?" I asked.

"I know, I'm sorry. I kept forgetting to tell you. And you don't have to travel, you can stay home!" He shrugged, "Not Sophia. I used to date a Sophia. Didn't end well. Melanie?"

"I literally cannot stay home and be alone when I go into labor. And I won't be taking an uber to the hospital." I stopped naming names and frowned at him.

"You would be alone, wouldn't you?" He asked. It had clearly never occurred to him that my siblings were both in Glasgow.

"Yeah. So what do we do?" I asked. We decided that I leave nearly immediately to go to Glasgow so I didn't miss the window where I couldn't travel any more.

Arriving Jonas gave me a hug and gasped when my belly poked into him. His hands immediately went to my stomach and his mouth fell open.

"There's a whole baby in there!" He said excitedly. I nodded and looked him over. He wasn't as flashy as he used to be. He traded his sequin coat for a raincoat, and his leather boots for rain boots. His hair was nearly to his shoulders and he had some delightful scruff. Not to mention he went back to glasses. This was the most 'Jonas' I had seen him in years. I wondered what Luke thought of his new look.

As we drove to the farm he gave me the run down of this small neighborhood.

"Lots of restaurants, but almost no reception, least of all at the farm. If you need to call someone you have to use a landline. I don't have internet at the house either, except one desktop has wired internet. So no wifi." He rattled on and on about how in the middle of ~nowhere~ we were but I was thinking about a hospital. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Was I better off here than at home alone?