All for you

Chapter 11

"Now it says here that my goddaughter is the size of a cherry. How the fuck is she that small?" came Hallie's voice as she handed me a fresh cup of ginger tea after my vomiting spell kicked in only minutes ago.

"Goddaughter?" Katherine said waltzing in with a towel wrapped around her body after her shower this morning in the bathroom not lingering with my vile scent.

"Hallie's convinced I'm having a little girl" I spoke, the concept of having a mini-me placing a gentle smile on my face.

"Oh really?" Katherine responded in a sarcastic questioning tone whilst staring at the woman grabbing something from the fridge.

"Yeah, you just wait. She's going to look exactly like miss Jo here" said Hallie as she moved closer towards me with an unknown item still nuzzled between her knuckles.

"What the fuck are you doing Hallie" I interrupted her words as she shoved the cherry now visible to my eyes to align it with my stomach.

"She's in there Jo" she spoke seeming amazed by the sound of her own voice.

"Yeah, Jo, your little boys in there and he's going to be gorgeous, I just know it" Katherine announced forcing Hallie out of her trance and sending the cherry previously placed on my seemingly bloated stomach to the ground.

"Boy? Oh no you are so wrong" Hallie said with a stern look on her face as her arms crossed over her chest.

'We'll see about that Hall, anyway, what do you even think Jo? You know they talk about mother's instinct and shit?"

With both sets of eyes now set on my figure lying across the couch with my tea in hand, the pressure forced my lips to start moving.

"I have no idea to be completely honest"

"None? Nothing? Nada? Come on Jo you must have some sort of hunch" my roommate spoke practically begging me to reconsider.

If I was being completely honest with my self, I truly did have an intuition about the sex of my baby. Knowing my words would only force even more arguments to explode in the small space, I decided to keep the thoughts purely to myself.

After a shake from my head, a breath of disappointed air seemed to leave my best friend's lungs before my sister decided to turn the conversation entirely.

"Speaking of motherhood, have you told mum or dad yet Jo"

The words themselves summoned an instant reality check. The last time I'd spoken to them had been weeks ago, around the time when I was too fragile to even hear the four letters piecing together his name.

"Shit," I said announcing the thoughts suddenly managing to take control of my mind.

"I haven't spoken to them in weeks Kath"

"So I'm taking that as they don't know" she responded back to my tone with both eyebrows parked high on her forehead.

"No Kath, the only people who fucking know are the ones in this room, Anna and my doctor," I said angrier at the fact I'd unknowingly ignored my parents for weeks.

In no time, I was forcing the half-empty cup into Hallie's hands and rushing into my bedroom to grab my phone still charging from last night.

"Hello, mum, dad are you there?" I asked frantically after the many rings finally ended signifying the line had gone through.

"Josephine hun, we've been so worried. We tried calling you everyday baby, is everything alright" my mum spoke in a tone which showed she was more worried than I'd ever heard her before.

"Yeah gosh mum sorry I've just been so distracted lately tha-"

"No hunny don't worry, I'm glad everything's alright. How are you? Hows Hero is it just the two of you. Kath told us she was heading down there, has she arrived yet?" She interrupted me with her usual pile of questions.

"Erm, yeah mum Kath arrived yesterday but Hallie's here as well" I answered choosing not to bring up the first half of her words about my baby's father.

"And Hero" she wondered clearly picking up on the fact I'd missed out any mention of his name.

"He-He had a family emergency back home" I lied as the two other people in the room glared at me with knowing eyes, "He left just before quarantine started"

"Oh hun I'm sorry, I'm glad Kath and Hallie are there with you though sweetie." She said in a tone I noticed meant she wasn't entirely convinced.

"Anyways, I better get going baby as I'm at work but I'll call you when your dad and I get off okay?" She asked sending my gaze straight to the watch on my wrist.

"Oh god sorry mum I didn't realize the time but yeah that's great" I announced clearly being too distracted to remember how early it was in Perth and that both of my parents would be working.

"No problem Jo, I'll speak to you three later" she finished before we shared quick goodbyes ending the phone call.

"You need to tell them Jo" Kath spoke the second a sound escaped my phone signaling I had been cut off.

"Not before I tell Hero," I said, truthfully knowing he deserved to know before anyone else found out about his child.

With an understanding nod from both parties, silence engulfed the room as there body aligned with mine on the couch.

"You know, it's awful having nothing to do all the fucking time." Hallie announced changing the tension-filled atmosphere completely, " god all I want to do is get a fucking ice cream and I can't even do that"

"Its freezing Hallie, why the fuck would you want ice cream" I wondered as I cuddled closer to the sweater which was encasing all of my body heat.

"I just do okay" she replied forcing a laugh to escape both mine and my sister's throats.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by as I sat through a high amount of television I knew would be majorly disapproved by any health professional. The only thing breaking the constant run of prison break being a sudden pounding on the entrance to the apartment.

As our eyes darted over each other, Hallie was forced to walk forward as I used the excuse of pregnancy for not the first time whilst Kath complained about jetlag despite the fact she hadn't even touched a plain.

"Anna, it's great to see you but you really need to take a key" Hallie spoke before slouching back down on the couch beside the bag of popcorn she had been munching on as Anna's body came into view.

Her appearance looked way different than any time she had previously visited. Her usual makeup framed face was stripped bare as her short blonde locks stood up in a bird's nest looking form. Her breaths also seemed labored as if she'd just ran a marathon, confusing me to a position where I had to speak up.

"Anna is everything-"

"Hi Kath it's great to see you sweetie, Jo have you got your phone on you" she interrupted me rushing out her words.

With my eyebrows raised, I grabbed the device still in the previous position when I placed it down after my short phone call with my mum.

Smiling at me, her body seemed to relax on the chair opposite to the couch completely switching her frantic attitude only moments ago.

As we began talking again, I noticed Anna's fingers meeting her teeth as her eyes watched my phone like it was gold. Her behaviour began confusing me more until the blaring sound of my ring tone took me off guard.

Lifting it up, I had to look twice to see if my eyes were really witnessing the sight I'd been longing for. His face I'd not allowed myself to remove popping up with my most favorite dimples imprinting his cheeks. With an uncontrollable small smile on my face, I looked up to Anna only to receive a nod from her end.

With all eyes in the room on me, my fingure slid across the answer button on the third ring moments before the voice I didn't know how desperate I was to hear so close invaded my eardrums.

"Jo, are you there?"