Chapter Two

As Marianne shut the door behind her, Greg exited the bathroom drying his light brown short length hair with a small towel while another body towel wrapped him from the waist down.

Having a terrible loveless relationship did not make Marianne blind, because she could obviously see the fully shaped man right in front of her.

"Six foot of a whole hunk but no brains", she thought to herself.

"I thought you were cleaning the living room?" He asked her.

Marianne snapped out of the fantasy and replied immediately,"I wanted us to talk before you left."

"But I told you that I needed to leave urgently, can't this wait?", He asked while dressing up real quick.

"This really can't wait, I-" Marianne was cut off again.

"You look tired and sick, have you been to a hospital?" He asked with sudden concern.

Marianne's tongue got heavy and tried to respond but words could not leave her mouth, every second that passed was torture. She wished he could just read her mind or predict like he did the first pregnancy when Marianne was carrying Rose, he had paid more attention to her back then when everything was still fresh and sweet between them.

He would go out and buy the test himself and tell her to be calm, waited patiently as she did the testing in the bathroom. Worried about his reaction, she held the pregnancy test tight in her hands like she was about to break it. He held her shaking hands and rested her head on his chest and told her, "we'll figure it out."

At the time they had been living in a humble two roomed house, Bedroom/living room/kitchen and a tiny bathroom right where the stove was installed so you can imagine the tight space.

Marianne let go of the test and looked up to him waiting to see his reaction, her eyes watered and she couldn't feel her knees. Greg got down on both knees, pressed his head against her still flat belly and whispered with tears filled in his eyes,

"hello there".

Marianne was at a loss of words but at least she could breathe knowing he was happy to know they were about to become parents and just the feeling of knowing a little person was growing inside of her was enough to make grown woman cry.

She wished it was going to be the same with the recent one but with the way things had become between the two of them, she was positive he did not want any more ties to her. But she still had to speak up, to let him know that sexual relations always have consequences, in their case it was a pregnancy.

"Marianne?", Greg called out to her seeing that she had drifted away in thought.

"No not yet, I took a home pregnancy test first", Marianne stood still waiting for his reaction with her nerves all over the place.

"What did you just say? A home what?",

He paused for a second waiting for her to repeat her sentence.

"Wait you don't have to", He raised his hand as a time out gesture to stop her from talking.

"Marianne, how could you let this happen?!" Greg raised his voice at her as if she were a teenager who didn't know what she was doing..."Weren't you on the pill?"

Confused as she was, Marianne couldn't find the words to respond to Greg's ridiculous questions. What did he expect from unprotected sexual relations? A dog in a gift box?

"Aren't you gonna say something to defend yourself?", Greg insisted she answered with a face so angry he'd be capable of harming her.

Considering the safety of her daughter and her unborn child, Marianne calmly replied,

"I don't know what happened, I'm so sorry."

"You better be, we're not having this child, one is enough trouble", He commanded.

Marianne's heart sank as those words played through her mind, feeling all sorts of emotions in that moment she couldn't object. All she could do was stare....

"Hello, did you hear what I just said? We're not keeping it",

Greg insisted some more as he paced from corner to corner in the bedroom.

"What if I die?", She asked quietly.

He turned to her and asked, "did you die last time?"

Marianne was reminded of what could have been Rose's sibling had he not forced abortion pills down her throat, the horror of seeing a life fade away against her wish still haunted her till date. But would she allow him a second time, will he keep forcing her to terminate till she finally died?

Marianne had to think fast, there was more to lose than last time. If she died who would care for her little Rose? What will they tell her when she's older? How will she take it? Will her spirit rest?

There were no positive answers to any of those questions, it was time for her take a stand no matter what he said. For Rose.

"I'm not getting rid of my baby!", She said with a little shake in her voice.

"Can you even hear yourself? You want to keep this baby? Have you any...", Greg paused as though he had an epiphany.

He paced a bit more around the room making Marianne dizzy for some seconds, then came to her , rested a hand on her shoulder and said,

"you're right my love, why put your life at risk like that. This is a blessing sent to us and we must embrace it with all our love and care, sorry for way I came out at first you took me by surprise okay."

"No I should've found a better way to tell you,it's my fault." Marianne was confused at what just happened but tried to take the blame as usual.

Greg sat her down and pulled up a stool right in front of her to sit and face her directly in the eyes,

"this is a wonderful surprise and we shall treat it as such, lemme go for my meetings, text me what you'd like me to bring for you on my way back home and we'll celebrate. Do you have cravings yet?" He asked.

"Greg this mood change is drastic even for you, are you sure you're happy about this pregnancy?", suspicious Marianne had to ask, it was weird.

"Oh come on, a baby changes everything. I'm super excited",

He leapt from the stool with a huge smile on his smile and finished up getting ready.

"I'll be back earlier today okay, I don't wanna leave you all alone all day." He pinched her nose and gave her a peck on her sweet light pink lips.

"Oh I won't be alone, I have Rose and now another one on the way but I'd definitely need your company as well." She responded with such joy and relief.

"Mommy!", Rose called out to her from the living room.

"I better see what she wants", Marianne quickly walked to the door and opened it.

Greg gave her another smile and said,

"sure i'll be right down to say bye to Rose".