Chapter Two

—Now—

The mornings were getting heavier and heavier for Melody, who kept throwing up everything she ate for dinner and something else, each day when she woke up. She was tired of the sound her gagging made, she was tired of waking up her friend Lucy every time she threw up in the sink, which was inside Lucy’s room. Melody had never in her life felt as uncomfortable as she did at that moment.

It wasn’t just the fact that she had been living with Lucy for a week, her friend was a sweetheart just for allowing her to spend time there. The apartment was tiny, and they barely had enough food for the two of them. Lucy wasn’t much of a shopper and Melody didn’t have time to buy anything, because when she finished her shift at the coffee shop, she went to clean and water the plants of a young couple who lived near the coffee shop where she worked. It was extra money, money she needed more than ever. 

When her mother told her that she wasn’t ready to be a real mother to the baby she was expecting, a woman capable of raising her unborn child well, she thought her mother was just being archaic and wanted to hurt and scare her. 

It was highly likely that those were her intentions, but Melody realized, during that week away from her mother’s lap, that it wasn’t going to be easy living alone. 

“Don’t come asking for help later,” was what her mother yelled at her as she packed her blouses and pants. 

“I won’t,” was all she replied as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“You’re destroying your life! You’re about to graduate, you only have 3 more quarters left. That happens right away,” her mother approached her, but did not touch her. 

From the moment she said she was pregnant; her parents had withdrawn like she was a leper. 

“I’m not destroying my life. I’m pregnant.”

“It’s the same thing. You’re twenty-two years old, a career in veterinary medicine ahead of you. Your father and I didn’t kill ourselves paying your education for you to come here and ruin it!” vociferated Lydia to her in a rage.

Melody told herself at that moment that she deserved her mother’s fury and her father’s silence. 

She had ended her parents’ dreams of an ideal daughter.  A neurosurgeon and a schoolteacher, two productive and respected members of society, admired by all who lived in Norwood, for being united and hard-working. Her father, Charles Redford, born and raised in that small Bronx neighborhood in New York, was known for being the one who helped his neighbors and who had put his two beautiful daughters through college without any of the rebelliousness typical of teenagers. Her sister was now a librarian, married with a beautiful baby boy named Anton. 

But Melody always had a competitive and free spirit. So free that she had dated the worst guy in college, a guy who was only around when there were car competitions, the kind with rich, pretentious billionaires. She had realized how in love she was with him, until one night, after leaving a college party, he proposed to her in his car and she gladly accepted. She wasted her virginity and ruined her parents’ dream. 

Her life was going perfectly well, she was getting straight A’s in college, her father had the place lined up for her to start her own vet shop, they had a lot of plans and because of a little miscalculation, she was having a baby. 

Twenty-two years old and pregnant.

“Pay attention to me please. Listen to me,” this time her mother anchored herself to her arm and forced her to look at her, wiping away the tears she had uselessly let escape. 

There was no use crying anymore. 

Her father had given an ultimatum: Abort or leave home.

It didn’t take two seconds for the decision to be made. 

She would move out. She would raise her child alone. Many young women had done so and had turned out well, she would be no less. 

“Mely,” her mother begged for her attention again. “Look at me girl,” she hated to be the cause of so much pain and unrest in her mother. But things were the way they were because she and her father had decided so.  

“Tell me mom. No matter what you tell me, I am not going to have an abortion. Don’t you understand what you are asking me to do? Don’t you realize that you are asking me to kill my child?”

“That thing is still a fetus!” her mother shouted.

“Stop calling it a thing! It’s a baby. It’s my baby,” she released her grip on her hand and shoved everything faster into the bag. “He’s not a thing. He’s my son. It’s your grandchild.” 

“That’s not formed. It doesn’t feel anything. It’ll be like appendix surgery, only you won’t have a scar to show for it.”

“Are you listening to yourself?” Melody walked out of her room. The room that had been hers since she was born. She had always lived there. 

Now she had to leave. 

The night before she had contacted her friend. Lucy didn’t have any problem accepting her into her tiny studio apartment. She just gave her the disclaimer that the place was small.

“Melody please,” her mother pleaded again. She couldn’t bring herself to give her one last look. She couldn’t look at her mother with the rage she felt at that moment, the fury coursing through her veins. She couldn’t burst out and say things she would surely regret sooner rather than later. 

“See you later mom. Let me know when yours and Dad’s inhumanity wears off.” 

And she left without looking back.

Now she was there annoying her friend. She hadn’t made any kind of comment, but poor Lucy worked all night in a call center, customer service and toothpaste sales. She came in late every night, past three in the morning. Lucy was twenty-four years old, an orphan of both parents. She was also studying veterinary medicine at the university, but she hadn’t gotten pregnant by a stupid guy like Melody’s ex was.

Officially her ex. 

From the moment she had it confirmed that she was expecting a baby, she had called him immediately, scared to death. Richard was a jerk who just told her that it wasn’t his problem, that she had been a fool to get pregnant. 

As if she had planned it!

“Mel? Everything okay?” Lucy stood in the bathroom doorway watching her. 

“I’m fine. It’s only normal,” Melody pulled her hair back and kept her grip on it in case she threw up again.

She never knew when they were going to stop, there were mornings when she would stay for more than thirty minutes at the sink or at the toilet’s bowl. 

“They’re getting worse.”

It was a fact. 

She was very thin. She was not a shadow of what she had been three months before. She had lost a lot of weight as she had no desire to eat anything, nor could she keep anything in her stomach, as she threw up everything. 

“I didn’t think it was possible,” Lucy told her worriedly. “Are you sure that’s normal? I mean, I don’t have a lot of experience with pregnancy and boys, or even family. But you’re getting thinner. That can’t be normal. You’re in bones.”

“Wow, thanks for your support, I really couldn’t feel any better without you.”

“You don’t have to be sarcastic. It’s the truth. I’m worried that when you get to give birth it won’t turn out well. There are animals that die because they don’t have the strength to give...”

“Are you comparing me to an animal? I can’t have this conversation right now. I’m sorry, Lucy. I’m sorry to wake you up at six in the morning. I’ll get ready in a minute to go to work.” 

“Don’t apologize Mel. I know it’s a lot for you to take in.”

And her friend had no idea. 

She was annoyed by everything, irritated even by her own breathing. She was trying to control her temper with her friend, but it was quite difficult. 

“I’m going to lie down. Let me know if you need me.” 

Melody nodded just before she felt another retch  coming on. 

She was going to have a hell of a day.