Love, Lust, and Luxury

CHAPTER 3

**** Seven months later****

The doorbell rang, and Amelia dragged herself up. Rinsing her face, she stared into the mirror. Her face was getting swollen. She coughed as she felt a slimy substance down her throat. Holding the rim of the sink, she bent over and vomited again. She groaned as every part of her throbbed. She'd been sitting in the bathroom for more than 10 minutes.

Every time she tried to leave, she vomited again. If she did her calculations correctly, she must have vomitted three times since she got back from work. It was becoming harder to focus on anything else in her state. The doctor already suggested a bed rest, but that meant hours of staying alone at home, and she wasn't one to sit idly.

She preferred feeling miserable to sitting home all day, the door bell rang again and she turned on the tap, she rinsed her face for the Fourth time in less than 20 minutes and walked to the sitting room. Her eyes flickered to the large gold-plated clock in her sitting room. It was pretty late. Wondering who was at her door, she prodded to the door, and without checking through the screen, she pushed it open and stood transfixed to the ground.

It was her step sister. She took a minute to access her ex best friend, and she looked amazing as she always did. Mitchell stood a well 5'1 "in height with a body like that of a goddess. The fat in the right places. She had a blue gown that hugged her body, revealing her perfectly sculptured curves. Her brown hair was packed into a high bun and tacked with a silver hair pin.

She looked like she had enough time to carefully apply her makeup. Her face glowed probably from the makeup she used or from the sunscreen she had on, Amelia really couldn't say. Her lips were pink. From the accessment, she applied lipstick also. She smelled really nice, the fragrance mixed with vanilla and something Amelia couldn't place. She was about to think about it when her sister finally spoke.

'"I know I'm beautiful, but staring at me isn't really your thing since you're.... The more beautiful one. Well,..... " She paused as her gaze dropped to Amelia's huge bump. "That was before the pregnancy," she continued with a tone to her voice.

Amelia suddenly became self conscious, Amelia had always been very beautiful, but being in her third trimester wasn't doing her look any good. She glanced down at her tummy and shook her head. Her tummy was so huge that she could only see her foot when she took a picture of it. Her nose had become twice the normal size, and from looking into the mirror a while ago, she could tell her hair was a mess.

Mitchell was the last person she expected to see at her doorstep. That wasn't all true. She wasn't expecting anybody. She had flown out of the country a week after she signed the divorce papers. She didn't want to see nor talk to anybody, which was why she signed and left before getting her husband's signature. She hoped he'd sign it also. They've all caused her nothing but pain.

Refusing to dwell on the past, Amelia cleared her throat.

"Why are you here?" She asked emotionlessly.

"Isn't that cold?" Mitchell replied with a smirk. She was here to fight, Amelia guessed

Amelia grabbed the handle of the door as she felt dizzy suddenly. She felt the urge to vomit again. She stared at Mitchell as she forced down the vomit. "If you think I'd allow you in, you're mistaken so you can fly back to wherever you came from and forget you met me here."

"Mummy knows you're here, she sent me here," Mitchell scoffed in reply, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

" I don't need any of you, just leave!" She snapped and made to slam the door. She would have successfully done that if Mitchell's next question stopped her.

"Does he know you're pregnant?"

Amelia paused and cracked the door open. She felt an anger rush through her bowels. She wanted to grab Mitchell's hair and yank it till she had nothing on her head again. She wanted so bad to take revenge for all that had happened, but she knew the timing was wrong. Not willing to give Mitchell the benefit of watching her miserable, She forced a smile.

"Last I checked, that was none of your business. Now, if you don't mind, I've got things to do inside, " She replied and slammed the door before Mitchell could say anything else.

She rested on the door till she heard retreating footsteps, and then she went to sit. She sat carefully, trying not to disturb the baby in her stomach. It had been a very long day. Amelia closed her eyes as she tried not to think about anything. The mere thought of it broke her heart every single time. She was just getting used to being lonely already. Living alone and catering for yourself for months would force you to get adapted.

A quick glance of the house reminded Amelia how miserable she had become, for someone that once stayed in a sitting room with was thrice her present apartment altogether, she didn't need to be told she'd been through a lot. Her tummy rumbled, and she felt soft movement..

She tapped on it and smiled. "You'd soon be out, kiddo, soon."

As if it were heard, the baby stopped moving immediately. She smiled and sighed. This wasn't the life she planned for herself. She didn't want to think about the pain of living alone, talk less, and take care of her child alone. She blinked back the tears that threatened to drop as she stood up. She still had to be at work the next morning. Her legs felt very heavy, Amelia knew she was going to go into labour anytime soon, but she definitely wasn't expecting the pains to be heightened. Slowing down, she continued to the room.

She got into bed and got comfortable. It was hard to, but after many positions, she finally found herself relaxing into the bed. She checked her time to be sure the alarms were still going to blare loudly the next morning. Her boss was someone big on punctuality

Amelia shut her eyes closed and tried to sleep. She was lucky because 5 minutes to that time, she fell asleep.

"Damn!!!" Amelia cursed loudly and sat up at a surprising speed for a pregnant woman. Her back was aching so bad. It felt like she bent overnight, and she was just woken up. She tried to adjust her position and screamed as her waist ached again. Her head throbbed, raising her hands, and she massaged her head. A memory of her ex-husband flashed in her mind, and she burst into tears

She wasn't supposed to do this alone! She allowed the tears to flow as she thought of the good times she had with her husband. If he was here, he would happily massage the back for her while telling her how important she was to him.

The memories brought on a new wave of tears, an this time, she allowed it to flow as much as it wanted to. She missed him. She missed her ex-husband. The pain subsided, and she tried to sleep again. As she drifted off, she remembered his last statement. "I would never do anything to hurt you, and you know that."

The thing was she didn't know or she wasn't sure, so she had left without giving him a chance to explain himself. She'd left, and now she wished she wasn't. She should have trusted him.