Always been mine!

Chapter Eight

The house was awfully quiet when we entered. We found Martha in the kitchen who was still fussing with dishes and he told her to go to bed.

She tried to protest , then took a second look at his face and did as asked. She questioned me with an arched eyebrow as she passed me but I folded my arms, refusing to act guilt about an innocent encounter. I felt guilty, that I hadn't told him about it.

"You want to talk?" I asked.

"Not here," he said, taking my hand. "My office."

I understood, he probably wanted to shout. He pulled me after him as I ran over an explanation in my mind.

"As I told you, I went to after ten, where I met Gina, like she said, then I was going to hurry up right home, but I was enjoying the ice cream and sat outside so I could go back for another but Kumbwa saw me and stopped. I know, I know, I could have walked away..."

"Yes." He said.

I gave him an impatient look and continued. "But Kumbwa and I have a past. He stopped to apologize."

Michael's eyes sparked with anger."Really? why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Me: "because I knew you'd misunderstand just like you're doing now."

Him: "We shelved him, remember? Do you still have feelings for him?."

"That's not fair. You know I don't!" I shouted at him. He turned to walk away from me and I caught his arm. "I'm not finished! This baby........" My heel was stuck in the book shelf preventing me from following ,I lost my balance but he caught me before I fell..

*******************

I showered, changed into black pajamas and climbed into bed. I stared at the darkness , unable to sleep. Michael finally came to my room around midnight. I clung to my bed, pretending to be asleep while I heard him walk over to the bed and reach over for my hand.

"Nikki!" He whispered. I pretended to be fast asleep. I felt him climb into bed, tuck the blanket around me and pull me into his arms.

"Nikki, please wake up." I pretended to have been fast asleep and opened one eye. "I am sorry about tonight. Let's shelve this whole thing and just be happy." I nodded and snuggled even closer to him.

I woke the next morning around ten to find mint chocolate on my bed, it helped with my nausea. Michael had gone for work already so it was just me and Martha. My dear Bonnie wouldn't be back till monday, grandpa was on a business trip and she was acting as his PA, in bed of course.

I walked in on Martha making fritters. I bit into one while I poured hot water into a tea cup and selected a camomile tea bag. I ate and talked to her about her kids. She had three, all girls. Two were married and one was studying journalism at Nkrumah University.

I picked a second fritter and Martha made an odd sound like a vacuum sucking air. "What?" I demanded putting my fritter down convinced she was choking.

"You're eating a fritter!" She exclaimed.

It took me a second to grasp the importance of that when I realized I wasn't nauseous or queasy. I threw my arms around her, laughing. I picked up my phone and called Michael.

"I'm invincible! Call me Supergirl." I said immediately he picked up. "Pick me up for lunch."

Him: "you want me to have ice cream for lunch? No thank you, babe!"

Me:"futsek! I just ate two fritters without throwing up. I can stomach anything. I want prunes, pasta, tiramisu, name it."

Him:"I hope you're right, be ready by 1p.m."

That means I only had two hours, I grabbed two more fritters, gave Martha a kiss and went upstairs to take my bath. I took off my underwear to find a spot of blood. That freaked me out, I texted Micheal who called me back later on to tell me his friend , a gynaecologist, said its normal during the first trimester as its called implantation, so spotting was normal.

I took my bath, wore a panty liner and forgot about it.

He picked me up quarter to one and took me to some Italian restaurant. A cheerful bearded man greeted us, there were exclamations in spanish and then he led us to a table at the back. I had forgotten about Michael's Spanish heritage. I opened the menu, "pasta putanesca!" I ordered firmly when a waiter came to take our order.

Michael frowned at me across the table."Baby, are you really sure you're up for sardines?"

"Pasta putanesca! I repeated. "Caesar with croutons and some tiramisu."

The waiter jotted everything down.

Michael:"Nikki,are you eating for ten?"

Me: "who knows." I said, spreading both my hands. " I've been hungry for a while and I've finally gotten my appetite back."

I ate every bite of my salad, pasta and all but one tiramisu. The food was delicious,I licked my lips and asked him to get me ice cream from After Ten. He laughed and held my hand in his.

Him: "Nikki, don't you think it's time we told your parents about the baby?"

I knew this day would come but he was right. It's time I faced mum and dad and told them. They were in Botswana and would only be back in mid January, so We agreed to call them that night and break the news to them.

He dropped me off an hour later and I went straight up to take a nap.