Chapter 72: Chapter 72

The doctor walks back in with pamphlets in his hands.

"I have scheduled a prenatal appointment with doctor Waters next week for three o'clock," he hands me her card. "the appointment details are written on the back of the card." He then hands me the pamphlets. "I am aware that this is your first baby, so here are a few pamphlets that will educate you a bit about pregnancy. If you have any other questions or concerns, you should contact doctor Waters." He points to the card.

He gets up and so do we. He shakes Noah's hand. "Good luck," he says before we leave the room.

Walking down to the car, I notice a different attitude on Noah. He seems genuinely happy. Since I met him, he's always had an easy-going personality, but it was just that. Now there's more. He looks towards the future. He has an overgrowing excitement towards life.

At this moment, looking at how happy he is, I envy him. I wish I felt the way he did. I wish I wanted this baby, but I don't. I'm only twenty-one. I haven't done much with my life. I'm only finishing university in a couple of weeks. I haven't had time to start my career yet. Now I have to put my whole career, my whole life on hold for a baby.

When we get in the car, he asks me if I'm hungry. Of course, I'm hungry, I'm pregnant, I'm always hungry. I tell him yes. He takes me to an All Day Breakfast Diner a few blocks away from the hospital. We sit in a booth next to the window. A server comes to me our table.

"Hello, what can I get for you?" She says.

"The big breakfast," Noah says. He didn't even look at the menu. He probably comes here often.

"And you?" She's looking at me waiting for me to order. I don't know what to get. I kind of want to order the big breakfast, but I don't want to seem fat.

"The medium breakfast," I say. The waitress looks at me in confusion. Noah laughs a little. I probably should have looked at the menu.

"You meant the classic breakfast?" He saves me.

"Yeah," I hit my forehead. "Of course, that's what I was trying to say."

The waitress nods. "Okay perfect. Anything to drink?"

Noah orders water and me, a hot chocolate. She leaves with our orders.

"Thanks," I tell him. He nods his head.

"So tell me about yourself," he asks me. "After all, you're going to be the mother of my child." He leans back on the seat and puts his arms behind his head, showing me that I have his undivided attention.

"Well," I say. "There's not much to talk about. I'm twenty-one, and single. I have no parents and I live with my best friend Dayna. I met her when we were both in Juvi, we were twelve." His eyes widen.

"Why were you in Juvie?" He asks.

"I was put in for running away from my group home. I met Dayna in a convenience store. Dayna, she stole from a convenience store. They arrested me because they thought we were together and because I kept running away from my foster homes." I continue my story. "I'm an orphan child. Dayna is practically the only family I have now. Well except for my grandma who suffers from Alzheimer's."

His face gets serious. I guess this is new for him. I'm sure he grew up in a perfect house with rich parents. He probably got everything he wanted as a child. The total opposite of my life.

"I work as a waitress at the MochaCafe downtown. I finish university in two weeks. I'm an English major. I love to write but there are already so many authors out there you know. I wanted to go to teachers' college Later." I look at my stomach. "I'll probably have to hold off on teachers' college. You know, since I'm pregnant and everything." I laugh awkwardly. "Maybe I'll just be an editor or something or-I-I'm not ready for this. I can't do this. I can't be a mother. I didn't have one growing up. I don't what is is to have a family." I don't know if it's the hormones or all the emotions coming up at once, but I start crying. He gets up and sits next to me.

"Hey, it's going to be fine. I don't know anything about being a parent either. But we'll figure this out together. We'll get through this," he says. "I promise."

I do believe he means this. However, it does not change the way I feel. How can I be a mother when I never had one?

Noah drives us to a park and we decide to go for a walk. He really wants to get to know me is what he tells me. This park is beautiful. I've never seen such beautiful greenery before. The grass surrounding me is a deep green colour varying in short and very long heights. A few reach my knees. Tulips and pink Orchards sprout from the grass.

"Do you take all the girls you want to get to know here?" I ask him.

He blushes. "No," he says. "Only girls who are pregnant with my baby," he jokes. I laugh. I feel special knowing I'm the only girl he's ever brought here. He continues to direct me through the park. It's very familiar to him. Maybe it's another spot he often goes to. He finally stops at a big rock centred in the middle of more flowers. He sits down and makes a spot for me on the rock. I sit beside him.

"It's very beautiful," I admit. "Do you come here often?" I ask him.

"I used to come here a lot when I was diagnosed with cancer." He lowers his head. "The beauty of this place distracted me from the ugliness of my life. At one point, I was starting to accept the fact that I might die. But not a sudden death, but a slow agonizing death. And that I would die probably in a hospital bed after spending the last weeks of my life doing chemotherapy." He looks out at the flowers. "This place, it gave me hope. It reminded me that I had to look at the beauty in life. In the winter, the flowers died a bit, but when the sun came out and the snow and the cold went away, they blossomed. So I thought, right now I'm dying a bit. But the cancer would go away and when it did, I'd grow, and I did. When I found out I was cancer free, the first thing I did was come here. After that, it's just kind of been my place."

"Wow," is all I can say. "I guess there's more to the jokester than I thought." He laughs.

"I've never shared that story with anybody."

"Well, I'm glad you're still here," I say honestly.

"Me too," he says. We look at each other for several seconds before I break the silence.

"So tell me about your fiancé." This is the last thing I want to talk about but I feel like I should get it out of the way. However, by the look on his face, I don't think he wants to talk about her either.

"Well, her name is Devlin. She's twenty-five. She helps in the company. I met her when I was in high school." He shrugs. "But anyways you'll get to meet her. She's coming to our first prenatal appointment."

"Oh, she is?"

"Yeah, it was her idea. She really wants to meet you." The idea of her being there makes me sick. I'm the girl he cheated on her with and then got pregnant. She makes me feel like a classic cliché. The homewrecker.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I ask nervously.

"Yeah, she insisted. She's not mad about what we did. Well not anymore. She's excited that I'm able to have a child. After all, she will be the stepmother." Suddenly I think of the movie Cinderella. I fake a smile.

"What about your parents?" I ask him. "What are they like?"

"Well my mom is a bit intense but she's a strong woman and she cares about me a lot. My dad is more laissez-faire and we're very close."

"Any siblings?"

"Yeah, a brother and sister. I'm the oldest. Then it's Eric, and Sasha is the baby. He smiles when he talks about Sasha.

"Sasha's the favourite?" I ask him.

"Yeah. She's very down-to-earth and sweet. You'd like her. She kind of reminds me a bit of you."

"I've never had siblings. I mean I always considered Maddie as a sister. But what's it like having siblings? Being the oldest?"

"It's a lot of responsibility and it can be annoying. But it's not bad. We fight, we joke, we play and we have each other's back."

He looks at his watch.

"Ready to go?" He asks. He stands up.

"Yes," I stand up. We walk back the way we came.

"So, congrats by the way on the company. I read somewhere that you're going to be taking over from your father soon. that's a big deal."

"Yeah. Probably around sometime next year."

"You don't sound very excited about it," I tell him.

"It's a big responsibility," he says. "I love working in the company, but not being the boss." We keep walking. "Besides my brother really wants it. But since I'm the oldest, I'm entitled to it. He's upset that my dad didn't choose him because he knows that I'm not passionate about him like he is. I tried to talk my dad into giving it to him but he doesn't think he's responsible enough." He shrugs. "If I don't take it, I'll be letting my father down and my mom will be upset. But if I do, my brother will be upset."

I take his left hand in mine. "Maybe instead of doing what makes everybody else happy, you should do what makes you happy." He smiles.