Mam:
Hi, hope you’d a super time.
Crikey, if only she knew.
Ramona:
Hey, ya, be back at the end of this week, or maybe the next. Still China time. Awesome trip.
Nothing from Finn.
She tried to stifle her disappointment by shoving the phone in her bag and looking out the window at the all-too-familiar scenery, but there was nothing familiar about it anymore. This time she was looking at it as a pregnant woman. The world was transformed. She was carrying this huge secret but had no one to share it with.
What was it about late Sunday afternoon that was so bloody depressing?
There was nobody she felt like contacting, nothing else to do when she got in, so Cassie climbed into bed while the starling colony still chattered away while holding what sounded like a birdie barbecue in the tree outside. Tears rolled down her face. She should feel euphoric, lucky, but right now all she could feel was scared and very, very lonely.
* * *
She had discovered that anything with a high-fat content seemed to help her morning sickness so the next morning she grabbed a strawberry milkshake and a croissant in the deli. All of a sudden, Marisha’s attacks of the vapours made sense. If the poor woman was feeling anything like herself, she could offer nothing but sympathy.
Marisha was already at her desk when Cassie trailed in, and she was looking a little perkier than previously. Could that be an indication that this ghastly nausea would ease up after a few weeks? She eyed Cassie finishing her milkshake but made no comment.
The week passed slowly. Thankfully, the children had finished their coursework so all there was to do was fun activities like painting and sports day, where she could stand holding one end of a rope for the morning, an activity which didn’t require too much initiative.
Finally, the last Friday crawled by and at twelve thirty they waved the wildly excited children off for the summer holidays, and heaved a sigh of relief as the last pair of feet scampered off down the corridor, leaving a few stray bits of paper floating in their wake.
All that was left to do was tidy around and meet the rest of the staff for lunch in the local pub. As if that was going to happen. She became aware of Marisha watching her closely. Cassie was conscious of moving very slowly.
‘You are, aren’t you?’
‘Sorry?’
Marisha gave her a weary look. Should she deny it? She actually felt relieved.
‘Yes, I am.’
‘And I’m guessing I know whose it is?’
Cassie nodded. She simply hadn’t the energy to think up anything more creative than the truth.
‘Sit down.’ Marisha pulled over chairs for both of them, and Cassie sank onto one gratefully, regardless of what was going to be said.
‘He doesn’t know yet, does he?’
Cassie shook her head.
‘To be honest, he ended it with me,’ said Cassie miserably.
Marisha nodded. ‘Yes, and I think I know why.’
There was a lot that Cassie was sorely tempted to say but she only had enough energy to keep her trap shut.
‘Well, he’s a bloody fool, he should know a good thing when he sees one.’
Really? She hadn’t seen that one coming.
‘Let me explain something. My ex-husband’s mother was a selfish cow. Mine, on the other hand .?.?. was just hard to please. But anyway, he always says his parents were lovely, but that’s rubbish, they vanished off to live in Spain the week he did his Leaving Certificate and never came back. And believe me, they couldn’t wait to go.’
