Hold My Girl

Chapter 3

November 2018
12 Weeks

It had been 3 weeks since I'd found out I was pregnant and not much had changed. But I guess that's what happens when you bury your head in the sand.

I had yet to make an appointment with a midwife. I had yet to tell my parents. And I had made no attempt to contact Harry at all. As the days ticked by Allison was getting more and more irritated with me. She couldn't get on board with the 'lets just keep it to ourselves for a little while longer' idea. She was being as supportive as she could be but she was starting to go down the tough love route.

I just couldn't bring myself to have it confirmed by a trained professional, I couldn't bare to disappoint my parents, and I didn't even know where to start with Harry. How did you go about telling a multi million pound recording artist that you were pregnant with his child. And then there would be the problem of him not believing me. Surely his management team get accusations like this all the time. Wannabe It Girls looking for money, or fame or whatever. Then there would be DNA tests and paternity tests and then him trying to pay me off to keep me quiet. It was something I just didn't want to deal with right now. And as long as no one but Allison and I knew I could continue pretending like it wasn't happening. Because nothing had actually changed. I was still being sick a couple of times a day but that was easy enough to hide. I wasn't getting any fatter. On the outside you couldn't tell I was pregnant.

Every morning for the last week had been the same, Allison appeared at my door, ready to walk to work. She would ask me if I'd phoned the midwife yet and rach morning I would tell her I'd ran out of time and I'd do it on my lunch break.

This Monday morning was different though. I was pulling my coat on as Allison opened the front door as usual. I preempted her by beginning to tell her I hadn't done it but she surprised me by interrupting me.

"You have an appointment at 12:15 tomorrow with Nurse McConnel"

"What?" My stomach dropped.

"What? You thought I was going to continue letting you avoid this? It's not going away Nora" Allison stood with her arms folded in the middle of my tiny hallway. The tough love approach on full display.

Her eyes were the only giveaway that she wasn't really angry with me. Her kind eyes were full of love and concern. "I will support you every step of the way, but I can't continue allowing you to bury your head in the sand. You're pregnant wether you like it or not. You need to see a midwife. I won't force you to tell Harry but you need to see a health professional, you need to get checked out, you need to find how far along you are, you need to take vitamins and folic acid and stuff. You need to grow the fuck up and take care of yourself" Allison sighed as she finished her obviously rehearsed speech.

"I... How did you manage to make an appointment in my name?" I asked, knowing I had no argument against her.

"All I need was your name and date of birth. It's not that difficult" Allison dropped her hands to wrap her arms around me in a comforting hug.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, but you need to do something about this"

"I know" I sniffed, not even realising I'd started crying.

"I'll come with if you want" Allison offered as I pulled myself away to wipe the tears.

"No, no. I'll put my big girl panties on and go myself"

"Are you sure?" Allison asked. But I knew what she really meant was I sure I'll definitely go.

"I need to stand on my own two feet here. I promise I'll go"

And despite avoiding it like the plague. Here I was, the very next day, sitting in a cold chair, in a stark white waiting room, on my lunch break, waiting to be called.