Chocolate Umbrella

Chapter 10 - Chocolate Umbrella

CHAPTER - 10

"Alena? Love? May I come in?" Emile knocked on the bathroom door, waiting for the Alena to answer the door. It had been too quiet for the last ten minutes. He heard the shower had stopped, so was the sound from the electric toothbrush and the running tap water. "Alena? Are you alright?" He knocked again. He tried the door knob but it was locked. If it wasn't, he would have barged in already. A very bad feeling ran down his spine. Then the lock on the door clicked. He did not even wait for the door to open, but impatiently twisted the door knob and opened the door.

"Alena?" He held himself back from swinging the door open, but gently opened the door, expecting Alena right behind it. But she was not in sight. Instead, he found her sitting slumped on the floor, hugging her knees with her head buried behind her hair and the pregnancy test was still in her hands.

"Alena." Emile squatted down and tugged the hair behind her ears. He removed the test stick from her hand and tossed on the counter. He did not need it to confirm his fear. Alena's silence already did.

Alena looked up and her lips were quivering. "How did it happen? Is this a joke?"

"It's my fault. Come. Get off the floor." Emile took the blame. Though it probably was a technological failure in the contraceptives, whatever could soothe her panic, he would just say it. He pulled her up from the floor and wrapped his arms around her shoulder. She hung her head low as she walked back to the bed, totally defeated.

"This is not supposed to happen. It's not." She mumbled as she pulled the cover over her body.

"Well, it happened." Emile climbed next to her and pulled the cover over his body.

"But I prayed. I made peace with Him. I didn't ask for the baby anymore." Alena's eyes were now welled up with tears. She was not crying in the bathroom. She was panic. Now that Emile was on her side, her emotions floodgate just lost all the control. "What are we going to do now? How are we going to cope with everything, and a baby? This is all wrong." The tears finally escaped her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.

"Alena. We'll deal with it as it comes." Emile wiped her tears with his thumb. He did not know what else to say. All he could do was to pull her close, gave her the physical comfort that he knew would calm her.

He was all in this together. He had the same fear as she had, peculiar situation in the office, a sick parent, a demanding tot and single income. If anything happened to Mark, he would need to take on the responsibility of Rhonda too. Mark did not plan for such an early retirement. Above all things, he now had a weeping wife leaning on his shoulder. It was just all too heavy on him. Unfortunately, as the head of the house, he had no choice but to take them all on. He gently stroke Alena's hair a few times and then laced his fingers with hers. How he hoped he could lean on her too. But it probably would be too much to ask. He kept his silence, deep in his thoughts, trying to map out the future in his head.

"Emile?" She whispered and eyes still moist. "I am scared."

"I know." He pulled her across his chest, half lying over his torso. His hands never stopped caressing her hands and arms, as if he was assuring her his presence. His mind, however, was all messed up with images of how the future would turn out. None of those images were assuring at all.

Alena took a deep breath and hugged him tight. "I guess this time we'll need my mom to help out." Alena tried hard to pull herself together. She must be so totally defeated, otherwise she would never think of such option. She knew her own mother would not be a suitable caregiver for an infant. But with all the problems stacked up against them, it looked like that this would be the most logical arrangement.