Blessings & Curses

Chapter 3

July//

Fiona was out on the poolside sitting under a large umbrella. She refused to let the light hit her pale skin. She had a glass of fresh iced tea in one hand. Her other hand was placed on the top of her stomach. She had been in discomfort all day by the painful movements of her child kicking inside of her.

John walks out from the master bedroom to the poolside in his work attire. Slacks, a colored polo, and dockers. He had just arrived back home from a golf outing. Usually, Fiona would go to the country club with him to socialize with the other work wives, but she had no desire to do so. She was embarrassed by her appearance. All of the skinny wives intimidated her. Now that she was pregnant, she literally felt like the elephant in the room.

John slowly creeps up next to Fiona and startles her once when his hand touches her shoulder.

"Hello." John says softly kissing the crook of her neck. She quickly moves her head away from John.

"I don't see your bags packed for our trip... we leave tomorrow morning." He takes Fiona's drink out of her hand and sits in the lounge chair across from her. He kicks off his dockers and puts on his sunglasses.

"You leave tomorrow." Fiona says. She then moves her finger in the air and suddenly Fiona's iced tea was all over John's new slacks. He sits up and pushes the ice off of him.

"You bitch!" He howls looking down at his wet pants.

Fiona raises her eyebrow then looks at the pool that was only a few steps away from John. With another raise of the finger, John was in mid air at one moment and at the next he was at the bottom of the pool.

Fiona covered her mouth to hide the fact that she was giggling once John got out of the pool. He was drenched from head to toe. He wiped his eyes then grabbed a towel from the chair. As angry as he was, he knew not to stir up an argument. He had enough of those for the last six months with Fiona.

He stood in front of her with water dripping down his face. Fiona waited for him to say something, but he was speechless.

"Yes, Mr.Goode?" He hums

"We leave tomorrow at nine o'clock sharp."

Fiona grabs onto the arms of her chair and pushes herself up onto her feet. "You think I'm going to Cabo with the Millers looking like this? Are you insane?" She raises her voice.

"Looking like what?" He says

"Fat! Swollen! You did this to me! You did this all to me!" She runs her fingers through her hair and walks up to John. Both of her hands were placed on his shoulders. His eyes met hers for a moment but she looked away as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"I can't... I can't go. You just go without me."

"Fiona..." he whispers

"Just go." She lightly pushes him to the side then walks back to her master bedroom doors. She closes them behind her leaving John alone.

Things had been bumpy between John and Fiona. She was miserable and there was no doubt about it. Her life didn't feel like hers now that she was with child, and her marriage didn't either. John was so much for distant and always spending extra time at the course, the country club, or at work.

As her pregnancy progressed, Fiona wanted him to tell her that she was beautiful the way she was. She wanted him to beg for her to go, but he didn't. She wanted him to make her feel beautiful.

**

The next morning//

John had all of his things packed for the trip. While he prepared to leave for the airport Fiona was reading on the couch.

At eight o'clock sharp a taxi pulled into the long curvy driveway that led to Fiona and John's home. The horn beeped once and John set his things at the door. He walked over to Fiona then sat on the arm of the couch. He moved a piece of Fiona's hair out of her face then smiled. She turned her head to the right and looked into his eyes.

"I'll be back next week." He says softly

She nods then turns away. She gave John the impression that she was mad. "I won't have too much fun without you." Fiona says in a snarky tone.

He huffs then stands up, fixes his blazer, and heads to the door. His suitcase was in his hand and he was gone.

That sense of loneliness began to linger throughout her Hollywood estate. She had wished her life wasn't the way it was. She didn't want a child. She hated the fact that so much had changed but for the worst.

//-//

John had been gone for two days. Fiona had not heard from him once ever since he left. Fiona let it go and went on with her day.

On a sunny afternoon Fiona was walking through her home with nothing to do. She had an appointment to check on her and the baby but it wasn't until later in the day.

As she walked down the halls she came across the empty room that they planned to use as their child's nursery. All that was inside was an old dresser and a bassinet. Fiona's heart had ached a bit. She was already six months along on her pregnancy. She was clueless as to what the gender of her baby was. She had to wait until birth to find out.

Fiona stood in the room for a while and pictured what the room would look like in the color blue, for a boy. Then she thought about having a girl. Beautiful pastel pink walls with flowers, everywhere.

While all of these happy thoughts went through Fiona's head she stopped herself and became angry again. The anger of being pregnant quickly came back.

//-//

Fiona arrived at her doctors. She waited patiently to be called back. When she did the nurse laid her back on the chair and began examining her. Fiona sat still and didn't show any emotion.

"No husband today?" The nurse says

Fiona shakes her
"Remember to stay away from smokers and drinkers. This isn't the fifties anymore." The nurse smiles

"I will."

The nurse then begins searching for a heart beat. It took her a while which made her nervous, but then the rooms silence was put to an end when the heart beat echoed around the room.

"And there's the beat, Ms. Goode."

"That... that's my babies heart beat?" She asks

"Why yes? Haven't you heard it before?"

Fiona was embarrassed to come clean. She hadn't been to an official appointment in months. This was her first time actually hearing the babies heart beat.

"Is everything okay?" Fiona says changing the subject

"Everything looks great. I am a bit worried about the heart beat. It seems a little off, but that's normal."

Fiona zoned out the nurse and listened to thumping sound coming from the machine. It was out of the ordinary for Fiona to grow a soft spot for children, but in that very moment she did.
//-//