RUBY.
I know I said I was going to get to the bottom of what my father is hiding but this past month I have not gotten the chance to. I just didn't know where to start plus Toby started working from home and insisted on following me every damn place I go. I have told him time and time again that I am not running away but he still insists. He has kept up with his nice guy attitude all this while but I'm still not falling for it. Yasmin is nowhere to be found, I have asked Toby about her but it seems to be a sore subject for him. Clara has taken a three-sixty turn in her relationship with me and it's scary. We now go shopping together, for ourselves and the baby and she barely throws insults or sarcastic comments my way. She can't help it so sometimes she lets a few slips but on a general note we are good.
We set up the baby's nursery together. We fought a little but later resolved, she wanted us to find out the gender of the baby but I wanted it to be a surprise. Then she began to insist it was a boy and wanted to bully me into designing a nursery for a boy. Some generic blue-themed or sports-themed nursery but I stood my ground and I am very happy I did as I stood in my now finished nursery in anticipation. The colour theme is white with a few greens, blacks and Grey thrown in while the general theme is sheep. The whole room is painted white with some detailing behind the crib. Fluffy clouds were pinned high on the wall starting from very close to the ceiling to a quarter way down. Below the clouds, cartoonish depictions of sheep of different sizes were painted and below that very close to the wooden floors grass was painted as if sprouting from the floor and a few strands were reaching for the sheep. My rocking chair was grey and so was the matching footstool. A fluffy white blanket was thrown over the chair and stuffed sheep lay carelessly on the chair. We had more than a dozen stuffed sheep thrown around at different points in the room. The white dresser stood full to the brim with all the clothes any baby would need in the next six months and the white changing table beside it hosted all of any baby's changing needs. There was a play corner barricaded from the rest of the room by a white picket fence and even a potty corner sectioned out by the same means. The baby had a mini claw foot tub and a white potty shaped like a real toilet.
"You're up again," Toby said, interrupting my musing. I was going through the carefully put-together nursery again, imagining my baby sleeping in the crib, feeding in my arms on the rocking chair, being changed on the changing table and wearing the million little outfits I had chosen.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep." It was becoming a common occurrence for me to wake up early and be unable to go back to sleep. I guess my baby is an early riser.
"You need anything?" He asked sweetly, scratching his left eye. I shake my head in the negative and he walks away looking like he had already fallen back to sleep. I slid into my rocking chair, hugged a stuffed sheep and sighed in contentment.
Much later in the morning, I was making myself breakfast when the doorbell rang so I waddled to the door only to be greeted by one of the most annoying women out there, Toby's secretary. I let her in with a scowl and took my time walking up the stairs and to Toby's room.
"Your slutty Secretary is here," I said to him after tapping him awake. I didn't wait for a response before leaving the room.
I sat on the couch eating my breakfast as I watched a shirtless Toby work with his thirsty Secretary in the dining section. How unprofessional of him to come down the way he was, did he even brush his teeth, disgusting.
"Hi guys," Clara strutted in like she owned the place. I watched her as she went over to greet Toby affectionately. She was dressed as stunning as always. When she was not trying to dress me I had to admit that she had impeccable tastes.
"Hey," I greeted her from where I sat.
"I'm here to take you out," she said, plunking down beside me.
"I'll pass."
"No you won't, we are going out for some pre-baby pampering. You'll get your hair done, your nails done and buy yourself a whole new outfit. Doesn't that sound nice."
"It does sound nice," I admitted, resenting the fact that Clara planned out my days for me only a tad bit. "Let me just go and change," I added.
"No need for that, we are taking you out for a makeover so it's not a problem if you look like a sack of potatoes," she said. That's how I ended up going Out in a plain beige top that came with a pair of matching beige pants with Clara dressed like a supermodel beside me.
"Ugh, I hope the Secretary is gone by now," I said to Clara on our way up after our pampering session.
"She's not his type," Clara said.
"I don't care." We were both dressed in white. Clara decided to buy a new outfit as well. I was wearing a wrap top that showed a little cleavage and complimented my bump with a pair of stretchy pants while Clara was wearing a dress.
"Surprise," came the collective shout when I stepped into the house. The whole room was decorated with white balloons, fake clouds and sheep.
"You guys got me," I said. I had told everyone I didn't want a baby shower because I didn't have that many friends and I didn't want a bunch Of strangers at my shower. From the look of things, less than ten people were coming out of the corners of the room. Toby's father was shockingly participating in such activities, hiding behind a giant sheep. My stepmother with her permanent look of inferiority, my father and Sapphire.
"Sapphire," I shouted, eagerly running toward her. Many hugs and congratulations were exchanged and then the party was in full swing.
I was eating a cloud-shaped cupcake when I felt what I thought was another Braxton hick. I had been feeling those all day. It didn't make sense until I felt liquid run down my pants.
"My water just broke, the baby must want out early," I said to Toby who was standing beside me. It took a while to register but when it does you can see the panic written on his face.
"Her water just broke," he announced to the room. For a few seconds, the room was filled with panicked chatter about who would take us to the hospital and everyone's car keys seemed to be missing while Toby seemed to be frozen.
"If you have your car keys with you then hands up," I yelled, cutting through the chaos. A couple of hands go up but I choose a distant cousin of nine to drive me, he'll be more objective and less panicked I hope.
"Toby you get the baby's bag and the rest of you will meet us at the hospital."
They had just placed me on a hospital bed and were about to wheel me into a room when my whole family showed up with every piece of baby item you can imagine. Did they bring the whole nursery?
After five hours of labour at midnight, we welcomed our son. As Toby and I looked down on him my body still slick with sweat from all the effort it took to bring him to the work I knew that in Rihanna's words "I could catch a grenade for him, I could take a bullet right through my brain" and I didn't even mind if he would ever do the same for me. I hoped he would never have cause to do the same.