Chapter Four-2
1416 Words
a lot.Who failed at motherhood, anyway?Why this Thankfully, somewhere around Connor’s first birthday, things gradually started to shift. He started sleeping for six hours at a stretch, which allowed Addison to finally get some uninterrupted sleep. He started walking more and crying less. She became happier too, finding little pieces of herself again. Patrick was as married to his career as ever, but you could tell that, as Connor was becoming more of a little boy, he found it easier to interact with him. Sometimes on Saturdays, Patrick would take Connor to breakfast leaving Addie with almost a half a day to herself. She cherished those hours until she realized she didn’t even know how to be alone anymore and eventually she started tagging along, too.
It was also around this time that she and Patrick started communicating again. Now that Connor was doing so many new things each day, there was more to discuss. It was also around this time that the s*x life that they both had once enjoyed so much, the glue that had always held them together, started to come back. Slowly but surely, they became a couple again and, with that, a family—the kind of family that Addison had always wanted.
* * *
Addison had made up her mind that she was done having children, at least for a very long while, and while she didn’t discuss her decision with Patrick or anyone else, Connor was still pretty young and so it rarely came up.
So, a year later, when she woke up dizzy and vomiting, she didn’t think, not even for a minute, that she might be pregnant. In fact, it was Patrick who suggested it.
“Nah,” Addison reminded him. “There’s no way. We’ve been using protection…”
“Um, yeah, except for that one time that we didn’t,” he reminded her with the s**t-eating grin she both loved and hated.
Fuck. f**k. f**k. “What one time?!”
Fuck. f**k. Fuck.“You know, last month, in the parking garage, after my company party.”
“Wait,” she said, gripping her temples. “I thought we did…”
He rolled his eyes. “Nope.”
“What do you mean nope?”
He shrugged. “I don’t carry condoms around with me everywhere I go.”
She stood and paced the room. “I hardly remember that.”
“You were pretty drunk.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling faint.
“Thanks for letting me know how memorable I am,” he called over his shoulder as he walked out, slamming the door behind him.
* * *
The next morning when Addison peed on the stick, much to her dismay, two bright blue lines quickly appeared.
She stormed out of the bathroom and over to the bed where Patrick was still sleeping. As she sat on the edge of the bed and stared down at him, he stirred and rolled over, peeking his eyes open “What time is it?” he asked groggily.
“Five thirty,” she told him with a heavy sigh.
“Why are you up?”
“Because it turns out you were right.”
Patrick rubbed his eyes. “Isn’t that usually the case?” he asked and then rolled to face her. “What am I right about this time?”
“This,” she said, shoving the test into his chest.
He sat up and glanced down at the stick. “You don’t seem very enthusiastic.
“I’m not.”
He furrowed his brow. “It’s not as if we’d planned to stop at one.”
“I guess it’s just the timing. I’m not ready... I was actually thinking about going back to work next year with Connor turning three and all. Plus, we had such a hard time with him. What if this one turns out the same way? Or worse?”
him. “Bad luck never strikes twice.”
She swallowed hard.
Patrick c****d his head as though he’d just remembered something. “Seriously? This is the first time I’ve heard you talk of returning to work. I thought we had come to an agreement and put all that behind us?”
Addison stood and shook her head. “Doesn’t matter now.”
“Well,” he said. “I, for one, am over the moon. Connor is going to love being a big brother.”
She smiled, but mostly she prayed he was right about this, too.
* * *
Three weeks later, Addie found herself sitting in the sterile waiting room of her doctor’s office, nervous for a reason that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Perhaps, it was just that Patrick was running late. Something had caught him up at the office, which wasn’t the least bit surprising. Things at work had ramped up for him and with the excessive nausea she was experiencing, it couldn’t possibly have happened at a worse time.
When Patrick opened the door, she saw him before he spotted her. He was rushed, searching the faces for hers. There was so much love in that look, she couldn’t help but forgive him.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said kissing her cheek. “I didn’t miss anything, did I?”
“No, the doctor is running behind due to a delivery. But they should be calling us back soon.”
He glanced at his watch. “How long do these things usually take?”
Addison shrugged, twisted her mouth and looked away. Patrick scrolled through his phone.
A few minutes later, the nurse called her name.
In the exam room, Addison changed into a paper gown the nurse had laid out for her and hopped up on the table. “Earth to Patrick,” she repeated twice before he finally glanced up.
“Sorry— I just have to answer a few emails. Things are crazy back at the office.”
“Must be pretty important because I was just n***d and you didn’t even notice.”
He laughed. “You’re wrong about that. I was watching from the corner of my eye.”
Addison adjusted her position. She hated paper gowns and doctor’s offices and come to think of it, men. “Why did you come? It’s like you’re not even here…”
Patrick sighed, stood, and walked over and kissed her head. “Don’t be nervous. Everything will be fine.”
Easy for you to say, she almost said. But she was interrupted by a knock at the door. Dr. Pierce walked in, followed by the nurse who wheeled in an ultrasound machine.
Easy for you to say“Well, hello,” the doctor said boisterously. “When I saw you on my schedule, I was a bit surprised. You didn’t mention trying for another when you came in for your annual a few months ago… I would’ve started you on prenatals.”
Addison shrugged her shoulders and smiled.
Dr. Pierce instructed her to lie back and then squirted the cold gooey gel on her abdomen. She placed the ultrasound wand, moving it around just a bit. Patrick stood next to Addison, stroking her hand. She looked up at him and then back at the screen. What she saw caused her to gasp. Patrick squeezed her hand. Addison’s free hand flew to her mouth. She didn’t take her eyes from the screen, registering what she was seeing just as Dr. Pierce did.
There they were. Two blurry blips up on the screen, each tiny dot flickering with a heartbeat. “Twins,” Addison said weakly, afraid she was going to pass out.
“Congratulations!” Dr. Pierce said with a chuckle.
“Twins?” Patrick asked, looking back and forth between his wife and the doctor in a way that told them that he wasn’t privy to what they were seeing on the screen.
“Oh, my God.” Addison cried.
Dr. Pierce went on to give Addison instructions, of which she heard very little. She got dressed, and then she nodded as though she’d heard every word, and took the paperwork that was handed to her. But the room was spinning, and yet at the same time everything was happening around her in slow motion, all at once. Her face grew hot and chills washed over her. She collapsed just as Dr. Pierce and Patrick moved in to break her fall.
- Writer
