Tristan’s POV
I was waiting for Maggie to arrive so that we could have this discussion. I paced the space in the lounge as frustrated as I am. I have a plan in mind which is to have her live here for the sake of the baby. I couldn’t even sleep last night. I was thinking about this situation that has me suffocating more than anything.
There was a knock on the door and I opened it so that I could get this over and done with. Maggie looked at me expectantly, her lips were red. The corners of her lips curled up. “Hi,” she greeted.
Instead, I opened the door wider, gesturing with my hand for her to enter. I closed the door after she stepped inside, “Straight to my study room,” I said as I walked past her. She followed after me. She was dressed rather elegantly, in a dirty pink dress that hugged her in the right places, the length above her knees with black heels too. I don’t know if she is dressing up for me, but that will not work on me to fall for her.
We reached my study room, I took a seat behind my desk. Cris and Eric went to school, so it was only Maggie and me. She took a seat across from me, “So, what are we discussing?” she asked.
I sucked in a breath as I moved closer, my elbows on the desk, grabbing a pen and started clicking it, just staring at her. She smiled, not sure why I was staring at her. “What?” she asked.
I continued to click the pen and held her gaze. My heart was beating at a rapid pace. She was not Elona whom I would gladly share everything with. I snapped out of looking at her, “I can’t do this.” I said.
I dropped the pen on the desk, stood up, and walked around the desk towards the door, “You can see yourself out,” I said over my shoulder.
“What? You called me to be here for nothing?!” I stopped in my tracks, not wanting to deal with this. “Are you taking me for a fool thinking we can be a family for our little one?” She was now behind me. I turned around to face her.
“I can’t do this with you, Maggie. I don’t love you. I thought that I could, but I can’t. I’m sorry if this breaks your heart.” I shook my head, not knowing what else to say. “I just can’t.”
“Well, be a weak man who just runs away when he has a child on the way. I thought that you were better than that.” she hissed at me.
“Don’t ever tell me who I am. I know my fucking limits. So, don’t push it.” I hissed back at her.
“You are so unbelievable,” she scoffed.
“I’m sure that you have a life that is decent enough for you and it.”
“It… You are calling our baby and it. It’s a baby.”
“I don’t want this!” I roared in her face, taking her aback, but she quickly caught herself from showing how that hurt her.
“I see. It’s Elona, isn’t it?”
“What does she have to do with this?” I asked.
“Cris told me what happened. We are pretty close, and I like her as my own daughter. We have a great bond. Don’t you want to have a family where your daughter is happy too? Elona was just a phase in your life. We are having a baby and this baby doesn’t deserve a sh^t father like you. The same way that you are being a sh^t father to Cris when all she ever wanted was a baby sister or brother.” she said with her eyes glazing over.
“Don’t you ever mention being a mother to Cris. That is no respect towards my late wife. Don’t you ever mention Elona because she has more respect than you will ever have. When was Cris ever happy for me with what I wanted recently? She is on your side because she thinks that with you in the picture, everything will be one big happy family. I find that to be selfish. If you want to be a mother to my daughter, you are mistaken. You will not be her mother. Do. You. Hear. Me?” I said through clenched teeth. This woman is so unbelievable right now.
Her expression changed, looking down as she placed her hand against her flat belly. “Don’t speak to me like that,” she said, which was barely audible. But I heard a strain in her voice,
“I can speak however I want. You don’t deserve to be here-”
She gasped and she hunched over. “What is it?” I asked, placing my hand gently on her arm. “Its-its the baby,” she whimpered, “Ahhh!” Fuck, my heart rate picked up ten times more. Her face contorted in pain.
“Um…” I froze for a second, not knowing what to do. But in this moment, Elona came to my mind, the severe pain that she was in on my birthday due to her condition. “Ahh!” that snapped me out of my thoughts. I didn’t know what the fuck to do, so I scooped her up in my arms. She was still gasping and holding onto me as I hurried down the hallway. “I’m taking you to the hospital,” I said, the panic was even evident in my voice.
“Please, don’t let anything happen to us,” she begged, her voice strained.
“Focus on the present,” I replied without even thinking as I rushed to the car with her and put her in the passenger seat. I jogged around the car and got inside.
She was now taking deep breaths. I pulled out of the driveway and sped to the hospital. By habit, I placed my hand on her leg as a way of comfort. Something that I would do with Elona. “You both will be okay,” I tried to reassure her.
She continued to breathe as I removed my hand from her leg to change gears. “Work… you have to inform my boss that I won’t be coming in due to an emergency,” she gasped again.
“What?” I asked, not sure if I was hearing her correctly.
“Work. You need to let them know I won’t be in today due to an emergency,” she repeated, her voice strained.
“You actually work?” I asked with surprise mixed with panic.
“Yes. If you had gotten to know me better, then you would know much more about my life,” she rested her head against the headrest, her eyes closed as we stood at the red traffic lights. I was impatient.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t get to know you before we had sex. I’m sorry for even having sex with you and giving you the wrong impression from day one. I’m sorry for getting you pregnant. The priority is to make sure you are both okay now. I can contact your work after that.” I continued to drive, looking ahead on the road.
“We share a baby now. That’s all that we need to think about,” she said with exhaustion yet still in pain and holding her belly.
“We’re almost there,” I reassured her.
The hospital couldn’t get close enough. I needed to know that both of them would be okay. I didn’t want this to be on me. I was ready to not have her in my life when I decided to walk out of the study room but this just made me scared. I didn’t want to cause any harm to her or the baby. I couldn’t have those things on my hands if anything had to happen to the baby.