Working up the courage to even go to the pharmacy to buy one of those pregnancy tests was hard. What is there was someone that knew me or mum in the shop? They would tell her and then I would have to please and explain what I was doing buying a pregnancy test for when she is under the impression that I haven't even lost my virginity.
Not like I would be trying to talk to her about anything that happens in my life anymore as she had told me the last time that I was basically just a burden in her life at the moment and that she would be kicking me out of the house as soon as she lawfully and possibly could. She is more interested in spending time with her current flavour of the month and only asks me questions she deems necessary to establish to her standards that I am not messing around and doing some things that would have her fork out anymore money that the absolutely necessary.Finally decided that buying the test would ease my worries even if only for a little bit. I went to the little pharmacy on the corner of the block. Once inside I looked to see if there was any familiar faces in the shop before I grabbed 3 different pregnancy tests from the shelf. I also grabbed a random magazine to cover them if there would be someone familiar coming into the shop.I needed to be sure and G****e said that these home test could sometimes give a false negative or even a false positive being wrong. I paid for them at the checkout and ran home.Mom's car wasn't in the driveway so she was probably at her current boyfriend's place again. She is never at home anymore since my dad left when I was very little. Mum never told me why. This was the reason that after I met Arnold I spent most of my time with him. He made me feel loved and appreciated. He made me feel that there is place for me in this world and that I wasn't just some girl that was useless burden to the ones around me.But since I left him I felt alone and just wanted to die. I know I could just call or message him and explain what went wrong and why I was being so distant but at the moment my brain didn't even want to see this as a possible answer to theproblem. Deciding that it was now or never I went into my bathroom and locked the door. I read the instructions and now it was the waiting game. They took forever to show me the results and when it was finally done I stared at them in shock.All three had double lines and according to the boxes that meant that I was pregnant. After a mini freak out and a full on anxiety attack I caught my breath thinking that this would probably be a good time to get into contact with Arnold again. I had to at least let him know that I was pregnant and that he was the father of the baby. If he then decided to never speak to me ever again I would just have to accept it and try and move on with my life. Hopefully my mum wouldn't be too mad at me like grandma was at the when she became pregnant while she was still in school.I didn't have anyone else if she and Arnold ended up dropping me and never talking to me again. I would be alone in this big world and I would have a little one that would be dependant on me for their necessities and everything they would need.It took quite a while but I finally managed to calm myself down and stop thinking about what if's and worst case scenarios. It was currently too late to make contact with Arnold so I decided that I would try and get the courage to message him tomorrow morning first thing.Arnold's P.O.V (Anne's Biological Father)I woke up to my phone ringing the special ringtone I had assigned to my beloved Elizabeth. I never ended up changing it when she started ignoring me after that night we slept together. I tried to meet up with her and talk to her about it because I knew she must have been freaking out about everything but she never pitched or made arrangements to meet with me. It's been 2 months that she has been ignoring me and now suddenly I was good enough to be in her life again. I was debating whether I would answer the call orwhether I would just ignore her like she ignored me when the phone stopped ringing.SighingI listened to the realistic side of myself and was just about to call her back when the phone rang again. It was Elizabeth again.Answering the call I put the phone to my ear and said hello. After all the pleasantries were handled she asked if it would be possible for me to meet her at our favorite coffee shop because there is something very important that she had to tell me and she would rather not do so over the phone but rather in person. I did want to see her again as the love I felt for her was still there and my feelings about her hasn't changed. I agreed to meet her hoping that the serious matter she needed to discuss wouldn't be bad news as I would still like to marry her one day after she had finished school and was ready to become my wife.Calming myself down and trying to stop imagining all the worst case scenarios in my head I decided that I would go and take a shower and start getting ready to go and meet Elizabeth to hear what she wanted to talk to me about.Arnold's P.O.V (Anne's Biological Father) Waiting for Elizabeth at the coffee shop felt like the longest time of my life. I was so stressed and worried that I arrived an hour before we were supposed to meet, thinking that the time would pass quicker if I was already at the coffee shop. That isn't what happened. Finally I saw her coming through the door and looking around to spot me. I give her a quick wave and then see her going to the counter to order her drink. I wonder if her favorite drink is still the same as what it was two months ago. I used to love to tease her about having a new flavor each and every time they released any new flavors and she would blush and mumble that there really wasn't a way to choose between some of them. Those were the good old days. The days I have gone to miss extremely since she began ignoring me. I would come to the coffee shop hoping to catch a glimpse of her sitting at one of the tables with her drink doing her homework or just reading a book.
Two months laterElizabeth's P.O.V As he had promised he had gone with me to the doctor's office. After all the tests were done the doctor informed us that I was indeed pregnant. Arnold asked so many questions it made me blush and try to hide in shame. He even went so far as to have an extra copy of the first ultrasound printed out for him to put in his wallet to keep it with him always. I tried to remind him that there would be more ultrasound pictures to come but he said that this one is special as it was the first time he was seeing our baby.He even said our baby. He turned out to be so supportive and helped me without asking questions or looking back.At our next and second ultrasound, we were excited to get to know the gender of our baby. What we didn't expect was to find out that we would be having two babies. Turns out that our boy was hiding his little sister at the previous scan. They were both in perfect health and condition. Once again Arnold had an extra ultrasound pictu
The day of the birthElizabeth's P.O.VMy baby boy is beautiful. I don't know what the girl looks like because the adoption agency took her right after the nurses cleared her safe to leave the hospital. I didn't even get to meet her or see how she looked. It would have been nice to know which character traits she got from me and which she got from Arnold. Speaking of which, he couldn't be happier. He doesn't even seem to be bothered by the fact that his daughter had been taken away as he has been staring at our son for the past two hours. It luckily wasn't a hard birth and it didn't take as long as they sometimes show in the movies and series. Mom made no effort whatsoever to be in my life anymore, so I had to make the hard decision and start forgetting about her in the long run. Arnold left soon after, as he had a shift to cover at work and as I lay there in the hospital room looking over my baby boy I was starting to feel reality sink in that I have this little person depending
Donald's P.O.V (Anne's Adoptive father) My dear Juliet hasn't stopped crying since we got the test results back confirming that she could indeed not have children of her own. Secretely I have applied for us to adopt a little baby and went through the whole process to get us confirmed and listed as adoptive parents looking for a baby. I couldn't bare see my lovely wife in tears any longer and did what was needed to be done. If she felt the need to hate me for it, then so be it, but I did what was necessary to get my wife back to eating, living her life and being there and present for me to love and cherish her. Ignoring the heart wrenching cries and sniffling I heard coming from the room again, I went to check the mailbox hoping to have a letter of approval in there that would hopefully get my wife's back to me. Hoping has become my only saving grace each time I have walked to the mailbox the last couple of weeks each and everytime just to have my hope crushed and having to continue
Seven years laterJuliet's P.O.V (Anne's Adoptive mother) Anyone ever feel that time just goes past way too fast? I feel this way today. It is hard to believe that it has been seven years that I have been a mother to dear Anne. It really does feel like only yesterday that we were blessed to adopt our beautiful baby girl but in fact today is her first school day. Me and Donald love her so much and we would do anything and everything for her. Only the best is good enough for her. Even with saying this we will be making sure that she grows up a kind hearted soul and not a spoiled brat. We took a while to decide in which school we would be enrolling Anne and we finally after visiting them all decided on a small private school near our home. Anne looked most happy there and the teachers are competent in doing their jobs.Donald made sure that he would be able to provide for his family. He started out as a bell boy at the local hotel and worked himself up from there until he owned it. He
Juliet's P.O.VI was so worried when she asked about pregnancy and that she wouldn't love us like she has these past years when she would find out that we weren't her real parents that I had to quickly think of something to tell her so that she didn't keep on asking too many questions now with me all alone. Donald was the calm and collected one in situations like these and he would know how to answer her to the ability of her understanding everything. We aren't naive and we knew that sooner or later she would either start asking questions about why we don't really look alike or something might happen and that would have her asking questions. We were prepared to tell her but we thought we would have a little more time to prepare before we would need to tell her this. After she picked her photos to use for school I went downstairs to put away the photo album. I heard footsteps in her room so I knew that she was busy in there. I quickly called Donald and told him what had happened and
Donald's P.O.V We went up to go and tuck Anne in as we had promised her before she went up. I first had to get the tears out of me and wash their trace from my face. I didn't want Anne thinking that she had made me sad when in fact they were happy tears. We were walking down the hallway when we heard this beautiful voice sing the one song that I would call special. It was the song that Juliet and I danced to when we got married first and it was also the song that Anne has loved to be sung to her when she was restless in the evenings. Mind you we weren't singers and it was off key but at least we got the correct words in and she seems to have learned and memorised them. I turned and looked at Juliet. She had tears in her eyes and she was smiling so bright. We started quitely walking to her bedroom where we stood just outside the door as quietly as we could while she was singing the last part of the song. She even added some of her own dance moves in. I doubt she knew we were stan
Two months laterArnold's P.O.VErnie is turning seven today. I can't believe that Elizabeth and Ernie have been in my life for the last eight years now. Time really does fly when you are having fun and that is exactly what I have been having with Ernie. The same cannot be said about Elizabeth. She is sad because she still misses the little girl that we had given up for adoption at birth. She doesn't show it openly anymore and she doesn't do anything for her on their shared birthday anymore, because Ernie is at the age when he would be starting to ask questions and we both don't want to be the one that would need to be answering those.Everything has been going better. Elizabeth has a job and I have a better one that is bringing in more money. We haven't struggled financially in a while, not that we are rolling in the dough as they say either, we have enough to get by and have everything that we need and that makes m
Anne's P.O.VThe funny thing about life is we make plans and then it just happens, whether as planned or a completely different way. My current life may not have been as I had planned it, but if I had a second chance, I believe I wouldn't be changing one thing. After having heard the reasons why I wasn't chosen, I was happy that I had gotten amazing parents and that later on in life I had received an additional mother and father figure in Rachel and Harold.I had received an amazing husband, life partner and best friend all wrapped into one perfect person.I have amazing friends who have stood with me and with us through everything, good and bad, whatever it was.I have two amazing children whom I love and that love me back. They have gone out into the world and brought me another two children to add to the family. They gave me two cute grandchildren to keep me on my toes.Not forgetting, I
The day of the reading of the will.Anne's P.O.VThe weekend stay over actually turned out to be heaps of fun. We played games, had fun and just talked about everything about dad.Now for the reading of the will.We all gathered around the table at the lawyers' offices to hear dad's last wishes. I had the feeling of deja vu about being here again and sitting around this table again after a funeral and having to hear what last wishes that person wants you to make happen for them. Last time he mostly left everything to me and mum and I'm wondering what will happen today."If I can get everyone's attention, please, so we can start the proceedings and get you all home again."Everyone quieted down and sat down on one of the chairs set out for us. The will was taken out of the envelope and looked towards all of us before starting to read."This is the last will and testame
Rachel's P.O.VHe is gone. My Donald is gone. He had promised me he wouldn't leave me alone and now he's gone forever. I knew we weren't today's kids anymore and I had been blessed to have him for as long as I did have him, but he was my happiness and now there is just nothing. The house is empty when everyone leaves to go to their own homes and I'm thinking of selling it and going back to a little flat where I wouldn't feel so lonely when I'm there alone, but I don't know what Donald wanted to happen to the house after his passing so I guess I would have to wait and see.Anne has been very helpful. Bringing over large dishes of food that is easily free able and reheat able in big portions so I have enough easy to heat food ready to eat when I feel like eating. Speaking of eating, that is something I no longer have the energy to do because Donald used to make the best meals in the kitchen and every time I warm a portion up I
Two weeks later Anne's P.O.VI was at the office when I got the phone call from Rachel telling me to come to the hospital as soon as possible. She didn't want to elaborate more and kept telling me to come to the hospital she was at as soon as possible. She was in tears so I knew it had to be serious, so I packed up my bag and rushed to the hospital. Upon arrival, Rachel ran into my arms and stood there crying for a while before she could even get a word of what was wrong and what had happened out.After she had calmed down enough, she led me to a hospital room and when I looked through the little window I saw dad laying there connected to so many wires and tubes and... it just didn't look right."What happened? Why?... How?... NO!""He had a heart attack this morning and they rushed him here in the ambulance where he had another one. He is for now under sedation so he can rest and
Four years laterAnne's P.O.VI cannot believe that we are attending another graduation ceremony again today. This time the guest of honour is our Nat. She had continued and fought and she is now finally picking the fruits of her hard work. Although she has been practicing medicine since the end of the year when she finished studying, she is practically only a doctor from today on as she now has the papers to prove it.To me they mean absolutely nothing, as Natacha is the best doctor at the hospital she works at and this can be seen by everyone and she has been praised for this a lot of times by her supervisor and even the people and the kids she takes care of.She is not the only one excelling in their careers as Darren wins almost all of his legal cases he takes on for his firm. Ethan was sad to see him leave his firm but knew that Darren wanted to start his own and get on
Three years laterAnne's P.O.VMy baby boy is graduating from college today as a lawyer and we already have a job set up for him at Ethan's firm where and through whom he can do his articles and get further training and experience before he, as he has planned, starts his own law firm. Ethan is the best I know and I trust him with the business and we still make use of his firm for the whole family matters as well as the business legal matters we have. He is and will stay a trusted friend and the only law firm we use if they continue their ways as he has set them out and I know Darren looks up to him just as much as me and Liam do along with dad.We sat down in the designated seating area for the parents and waited to hear his name called to watch him walk the stage and get his degree. What we weren't expecting was that he would be graduating with honours and that he would be in the top five of hi
Darren's P.O.VI was luckily allowed to stay the whole time with Nat and little Jo-Anne. I was going to say night, but then remembered that it had been three am when Nat's water broke and we haven't had any sleep since arriving at the hospital until the nurse had chased everyone out and Nat went to lie down for a little while. I decided that I wanted to hold Jo-Anne for a little while longer. She was just so perfect, cuddling my finger the way she was while sleeping. She definitely had her mum's cute nose and I don't know about her eyes as she hadn't opened them when I was looking. Don't forget the pair of lungs she has. I was so shocked to hear that huge sound came from such a small little body.She was now silently sleeping in my arms while her mother also got some sleep in before she needed to feed again. Hoping the parents won't come and visit in the first early visiting hours, so that we can spend some time together alo
Anne's P.O.VWhen the phone rang, I was dressed before Liam was even done with the call. I had been expecting this call to come ever since she had hit eight months pregnant. I have bags packed for both me and Liam if we need to stay over and everything. I want to get to Natasha as soon as possible and help her with her breathing exercises and so on as she had asked me to do. I pulled out the bags from the closet and put them at the door while Liam was still getting dressed. He could get them on his way down."Liam get the two bags when coming down. I am going to go and make some coffee for the road and maybe, if I have time, pack some snacks."I hurried down the stairs and switched on the coffee machine on my way to the cupboard to get something to nibble on. I grabbed some chocolate bars and bags of chips just to keep our sugar and energy levels high. In a thermal flask I put the made coffee and closed the lid, packe
Three months laterDarren's P.O.VNat was sitting and studying for some important test or practical session that was scheduled for next week. Said she wanted to be fully prepared for it just in case our little distracter was going to make her appearance, that could literally be any day now, as Nat was already nine months. We were still referring to the baby as our little distracter because Nat didn't want to know the gender and I was also not allowed to know as I wouldn't be able to keep it a secret.We really have had our fair share of scares with some Braxton hicks contractions and slight spotting. Permanently, now had the hospital bags in the car and made sure that they were there whenever we went anywhere. We have turned my room and some of the spare space in the flat into a baby room and moved the cot and such into our room that we are now sharing. Nat and I had decided together that we wou