The Pregnancy

by Mi-re Dong

“Mark, you should leave, my husband is going to be home soon,” I smiled. He slowly got out of bed and started getting dressed. My eyes did not once turn from his tan, fitted body. As I walked him to the front door of the condo, I said, “Baby, make sure you take the elevator down, my husband always walks up the stairs.”

“Of course love. I always do,” he reassured me.

While I waited for the elevator door to shut, I heard the staircase doors open. My heart stopped while I turned my head around and saw my husband, Bobby, entering the second floor. “Hey honey, what are you doing outside?”

“Umm… I knew you were coming home soon… So I was just checking if you were here,” I said with a stutter.

“Wow. You came out at the perfect time,” he replied.

We entered our cozy home and headed straight to the bedroom, like we did every night. I went to the bed and took off my robe; I patiently waited for Bobby to undress. He crawled into bed and caressed his hands on my chest while we examined a pamphlet that our doctor gave us to increase our chances of getting pregnant. My husband eventually finished and we fell asleep. We had been trying to have a baby for about four months and nothing we did was successful.

Five long days finally went by and I was able to take another pregnancy test. It came back positive so I called my boyfriend Mark to meet up and tell him the news.

“Mark, I’m pregnant,” I said.

“Are you joking? You don’t even love your husband! Why don’t you leave him and stay with me. You know I can love you and give you everything you want,” he said desperately. Mark begged and begged but I could never leave my husband.

“Baby, the last three months have been amazing, but since I’m having a baby now we cant see each other anymore. I’m sorry,” I murmured while tears rolled down my face.

After a long, tiring conversation with Mark I walked a couple blocks home and cooked a three-course meal and dessert for my husband. I made all of his favorites, a salad with Mache lettuce and oranges, thin pasta noodles with thick cheesy sauce, and steak with potatoes. And for dessert I made banana cream crème brule. He arrived shortly after 5 P.M. and was surprised when he saw the dinner on the table.

“Honey, what’s the big occasion?” he asked with confusion.

“I’ll tell you when we’re done with dinner,” I shook with excitement.

Our dinner went by perfectly and when dessert came I could not hold in the big news anymore.

“Bobby, I’m pregnant.”

“What?! Wow. That’s great,” he said with a crooked smile, “That’s great”

“Sweetie, I never thought this day would ever come!” I said while I jumped over to my husband and sat on his lap.

Days, weeks, and months started to pass and I watched my belly grow bigger and bigger. I also started to get weird letters in the mail but I never dared to show my husband. They said, “Don’t have your baby. It will die.” Or “Your husband is next.” I got threatening letters a couple times a month but I hid them all. I knew it was Mark trying to scare me or make me get rid of my baby to be with him, but I would never.

The nine months slowly passed. I went into labor a week early and was sent to the emergency room because I could not breathe. I finally gave birth to our baby girl, Rebecca.

After being in the hospital for four extremely tedious days, my husband finally convinced the doctor to let me go home.

When we arrived home there were piles of letters on floor. I quickly grabbed them and put it into the baby’s basket. As I looked around I felt something weird. We both felt something weird.

“Bobby sweetie, can you go check the room? Something isn’t right,” I muttered under my breath.

He went into the room and came back unharmed. “Chloe, it probably feels weird since you haven’t been home for a while, but everything is fine honey,” he reassured me.

When I woke up in the morning I turned to see my husbands face as pale as snow. I screamed and slowly touched his face only to remember that he used all night cream to clear his pores, which helps with his breathing problems. Bobby jumped up and yelled back, “What’s wrong hun?”

I turned and faced him in embarrassment, “I thought you were dead.”

“Why would you think something so ridiculous like that?” He said with curiosity.

“Well baby I haven’t told you something. Ever since I became pregnant, I have been getting these threatening letters. I don’t know, it scared me when I saw you just now. I thought someone might have… killed you.”

“Honey! How come you haven’t told me? Show me the letters right now,” Bobby angrily demanded.

I reached under the bed and grabbed a shoebox. It was almost filled with letters. I handed my husband the box and he opened and read every one of them.

“Chloe baby, don’t be frightened. They won’t do anything to hurt you or the baby,” he said with a laugh.

I forced out a smile and put the shoebox away.

My husband got ready for work and left the house around 9:30 A.M. I called Mark to come over and talk things through. At 10 A.M., I heard the bell ring and I walked to the door. It was my husband, why was he home so early? I opened the door and my husband snarled at me.
“Why are you home?” I asked.

“How did you get pregnant?” He yelled.

I felt a sharp pain against the left side of face. My mind went blank as I fell to the floor. Bobby had never hit me before. Never. I laid on the floor while the blood trickled down my cheek. He grabbed me by my hair and dragged me into the room.

“Sweetie, what are you doing? You’re hurting me,” I screamed, but not loud enough so the neighbors would hear.

He walked over to Rebecca’s carriage and stared at her.

“Don’t do anything irrational. Can we talk Bobby? What is wrong with you?” I cried while tears came like bullet from my eyes.

He reached down and crushed Rebecca’s little head in his hands. I jumped off the floor and ran towards her. He looked at me and smiled while he let go of Rebecca. I saw her collide against the floor. I picked her up and tried to fix her breathing. Bobby started walking out towards the door.

“Why did you do this?” I screamed in anger.

“I never came,” he said.

“What are you trying to say?” I cried back.

“There was no way you could have gotten pregnant by me.”