Bound By Her Bump novel Chapter 37

Days Later

"Good evening Nora." Eric greeted as he walked into the kitchen with his work clothes on.

"Welcome Son." She smiled at him. "How was your day?"

"Stressful." He answered and reached for a bottle of water in the fridge.

"How's Ben?" He asked after her husband.

"He's fine. I was about going to the guest house to join him before you walked in. Dinner is ready. You just need to warm it up or I can do it for you if you want." She offered.

"Don't let me stress you, Nora. I'll sort myself out."

"Maybe now that you are around, Annie will have dinner with you."

"What happened?" Eric asked, confused. "Is she sick again?" He panicked.

"I don't know my Son. She has been in the room since she came back from work. I took dinner to her but she said she was not hungry."

"Thanks. I'll go check up on her." He exited the kitchen, then went in search of Annie.

He entered their room expecting to see her lying on the bed but she wasn't there. Instead, he noticed her side of the bed was rumpled with the duvet slightly apart.

He took quick steps towards the bathroom and knocked on the door.

"Annie? Are you okay??"He waited a while for an answer but he got none.

He raised his fist to knock again but stopped halfway when he heard a loud sob. Out of curiosity, he opened the bathroom door and saw Annie sitting on the floor in her nightdress, crying her eyes out; her face was buried in her hands.

Eric rushed to her side, knelt before her and raised her head. Her eyes were red and puffy. It got him worried.

"What is it, my love?" He asked sincerely, worried at the same time of what her answer might be.

Annie tried to speak. Her lips were moving but nothing could be heard. Instead, she buried her face in Eric's chest and cried.

He sighed then comforted her by patting her back and hair.

"Annie you're scaring me. Please tell me what is going on."

She removed her head from his chest, reached for the items that were placed on the bathroom counter, she stared at them once more and handed them over to him.

Eric collected the pregnancy sticks from her and looked at what it said; (Pregnant.)

It took a while for Eric to process what he saw. Isn't God a great God?

Tears welled up in his eyes as a faint smile found its way to his lips. He pulled Annie closer to him and hugged the hell out of her.

"Eric, I'm out of breath." Annie chuckled. He released her and kissed her forehead.

"This is amazing." He smiled.

"It is. I was expecting it to turn negative but when I saw the result I didn't know what else to do but to cry."

"It confirms why you've been falling sick. You're carrying our baby. God, I'm so happy right now. Thank you, my love."

"Me too. Bu...but I'm scared Eric." She whispered. "What if I lose this baby? I don't think I'll be able to live with myself if that happens."

Eric sighed and got comfortable on the floor. He pulled her on his lap and made her look at him. Then he assured her. "Nothing is going to happen to our baby this time around. I don't mind telling you to stop working for the main time neither do I mind working from home until the baby arrives."

"I still drank wine about three days ago. What if...." He didn't let her complete her sentence. He knew she was scared because of their first miscarriage so he understood her insecurity.

"I promise you. Nothing will happen to you and the baby. We'll visit the hospital tomorrow to see how he or she is doing." He told her and she nodded.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything." He encouraged her to say whatever she wanted to say.

"Can we keep the pregnancy a secret? We will tell our family about it after my first trimester."

"I think that will be the hardest thing I'll ever do but I'll do anything for you, my love." He said and kissed her forehead.

"Nora said you haven't had dinner so let's go downstairs." He said and she nodded.

Honestly, Annie wasn't hungry because she was still overwhelmed about the whole situation. But she knew she had to eat something because of the baby.

Even though Annie and Eric planned on going to their workplace from the hospital, they changed their mind immediately they exited the hospital. They decided to spend the day together and celebrate their pregnancy and most importantly, get used to the idea that in the next eight months, they will be welcoming their baby.

They stopped by a pizza shop and bought three boxes of pizza, Annie said she wanted Ice Cream so Eric bought five tubs of her favourite ice cream. He bought chocolates too. Because they are what she has been craving for a while. Then they went back home.

Immediately, they got home, they changed into their swimsuits and went for a swim in the pool after which they changed into casual clothes and settled down in the living room to enjoy their pizza.

"Thanks for spending the day with me. I needed to be pampered." Annie smiled as she placed her head on his lap.

"Anything for you, my love." He said as he stroked her hair."I enjoyed spending the day with you."

"I'll cut down my work hours even though it means employing more staff. I want to take things easy and enjoy this pregnancy."

"Good. I'll also cut down my working hours in the office. Whatever it is, I'll do it from home."

"So when can we start baby shopping?" He asked excitedly.

"Isn't it a bit too early?" She replied with a smile as she placed her hand on her belly.

"I think the earlier we start shopping, the better."

"You know we don't have much to buy. We still have the things my mom bought in the room upstairs and the things we bought too."

"I know. I just want him or her to have everything. I love him already." He said then placed his hand on her belly and smiled."

"I've had those pregnancy tests for four days but I couldn't bring myself to take them." Eric nodded in understanding, knowing how scared she must have been.

"I just want to shout it out to the whole world that we are expecting a baby but I have to respect your wishes. But won't my mom find out since she'll be the one designing your wedding dress?"

"I'll figure it out when the time comes. Hopefully, she won't be the one to take the measurements. But since the wedding is in a few weeks, I'm hoping I won't show that much."

She took his hand in hers and kissed it. "I know how you feel and I feel the same. I just want to cross my first trimester before telling anyone. And besides, I want the two of us to enjoy the news first before everyone starts fussing over it."

"Anything for you Babe." He kissed her lips.

Unknown to them, Nora unintentionally overheard their conversation. The old woman was internally screaming for Joy as tears of joy welled up in her eyes.