Chapter 3: Zapped Marshmallows and Wet Flour

          It wasn’t long after her first woohoo that Finley started to take ill. She caught herself running to the toilet, barely having enough time for the vomit cascading out of her mouth to make it into the water, several times in a day. Although she had never specifically had a birds and bees talk—who would have given it to her?—she’d caught wind of what signs came with pregnancy.

          Miss Harper decided to take a test, awkwardly trying to position herself over the little stick while not hitting her hand. She wasn’t surprised when the result showed positive. In the first moment, she felt a thrilling rush come over her. Her creator would be so happy! And then she remembered that she hadn’t been particularly eager to start a family. She still knew next to nothing about children. From her few facts, they sounded like a drag.

          Finley decided to try to make the best out of her pregnancy though. What else could she do? It wasn’t as if there were anyway of going back. She continued her fishing expenditures and experimented in cooking her catches. The meal results weren’t always pleasant, but she was improving.

          While she tried hard to be in good spirits, she often caught herself wishing the increasingly large stomach she was lugging around would disappear. Her back was starting to get sore and her feet often looked like marshmallows zapped in a microwave. “Okay Creator,” she would joke out loud to herself, words shaking with nervous laughter. “I think I’m ready to be done now. You can take this thing back!”

          It wasn’t until she was about to start her second trimester that Finley thought about Manu. He probably should have been informed of his coming child. The twisting in her gut told her that he might not be completely happy to hear the news. It had to be done though, so she braced herself.

  

        Finley jogged to the park. It was the first time she’d ever exercised and it didn’t feel as horrible as she thought it would, although she did need to break every block almost. She wasn’t even halfway through her pregnancy, but she was already starting to notice unwanted extra weight.

         

          As always, she found Manu at the park, and she found him rather quickly that day. He approached her as soon as she walked up. Judging by the way he glowered at her rounded stomach, she knew that he could tell what she tracked him down for. Still, she gave the whole big news speech. “I know this is unexpected, but it might not be all bad. I’m not going to be some control freak or anything, and I won’t make you marry me.” She laughed. It came out forced. Finley found herself beginning to ramble, being met only with an upset face. 

She managed to close her mouth and let a deep sigh escape. “You’re not going to help me at all, are you?”

Cruelly, he asked, “Are you sure it’s even mine?”

          Finley left the conversation, not wanting to hear any more venomous words drip off his tongue. She looked up at the sky with dismay. “Okay you can seriously take this baby back now!”

          Finley spent her second trimester mostly alone. She let herself dwell on her bad luck with having a loser father to her unborn child for several hours. Then she allowed herself to bemoan her growing size awhile more. It wasn’t healthy to keep herself cooped up for so long though, so she eventually forced herself back out into the world.

          She treated herself to a pizza, Hawaiian. She’d never had delivery before and it smelled beautiful. The hunger of providing for two only made it that much more magical. Finley wasn’t rich by any means, but she gave the delivery man a large tip out of gratitude.

          Finley also tried to converse with her neighbors some. All but one of the houses in the neighborhood were occupied, and there were rumors fluttering about that someone would soon be living in the single home that was for sale. She enjoyed hearing the pleasant gossip, but the conversations often turned into interrogations about her obvious pregnancy. Mostly women wanted to know about the father. The men she bumped into were concerned about her lack of a steady job. It made her want to crawl under her covers and never come out again.

          In fact, Finley did spend some time hiding away in her bed. It was during that time that she received a fateful phone call. Manu asked in her ear if he could come over and she, after wiping away a final tear, said yes. By that point she was larger than she thought physically possible and was a bit worried that Manu would be disgusted and never visit again.

          He was surprisingly sweet though. He didn’t make any comments about the baby and apologized for being rude. Manu even sweet-talked about Finley looking pretty. That made her momentarily forget that she felt like she was carrying two massive sacks of wet flour on her chest.

          Manu stayed at Finley’s house for the remainder of her pregnancy. When she was awake, he treated her like a goddess, obviously trying to repent for his earlier absence. It was when she was lying in bed, pretending to sleep that she could hear him show any kind of negativity.

“You always knew it was going to end up like this, you old fool,” he chastised himself out loud. “Not going to be like your asshole of a father though, going to be better than him.”

          Finley appreciated the fact that he was willing to put on a brave face and stay by her side. Every minute she became a little more worried about the act of giving birth. If her body hurt as much as it did just lugging the baby around, how would it feel coming out?

          To alleviate her worries, she put extra focus into mundane tasks. She made a special breakfast of gummy bear pancakes for the two of them one morning. Although she still wasn’t a brilliant cook, they both agreed that they came out fairly scrumptious. They shared a peaceful meal with light chatter.
That is, until she went into labor.

          Finley could not even begin to describe the sharp pain that tore through her middle in the very beginning. As soon as the first shout tore from her lips, Manu was up and calmly leading the way out to the door, stating that they needed to get to the hospital. She breathed deeply, trying to prepare herself for the next contraction. It didn’t come though, and so she warily followed Manu.

          “Well, here goes nothing,” she muttered to herself still awaiting more pain. The experience that awaited Finley in the delivery room was not one that she had anticipated.