Chapter 3 - Our Little Peanut
"What arrangements?" I demanded.
Daniel rubbed his forehead. "Can we do this later?"
That answer took me back six months, to the day I made the mistake of inviting Linda to an ultrasound because Daniel was out of town.
She'd squeezed my hand and cried when she heard the heartbeat. Before I reached the parking lot, she'd posted the picture to the family group chat. OUR LITTLE PEANUT, she'd written, with more heart emojis than I could count.
I asked her to delete it. She said I was making a beautiful day ugly.
At the anatomy scan, she promised to wait outside and then followed us into the room. When we learned we were having a girl, Linda hugged Daniel while I was still flat on the table with cold gel on my stomach.
She bought a crib for her house. Not ours. Hers.
"Newborns need to bond with their grandmother," she explained over dinner.
"She won't be sleeping over as a newborn," I said.
Linda looked at Daniel. "Do you hear how she talks to me?"
His reply was automatic. "Em, she's excited."
Excitement became a suitcase in our guest room. Then spare diapers in our pantry. Then a hospital bag with Linda's initials stitched in gold.
Back in the examination room, I sat up as carefully as I could. "No more arrangements," I told him. "Your mother isn't attending another appointment unless I invite her. She is not moving in. And she's not in the delivery room."
"You make everything sound like a war."
"It's my body, Daniel. These aren't negotiations."
Linda appeared beyond the small glass window in the door, arguing with the receptionist. She caught my eye and smiled like she was waiting for a table at a restaurant.
When I finally walked out, she was sitting in the chair beside Daniel's.
"There she is," Linda said. "Obviously fine. Let's stop being dramatic."
"You aren't welcome at my medical appointments anymore."
Linda's smile flattened. "Daniel. Are you listening to this?"
I waited for him to say one honest thing.
He looked directly at me. "Enough, Emily."
Something inside me went very quiet.
May you like
As we reached the parking lot, Linda called after us, "You'll thank me when the baby gets here."
Daniel didn't even turn around. "She's staying with us until after the birth," he said.
