‘What? See me as animbecile?’
‘No,it’s…’
‘Stop!’ Annabel cut her off. ‘I think you’ve said enough already,don’tyou?’
Finally, her sister fell silent and Annabel slammed the files shut. She took a second to calm herself down. ‘I’d like you to leave now,’ she eventually said. ‘For both oursakes.’
Rebecca reluctantly rose to her feet and began gathering her belongings, but Annabel refused to feel bad. The woman had no right to come into her home and interfere like this. Her sister paused, as if yet again trying to say something, however, Annabel threw her a glare warning her not to. Thankfully, this time she got the message and, without uttering another word, left the room. Glad to see the back of her, Annabel just stood there, holding on to herannoyance.
She waited to hear the front door shut before allowing herself to relax. But even then, she knew it was only just, she still felt furious. ‘How dare she come around here making such value judgements,’ she said. ‘Who does she think she is? My bloodykeeper?’
She stared at the files on the table, and thought about the hours upon hours she’d put into her research. ‘Impetuous,myarse!’
Annabel grabbed Rebecca’s mug off the table and was ready to put it in the sink with her own, however she caught sight of her phone sitting on the side. She stopped in her tracks and realised she had the perfect opportunity to really give her sister what for. ‘I’ll show you,’ she said, as she put the cup back down and headed straight for hermobile.
She clicked the button to listen to her voicemail and the more she heard the more herdeterminationgrew.
‘You think I’m impetuous,’ she said. ‘Then I’ll give youimpetuous.’
She smiled and feeling very pleased with herself, indeed, clicked ‘returncall’.
6
Annabel’s hands stung and,with her fingers glowing red from all the bleaching she’d done, she made a mental note to pick up a pair of marigolds the next time she went to the supermarket. Maybe a face mask as well, she considered, thanks to the ammonia gathering in her nostrils. She glanced around the room, and told herself it was worth the hardship. She could eat her dinner off the kitchen counter it was so clean. The floor shone and even the inside of her cupboards smelt fresh. And now they were organised to the point that anyone taking a peek would be forced to question her OCDstatus.
Finally, she picked up the shopping bag that leaned against the back door and left the room. As she made her way down the hall she paused to pop her head into the lounge, nipping in to straighten an already straight cushion. After a quick scan around, she breathed in the aroma and smiled. There was something quite satisfying about the smell of freshly polishedfurniture.
Annabel headed up to the bathroom and felt a spring in her step. When she entered the bathroom, she caught sight of herself in the mirror and finally took a moment to acknowledge the reason behind all her efforts. Her stomach did a little somersault and she let out a nervous giggle. If all went to plan, this evening could be the start ofsomethingbig.
She stared at her reflection and tucked her hair behind her ears. Making a point of taking in every detail, Annabel wondered if she’d see a change in the face staring back at her once she’d achieved her goal. She turned side on and looking at her profile, tried to imagine herself with a heavily pregnant belly. Would she be one of those women who bloomed during pregnancy? She certainlyhopedso.
‘Tonight’s the night,’shesaid.
Annabel felt a mix of excitement and anxiety; she took a long, deep breath, slowly exhaling in an attempt to calm down. She knew the odds were against her succeeding first time round and, in not wanting her donor to think she was bringing a baby into a pigsty, that she’d probably be scrubbing the house clean for the foreseeable future. Still, as far as anyone knew there was nothing to prevent her from having a baby. The doctor had said so himself. Annabel hadn’t been on the pill for years, so there was no chemical reason to stop her getting pregnant. She just had to hope that all the chemicals in the numerous cleaning products she’d just immersed herself in weren’t about to have their own adverseeffect.
‘That’s something else I need to do,’ she said, making another mental note; this time to research the dangers of household cleaning products when it came to a woman’s reproductivesystem.
The evening ahead felt daunting; Annabel wished Tom would suddenly appear to offer some words of wisdom. He always knew exactly what to do, and say, when it came to difficult situations; when to hold her hand and when to tell her to simply get on with it. She wondered if he was looking down on her, full of support. Or if he felt betrayed somehow? She hoped not. But while her head insisted on the first, her heart didn’t feel quitesosure.
‘Why did you have to leave me?’ sheasked.
Her mind drifted back to that awful night, recalling how Tom had nipped out to collect their Chinese take-away, while she busied herself laying the table. A fifteen-minute return journey at best, she hadn’t been surprised to find it taking longer. Tom had always been a people person. He had a habit of getting into conversation with complete strangers and was no doubt chatting to a fellow customer. As the minutes continued to tick by, Annabel decided to give him a call. However, the sound of his mobile filtered into the kitchen and following its direction, she headed out into the hallway only to find he’d forgotten to take it with him.Typical, she thought, abruptly ending the call. Annabel began to feel uneasy. Minutes had turned into hours, but insisting Tom was fine, she told herself she was worrying about nothing. The car must have broken down and he had no way of letting her know. Or, maybe someone else’s vehicle had failed and he’d stopped to help them fix it ... . She felt relief when she finally heard a knock at the door, and realising Tom had obviously forgotten his key too, she raced out to let him in. ‘Thank goodness,’ she said, flinging the door open. ‘I was starting topanic.’
‘Mrs. Woods?’ said the police officer, who was standingthere.
Annabel quickly wiped the tears away. There was no point in crying. After all, if there was one thing she’d learned over the years it was that tears didn’t bring him back. Besides, as much as she missed Tom, tonight was about moving forward, getting on with the future, not languishing in the past. ‘A future you’re meant to be embracing,remember.’
Annabel took another deep breath and, tried free her mind of allthingssad.
Ready to get back to the task at hand, she pulled a pack of scented candles out of the shopping bag and opening up the packaging, began dotting them about the room. Of course, Dan might not want to use them, she considered; he might even find her mood inducing touches a bit silly under the circumstances. Yet, creating the right ambience felt important to her, even it is proved less sotohim.
Annabel reached into the bag again and took out a little glass measuring jar. She hadn’t paid it much attention when she’d bought it, but looking at it now, it reminded her of the ones she’d used way back when during Science class. Its technical appearance certainly contrasted with the candles, but she refused to see her baby as some scientific project, no matter how its conception occurred. She decided to dismiss the jar altogether and simply put it to one side before moving onto her nextpurchase.
Annabel emptied the bag of its final contents; she could still feel her embarrassment at having to buy a couple of porn magazines. While loitering in the aisle for at least twenty minutes, she thought the young chap browsing throughBiker’s Weeklywould never move on. Eventually, plucking up the courage, she quickly reached up and grabbed the nearest two, hiding them in her trolley under the potatoes. With nobody able to see them, she quite happily got on with the rest of her shopping, adding a box of cereal, a cooked chicken, and a jar of coffee alongtheway.
But then she reachedthetill.
She began to cringe and realised that she had no choice but to place the magazines on the conveyor belt along with all of her other purchases. A conveyor belt, she noted, that seemed particularly slow on this occasion. Annabel tried not to put them too close to the glass jar, but could swear the giggling from behind meant that someone had made the connection. Despite flushing red, she did her best toignorethem.
