Believe Series box set Page 8

  Ha-ha, work is work. It’s no fun now I don’t work with you xx

  Oh, ha-ha have fun anyway hun. Xx

  I get up slowly from the bed. As my pregnancy has progressed, I am moving much slower. I take a quick shower and once I dry myself off, I get dressed. I choose a pair of black leggings and my emerald top, and I manage to slip on a pair of black dolly shoes. I put my hair up into my favourite butterfly clip, and I apply mascara and lip-gloss. Gazing out the window, I see that it is looking like it is going to be a very sunny day so I find my sunglasses. I am so happy that it is a gorgeous day because I love the sun, and it always lifts my spirits.

  I decide to set off early for my appointment. I’m not allowed to eat anything before my appointment, so I choose not to hang around the house where temptation lingers. I take a bottle of water from the fridge and grab my bag before leaving the house and locking up as I go.

  I get into my car. It was a treat to me for when “Bump” gets here. It is a sensible five-door family car with plenty of room for the pram for when I need it. I tried the pram in the car when I bought it, making sure there is plenty of room for it. I chose not to go for an oversized pram. I don’t like the look of them or the one where the top is a car seat. I cannot see how that can be comfortable for the baby. I chose a lightweight, compact contemporary pram and pushchair. That way I can use it longer with her, and there will be no need to buy a new one. It can also face you when it is in pushchair mode. I am so excited to try it out once I have “Bump” here with me. They had it in so many pretty colours, but I went for the sensible black version of it. I bought a pink mobile for the pram, and Jenny got a pink star for the top of the cover. Jenny is spoiling her already, and she has three months to wait. It also came with a matching car seat. I have had it in the boot of my car for weeks now.

  The drive to the doctors takes about twenty-minutes. The surgery is in the next town over, and I enjoy the scenery as I drive along, the fields of greens and yellows and the cows and sheep. I love the countryside, and I think about Jenny and her horse. She loves to ride, and she is forever trying to get me to take it up. I don’t mind helping her out with her horse, Topaz. He’s a magnificent Irish Hunter, and he towers over me whenever I help Jenny groom him. I think she once told me he stands well over fifteen hands.

  I hope to get “Bump” into horse riding, well, pony trekking at a young age. Then, she has the experience if she decides to do it later on in life.

  ******

  Morning Mark, I’m at the doctors now. I will message you when I’m out. Xx

  I still can’t believe how I have fallen into a natural routine of messaging and talking to him. It is like I have known him for years. In fact, it has only been two weeks now. I have been thinking of going down and seeing him again, but I don’t know if I want to on my own. Mark and I are just friends. I have that spark though when I talk to him, think about him, and talk about him. It is just so weird, but it feels so right.

  I walk into the doctors after finally finding a parking space. The doctors have a huge reception desk just as you walk in, in the cream area. Then you have to sit in the green area and later go to the room down a different coloured corridor. It is a great idea, and so easy to find your way around the building. They have many children’s toys in the green area to keep the kiddies entertained while waiting for the nurse to call your name.

  “Good morning, Miss. Can I take your name and date of birth,” the blonde haired receptionist asks.

  “Morning, I’m Megan Madden, sixth of May, eighty-nine,” I reply.

  “That’s great. Your appointment is with Midwife Lee. Please go and have a seat over there, and I’ll call you when she’s ready for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  I walk over to the green area and have a seat near the window. They have loads of magazines on the table, so I pick one up, and it has the top thirty baby names in it. I sit there reading them, and still not one of them jumps out at me.

  “Miss Madden, room three on the green corridor,” the receptionist says over the public address system.

  I place the magazine back down and head to the room. Knocking on the door, I enter.

  “Megan, how are you doing today?” Midwife Lee asks me.

  Midwife Lee is such a bubbly natured woman; she has brown hair that is always up in a bun. She has been looking after me since I found out I was expecting “Bump”.

  “I’m very well, thanks. How are you?” I reply.

  “Great, Megan, how is this little lady doing?”

  “She’s fine. I did have a really bad, painful twinge last night.”

  “Where was the twinge?”

  “Just along here.” I indicate the area with an index finger.

  “Sounds like a Braxton-Hicks. Let’s get your observations done first, Megan.”

  The next fifteen minutes whip by as she takes my blood pressure, pulse, and draws several small vials of my blood. The most important thing is that I get to hear “Bump’s” heartbeat again. It’s so strong that it sounds like a train. It is so amazing hearing her. I just cannot wait to meet her.

  “Megan, everything is fine. She is growing well. Not long until she is here. Book an appointment for three weeks.”

  “Thank you,” I reply before walking out of the room.

  ******

  While getting into my car, I check my phone and Mark has messaged me.

  I’m awake baby, let me know when you are out and I will call you. xx

  I fire back a response.

  I’m out.

  I place my bag and jacket onto the passenger seat and turn on the radio just as my phone starts to ring.

  “Hi, baby.”

  “Hi, how are you?” I reply.

  “I’m still sleepy, but I need to get up. I have a pile of paperwork waiting for me. How did it go?”

  “Everything is fine.”

  “I miss you, Megan. There are some pictures up on the internet of the function last night, but I haven’t had the time to look yet. I need a shower before anything else, and then I’ll get the professional shots uploaded.”

  “Sounds like you have a busy day planned. I’m going to head into town and get some shopping done and then head home.”

  “Sounds like you are going to be busy as well. I’ll let you get on. Let me know when you are home, baby.”

  “Will do. Bye.”

  “Bye, baby.” I love how he says that. He melts me. I miss the sound of his voice already, and it has only been seconds.

  Chapter 13

  I do not like food shopping during the day; it is so busy. It must be school break, as there are many children about. Luckily, I just need the basics, so it will not take me long to get my shopping complete. I park my car and head inside the shop, collecting a trolley on my way. I walk through the automatic double doors and head straight into the lift up to the clothing and film area.

  Looking around, I pick up a couple of new films that I want to see. Heading to the clothing next, of course, I look at the baby section. I find a cream dress with a little butterfly design on it.

  Heading back down, I collect the few grocery bits that I need, milk and some fruit, looking around to see if anything else jumps out at me to eat. Since I have hit the six months’ pregnancy mark, I have not actually wanted to eat anything, so the looking around might spark something.

  “Megan,” I turn around to see Jenny walking towards me.

  “Hey, I thought you were at work,” I state.

  “Yeah, I am, but I had to come and collect a couple of things for work. How did it go?”

  “Very well, everything is fine.”

  “Oh, that is fantastic. I best get on. I’ll text you later.”

  “Bye, hun.”

  “Bye, Megan,” she says as she hugs me. “Bye, ‘Bump’. Take care of Mummy.” She rubs my belly.

  I watch Jenny walk down towards the checkout. I decide to follow down as well as nothing is jumping out at me. On the way down, I collect some mo
re roast chicken crisps for “Bump”. I have such a craving for them. I have a lot in the cupboard at home, but if that is all I am really going to fancy, I may as well have some more in the house.

  I head through the self-serve checkouts, saving some time by doing it myself. I head back out to my car, get inside and place the shopping bag onto the floor of the passage seat.

  ******

  The drive home is quiet. With everyone at work now, there is less traffic to get through. Placing my shopping away, I decide to go and have a look at the photos Mark told me about.

  Home from shopping, just going to look at the photos.

  Enjoy baby. Xx

  Sitting down on the sofa, I place my laptop onto my knee while turning it on. I press Play on my music system and log onto the internet, searching for the event pictures from last night.

  I agree with what Mark had said. The colour theme looks good and very stylish. The tables are so elegant and tidy, even though the cutlery is set for a posh dinner. There are balloons and name tags written in beautiful calligraphy, all with the same black and white colour theme and with dark purple little crystals scattered on the tables.

  I continue looking through the photos. Many famous people attended wearing pretty dresses, shoes, and accessories. They all look so fantastic. There were women showing off their to die for figures with no hair out of place and their handsome men. I do wonder how many of the pictures have been airbrushed. You can’t always look that good.

  I notice a picture of a woman, and I am sure I have seen her somewhere before. But where? She is not famous. Maybe she just reminds me of someone I know.

  Finally, I see the pictures of Mark. He looks so smart in his suit. Looking through all the photos, I can tell he has had his photo taken with most of the guests. I guess he would have to. He takes a good photograph though. I love the white background with black and silver stars they have used for some of the photos.

  The official photos are up baby. Xx

  Thank you Mark, I’ll go have a look on the site. Xx

  I close the search down and type in the website address to see the official photos. I surf the site while reading the information that had not long been added to it.

  Thank you so much to all who attended the Hope event. We are happy to announce we raised over 3 million pounds last night for the 'Bright Hope Foundation.’

  We auctioned off several items that were kindly donated by so many people. Thank you to all the fantastic bands and singers who tirelessly spared their time for the event.

  Oh, wow! I cannot believe how much money they raised last night. I am glad they were able to raise the money to support this foundation. Mark has placed a lot of time and effort into planning the event. Scrolling down the page, I see more pictures of the venue. Even the outside of the venue looks amazing.

  I click on Gallery to see loads of pictures, professionally done, and you can tell the previous ones are amateur photographers. These are full on airbrushed pictures.

  There is that woman again, and I know now she is from the restaurant Mark took me to. She is the server who upset me. Under the photo, it reads “Miss Karen Walker”. I remember the name Karen from the restaurant. She has herblonde, wavy hair down with plenty of make up around her blue eyes, which creates a very smoky look to them. I continue looking through the photos and find a few more of Karen with Mark, their positioning questionable. I decide to have a look on a search engine to see if I can find more about her. So many pages come up about her. One catches my eye the most.

  Is Karen Walker going to be the next Mrs. Reed?

  Karen Walker has been spotted hanging around Mark Reed, the owner of Reed Enterprises.

  Karen Walker has been seen holding hands with Mr. Reed on many occasions.

  My eyes start watering. I cannot believe he is seeing her. The article was two days before I met him. There are pictures of him kissing her. I am astonished. My world is crumbling around me. I am losing the man I thought I could be with forever. Taking a deep breath, I look at the most recent article that has been posted only hours ago.

  Is Mark Reed still seeing Karen Walker?

  Unable to see through the tears, I place the laptop down onto the floor and lie down and cry my eyes out. Why? I knew it was too good to be true. I knew I should have never seen him again after the bar. I knew it. I knew it. I always say I prefer to take things slowly. I did and look what happens. He is already taken. WHY?

  Chapter 14

  I look up to see it is now dark. I must have fallen asleep crying. I hear my phone going off.

  Sitting up, I look at it to see it’s Mark. I press Ignore. I do not want to hear from him. Not now, not ever.

  Did you like the pictures? Xx

  Are you okay Megan? Xx

  Megan? Please answer me. Xx

  Hi hun, are you okay? Mark rang me at work to check if you are okay. I’ll be over after work. Xx

  Megan? You are really worrying me. Xx

  I place my phone back down. I can’t read anymore messages. There are twenty-seven texts, all except one from him, and eighteen missed calls. Has he not gotten the picture?

  I leave it a little bit before choosing to reply to them. I don’t want Jenny worried.

  Mark, I am fine. Leave me alone.

  I am fine Jenny. Mark is sleeping with someone. I am heartbroken. Xx

  I leave my phone there, going upstairs, running myself a bath, and needing to get away from it all. Jenny has a key so she will just let herself in. I climb into the bath full of bubbles, lying there, thinking. Why did he not say he was seeing her? Why did he hide it? Why did he take me for a meal where she would be? Are all men the same?

  “MEGANNNNN!” I hear Jenny bellow in the house.

  “Jenny, I am in the bath,” I answer in a calm way.

  “Okay, honey, I’ll make us a cuppa.”

  I slowly climb out of the bath, dry myself, and slip into my pink polka dot pyjamas. While walking along the landing, I shrug into my white dressing gown. Before descending the staircase to join Jenny, I see she is sitting in the kitchen on the black bar stools at the breakfast bar with two cups of tea.

  “Jenny, why?” I question.

  “Hun, I don’t know why he has done it. What did you find out?”

  “He told me to check the photos from the Hope event from last night. There were pictures of that woman I told you about at the restaurant, the blonde one. I searched her name and found articles about him possibly seeing her, along with pictures of them kissing.”

  I grab my phone and log onto the event photos, showing her the pictures. They both stood side-by-side, her hand on his bum, him giggling at her, staring at her from afar. I looked even further through the photos this time and found one of him giving her a kiss on the check. Why? Why did he ask me to look at them? Was this his way of telling me nothing is going to happen?

  “Oh, no!” Jenny exclaims.

  “I don’t know what to do, Jenny.”

  “Have you spoken to him?” Jenny enquires.

  “No, I don’t want to. I don’t know what to say to him.”

  “Let’s have an early time, face mask, DVD, ice cream. Forget about him,” Jenny suggests.

  I just nod, unable to speak for the tears rolling down my face. I numbly walk through to the lounge and take a seat onto the sofa while Jenny moves around and gets the stuff together. I do not know what I would do without Jenny in my life.

  Megan, what’s going on? Xx

  Talk to me. Xx

  Megan, what has happened? Xx

  “Right, which film?” Jenny asks.

  “Whichever you want,” I answer, holding back the tears.

  The rest of the night Jenny spends with me, trying to keep me laughing. We did facemasks and painted each other’s fingernails. We just had a girly night. I ended up having to turn off my phone, as Mark was not giving up. Jenny stands up and leaves the room just after her phone goes off. It is Rich. Sitting there being quiet, all I can hear is Jenny’s ra
ised voice.

  “No, listen to me. You hurt my friend. You lied!”

  Oh, no, it is Mark she is talking to. Isn’t it? I suddenly jump from the sofa, heading through to the kitchen. Waving my hand to get Jenny’s attention, she stops and looks at me.

  “LEAVE HER ALONE!” she states before hanging up.

  “Was that Mark?” I question.

  “Yes, sorry.”

  “It’s okay. It is late. I am going to bed,” I tell her, not wanting to talk about him.

  “I’ll be up soon.”

  “You don’t have to stay. Rich needs to see you.”

  “Are you sure you will be okay if I leave?” Jenny enquires.

  “Yes, Jenny. Go see Rich. I’ll text you tomorrow.” I want to be alone. I want to be able to cry.

  Jenny says her goodbyes and leaves, shutting off everything and locking up. I head up the stairs and climb into bed. I have to check my messages to see if there are any from family or friends.

  Yet, another thirteen messages from Mark, all asking if I am okay and why I am not talking. There’s even a voicemail, too. I have to listen to it.

  “Megan, baby, I don’t know what I have done wrong. Please, talk to me. I can’t imagine my life without you.”

  I send him one last message, hoping that he will leave me alone.

  Goodnight.

  Curling up in bed, tears come back in full force. I am so happy Jenny left me. I am so hurt. I am never going to be happy. I will never have my happily ever after.

  Chapter 15

  I slowly open my eyes, looking around. The sun is blaring through my windows. I grab the duvet to cover my face. My head is banging from all the crying. I can't take anything for it though. I lie under the covers with my hand on “Bump”. I think to myself, no one is going to hurt us. I mean it.