The Maybe Daddy

4. Dylan

‘Dylan! Dylan!’ Affie shouted, waving her arms vigourously.

‘Its no use!’ Mandy giggled. ‘He is obsessed with Mickey Mouse. Right now you could blast a foghorn and my son wouldn’t flinch.’

‘Incredible!’ Affie said, in amazement. ‘It’s like you and whatever film Ryan Gosling is in.’

She slapped her friend playfully on the arm. ‘How can I resist him? I mean come on, in the notebook he was just every woman’s dream guy.’

‘Nah I like my guys a bit rougher around the edges,’ Affie smiled, licking her perfect red pout. ‘Jason Statham has it all. What I wouldn’t give for him to….’

‘Hush!’ Mandy warned. ‘My son? Soon enough you wont be able to use all that…..gutter talk, he’ll repeat everything.’

Affie scoffed, and narrowed her eyes, playfully. ‘I happen to be the coolest Aunt any kid could have’

‘I wont argue there’

Mandy looked lovingly at her best friend and son. Right here, she had all the family she needed, and this was a moment where she counter her blessings instead of mourned for what she had lost. After the argument with Amelia, Allegra Cascarino had visited with her. As she was fairly new to the position, it seemed she was also easy to get rid of, and within a week she was forced to leave the apartment she was growing to love. This had been a new low point, watching removal men strapping her designer furniture into their truck and taking it to Affie’s apartment building to be stored in her basement.

  At less than nine weeks pregnant, she was homeless, jobless and word had circulated amongst those they’d partied with, that she was with child. She was treated like a leper by old college friends, she was now different to them, her life was about to take a vastly different path to theirs.  No longer feeling like she had anything in common with them, they drifted apart. She urged Affie to continue seeing them, they’d become close over the years, but Affie decided to take her own alternate path. She’d been bold enough to call Kian Hamidi, the fellow dentist Affie had her eye on.  After a few lavish dates, they decided to become exclusive. This was huge for her friend, and her first proper relationship.  Nights out were now spent with their dentistry colleagues or together at romantic restaurants with exquisite, ostentacious menus.

Her dearest friend had taken her in, and refused any payments towards bills. Mandy made it up to her by cooking every night she was home, but her real payment was the affection Dylan gave her.  Beyond Mandy herself, he adored Affie and Kian, and his gentle laid back nature was at odds with the beginning he had had.  She had been diagnosed with ante natal depression. She hadn’t known the condition existed, until her OBGYN had been alerted to Mandy’s anxiety, beyond what was considered normal for a first pregnancy.

It all began when five months into her pregnancy, she had accepted an invite from her sister to a family barbeque. By this time, she was showing, though she chose to hide behind loose empire line dresses and baggy linen shirts. Driving to the Hamptons on her own had been daunting enough, the anticipation of speaking to family members and having to admit her pregnancy to her parents began to eat away at her. She hung back as family members pretended to be interested in one anothers dull, egotistical lives and then she noticed her mother and father sitting together by Sarah’s award winning rose garden, and took the plunge.