𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑭𝒐𝒙𝒆𝒔

The options

Hi guyssss. So exams are over and I've been able to start writing again. I have another chapter nearly ready after this if there is high enough demand.
I'm updating because of a request to do so 😊 so showing interest in my book is a brilliant way to get me to do whatever you want lol.

Please show this chapter some love and leave comments with your reactions, it means the world to me 💙💙

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Two weeks after the phone incident and Joe had long since disposed of the device. He had gone out into the woods to smash it up with a large rock before dumping the pieces into the lake.
Now Taylor stood over a pot of vegetable stew humming a new tune under her breath.
She had taken it upon herself to be the one to cook and bake for the boys since Joe had effectively banned her from any other work around the cabin and after the fainting incident she had been treated like a glass rose, much to Taylor's frustration.

So now she was stuck, desperately trying to absorb as much heat as possible from the boiling pot of potatoes and leeks in the frosty kitchen, their electricity seemed to have broken because the lights and radiators weren't functioning properly, leaving the cabin in a permanent chill that nearly matched the cold of the winter landscape outside.

Taylor's chipped nails tapped on the counter in rhythm with her humming.
If there was one thing Taylor wished they had brought with them on the trip it would be her guitar, but with the bags and the cat carries and all their other necessities there hadn't been any room.

The cats had adjusted pretty well to their new home, Meredith in particular since all she did was sit around by the fire anyway, Olivia on the other hand, was more keen to actually explore her new environment and since it was still winter she had received a bit of a shock once Taylor did finally let her try out the snow.
Joe had spent several hours babying the whining cat afterwards, a lesson for dibbles in listening to her parents.

Parents. Even the mention of any baby or family related words had begun to send a stake straight through Taylor's heart. It was like having a bucket of ice cold water labelled parenthood thrown over her face ten times a day.
The realisation of what exactly she was signing up to had begun to set in, this wasn't going to be a passing phase, pregnancy is only the beginning of a life long commitment.

It's not that she thought she couldn't be a good mother, Taylor just thought that all the poor decisions she had made over the last ten years would be completely incompatible with a child. Running away to Iceland for example... wasn't exactly the most ideal choice for a place to raise an infant. But at least somehow things were better than her last pregnancy.
She had Joe, and Patrick and she wasn't being verbally destroyed by label executives on a daily basis, nobody had dragged her into an abortion clinic screaming so loudly that the woman at the front desk called the police, she wasn't dying of an incurable illness, and she wasn't drinking anymore.

The boys have only bought beer since they arrived because they knew she didn't like it and didn't want to make her feel too left out, but it didn't make much difference, Taylor had never been so desperate to look after something as she was for this baby.
Her bug.

She placed her hand on her stomach, at around 12-14 weeks there still wasn't really much there, a tiny bump at most, yesterday's dinner at least. She continued to hum the soft tune while stirring the pot and bouncing slightly on her toes.
She had written a few lullabies in the last few weeks, Joe had called it her nesting and now she had been assigned the title of 'mama bird'. She hated it. Therefore Joe and Patrick loved it.

Taylor generally considered herself to be a good person, but there were things she has done that she wasn't exactly proud of: The way she had treated Launter during their relationship, her destructive habits over the last decade and the way that they impacted her relationships, all the lies she told her fans, there were many ruined friendships from the time when she would do anything to achieve fame, but the worst were the ones surrounding family; how she hadn't been there for her mom during her cancer treatment, how her career has resulted in the danger that they are running from, how she had drunk before Ro was born.
No matter how many doctors assured her that it was not preventable or cause by her, it felt as though she had willed the death of her child into happening. Had she not been so resentful towards her baby for 'destroying her life' maybe it would never have happened in the first place.