Baby Steps ✔ (Under Construction)

EIGHT

Zara couldn't believe it. How easy it was to have that conversation and to tell Jude how she truly felt, and that was that she was ready to be a mother; she felt it deep in her bones. There had never been a moment in her twenties that she adamantly told herself 'I'm going to be a parent', there had only been the what ifs and 'If I got pregnant,' or 'If I ever have kids' kind of moments that everyone in their twenties had; but never the realisation that it was becoming a reality and not a mere thought. Everything seemed solid and permanent and that was the way she liked it. She was having a baby and it felt weird to say. Her mother and Jude were the only two people that knew and it felt intimate and secretive. It was thrilling. Exciting.

Zara had begged her mother not to tell her father or siblings and that she had to wait for when she was ready to tell them herself. Of course, keeping the exciting news on the down low was proving to be difficult for her mother. There had been a few times when Zara had gone shopping with her mother and she had found herself being dragged down the aisle of baby clothes. Her father, of course, looked at the two women oddly and would mumble under his breath something about how women are obsessed with babies and how it was weird.

It was funny, Zara would think to herself, women were obsessed with babies.

Then there was the time she caught her mum digging out old baby clothes from when she was a child. She had claimed it was merely coincidental but Zara knew she was itching to tell somebody.

That's why Zara was standing on the doorstep of her parents house waiting to be let in. She had told Jude when she saw him on Monday that work that she was going to tell her family and he had encouraged her to do so. A small part of her wish she had invited him like she had been so tempted to do, but she didn't want him to meet her family that way and she had no idea if he even wanted that.

The thought made her feel a little out of sorts.

When she told him she couldn't help but wonder if this was just one big inconvenience for him, but when he had shown up at her apartment complex unannounced, she had a feeling that it wasn't inconvenient at all.

Just as her mind began to spiral, the front door was flung open and her mother greeted her with open arms and a gleeful smile. "You look wonderful," She looked around to make sure no one was in earshot before she leaned in closer, "How're you feeling? Any morning sickness or more dizziness?"

Zara shook her head as she stepped inside. Her mother took her coat from her and hung it up on the rack by the front door. She could hear talking coming from the living room and from the sounds of it everyone was here. She had hoped her brother had caught on when she stressed how important this family dinner was to her. As she walked into the living room, or rather was ushered in by her mother, a warm smile made it's way on to her face and an overwhelming feeling of relief coursed through her.

Cole and Gabe were sat on the sofa with Tink sprawled out in between the two of them. Claudia and Ethan took their usual spot on the loveseat but dad was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's dad?"

At the sound of his name, he walked through the patio doors and smiled. "I'm here, kiddo."

He walked over to where his daughter stood and placed a kiss on each of her cheeks. He shooed Tink off the sofa and motioned for her to sit down. As soon as she was sat, Gabe wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into him.

"Everything okay, Zee?" He whispered to her.

Before she could reply, their mother came into the living room and clapped her hands together. "It's so lovely having all my babies together."

No one caught on to her over-exaggeration of the word baby apart from Zara. She glared in her direction. "So why are we all here then? We saw each other on Sunday?"