Charlotte Delaney has sworn off men. After one relationship disaster after another- including turning a guy gay!- Charlotte is so over the male species.
Isaac Fletcher had his heart cruelly broken. Yes, it was years ago. No, he never got over it. I...
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"Ok, so what about this one?" Emma asks, pushing another mood board in my direction.
Seeing as it's a Bank Holiday, Mum and Dad decided to gather us all at their home so that we could have family time together. I'd tried to persuade Isaac to come with me but due to him needing a few days off this week to travel up to Scotland, he couldn't take any more time away from work. Instead, Martha and I travelled out to Surrey alone and were currently being hounded by every woman in my family as they tried to get me to agree to one nursery design or another.
Martha, not being the pregnant one, simply laughed at seeing my horrified face, made an excuse and then wandered off to the family room where my father, brother, two brother-in-laws and Sam were watching some replay of a rugby game. From the way Dad was shouting, I would guess that the team he was supporting was losing.
"Come on, Charlotte," Emma sighed, her blue eyes going to the latest design that she'd put in front of me. "What's wrong with this one?"
With a defeated sigh, I pick up the mood board and survey the inspiration that Emma, Sophie and Mum had put together. This particular one was designed with a girl in mind, touches of pink and rose gold mixed with soft white textures in the bedding and the teddy bears that lined a shelf on the wall. It was hard to deny that it was beautiful, especially when I saw that my family had included a decorative 'E' initial on the mood board, too. They knew how fond I was of the name Edith, even though I'd put it aside after Isaac announced his distaste for it. Still, I couldn't give a firm confirmation of liking it.
"It's lovely, don't get me wrong," I finally say, giving Emma a reassuring smile. She doesn't return it, though. Her eyes narrow on me, daring me to be honest with her. "It's just, I'm not even sure if the baby is a girl. Isaac didn't want to find out. Perhaps a gender neutral nursery would be better. Winnie the Pooh inspired would be cute."
With renewed happiness that I was being open minded to their ideas, Mum hurriedly looked through the rest of the mood boards and pulled out one that looked like it could pass for unisex. It was in a cream colour scheme and very minimalistic. Apart from the elephant in the corner of the picture. Even though it was gender neutral, I couldn't help but feel that it was still better suited to a girl rather than a boy. I'm sure if the baby turned out to be a boy that Isaac would want a very masculine looking room for him. Lots of blue, planes or submarines, maybe trucks, fewer teddies and bright colours.
"I like it," I tell Mum and my sisters. "Maybe leave out the massive elephant, though."
"Who is having a massive elephant?" Martha's voice speaks as she enters the kitchen diner and peeks over my shoulder at the heavy card mood boards that litter the table. She scans a few of them and taps her index finger against one that she likes. "This one is nice."
Sophie smirks at me. "See, Martha liked it," my older sister tells me while scowling in my direction. She turns back to my step-daughter and explains. "Charlotte doesn't like it because it's too girly."
