The Devil's Kings

Chapter two

Annabelle pregnancy seemed to pass quickly and she found that she actually had a very easy pregnancy. Now that she was pregnant and everyone knew, women were giving her advice left and right and telling her stories from their time being pregnant. Except for the first four months of her pregnancy, Annabelle didn’t have any morning sickness and even then it was light. Mostly just nausea, only certain foods seemed to actually make her sick. 

Life with her in-laws and husband seemed to get slightly better. Brandon still worked nights and on his off days he rarely stayed home with her. Claiming that he need to go and out and do stuff during the night. Annabelle found that she didn’t care. When Brandon was gone Annabelle actually felt like she could relax and breath. Sarah seemed to not be as irritated with Annabelle now that she was pregnant with her grandchild. Ashley seemed happy, but there was an underlying sense of jealousy that Annabelle felt. AShley constantly wanted to go to her doctor appointments and do everything with her. If Annabelle denied her and said she wanted to go alone or only go with Brandon, Ashley would throw a fit and complain to Sarah that Annabelle was being unfair. Thankfully Brandon would back up her decisions and tell his mom that is was  a time for him and his wife, not him his wife and his sister. Sarah didn’t seem happy after Brandon told her that, but she seemed to accept it. Ashley pouted and didn’t talk to anyone for a few days.

As far as all the housework, Brandon told her not to worry about it anymore. He told her she was to just focus on work, school, and resting for the baby. It was an unexpected turn, one that Annabelle was happy for. She had been stressing about everything that she was expected to do and grow a baby. Brandon’s new attitude only went so far. He told her she didn’t have to worry about any extra house work, Ashlet was expected to take care of it now. Even though he said one thing, by the end of the day his tune usually changed. He would complain and ask her what she did all day. Working was not an excuse. He told her to quit. Going to school was not an excuse. He told her to make arrangements with the school because it’s too much for her to go to school right now. Annabelle had no idea what Brandon wanted from her. He told her to not worry about anything, then he tells her she needs to do light house work like laundry and dishes. She does it without complaint. When Sarah unloaded the dishwasher one day she started complaining about the way Annabelle had put the silverware in the dishwasher. Brandon soon joined the conversation and together Sarah and Brandon made Annabelle feel incompetant. Annabelle knew deep down that the way she put the silverware into the dishwasher is really not that big of a deal, but Brandon and sarah had made it seem like it was. If their goal had been to ridicule her endlessly about the dishwasher they succeeded. It didn’t stop there. Every little thing Annabelle did was wrong according to her in-laws. It was exhausting living up to their expectations. Annabelle wanted her own place again. Maybe if Brandon was away from his family he wouldn’t be so horrible to her?

Annabelle talked to Brandon about moving out and having their own place now that they were starting a family. Luckily, Annabelle was able to convince him it was best to move out of his mothers’ three bedroom home and find their own. Id didn’t take long for them to find an apartment that was close to work for both of them. Annabelle was a bit worried about the monthly rent, but Brandon assured her they would be fine and she accepted the assurance without any further thought. With the help of their two families they were moved in quickly.

Annabelle stood in front of her mirrored closet doors, holding her shirt up and looking at her stomach. She was now almost to her sixth month and she didn’t see a baby bump yet. Brandon walked into the bedroom and glanced at Annabelle before putting the bowl of popcorn on the bed before going over and loading the DVD. 

‘What  were you doing?’ Brandon asked as Annabelle crawled onto the bed and got comfy against the headboard.

‘I was just checking to see if I had a baby bump yet. I’m almost in my sixth month, shouldn’t I have a bump by now?’