Chapter 11
On the 3 January Bella was back at her desk at Merris Group. It had been a good holiday, bar the small tantrum over her Christmas presents to Don.
He had given her a beautiful pair of earrings, then been a little less than grateful when she’d given him all her gifts.
‘Bella, you really shouldn’t have,’ he’d told her and made it clear that he meant it.
She hadn’t been trying to prove what a big fat wage earner she was or anything. She’d wanted to spoil him, remind him how much she loved him.
Over her fortnight off, her bump had suddenly swelled into a definite, undisguisable entity. She was not going to get away with skirts safety-pinned at the waist and jackets worn open any longer. As she’d stood in front of the wardrobe that morning, she’d had to face the fact that she was going to have to put on one of the maternity suits and officially break her pregnancy news at Merris.
Not that it would cause any problems; her contract would be over well before her maternity leave kicked in. But she felt sort of embarrassed about having to bring her personal life so blatantly into the office. Usually, she liked to keep her private and her professional life a wide distance apart. But what else could she do?
As the usual morning conference had been postponed to the afternoon, Mitch was the first person to come round to her little office and wish her a Happy New Year.
‘Hey, Bella, did you have a good holiday?’ he asked sticking his head round the door.
She swivelled round in her chair. ‘Hello.’
‘You look a bit different,’ he began. ‘What’s different about you?’
‘I ate too much Christmas pudding,’ she said putting her hands round her bump.
‘Oh, you’re pregnant!’
‘You should know, you’ve seen it all before.’
‘Congratulations… oh my goodness, and you’re very pregnant,’ he added. ‘You’ve obviously been disguising it well. This is so unexpected… and lovely news.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be seeing out my work here long before the baby arrives.’ Bella was quick to reassure him, but, just as she’d expected, she felt awkward talking about this at work. Work was the place where she wanted to be the totally driven, totally focused, facts, figures and absolutely no fluff consultant.
‘And how is your pregnancy going?’ was Mitch’s next question. ‘My wife is at the completely exhausted, can only waddle stage.’
‘Oh… I’ve got that to look forward to.’ Bella was doing her best not to shudder at the thought.
‘But it’s going well,’ she replied. ‘I’m keeping fit and, fingers crossed, don’t seem to be having any problems.’
‘Long may that continue,’ he offered and then it felt as if he could not get out of the room fast enough. She could practically hear him running down the corridor shouting: ‘News just in: Bella Pregnancy Shock.’
She turned back to her screen. Susan’s advice about her work here had been to let the leadership team have as much of the bad news as early as possible, along with plenty of practical solutions. That way, hopefully, business would already be improving by the time her final report was due in April.
She scanned through her work emails and saw one in there from Chris.
Bella, hello,
Happy NY. We’ve not had the chance to talk since the Christmas party. I just wanted to congratulate you again. I’d love to have a drink some time.
We can talk through how things are going to work while you’re away/when you come back etc.
Hope it’s going well.
Chris
It was good to hear from him and it did sound like he was going to be an ally at work as she made her way through the final lap of pregnancy and onto maternity leave. She typed back:
Good to hear from you. How about Wed/Thurs night?
Bella
Oh, and there was something else she had to kick off today. She picked up her mobile and was soon giving her details to the estate agent in the part of north London that she’d identified as full of home-buying potential.
‘And I’m in a hurry to move,’ she added. ‘Baby on the way, hectic work schedule, I’m sure you’ve heard all that before.’
OK, leadership team meeting… time to concentrate, she told herself once she’d put the phone down.
Bella’s workday was a long one, so she messaged Don as she journeyed home, hoping he could organise dinner for when she got back. When she finally made it to the flat, he was in the kitchen.
‘Mmm… thank you, I’m so excited about dinner,’ she told him before kissing him hello.
‘I’m wooing you tonight,’ he warned her, smiling and stirring.
‘Very nice,’ she said, thinking, please, no, I have to go to bed. I would actually quite like to eat dinner in bed.
But she managed to eat dinner sitting at the table with him and then he insisted she lie down on the sofa while he peeled off her stockings and massaged her feet with oil.
‘This is perfect,’ she said to him closing her eyes and feeling herself sink to the brink of sleep almost immediately.
‘How’s work?’ he asked.
‘Pretty tough.’ She didn’t want to elaborate.
‘You’re doing really well, you know,’ he said as he stroked her bump protectively.
‘Thanks,’ she said, struggling against a yawn. ‘I’m sorry I’m so tired all the time.’
‘It’s OK… normal. All my work colleagues with children have warned me,’ he added with a sympathetic smile.
After a pause he added, ‘Are we going to get a place with a garden?’
‘I hope so,’ she said.
‘I like the idea of reading the papers in a garden with our little baby playing on a rug.’
‘You’ll have to mow the lawn,’ she warned him with a smile.
‘That’s OK, I’ll mow the lawn. I’m planning to get very domesticated in my old age.’
‘You’re really adorable, you know?’ She put a hand against the side of his face and watched his eyes. ‘Please don’t ever go off with anyone else, will you?’ She’d meant this to sound jokey but it came out a little pleading.
‘Don’t be crazy, Bella, you’re the one. Even if you do occasionally piss me right off by over-spending on gifts, you are still The One.’ And when he said things like that, deadly serious and holding her gaze, it still made her stomach flip and renewed her faith that this love affair could last for a very long time.