0.09 – Just Say Yes

Morning sickness was awful. And so were the cravings. Mac and cheese in the morning, throw it all up, eat more, throw that up too. It was a nasty and vicious cycle, but I would go through it again because the end product was just so amazing. Mitch tried everything to keep my mood up so I wouldn’t focus on the fact that I was just a puke factory right now. He told me some jokes, gave me a preview of his future routines, and then he would ask me about what I was hoping to achieve with my garden.
“My end goal?” He nodded. “A cowplant. I don’t want to fish for one, or find one buried. I want to splice cowplant berries for future generations, you know, in case one dies?”
“Why a cowplant?”
“It’s the only thing we can have that resembles a family pet.” I shrugged and went back to eating the puke fuel.

“Don’t tell any of your future siblings, but you’re the heir. So one day, this will all be yours. You have to promise me that you won’t let this die, because this will be your biggest money maker…I guess unless you decide to be a writer or painter. But still, don’t let this die. That’s my one request.” I was sure if the baby could hear me, but I talked anyway. I had decided a long time ago that any child born first would be the heir: They would have the most time to get the skills needed to run the homestead before the torch would need to be passed. I hadn’t talked to Mitchell about this yet, and I hoped he would understand.

We had spent all of our money expanding and upgrading the house. It was now two stories, with actual rooms. The rooms were small, but at least there were rooms – 3 of them to be exact. We also had 3 bathrooms: 1 downstairs, 1 shared upstairs, and 1 master bath. We still had no wallpaper or a proper bed, but that was okay. We still slept fine the night the upgrading was finished – the view from the master bedroom was breathtaking.

One morning, during breakfast, Mitchell surprised me.
“Can you stand up for a second?” He requested, so I did. He then got down on one knee. I could feel the tears of joy rolling down my face. I knew exactly what he was going to ask, but I didn’t dare interrupt him. “Ana Amari, you’re going to have my child. So will you be my wife? Please? Just say yes.” I could only nod. It wasn’t the most romantic proposal – since I was puke breathed, in my pajamas, and still half asleep – but we didn’t do romantic. He slipped the ring on my finger, and we shared a short but love filled kiss.
“I love you Mitchell.” I could finally say the words, since I knew they were true.
“About time. Now let’s go take care of the garden before I have to go to work.” We kissed again before getting ready for the day.

0.08 – Here We Go

The following night, I had a visitor just as I was heading in after a long day of working the earth. Mitchell had come over, and surprisingly things weren’t awkward like I thought it would be. We were both extremely tired.
“You can stay over if you want.” I offered.
“Can we talk about what happened yesterday?” Right now? While we were both barely standing?
“In the morning. I need sleep, and you look like you’re exhausted too.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the house so I could shut the door.
“Cute house.” He was being sincere, and I loved him for it. I told him we could sleep together, since the couch was uncomfortable to sleep on. So we crawled into bed, I cuddled into his arms, and we fell fast asleep.

That morning, I had woken up feeling better than ever. I made a quick salad for us to eat throughout the day. He wasn’t hungry – I suspected it was because he was nervous about the conversation we were about to have.
“Are we going to talk about it now?” He asked. I nodded, mouthful of lettuce. “I don’t know what happened, I just hope you don’t feel like I took advantage of you. I love you and I don’t want to lose any relationship we have.”
“If I thought you had taken advantage of me, would I seriously have let you in…let alone sleep in the same bed as me?”
“Okay, valid point. So everything is okay between us?”
“I feel like I took advantage of you…” It was the honest truth.
“You didn’t. I feel like you love me too…you just won’t admit it to yourself.” Did I love him? He wants nothing but for me to be happy, and I want the same for him. We care about each other, and I know he makes me happy. I feel butterflies when I think about him. If it wasn’t love, it was most definitely something – maybe the start of love?
“I’m not sure how I feel about you Mitch. But it’s more than friendship…and that brings me to something I want to ask.” I took a deep breath, I had thought about this all day yesterday. “You can say no if you want. But I want you to be the man that fathers my children. I trust you completely, I might possibly love you, and you love me.”
“Really?” He was completely shocked. “You could get super good looking, fit guys.”
“So? You’re good looking, and we’re good together.” I preferred teddy-bear guys anyway, but I wouldn’t tell him that.
“Well I’m not going to say no. So what now?”
“You could always move in. I can teach you the fine art of watering a plant and fertilizing them.” Not only did he say yes to fathering my children – if I could even have them – but he said yes to moving in. Things were looking up.

It was time to splice strawberries to my snapdragons. I was nervous, but oh-so excited. While I spliced, Mitchell watered, harvested, and even evolved some of my our plants. We worked in a comfortable silence that was occasionally broken by a random tune whistled by Mitchell. This situation could work out well for both of us.

That night we woohooed. The next morning I took the test. I didn’t even bother getting dressed to tell Mitchell the news.
“We’re going to be parents!” The first generation in this house was officially on the way.

0.07 – Familiarity

The house was coming along nicely; I had a couch and a tv. My garden was growing, evolving, and raking in some seriously easy simoleons. I loved to spend the afternoons and evenings watching tv…mostly because I was still mourning the loss of my relationship with Geoffrey. After him, I put my heart and soul into my garden. But after the day’s work was finished I felt numb, so tv was a way to just veg out and not think about things…at least until I saw him on a comedy show: Mitchell Kalani, my best friend from my past – the man that entered my name in the lottery and loved me dearly. Maybe…instead of looking for new relationships, I should reconnect with him.

I called him later that evening I thought of him. I was ecstatic to hear from me after so long. We talked for a while, then he asked if I would like to come over this weekend to visit. His roommates were on their honeymoon, so he had the house to himself. I was worried that I would take advantage of him – he loved me, and I was still getting over Geoffrey. I didn’t want to hurt Mitch, because he was my oldest friend – I accepted anyway, because it would be nice to see a friendly face.
The weekend came quicker than I anticipated, and soon enough I found myself being tightly hugged by my friend.
“Can’t-breathe-Mitch.” He let go with a goofy smile and an apology.
“Sorry Ana. It’s so good to see you. Island life agrees with you.”
“You’ll have to come visit me next weekend.”

My phone beeped. I felt sick: Geoffrey texted me, asking if we could talk.
“What’s going on?” Mitchell asked.
“My uh…I guess ex lover? He texted me…things didn’t end well, at all.”
“Wanna talk about it?” I could always count on him to try to cheer me up.
“He’s married, and lied about it. So…things ended when his wife caught us. I really liked him.” I knew how stupid I sounded, but it was the simple truth.
“Did you really like him though? Or did you just like the idea of having romance and companionship?” Oh. I didn’t know, I didn’t think about it until that moment. But he had a point.
“Can we go in now?” I didn’t want to admit that he was right.

He embraced me. It was comforting and warm – just like him.
“Before we go in, there’s something I want to tell you.” He looked a little shy. “I still like you. A lot. And I know you’re hurting from your previous relationship. I wanted to tell you before we go in, because I haven’t moved on from you. And I was hoping that when you called, there would be–I dunno, something?” My heart was beating out of my chest. I had an urge to kiss him, but I didn’t. “Please say something, don’t leave me hanging.”
“I don’t know what to say.” There were so many things running through my mind.
“Anything? The first thing on your mind.”
“When I called you, it was for something because I knew how you felt. But then I felt like a piece of shit and came here with pure intentions. Just to hang out with a familiar face. I’m so alone on that island, and I think that maybe you were right about how I felt about Geoff…because it was out of loneliness. I don’t want it to be like that with you. I don’t want to use you for my loneliness because you deserve better.” I had no idea what was going through his mind, his facial expressions weren’t giving anything away.
“Okay, let’s go in now.”

We watched tv, ate some pizza, drank some wine. We talked about what had happened in our lives after I moved: He had his own comedy show on television. He went on a couple of blind dates set up by his friends. Gavin Richards got married, J Huntington got married. I told him about my garden and how I’ve been building up my house. I was proud of him, and he was proud of me.
All of a sudden, the urge to kiss him came back…so I did. Before I knew it, we were getting hot and heavy, and heading upstairs to his bedroom. I didn’t feel any regret – except maybe that I didn’t do this sooner.

I went home and took a pregnancy test, considering we had woohooed a lot. I was excited to see the result.

Negative.

I felt bummed. I was starting to think I was sterile and that my hard work was for nothing.

0.04 – Relaxation without Rest

I felt like I needed a day off from all my hard work. Plus I needed to socialize, mingle, and meet new people…and honestly, I was feeling a little lonely on that huge island all by myself. So, before noon, I found myself outside of this pub and cinema in the historical Tudor district. I could smell the greasy pub food and the booze, and I could hear the loud music thwumping through the wall. This was my kind of place.

As soon as I went in, I sat at the table and just looked around; There was a heavily pregnant woman dancing next to the table (was it really a good idea? Table has sharp edges, pregnant belly…just thinking of the accident made me pale), a couple of guys were off to the side playing darts and drinking their ale. The tv was on, and unsurprisingly it was turned to the sports channel. I was so engulfed in the sports that I didn’t notice the two men slide into the chairs next to me.
“You’re new here.” The blonde guy said. He looked middle-aged, and kinda decent looking.
“Yep. I sure am.” I couldn’t lie about that even if I wanted.
“I’m Geoffrey Landgraab, and that’s Michael Bachelor. Welcome to the pub.” They were obviously drunk. Slurring their words and just that whole drunken bravado.
“I’m Ana Amari.” But I was polite nonetheless and gave my name – it was probably a mistake, but they might be too drunk to remember.
“Are you single Ana?” Michael asked. I rolled my eyes. He was cute, but nothing could happen…
“Judging by your wedding bands, I know you both aren’t so I’m not even going to bother answering. Excuse me.” I felt appalled, disgusted, and just creeped out. I got up and went to the bar, and away from them.

I was feeling a little hungry, so I ordered a small plate of currywurst and a glass (or three) of wine to wash it down. I ate at the bar, hoping those guys didn’t come near me.
During my third glass of wine, I wandered downstairs to the cinema thinking I could catch a movie. Instead I bumped into a person, almost spilling the wine.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t spill anything on you, right?” We looked over his jacket and clothes, not a drop.
“Doesn’t look like it. You down here for the movie?” I nodded as I took a sip. “It just ended, and the next one isn’t until 9pm.”
“Well that sucks. I gotta get back home by then. Thanks for telling me. I probably would’ve sat in there, alone, like a dummy.”
“No problemo. I’m Johnny by the way.” I waved with a smile.
“Ana. Nice to meet you.” I had just realized how much I needed to pee, so I excused myself and went into the bathroom with my wine.

My garden needed tending before the day was over – because if I didn’t they would be brown and extremely sad little plants – so I left the pub after I went pee and paid the bill. Luckily all I needed to do was water and weed…but I decided to be a little overachieving for today and planted another row of snapdragon for future splicing with the strawberries. It was a huge step toward the high value dragon fruit.
Halfway through the planting I felt my energy drop at an alarming rate. I didn’t realize how exhausted I was, I couldn’t even make it to my bed…so this dirt nap would have to do.