Unplanned

by Sarah Biglow

  Unplanned

  Sarah Biglow

  Contents

  Unplanned

  1. August 7th

  2. August 14th

  3. August 18th

  4. August 21st

  5. August 27th

  6. September 2nd

  7. September 4th

  8. September 7th

  9. September 8th

  10. September 12th

  11. September 16th

  12. September 17th

  13. September 20th

  14. September 29th

  15. October 3rd

  16. October 8th

  17. October 14th

  18. October 19th

  19. October 31st

  20. November 16th

  21. November 25th

  22. December 1st

  23. December 10th

  24. December 23rd

  25. January 8th

  26. January 16th

  27. January 19th

  28. January 25th

  29. February 10th

  30. February 16th

  31. February 28th

  32. March 8th

  33. April 1st

  34. April 10th

  35. April 12th

  36. April 19th

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  UNPLANNED Copyright © 2015 by Sarah Biglow.

  * * *

  All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  * * *

  For information contact; www.sarah-biglow.com

  Cover Design by Ana Grigoriu

  ISBN: 978-1987018127

  Previously Published with Amazon ISBN: 978-1512347517

  Originally Published by Musa Publishing: December 2012

  2nd Edition Published by Sarah Biglow: June 2015

  * * *

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

  In loving memory of Sharon Vassilopoulos (1951-2012)

  Auntie, I know you would have been proud

  1

  August 7th

  Shannon Atwater traipsed through the front door after her son and daughter, her neck stiff from sun exposure. The stirrings of a headache thrummed at the base of her skull. Giddy shrieks echoed off the walls as Christian kicked off flip-flops and dropped a towel by the door. Meghan followed suit, light brown hair matted to her face as she took off after him.

  “Christian, Meghan. You need to change before you get the furniture wet,” Shannon called.

  Tanner clung to her chest. His small arms wreathed her neck, making it difficult to move as she tried to set down the bag of damp towels. Sandals thudded softly as her youngest reluctantly climbed from her arms. He started to pull his bathing suit down, when she stopped him.

  “Here, sweetie. Let Mommy help you.”

  She led him down the hallway and into a room cluttered with toy cars and action figures. A big bear sat atop a multi-colored racecar blanket. She rooted through drawers and pulled out fresh underwear and shorts. After a few minutes of struggling, he was dressed in clean clothes.

  “Can I play now, Mama?”

  “Sure. Why don’t you bring your toys into the living room?”

  He scooped up an armful of figurines and cars and marched after her. She returned to the front hallway and dragged the bag down a flight of stairs to the laundry. Hastily, she dumped the bag’s contents into the dryer. She shut the door and gripped the edge as her vision swam. Shannon sucked in a breath as the feeling passed. Part of her wanted to believe she’d just spent too long in the sun. Her neck and back certainly ached from the exposure at the pool. But the headache and nausea weren’t new symptoms. She’d had them before. But not in years.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Shannon went back to starting the dryer. She pulled a dryer sheet from the box on the shelf above the washer and tossed it in before setting the time for an hour. Not two seconds after the machine began jostling the contents around, a loud shriek echoed from above. Instinct sparked maternal worry deep in Shannon’s gut, and she raced back to the first floor. She rounded into the living room to find Tanner surrounded by his action figures. Megan huddled by the couch, nursing a bruised arm. A car sat at her feet.

  “What happened?” Shannon demanded.

  “Tanner threw a car at me.”

  “Did not,” Tanner replied, sticking his tongue out.

  Before Shannon could respond, Christian’s voice echoed from the next room.

  “Mom, something’s on the computer.”

  “Not now, Christian.”

  She bent down to look at Meghan’s arm. A spot, bright red and splotchy, marred her skin.

  “Run some cold water over it.”

  “Can I have a Band-Aid, too?” Meghan asked between sniffles.

  “Yes.”

  Meghan got to her feet and glared at her brother before disappearing in the direction of the bathroom. Shannon stood as well and dragged Tanner to his feet. He immediately started screaming.

  “You are going to sit in time out for that.”

  “No, Mama. I don’t want to.”

  “Mom,” Christian called again.

  The headache continued to thrum in the background, sending shooting pain up and down her neck as Christian’s voice reverberated off the walls. Tanner kicked as she picked him up around the middle and hauled him into the dining room. Christian sat at the desk in the corner with a message flashing in green on the computer screen.

  “Give me a minute, Chris.”

  “But I think the computer’s broken.”

  She pulled a chair out at the table on the other side of the room, plopped Tanner down, and set the egg timer for five minutes.

  “You’re going to sit here until the timer goes off. And then you’re going to tell Meghan you’re sorry.”

  Tanner sniffled and rubbed his nose but didn’t move. One crisis averted, she turned her attention to Christian.

  “What’s wrong with the computer?”

  “I don’t know. I wanted to go online, but this thing keeps blinking.” He clicked the flashing screen, and a message popped up.

  “Damn.” She immediately gave Christian an apologetic look.

  “What is it?”

  “I have a phone call in—” she checked the time “—two minutes.”

  “Aw. I can’t play a game?”

  “Not right now. I need you to watch your brother and sister for me.”

  Christian pouted but got up from the chair. “Okay.”

  She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and watched him wander away. Shannon donned a wireless headset and launched a chat program. The program beeped twice, signaling the connection was strong. With the click of a button, it placed a call to her client.

  “Hello?” a voice said from the other end.

  “Hi. This is Shannon Atwater.”

  “Shannon. Thanks for calling. We were hoping for an update on the project.”

  Shannon clicked through a mess of folders on her desktop to pull up her notes.

  “I’ve been working with your content editor this week to get all the site’s information correct. I should be able to have a preliminary design to you by Monday.”

  “Sounds great. We’re actually hoping you could add a few more pages worth of material. We’ll send you what we need.”

/>   “Of course. But I’ll need to run them by the editor before submitting anything.”

  “Absolutely.”

  Behind Shannon, the timer dinged, and Tanner jumped out of the chair. She turned to catch him before he could run off.

  “You need to apologize to your sister,” she reminded him with a stern look.

  “Excuse me?” her client asked.

  “I’m sorry. I was talking to my son.”

  “Well, do you have any questions about the timeline we’re working with?”

  “No, sir. I think having a workable site design by the end of the month should be fine.”

  “Great. I’ll let you get back to work.”

  “Thanks. Have a great afternoon.”

  “You, too. Goodbye.”

  Shannon ended the call and removed her headset. She exhaled slowly, trying to keep calm. It would be so much easier to do her job once Christian and Meghan were back in school and Tanner was spending time at day care. Shannon sifted through a backlog of e-mail messages from clients, sorting them into appropriate folders before shutting down her other programs. She’d worry about work tomorrow.

  “Christian, you can play on the computer for an hour.”

  He raced into the room and opened a game.

  “One hour,” she repeated.

  “Okay, Mom.”

  Afternoon quickly turned to evening. By the time Shannon’s husband, Mike, pulled into the driveway, the kids sat in front of the TV, watching a Disney movie. Chicken baked in the oven, and salad waited on the table.

  “How was work, honey?” She kissed him on the cheek once his briefcase was deposited in its usual spot.

  “Good. I have a few court dates next week I need to prepare for. How about you? Make your conference call on time?”

  “Yeah. Just barely. We got back from the pool a little later than expected.”

  Meghan nearly bowled Shannon over as she tried to hug her dad around the legs.

  “Hey, baby girl,” Mike greeted, picking her up and swinging her around.

  “Hi, Daddy.”

  “Did you have a fun day today?”

  “Yeah. We went swimming at the pool and had lunch at the park.”

  “Sounds like a lot of fun.”

  Behind them, the microwave timer beeped, and Shannon maneuvered around Mike to pull the chicken out of the oven. She set it on the stove and stopped. A wave of nausea hit her, and black spots popped in front of her eyes. Shannon pulled herself together before Mike noticed. He’d ask too many questions or say she was working too hard.

  “Honey, can you cut the chicken?”

  “Sure.”

  She walked into the upstairs bathroom and patted a cool cloth on her forehead and neck. Something was off. This wasn’t the first time she’d felt uneasy. She took a breath, in and out.

  What if she was pregnant? No, that couldn’t be right. Could it? She was late by at least a week. That wasn’t much, but after three kids, anything was possible. She opened the cabinet and searched until she found the right box. Her hands shook as she pulled out the remaining test and sat down on the toilet, praying it would come up negative. She washed her hands and waited, pacing back and forth.

  “Mom, dinner’s ready,” Christian called from downstairs.

  “I’ll be right down.”

  The clock on the wall ticked the seconds by in agonizing slowness. She picked up the test and stared at the small pink plus sign. There was nothing ambiguous about it.

  Positive.

  Her knees buckled, and she slumped to the floor. She blinked twice, but the tiny plus sign wasn’t going anywhere. Tears blurred her vision. A wave of panic lanced through her chest and down to the pit of her stomach. The feeling settled like a rock, and numbness took over. But we’re done having children. Three is all we wanted. Shannon dried the tears on her cheeks and wrapped the test in a tissue before tossing it in the trash. When she finally got her legs to move past the threshold, she headed down to join her family for dinner.

  “Tanner, chew with your mouth closed, please,” she chided.

  His cheeks puffed out as he closed his mouth and continued to chew. The meal passed quickly enough, and Shannon set Christian to clearing the table.

  “Mike, I need to talk to you for a minute.”

  “What’s up, Shan?”

  She led Mike into the living room, moving some dolls and action figures off the couch. She toyed with the hem of her blouse, keeping her back turned.

  “Shannon? What’s going on?”

  “I’m pregnant.”

  “What? You’re kidding.”

  She shook her head. “I wish I was. I’ve been feeling off lately. I tried to put it off as too much sun, but I was just trying to convince myself it wasn’t true. And I’m late.”

  “That’s happened before.”

  “I’m telling you, I’m pregnant. I just took a test.”

  Mike leaned back on the arm of the couch and stared at Shannon. She tried to guess what he was thinking—and then realized she didn’t want to know. Shannon listened to the kids squabbling in the other room over who was going to get the TV next, and the numb feeling from before returned. Her world tilted on its axis, and all she could do was hold on for dear life.

  2

  August 14th

  The sun sank low over the skyline as Lisbeth Marquez sat next to her partner, Candace, on the couch. The light reflected off the tops of buildings, coloring the carpet a vibrant orange. No sound came as the day ended. Candace stretched and stood.

  “You want anything while I’m up?”

  Lisbeth shook her head. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

  “You sure? Because you know the doctor said not to move around a lot.”

  “Candace, I’m okay. We’ve been through this before.”

  “If you say so, Lissie. I just want to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

  “You’re cute when you’re annoyed,” Lisbeth called as Candace disappeared from view.

  The TV remote sat within reach of Lisbeth on the table. She picked it up and flipped through channels. Nothing of interest. The sounds from the kitchen drew her focus.

  “What are you doing in there?”

  “Dishes, silly. And no, you can’t help.”

  “You’ve been waiting on me for days. I’m not sick.”

  “Consider yourself lucky.”

  “Hurry up. I’m getting lonely in here.”

  Lisbeth smiled as Candace’s laughter filled the apartment. Seven years together, four of them married, and Candace still managed to make her smile in all the right ways. Finally, the water turned off, and Candace reappeared, a towel in her hands.

  “Let’s do something,” Lisbeth said.

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. Go for a walk or something. I need to get out of here for a while.”

  “The doctor said—”

  “The doctor is going to make me crazy.”

  “Maybe a short walk. We are almost out of milk.”

  Lisbeth got to her feet and slipped into her shoes. Candace snagged the keys from the hook by the front door, and they left the cool air of their apartment. As they waited for the elevator, Lisbeth checked herself in the small mirror.

  “You look beautiful.”

  “You’re just saying that.” She tugged on her hair to make it look less frizzy.

  “As your wife, it is my duty to comment on your sexy factor.”

  “Shut up,” Lisbeth said and shoved her playfully.

  The elevator arrived with a loud ding! and interrupted their flirtation. They stepped inside and stayed quiet on the ride down. The summer heat hit them, and sweat accumulated on their skin the instant they stepped outside.

  “Who knew it could be this hot so late at night?” Lisbeth linked arms with her wife.

  “You’ve been cooped up in the nice air conditioning,” Candace said. They paused at the corner to wait for the walk signal.

  “I’m thinking a really short walk.�
��

  They wandered up the street to the edge of the Common, and the screech of the T below them punctuated the air. People rushed by on both sides of the sidewalk as they entered the grassy park. A band somewhere down the way, maybe near the pavilion, played loud jazz music. Kids raced around, chasing after each other and the occasional ball or Frisbee.

  “It’s a gorgeous night,” Candace said, squeezing Lisbeth’s hand.

  “It is,” Lisbeth agreed as a beach ball flew in their direction.

  Lisbeth caught it and tossed it back to the group of boys who’d been chasing it.

  “You sure you don’t want me to stay home with you tomorrow?” Candace asked.

  “No. I’ll be fine. I’ve got a bunch of movies to keep me company. And there is some laundry that needs to be done.”

  Candace gave her a concerned look.

  “It’s a light load.”

  “I just don’t want to mess this up. We’ve waited so long. And you know we haven’t been lucky so far.”

  Lisbeth glanced at the ground. “I know. And it’s our last chance. I promise I won’t do anything too stressful.”

  They exchanged a brief kiss under a low-hanging branch as the music swelled and the band ended their set. It felt like a perfect moment.

  “I’m worried,” Candace said.

  Lisbeth gripped her hand tight. She understood Candace’s concern. Their chances were slim, and they’d had more than their share of failed cycles. Her hand moved to her stomach, and a shiver ran the length of her spine. Her chest tightened, and she inhaled shakily, barely able to force air into her lungs.