The Heartbreak Factor - Part Four

Turning over and putting my hand on the pillow where George’s head usually laid, I opened my eyes suddenly to see George wasn’t lying in the place he was asleep late last night when I eventually climbed in beside him. It wasn’t surprising. He probably wanted to avoid me after our row last night. He went to bed before I even left the poolside. By the time I climbed into bed at 2am, he was fast asleep. I was pretty glad he wasn’t there when I woke up. I couldn’t bare to have him tell me I was making the wrong decision. 

I sat up and let my eyes readjust to the light that was streaming into the room. Looking around the room, I was lost on what to do. I knew I had to speak to George but I couldn’t face being told I was doing the wrong thing for everyone involved. I wanted to help. How could it possibly be the wrong thing for everyone? I wouldn’t get attached to the baby. The baby was going to be for Jaymi and Olly for God’s sake. I googled surrogacy last night and there was even the option to have an egg donor so I didn’t have to share any DNA with the baby. How could I end up wanting a baby that wasn’t mine in the first place? 

As I sat in bed with my thoughts, I made a list of things that I had to do for the day ahead. I couldn’t exactly start making plans with Jaymi and Olly before making things right between me and George. That would make things a thousand times worse. I needed to speak to George, regardless of how much I wanted to avoid it. 

Just as I was about to get out of bed to put my dressing gown on and go in search of George, the bedroom door opened slightly. 

“Okay, you go in and wake mummy up. Go on.” 

The sound of George’s voice made me feel a little bit better. He surely couldn’t have been mad at me if he was telling Katy to come wake me up. Or could he? Maybe he didn’t want to see me yet. Maybe he was that mad at me that he couldn’t bare to look at me first thing in the morning. I wouldn’t blame him. I was in the wrong but all I wanted to do was help out two of my closest friends. How could he be mad at me for that? 

“No, Katy. You can’t show mummy your new shoes yet. Go wake her up and then you can,” George’s voice chuckled from the hallway as the door was still opened ajar. 

After waiting for a few moments, I laid back down in bed and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep. Another few moments passed by and the sound of Katy barging in through the bedroom door and jumping onto the bed travelled into my ‘sleeping’ ears. 

“Mummy!” she giggled as she tapped my shoulder constantly. “Mummy!” 

“Morning,” I smiled, opening my eyes and attempting to put on an Oscar award winning performance for ‘girl who has just woken up’. 

Katy snuggled up beside me as I sat up. Looking across the room, I realised George was carrying in a tray with a display of breakfast items presented neatly on top of it. There was toast. There was freshly grounded coffee in mine and George’s favourite coffee mugs. There was even a little bright pink Tommee Tippee cup with warm milk in it for Katy. 

“I thought we could have a family breakfast in bed before our little trip to the zoo,” George smiled. 

Shit. I had completely forgotten about our promise to Katy to take her to the zoo. It had escaped my mind. I had been so focused on everything else that was going on in my mind over the whole Jaymi and Olly baby situation that I had forgotten about our trip to the zoo. 

“That sounds perfect,” I said, smiling a sincere smile at him. 

He grinned at me as he walked towards the bed, putting the tray in the middle of the bed before clambering into the bed beside where Katy was sprawled. 

“What sound do monkeys make?” George asked Katy as she nibbled on a bit of toast. 

“Ooh ooh!” she grinned proudly. 

“And what sound do giraffes make?”

Katy looked at me in confusion, followed by the same reaction from George. Then it hit me. I didn’t even know what sound giraffes make. 

“I’ll google it,” George laughed as he grabbed his phone from the bedside table and began to do research into what sound a giraffe makes. 

“Mummy!” Katy smiled as she took her piece of toast from her right hand and shoved it into my nose with her left hand. 

“Great. Butter nose,” I giggled, wiping the yellow from my nose. 

“Apparently they don’t make a noise,” George smiled. “So Katy, make the noise of a giraffe.”

I laughed as he was inferring Katy to be silent. 

“Look, Sammy. I wasn’t going to say anything but I just want you to know that I’m sorry for yesterday and if it’s what you want to do, I’ll stick by you through it. I promised it with our vows and I mean it. Through thick and thin, I’ll be by your side.” 

I smiled at him as he handed me the cup of coffee that was in my favourite Minnie Mouse mug. “I love you.” 

“Not as much as I love you, Mrs. Shelley.” 

It still made me get goose bumps from him calling me it. 

*

Once all of Katy’s things were packed up in the car and she was all buckled up in the car seat, George ran back into the house to get his wallet and phone that he had absentmindedly left in the study where he booked the tickets for the zoo just moments before. As I went to climb into the front passenger seat in preparation for the journey into Central London, a car pulled up into our drive and parked behind our car. I looked through the rear view mirror to see Jaymi and Olly sat in the car behind ours. 

In confusion, I got out of the car and met them as they got out of their own car. 

“What you guys doing here?” I asked. 

“I know you’re off to the zoo, Sammy, but we needed to tell you this before you go,” Jaymi smiled. 

“What is it?” 

“Sammy, we can’t let you do it. We refuse to let you have our baby,” Olly confessed. 

I looked at them both with a confused look on my face. “Why?” 

“We need to go but thank-you for the offer. We just can’t let you do it,” Jaymi added. “You mean too much to us.” 

“Oh, okay,” I paused. 

“Have fun at the zoo,” Jaymi smiled as they both quickly hugged me. 

Once they had climbed back into their car and began reversing off the drive, George came out of the house, looking as confused as I was. 

“Was that Jaymi and Olly?” he asked. 

I nodded, walking back towards our car where Katy was singing along to the Jungle Book soundtrack that was playing on the CD player. “They just wanted to tell me that they don’t want me to do what I offered to do.” 

“Come on,” George smiled. “We’ll talk about this properly later. Let’s just go to the zoo with our daughter and have some fun. I think we deserve it.”

I nodded in agreement. “Let’s go see giraffes make the sound they make,” I joked.