1.14 When will you be home?

With the three horses, the garden, her loving husband and her job, there was barely any time left for Anna. One evening, after Jo had already gone to bed after an exhausting day at work, she snuck outside and aimlessly wandered around town. It felt so good to be free for a few hours, without having to worry about anything. After a little while, the silence started to scare her, so she walked over to the shopping area of Appaloosa Plains. She could see from a distance that many people were still on the streets there, buying groceries for a late dinner or breakfast supplies for the next morning. Children ran across the streets, giggling and fighting over recently bought chocolate, tired mothers followed them, demanded an instant break, while the fathers stood behind them, shaking their heads and starting to load the food into the back of the car. Anna had hardly been out this time of day before, because the darkness had frightened her. Now, it was perfect to stay invisible and watch the people around her. Nobody noticed she was even there, until somebody lightly touched her shoulder. When she turned around, surprised, Benjamin was standing right in front of her, still in his work clothes. She hadn’t expected to see him here, and her heart beat faster for a few seconds. He was as attractive as ever, and the tight shirt brought out his flat stomach. He started talking about business, and how everything was going great. When she took a deep breath and was about to ask him to have coffee, he added that he was seeing somebody. 

Anna had no memory of how she got home that night. He was seeing somebody. A woman called Gracie Loveland. Anna had seen her in town before, she was tall and had long blonde hair. Just like her. When she stood in the kitchen, making herself some dinner, pictures and memories flashed through her head. Benjamin and her in the library, Benjamin and her making out in front of her house, hidden by the bushes. Tears were streaming down her face by the time tonight’s happenings had entered her mind again, and she had to stop cooking for a minute, afraid she would set the kitchen on fire again. No, not again, it had only happened in her dreams. 

Early the next morning, while Jo was still asleep, she woke up, feeling nauseous and excited at the same time. Throughout the last weeks, she had noticed that her body had changed, in addition to the constant feeling of sickness. It was obvious – she was pregnant. She would have Jo’s child. 

When she told him the great news, Jo was thrilled. He hugged and kissed her for what seemed like hours, telling how much he loved her and how long he had waited for this to happen. Nevertheless, she could see sadness in his eyes, not wanting to come to the fore, but still there. He brushed her concerns off, though, and declared that her maternal instincts would already kick in. She instantly knew there was more to this, but he wandered off to the horses before she could ask anything else. There were so many secrets in this family, she was sure of that, but as long as she was not able to communicate hers to him, she couldn’t pressure him to tell her every burden on his soul.

Time passed incredibly quickly again, and suddenly the big day was there. Anna had just gone to bed when she realized an enormous pain rushing through her body. She could barely stand up, her face wreathing in pain. Jo panicked, not knowing what to do at first. They agreed on going to the hospital, because neither of them was too eager to experience a home birth.

They threw on some clothes, and off they went.

When they arrived back home, two days, later they had a beautiful baby girl with them. Birdy Vocis had been born exactly at 12 p.m.

Entering their small house with their newborn daughter, Anna made a fast decision. Birdy shouldn’t grow up in this cramped environment. She was supposed to have space. A huge garden to run around in. Lots and lots of toys widespread on the floor. Everything Anna never had. It didn’t take long to make the necessary arrangements.

In the break of dawn on a beautiful Sunday, Anna and Jo took their beautiful daughter and the horses, and left for their new home. The one that was supposed to make them happy. They’d had to sell all of their possessions in order to buy this huge property, which meant they had to start all over again. No house, almost no furniture, no garden. It was definitely a challenge, and they weren’t sure if they were up for it. 

To find some advice, Jo ran over to his good old friend Chuck, who was now almost a direct neighbor. Chuck was delighted to see Jo again, himself not having aged a single day. The two friends talked for hours, as if nothing had ever happened, but when Jo confessed what he and Anna had done, Chuck became very serious. He was still mad at Anna, and at the same time it filled him with satisfaction to remember what he had done many months ago to make his point clear. She knew better than to toy around now, hopefully. Yet, here she was again, dragging Jo on a giant empty property, with nothing but a few simoleons and a child! A child, of all things. While he tried to comfort his old friend, he already made some plans in his head. She wasn’t going to hurt Jo, and she wasn’t going to use him. He would make sure.

Anna, in the meantime, made another decision while Jo was out. Now that they had to start from scratch, she could not take care of three horses and a baby at the same time, not to mention her other commitments.  She had no idea what was going on at Chuck’s house when she dialed the number of the animal shelter. No idea that this could already be the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Instead, she waved happily, as the horse Jo had only adopted a year ago was brought to a home where new owners would be able to take better care of him than Anna and Jo could.

 *****

When she lay in Jo’s arms that night, Birdy sound asleep in her small room, Anna felt that something still wasn’t quite right. She couldn’t put her finger on it, though. As her stomach rumbled, making her feeling just a tiny bit nauseous, she wondered when she would finally arrive in a place where all was well, not just for a minute, but forever. 


Author's notes: Sorry, didn't fit Jo's introduction in. Next post, along with some hilarious outtakes you just have to see! Slowly, I'm catching up with the story (still about 10 posts to go), but I just have to do that extra post. ;)