JUST AS SHE IS Chapter 2 The Baby shall Be Mine

                                                 Chapter 2

                                     The Baby shall be mine.

                       "You did what?" asked Susan enraged. She would have yelled hadn't it been a hospital with all newborn babies sleeping.

                        " I had no other choice, they are asking for the father of the child, and I have not been able to get hold of Ivan even on the phone", replied Nancy through gritted teeth. 

                     "You...," started Susan, but she didn't complete her sentence because James walked into the maternity ward at that moment. 

              James was the husband of Susan and Nancy's sister, Tacy. Tacy was younger than Susan and older than Nancy. James was a businessman. We can call him a 'good man' if it weren't for his greed for money and fame. He was a short and stout man with a wise-looking face. He came in and bent over the cradle first. Though his face showed no emotion, his eyes began to flood, and he looked up and asked sharply to Susan, " Has he come yet?" 

                Susan shook her head, dropped it, and didn't dare to see his face. "If he doesn't turn up in these two days. I will sign as the baby's guardian and take her home and raise her as my own", he said. It was not words of sympathy but rather words of warning. With those words, he left.

            Susan still didn't look up. She knew better not to say anything now. James was older than Susan and had been well acquainted with Susan's family since childhood. James has had a secret crush on Susan since childhood, but she is not his type.  She would never be a wife who says "yes, my lord" to any man. Tacy, on the other hand, liked the comfort of a secure home with a man to call all the shots. Despite being married to Tacy, Susan knew well that James had not gotten over her yet. 

          Susan was raised in the Christian faith and knew how to pray, but she never believed in prayer because she felt her prayers were never answered. However, this time despite her disbelief, she prayed fervently. "Dear Lord, help me. I have already destroyed my life. I don't want to destroy my sister's life and marriage. Please help me! , and the child, You have given me."

               Susan might have accepted James' offer if she was one with beauty and brains. But she was a beauty with a heart so she knew better. 

 

               As she lay back on her bed, her thoughts drifted towards Tacy. Tacy was a simple girl, with a round face and a kind look. She knew about James' secret crush on Susan, yet when he proposed to marry her she accepted. Their father had just passed away, and their mother was sick. Tacy knew very well that it would be very burdensome for her mother to arrange a marriage proposal for her. So, when James proposed, she accepted, despite being ten years younger than him. 

              Susan remembered the sacrifice that Tacy had made. There was no love, no romance only security in her marriage, yet she accepted it willfully for her mother. These thoughts brought more pain into Susan's heart. There is no way she could let James adopt her baby. Her baby in Tacy's life would be demanding more sacrifice than she had already made. Even more, Susan knew that James' greed was not just for money and fame but was also for her. The very thought made her shiver. 

       "Do you need more blankets?" asked Nancy seeing Susan shiver.

       "No, can you place the baby near me?" Susan asked.

            Nancy took the baby and placed her next to Susan. Susan drew the child closer to her. She held the baby's fingers in hers. They were so pink, and though they were small she felt the fingers were long just like hers. She smiled and thought to herself, "You are mine and I will raise you no matter what happens!" 

           Susan knew the road she had chosen was long and would be hard, yet she was determined to walk in it. As she kept fondling the little fingers she realised something, she loved her baby and she knew that love was enough to make her walk any path of difficulty and face anything that tomorrow might bring. This cheered her up and she closed her eyes and fell asleep. 

           Nancy sat by the bedside, watching her sister play with the baby and smiling to herself. She wondered how Susan could smile at such an hour and how could she sleep just like her baby without a worry about what tomorrow might bring. But what Nancy didn't know was that love is as strong as death and sometimes even stronger. 

                                                                      .............. to be continued