JUST AS SHE IS Chapter 3 "I am not, Ivan"

           

                               Chapter 3

                           "I am not, Ivan"

              Susan stood next to the window in the maternity ward and held the baby in the morning sunlight. As she continued to behold the baby's face, she felt a warmth fill her heart and soul. She didn't know if it was the morning sunlight or the baby's charm, but it filled her with life and energy that was drained during childbirth. 

              "Why don't you sit and rest while I hold the baby in the sunlight? It's been only three days since you gave birth. You need to rest", insisted Nancy.

              "It's okay. I can hold her. I feel better now", said Susan swaying the baby slightly.

               Nancy frowned, ever since James' visit yesterday Susan had held on to the baby all the time. She didn't allow Nancy even to change the baby's diapers. She did it herself. She took the baby herself to feed and rocked her to sleep. In fact, she hasn't even allowed Nancy to touch the baby. Nancy felt angry and irritated because Susan was treating her with indifference after all that she had done for her. Yet, she felt a surge of guilt, she thought it was because of what she did yesterday that Susan must be acting this way. 

              Nancy had tried calling Ivan for the past three months. As the time for Susan's delivery drew nearer and nearer, Nancy repeatedly tried to reach Ivan in different ways. But each time she had failed. Nancy knew for sure Ivan would not turn up. So, she did the only thing she could think of, she called her brother-in-law, James. Nancy knew that James was the perfect guy to go to for help at that moment. According to her, her brother-in-law was older and wiser than her sisters. She always insisted that they get his counsel in everything they do. She believed he would solve any problem. She knew James could settle the baby's issue somehow and could give Susan a new start, which she believed Susan deserved. 

              As for Nancy, Susan was a princess in a pauper's house. She had admired her older sister for as long as she could remember. She had grown up hearing everybody praise her beauty, talents, generosity, and compassion. She thought some prince from a foreign nation would come to ask her sister's hand in marriage. Not even in her wildest dreams, she dreamt that her sister would fall for a cheat like Ivan.  She stood beside Susan lost in her own thoughts when she was aroused by a voice,

           "Susan" 

          Both Susan and Nancy turned around. A man with a thin and ghostly appearance stood there as if he had just walked out of the grave. He had a long, handsome face completely covered by an untrimmed beard. His large, round eyes were sunken and surrounded by dark circles, giving him the look of someone who had not eaten or slept for months.

          "Are you a ghost? Am I dreaming?" asked Nancy in a hushed voice. 

           "Ha! You are always funny," laughed Ivan with a charming voice. 

      Nancy's heart missed a beat. Oh! That laugh, it had always made her heart skip. Nancy had admired the charming prince, Ivan, ever since she had met him. 

     She still remembers vividly when she first met Ivan, Susan had introduced him to her. She thought he looked like a charming prince from fairy tales. He was a handsome young man with a distinct charm to attract any woman. He would simply sweep any woman off her feet with his sweet and charming speech. If it hadn't been for his ugly personality, Nancy would have totally liked him as any other woman would.

      "I do look like one, don't I?" asked Ivan with the same charming voice.

     “If it weren't for your voice, I would have really thought you were a zombie,” Nancy replied sarcastically. 

    “Well, I’m not,” Ivan said seriously, moving closer to Susan with his hands outstretched to receive the baby.

      Nancy made a move to stop Susan from giving him the baby. But then there was no need for it. Susan took a step back and hugged the baby closer still. 

     Ivan was not surprised by this, in fact, he expected this. Susan turned her back to the window, went to her bed sat down. She laid the baby on her lap and held her tight. Ivan came and sat on the bed beside Susan. She didn't protest. Ivan took it as a positive sign. But Nancy was angry. 

   "Get up and sit over there," Nancy said spitefully, pointing to a chair beside the bed.

           Ivan did as he was told while Nancy sat down next to Susan. Ivan didn't give up though. He leaned and looked at the baby. A sudden was lit on his ghastly appearance. He looked more like his old shelf now.  

          "She has my eyes, hasn't she?" asked Ivan in awe. The baby suddenly started to cry, more like protesting her father's words.

      "Ha! Even she didn't like what you said", jerked Nancy. 

     "Well, she will like it when she grows up and looks in the mirror and finds she has eyes as beautiful as her father's", said Ivan coolly. 

       Susan glared at him. He shut up. 

"Well, they have been asking for her father since we came. Why don't you go and attend to that, proud dad?" retorted Nancy "I didn't know your second name, I just gave them, Ivan", she added. 

Susan looked at him,  Ivan bit his lip. "My name is not Ivan, it's Frederick", he said. 

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