She couldn’t keep anything down. The smell of food cooking evoked an automatic response – straight to the bathroom. She was tired all the time, her breasts hurt, her head never failed to hit the pillow by nine in the evening. Even Alicia’s tea rose perfume made her gag. Some mother you are. Pregnancy was nothing like she’d thought it would be. Though she was still forcing herself to go to work each morning and putting on a cheery face for Alicia, it was hard. The worst part was feeling so totally alone. After Bubba took her to lunch to celebrate, she’d been scrupulously careful not to bother him. He saw the false-faced, smiling front as well. There were some good moments, usually when her stomach was completely empty. It amazed Mel to realize she’d never seen so many pregnant women in her entire life. Maybe she’d simply never noticed them. Now she felt she had something in common with every pregnant woman she saw. And babies – each time she saw one in its mother’s arms, she wondered what her child would look like.
