The salad I made tasted like ashes in my mouth. I was eating and trying to stay calm. Leo would be home from work soon. I would have to tell him the news, that I was expecting, that we were having a baby. I knew he was going to be upset. He never once talked about having children. He just seemed happy with just us. I was a young woman though, I wanted a child someday. No children. More than one. I wanted a whole brood of them to raise and love.
I washed my plate and put it away, feeling stiff and numb. Leo wasn't going to be happy. I didn't know what to expect though. Would he yell? Would he leave me? No, no, no, Leo loved me. He would never leave me.
I sat at the table and read my new book, "What to Expect When You'er Expecting", It was telling me how the pregnancy would go, things I could do to ensure a healthy birth. I read it over carefully but when I heard the car door slam outside, I knew without looking up that Leo was home.
"Hey, love. Feel better after going to the doctors? What are you reading?" I stood, backing away from the table, leaving the book lying there. He seemed to think this was a game. He reached for the book and looked at the title. Rage overcame his face. He threw the book down violently.
"Is there something you would like to tell me, love?" He snarled at me. I was taken back. He had gotten frustrated with me before, but he had never yelled at me. His tone was beyond what I was used to. I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes.
"I - I went to the doctors like you asked. They told me that I'm pregnant."
"How could you let this happen?! I thought we were happy the way we were! I thought we weren't having any!" He roared.
"We never talked about it!" I cried out, feeling the tears run down my face. "You never said anything about children! I wanted them, I always wanted them!"
"Well you never thought about what I wanted did you? How do I even know its mine?"
"How dare you!" I screamed. "I love you, I would never do that!"
"And I suppose, you expect me to believe that we're supposed to be one big happy family now, right?"
"Well yes! I want a family, Leo"
"Oh, whatever, Monica" He rolled his eyes and then stormed off, leaving me standing in our living room, tears dripping off my chin. My fairy tale was just destroyed. I felt like an idiot. I loved Leo, I really thought I did but at that moment, I was beginning to doubt myself. Leo wasn't all he was cracked up to be.
The next few months was spent separated. Leo slept in the spare bedroom while I kept our bed to myself. I refused to leave and he refused to talk to me. I spent most time reading about what I was to expect. This was my first baby after all. I sensed Leo's eyes on me sometimes, but I did my best to ignore him. I read book after book. Leo spent more and more time out of the house.
I even did all the chores myself. He became useless. It was like I was living alone again. I was happy to be having a baby but my husband was being a jerk. I didn't know how to talk to him though. It had been two months since our argument and the weeks had passed so slowly. I was so upset yet, but I couldn't find it in myself to talk to him. I was still so mad about it all, and sad.
As I turned to go back into the house, there he was. He was smiling at me. I think he was trying to be reassuring but instead it just made me wary. What did he want? Was he going to yell some more? Make me feel like I shouldn't want this baby some more? I'm surprised he didn't ask me to be rid of it. Of course I would never consider it. I think he knew that if he asked, I would leave him. If he asked, I would.
"Honey, don't look at me like that. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry for the way I've been acting." He said to me, gently touching my shoulders. "Listen, I should have never reacted like that, I never should have yelled or got upset. I was just...surprised. I didn't know how to react. I'm just not ready for children, but I'll try. For you, I'll try." He smiled at me and I looked at him long and hard, hoping to catch the truth or a lie in his eyes. He seemed sincere though.
"Alright...Thank you" I muttered, not sure how I felt.
"Alright good! We'll be a happy family, just you wait and see" he seemed to be beaming. Perhaps he really was happy. "I just wanted to catch you before my meeting. Oh, and there was something in the mail for you. I think a fan sent it. I set it on the table. I'll see you later, Monica" He kissed me on the cheek and was off.
I watched him drive off, wondering why the heck there was a meeting at this time. Oh well, he was probably just going to the bar to be truthful. I didn't care as long as he didn't drink all of our money away. We'd need it now that I was having a baby.
I walked into the house and saw the object sitting on the table. It was an old lamp. Looked like a relic from another country perhaps. How odd that someone sent it to me. Perhaps they thought that I collected such relics?
I reached for it and held it gently in my hands. It was very old but it didn't feel brittle. In fact it felt quite sturdy and it weighted quite a bit. It was covered in a thin layer of grime though. It was a little disgusting to be holding in my hand.
I gently began to rub the grime off with my sleeve. There was alot on it and I was beginning to think I was better off getting some soap and giving the object a good wash when it trembled in my hand. I looked at i in shock.
Finally smoke started pouring out of it. I held it away from me as sparks began to fly around it. The smoke got thicker and thicker in front of me and I was a little scared to tell you the truth. What was happening? What was this? A prank?
And then suddenly the smoke cleared and standing before me was the most handsome man I had ever seen. I couldn't see his hair but it must have been white because that was what color his eyebrows were. His skin was a very fair shade of blue and his eyes a much deeper shade of it. He was strong and muscular. All I wanted was to be in his arms at that moment. He looked at me with such ancient wisdom, such kindness that I was speechless for several moments.
"Greetings, new Mistress. I am the Genie of the Lamp and I am here to grant you three wishes. What is it that you desire?"
"G-grant me wishes? I don't need anything" I told him, shock written clearly on my face.
"Nothing? Not love or wealth? Eternal Beauty? A Long life?" He asked and I shook my head at each suggestion.
"No. None of that" I told him. "I'm already married, I'm with my first child and I'm a fairly well known signer. I don't need anything else"
"You don't?" He asked quite shocked. He seemed lost for words. I almost wanted to ask him to grant a wish, just to hear his deep, mellow voice again but I bit my lip to keep myself quiet.
"Wait, then why did you summon me?"
"Oh? I didn't know rubbing the lamp would summon you. I'm sorry for disturbing you" He sighed and looked at me a long moment.
"You are an oddity among humans."
"I guess I am" I smiled at him. It wasn't the first time I'd been called odd, but it was the first time it felt like a compliment. He smiled back and then his smile faltered.
"Are you going to give my lamp to another person?"
"Do I have to?" I asked. I didn't really want to give him away. "Can't I wish...for your freedom?"
He hugged me suddenly. I was so shocked but slowly I put my arms around him as well. He was warm and strong. I wished he were closer, I wish he were holding me a little tighter. Oh what was I thinking? I was married for crying out loud!
"Thank you! If you do...that is." He pulled away and cleared his throat. "I've served many masters but none ever even thought of freeing me."
"How long have you been imprisoned?"
"For over one thousand years" His expression became grim. I patted his shoulder.
"Let me arrange some things and tell my husband of you. Then I will wish for your freedom" He smiled so brightly at me that I felt a little blinded.
"I await that day, mistress"
Then he stepped back and disappeared. I wondered if he were really there at all. I stood there for a long time, looking at the spot where he had been, but I couldn't seem to convince myself either way. Finally I sat down to watch some TV. Leo would be home soon and I didn't want him to see me standing around.
And when he did get home, I tried to tell him about my new Genie, but Leo would hear nothing of it. He thought I was being crazy. He said it was my hormones from the baby. I know what I saw though! There was a Genie in the lamp and I was going to free him. I considered summoning the Genie once more to prove it but I didn't want to yank him out of the lamp for no reason.
So I couldn't prove that I had summoned a Genie and my husband thought me crazy. That was alright. I knew what I saw. I knew it and I didn't need to prove it to my husband. I would free the Genie and he would see.
~Leo's POV
I pushed against the weights. I had just moved up twenty pounds and it hurt to push on them. My muscles were looking good, I was looking good. You wouldn't guess that I was thirty-eight would you? Not only that, I was married to a young, beautiful pop star.
Who was pregnant.
That word was so dirty to me. I hated children. I hated having them around, I hated seeing them, hearing them and caring for them.
And my wife was expecting one.
I suppose it was a bit of my fault too. I wasn't careful, I should have been. I really don't care though. She can have a baby if it was what made her happy, but I wouldn't give her another. Hopefully it would be a boy, a good heir to the money we would leave behind. That thought made me feel a little better. I could at least raise my son to be more careful than I have.
I finished my work out and stood up. I headed to the shower and changed into more regular clothes afterwards. I had things to do, reasons I needed to look good. My wife was so naive and innocent. She was a real idiot. She was so happy right now too. She was about six months along and her belly was swelling. She was disgusting, all swelled with child. I couldn't wait until she got that thing out of her and went back to her hot self. If she went back to being hot. Some women were never the same afterwards.
I went to the stairs, knowing she was reading another stupid baby book up there. "Honey, I have another meeting. I'll be back soon, okay?" I called to her.
"Alright, I love you!" she called back.
"Yeah, love you too!" Then I hurried out the door and to my car. Love? Whoever heard of such a stupid concept? Love didn't exist. It was all stupid. Stupid of her to think it did, stupid of her to pretend it did.
It didn't take me long to get to the house. A twenty minute drive. It was Monica's old house. I told her I sold it. I didn't. I kept it because a friend of a friend needed a place to stay. I gave this place to them for cheap rent. I walked up the drive, humming to myself, feeling calm. I always felt calm when visiting them.
The house was still shoddy, but that was because neither of us wanted to buy new decorations. My friend didn't plan on staying there long anyway and I didn't plan on keeping them there long either. There was another house on sale in town. They'd do better there anyway.
"Put the food down" I called as I entered around the corner, spotting her curly, fair blonde hair in the kitchen. She had a plate in her hand, but that could wait. "We have 'business' to attend to"
~Monica's POV
I sat upstairs reading and I heard Leo call up to me about leaving for a meeting. After replying and hearing the door click shut, I jumped up to watch him drive away. With him gone, I hurried back to our room and retrieved the Lamp where I had hidden it. Walking back out into the hall, I held it close. This was the only time I got to see Brendon, as was the Genie's name. Leo refused to believe in him and told me to get rid of the Lamp. I hid it. I wouldn't abandon Brendon.
I rubbed it once more, feeling glee that I would soon get to see my best friend.
"Hey beautiful" He flirted the moment he got out of his lamp.
"Oh you" I waved his flirt off with my hand. We talked for a little while but finally the subject turned to what it always did, his freedom. He had explained to me that he would need help weakening the bonds of magic that his lamp used to hold him to it. He also informed me it would not be easy or safe to preform while I was carrying a child. He was content to wait until I had given birth and then we would free him.
"Not long till this little one is born. I bet he'll be beautiful"
"He'll?" I asked.
"Of course, you're carrying a boy." He smiled up at me. "I can sense it you know. He'll be alot like his mother, very kind"
"And how would you know that?" I asked, rolling my eyes in a skeptical way.
"Because, how could you expect anything less from your child?" He grinned at me now. I knew it was time he got back in his lamp. We hugged - always too short of an embrace - and he disappeared once more.
A few hours passed and soon I heard a car pull up into our drive. I didn't look, figuring it was Leo. I was busy cleaning after all.
"Honey" I turned to see Leo and a young woman behind him. She had curly, light blonde hair and looked to only be eighteen or nineteen. I didn't like the way she fidgeted. Actually, I just didn't like her.
"This is Fae. She's going to be our live-in maid and nanny. You know, to take some pressure off of you when you have the baby. She's the daughter of a friend of mine from France. She wants to live over here but needed a job. She loves children, so I figured she'd be a great help"
I looked at this woman, putting my hand on my hip.
"And are you qualified to be a nanny?" I asked her, my tone sharp. Something about this woman didn't sit right with me.
"Of course!" She said, a smile on her face. Her accent annoyed me too.
"Do you have a CPR licence?"
She began digging through her pockets and eventually had to go get her purse to prove to me that she had everything that qualified her for the job. Leo rolled his eyes at me but I couldn't just have anyone attending to my child. I had to be sure. I gave him a look after I was done questioning her though.
"Alright, you can have the spare bedroom I suppose"
"Don't worry, you won't regret this" She seemed so cheerful.
"Be sure that I don't" I snapped and stormed off. I wondered what Leo was up to and who this girl really was but I didn't want to question too deeply. I didn't have any reason to, yet.
Sorry it took so long for this chapter, but my internet has been funny lately. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it :)
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