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Shona King
Shona smiled when Shirley told her motherhood was supposed to come naturally, despite the hard work. “I’m sure my future self will want to kick me for saying this, but I am already so in love with this little thing, I can’t imagine not wanting to look after it every second of the day…” The baby was already making life hard for her in many ways; she couldn’t do a lot of the things she used to be able to do. A lot of foods she was discovering she couldn’t eat, a lot of sleepless nights and mood swings and outbursts of despair and dread and overwhelming yet unexplainable emotions. She couldn’t walk for too long without getting a bad back, sore feet or chafing thighs. Sometimes Spencer annoyed her so much that she wanted to smack him even when he hadn’t actually done anything wrong. Pregnancy was hard, and in moments like this when the love she had for her baby overpowered all the downsides, she had to remind herself that parenting wasn’t all going to be sunshine and rainbows.
“Oh, you’re a twin!” she exclaimed, then tried to tone down her enthusiasm in case she was misunderstanding their relationship. “Well that makes you more qualified to raise twins than most people. Ireland is a fair distance away...I’ve always lived in London myself, but we have family in Ireland and the distance can take its toll.” She wasn’t speaking of her biological family, but of her nephew, Callum. The boy had been taken back to London by his mother after her brother-in-law Alex had cheated on her. Having been in a series of rocky relationships with men herself, she liked to think that if Spencer ever broke her heart, her baby would stay with her. Still, it felt very different not having him around, and she could only imagine how hard it was for Alex not to be able to see his son.
Before she could give away too much information about the Kings without Spencer knowing, she backtracked to the talk of having siblings. “I have a sister, too, but we don’t really talk much. I don’t think I was a great role model for her so we don’t have all that much to do with each other these days. But you know what? Sometimes the family you make is better than the family you’re born with.” She glanced down once again to her baby bump. “These little blessings are our chance to make the family we want.”
The impression Shona was gathering was that Shirley didn’t have a lot of family around. Her twin sister was all the way over in Ireland, she had no contact with her extended family - and had she just talked about her parents in the past tense? It was a hard thing to ask someone if they were alone just minutes after meeting them.
“Shirley,” she spoke up, maintaining friendly eye contact. “You know, I’m sure we’ll end up seeing more of each other here - maybe we’ll even find each other in the same postnatal class, if you're thinking of going to one of those...but when my appointment is over, I’m heading to this pub in Bethnal Green called The Royal Taphouse. I won’t be drinking, obviously! But my husband is gonna be there, and some of his family, I think. If you’d like to join us, you'd be welcome. It’d be nice to see you there.” She smiled warmly, her heart beating at the thought of potentially making a new friend. Surrounded by Spencer's family, she wasn’t set to go through parenthood alone, but the thought of going through first-time motherhood with another woman was comforting - and if her impression of Shirley was correct, the woman might find it a comfort, too.
Interactions
BloodThunder27 Shirley
Shona smiled when Shirley told her motherhood was supposed to come naturally, despite the hard work. “I’m sure my future self will want to kick me for saying this, but I am already so in love with this little thing, I can’t imagine not wanting to look after it every second of the day…” The baby was already making life hard for her in many ways; she couldn’t do a lot of the things she used to be able to do. A lot of foods she was discovering she couldn’t eat, a lot of sleepless nights and mood swings and outbursts of despair and dread and overwhelming yet unexplainable emotions. She couldn’t walk for too long without getting a bad back, sore feet or chafing thighs. Sometimes Spencer annoyed her so much that she wanted to smack him even when he hadn’t actually done anything wrong. Pregnancy was hard, and in moments like this when the love she had for her baby overpowered all the downsides, she had to remind herself that parenting wasn’t all going to be sunshine and rainbows.
“Oh, you’re a twin!” she exclaimed, then tried to tone down her enthusiasm in case she was misunderstanding their relationship. “Well that makes you more qualified to raise twins than most people. Ireland is a fair distance away...I’ve always lived in London myself, but we have family in Ireland and the distance can take its toll.” She wasn’t speaking of her biological family, but of her nephew, Callum. The boy had been taken back to London by his mother after her brother-in-law Alex had cheated on her. Having been in a series of rocky relationships with men herself, she liked to think that if Spencer ever broke her heart, her baby would stay with her. Still, it felt very different not having him around, and she could only imagine how hard it was for Alex not to be able to see his son.
Before she could give away too much information about the Kings without Spencer knowing, she backtracked to the talk of having siblings. “I have a sister, too, but we don’t really talk much. I don’t think I was a great role model for her so we don’t have all that much to do with each other these days. But you know what? Sometimes the family you make is better than the family you’re born with.” She glanced down once again to her baby bump. “These little blessings are our chance to make the family we want.”
The impression Shona was gathering was that Shirley didn’t have a lot of family around. Her twin sister was all the way over in Ireland, she had no contact with her extended family - and had she just talked about her parents in the past tense? It was a hard thing to ask someone if they were alone just minutes after meeting them.
“Shirley,” she spoke up, maintaining friendly eye contact. “You know, I’m sure we’ll end up seeing more of each other here - maybe we’ll even find each other in the same postnatal class, if you're thinking of going to one of those...but when my appointment is over, I’m heading to this pub in Bethnal Green called The Royal Taphouse. I won’t be drinking, obviously! But my husband is gonna be there, and some of his family, I think. If you’d like to join us, you'd be welcome. It’d be nice to see you there.” She smiled warmly, her heart beating at the thought of potentially making a new friend. Surrounded by Spencer's family, she wasn’t set to go through parenthood alone, but the thought of going through first-time motherhood with another woman was comforting - and if her impression of Shirley was correct, the woman might find it a comfort, too.
Interactions
BloodThunder27 Shirley