BREAKING POINT

Jeremy called Penny later that day. Joey watched her as she picked the call. Jeremy told her he was having a good time in Cairo. He had made many friends and was out at parties all the time.

“But there isn’t a girl here to touch you for looks or charm” Jeremy continued saying. “I miss you so much darling, so much that sometimes I wish I didn’t accept this job. Anyways Six months isn’t such a very long time and with the way things are going over here… With all the fun… I’m not even going to notice how long it is”

His words brought Penny no comfort. She felt cold, almost dried up and emotionless. Jeremy was beginning to show himself as such an appalling egotist and so shallow, it horrified her.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

The months did not pass quickly for her. As she grew bigger, she felt unable to tackle the long walks up to the cliff tops with Joey and spent most of the day in the garden.

Penny’s prayer now was that this child would be a boy. Jeremy would definitely prefer a son. She did not voice these thoughts aloud to Audrey or Joey but deep in her heart she willed it to be a son. She had decided not to ask the doctor about the sex of the baby. But she hoped it was a boy. It must be. Whatever should happen in the future, if she had Jeremy’s son she would always have part of the man she loved.

Penny now began to look forward to the day when her baby would be born. As days passed, she was tremendously thrilled. Apart from the feeling of heaviness she felt extremely well. Far better than she had done during the first few months of her pregnancy. When her due date passed and still there was no sign of the baby arriving, she grew nervous and asked Joey if he thought everything was alright.

“Of course it is” Joey reassured her. “I will have a bet with you Penny. The baby is late. Might be a boy. They say boys are lazy… Sometimes. Want to take me on?”

She could never be sufficiently grateful to Penny and Joey. Without actually hiding away from the world, she had been given a perfect hide out far away from anyone who knew her. She had had no rebuffs, no awkward questions, no aspersions cast on her character. These two friends had opened their door to her and gone to endless trouble make her happy and comfortable. Even her confinement had been arranged by them so that she would not have to be bothered with details or complications.

“Joey is going to have move into the sitting room or your room” Audrey announced one afternoon. “You shall have your baby in the big room and Joey has arranged for Nurse Caroline come over for a month. She will assist in the delivery. You will love nurse Caroline. She has a very, amusing sense of humor, and underneath s rather brusque exterior she is the soul of kindness. If you feel well enough for the walk, we will stroll over there and i will introduce her to you ”

Penny took an immediate liking to the nurse and having the utmost confidence in Joey’s partner, she had nothing to worry about. At Audrey’s suggestion, she called her aunt and uncle and told them she was having a small operation and she would not be well enough to travel for a few months. Aunt Ann gave Penny all sorts of advice and told her not to think of attempting any journey until she had fully recovered.

Jeremy’s calls and texts came regularly. After each one Penny felt increasingly happier of the future. He never failed to tell her that he missed her and he was longing to be with you again. And although he mentioned all the people (especially women) he had met, there seemed to be nothing going on with anyone of them. She almost sure now that he had been faithful to her.

“I should be home in January” Jeremy told her the next time they talked.

“By January you will be up and about again” Joey told her. “of course you will be out of bed long before then, but if you mean back to normal in every way, then you must allow two months”

He did not say that the doctor at the hospital was afraid that she might have a difficult confinement. After the last examination he had confided in Joey that the baby was not altogether in the best position. It was also a big baby and Penny would have difficulty. If this were so, there might even have to be a caesarian. It would be a good two months before she could go back home and feel fit enough to cope with the highly emotional situation that would arise once Jeremy arrived.

“Perhaps if things go wrong, she will turn to me” Joey said to Audrey late one evening when Penny was in bed. “Mind you, Audrey, I hope more than anything in the world that things won’t go wrong. Whatever our opinion of Jeremy maybe, Penny loves him and wants to be married to him. If he makes her happy, that’s all I want”

“The question is, will he make her happy?” Audrey remarked thoughtfully. “Oh, I know he does in some ways. In fact Penny is a different woman for about Fourty Eight hours after she’s talked to him. But I feel like he’s one of those people who are wonderful when things go right, but appalling when things go wrong. For example if something happens and he looses his job and he marries Penny, he will have three people to support. That means hard work. Jeremy did not strike me as a person who likes hard work”

“We may be misjudging him” Joey said. “After all, Penny loves him. There must be something to the fellow”

“You think so?” Audrey asked with raised eyebrows. “No, Joey. Women fall for cads and the rotters in this life. Unfortunately they are often the most attractive. I suppose it boils down to the fact that what you can’t have, you want. That is certainly not my view, not after Alex, but I think it is typical of a large percentage of women. For my part, I should be most unhappy if I could not completely trust the man I love. But from what little I have seen… Particularly during my life experiences… Girls today seem to enjoy the chase as much as the men “