Chapter 9.5 – July 2023 part I: The most important thing.

It was a bright summer day for Palash and Sofia, with only a few seemingly distant clouds on the horizon, and they were just about to enjoy it by relaxing by the pool in their backyard when of course..

..the heavens opened and it began to rain. "I think we'll have to wait it out inside instead" Palash said. "I'll go turn on some music... I don't want you to catch a cold." How sweet of him, always considerate and thoughtful of his wife, and of course he would be.. she is, after all, carrying perhaps the most important thing to him right now, right there inside her belly....

Sofia still had her craving for pancakes, which she would feast on now, as often as she could... but still on occasion, she would get nauseous and need to make a run for the nearest bathroom shortly after eating..

..before commiting to the same routine all over again..

The pregnancy hasn't been a smooth ride for Sofia. She would deny it in the beginning.. no, she wasn't pregnant, that couldn't be, she was just.. sick.. but as time passed, and her belly grew, there was no more denying..

..she went into a period of rapid mood swings, from eagerly awaiting her child, to loathing the thought of being pregnant and in the future raising a child, so much so that yes, she did consider to go to the hospital and have her pregnancy terminated, but still.. something in her knew she couldn't do it, not for herself.. when she thought about what it would do to Palash, the love of her life.. how it would crush him if she would ever do such a thing.. and after Laranya had learnt about the pregnancy too, following her father-in-laws stay at the hospital just last christmas, it became even harder to do it.. so it was never really an option, though the thought would sometimes still be there...

..and maybe, if she would dare to dig a little deeper, maybe she would find that she would enjoy it, too.. atleast it would like it, considering that all the conversations the couple was having about their future seemed to revolve around this one thing.. and they were all positive.. the toys, the clothes they were going to buy.. the cute, tiny little shoes..

Later in the evening Palash spoke to Sofia about their neighbours funeral last month.. or rather, some of what was said during the event..

    "The weirdest thing happened at Mariannes funeral" he began "I had just retreated to their backyard swimming pool to practice some guitar when Max approached me.. and he was furious!"

Sofia listened attentively. She didn't want to attend the funeral herself, especially not now when she was pregnant, as she had always had an iffy feeling about the Skurckh family since around the time of her mothers sudden disappearance..

As a young child her fathers explanation that she had ran away with another man seemed convincing enough.. for a while, until she started questioning why they never heard anything at all from her since then. No phone calls, no letters, no visits, no child support.. had mom abandoned them completely? Wasn't Sofia her child anymore?

    ..and none of this was made any easier by her dads tendency to bury himself in work, spending more and more time at the fire station – seemingly – then at home caring for his daughter, his only child... 'He had to do it to pay the bills....' he would always say, only stopping by at home to dump another useless toy on her.. when all she wanted was a little bit of affection and attention from dad.. the fancy, expensive toys and the constantly rotating cycle of teenage baby sitters was a very poor replacement...
She knew this now, in her adult years.. but as a child, and eventually a teenager and young adult.. the search for fulfilment through increasingly expensive items, clothing and make up started to feel more and more hollow as time went on..

    "He threatened to give me a beating..." Palash said "..unless I got out of there and went home to you.."

    Somehow, she wasn't surprised by Max's fury.. Of course, he was a grieving man, and she had felt the same fury herself when her daddy died... The autopsy had confirmed it was a heart attack, and it was speculated that it was due to stress, given his relatively young age of being only 53 years old in combination with the heavy work load he put on himself.. in order to, according to his own words, pay the bills for the house, take care of Sofia.. and...?

    "He said if I didn't get off the property, he would dump me in the river..but the most shocking thing he said.." Palash continued.. "..was that they should've done you in too!"

That's why she began to not trust the Skurchk family.. she suspected they were behind something else.. that they were responsible for her mothers death...and that they were somehow blackmailing him for money.. but she had never figured out a way to prove it... perhaps until just now...

    "..it was just as if he admitted to having murdered someone! What on earth could this be about!? Does this make any sense to you!?"

    Sofia knew very well what Max meant... but she couldn't tell Palash, not now.. She was so close, contractions could start any minute.. It was probably best not to.. It was probably best to play along for a while, then try to deflect it and hope he would forget about it.. like she always used to do whenever he delivered one of his far out conspiracy theories.. except she knew of course that this was more than just a theory..

    "Oh, wow.. did he really say that?" Sofia said, pretending to act surprised. "That's really quite shocking – even for a grieving man!"

    "I know, that's what caught me so off guard!" Palash said "I wasn't expecting that!"

    "Yeah.. I wish I knew how to explain this one!" Sofia said, not needing to fake her honesty "I mean.. everybody sort of knows that they're not.. that they probably have some skeletons in their closet one way or another, but I always thought... I don't know..."

    "Look! If it's really true that they've murdered someone.. I would think that someone must've found the body already.. and that someone would have.. that someone would have reported someone as missing..."

Sofia had to swallow at what she just said.. Reported missing.. If mom had been reported missing.. then maybe..

    "Yes, probably... " Palash said in response as if he could read her thoughts... "...well.. I'm not gonna press charges for them on this during this time, but.. I think we should probably keep our distance from them now.. just to make sure..."

    "Isn't that right, daddys little one?" he said as he bent down slightly to talk to Sofias belly.. "You don't need to worry" he continued with a baby like voice "Mom and dad is gonna keep you safe, away from all the bad people and neighbours.."

"Peek-a-boo! Here's daddy! Kick your legs if you can hear me!"

"No no, Palash.. no leg kicks, please.." Sofia chuckled "Daddy's being a silly man! Yes, he is!"

Palash was much easier to distract than she had thought.. what a blessing this man was. ;)

He was still the same quirky goofball she first fell in love with..

 

A peculiar man with a good heart, who knew to value family above everything else.. She knew this was the man for her.. there couldn't be anyone else..

Good night. ;)

Previous |  Next