Time for a Sign

The boys were about to head off on tour and I still hadn't told Pat about the chance that the baby could be premature, or the fact that Rachel was back. I decided I would tell him as soon as we got home from the dinner the boys had organised as a final get-together before the tour.

We were on our way to the restaurant they had picked, thankfully it was casual enough that if we made any loud noises they wouldn't kick us out, because as soon as those boys got some beers in them, the whole town would probably be able to hear them. I contemplated telling Pat in the car right then and there, but before I could gather the courage to tell him, we had arrived and parked the car.

We entered the restaurant and were greeted by Jessy.

"Hey Jessy, not drinking tonight?" I asked her as I pointed out her glass of water.

She shook her head. "I'm designated driver. I don't get why the boys all want to drink here at home when they can just drink all day and night on tour."

I shrugged. "Beats me. I can't drink anyway so it's not really bothering me at the moment. Where's Rebekah?"

Jessy pointed across the restaurant, where Rebekah was glued to John's side, each of them gripping at each other as if the other were to die at any second.

"What's up with them?" I asked.

"Bek's feeling the pressure of John going on tour. They've been fine all the other times, but now they're engaged it's all just kind of hit her. We've been through it before with Garrett and Pat, so we're going to have to help her out."

I nodded, remembering how hard it was when I was home alone after Pat and I had moved in together. Thankfully Jessy and I were both pretty new to the whole 'tour wives' thing so we stayed at each other's house each night they were gone and burned through a lot of ice cream and wine. Now we were seasoned pros and were used to being alone while the boys were on tour.

I started feeling some little flutters inside my stomach like I had been the last week. The baby had started kicking every now and again, as well as turning around. It scared the shit out of both Pat and I the first time it happened.

I slumped onto the couch, exhausted from paint and nursery shopping, while Pat carried in the tins of paint and shelves we had bought on our shopping trip. He promised that as soon as they got back from tour, he would organise for some of the boys to come around and help set up the nursery in one of our spare rooms. We now had paint, a set of shelves to install and a chest of drawers. Jessy promised that we would go do some more shopping while the boys were away for curtains, rugs and finally, a crib.

Suddenly, I felt the weirdest sensation. It was like my stomach was rumbling, but harder and in the one spot. I placed my hand over the spot with growing concern.

"Pat? I think there's something wrong," my voice was trembling as I told him. He looked up quickly and moved over to me, putting his hand over mine.

"What's wrong? Do you need to go to the hospital?" he asked. I bit my lip as I shook my head.

"I don't feel weird other than that. I'm just going to call Jessy and make sure I'm not overreacting."

I called Jessy and explained what had happened, to which she just laughed.

"Sweetie, that's just the baby kicking around and getting comfortable. They usually start that about now and it's perfectly normal. The baby has probably been kicking you before but it's been so weak that you couldn't feel it. It'll probably start to pick up more in the next few weeks."

Ever since Jessy said that, I've been waiting for the baby to kick again so someone other than me could feel it. Pat kept missing it and nothing made him more disappointed.

I quickly grabbed Jessy's hand and pressed it to my stomach, just in time for her to feel the baby kick against her hand. She looked up with a huge smile on her face before pulling me into a hug.

"This is so exciting! I still can't believe this is actually happening."

I nodded. "I wake up every morning and wonder if I've been dreaming. I actually have to check to make sure I'm not asleep."

We went over to our table and said hello to everyone before we all took our seats and ordered. Thankfully everything was going smoothly and neither Eric or I had let either of our secrets slip.

Once dinner was done, we moved out to the terrace so the boys could continue to drink the bar dry and we all engaged in conversations with one another and the boys talked excitedly about the tour.

A flash of blonde caught my eye and I looked back to see a sight I never wanted to see again. I pulled out my phone and sent a quick message to Eric before motioning for him to check his phone.

'Rachel's here.'

His eyes widened as he scanned the area, finding her by the bar. Hopefully she wouldn't see us and she wouldn't bother us. However we were a large and loud group so the chances of her not seeing us were slim to none.

Rebekah and John were discussing their details for their wedding, which they were planning on having during the beginning of summer next year in a park near the 8123 studio.

"We've already had a talk to a wedding planner and she's going to help organise the venue and decorations as well as the reception. We're thinking about having it up here on the terrace so it's nice and open but still closed off enough so we have some privacy," Rebekah explained, as I saw a blonde walk up behind John.

"Well, well, fancy seeing you again John O'Callaghan," Rachel sneered in her nails-on-a-chalkboard voice. John nearly spat out his drink as his eyes widened and he turned to see Rachel standing behind him with a smirk on her face.

"Uh, what are you doing here, Rachel?" he stammered out. Rebekah just looked between them, confused. Jessy noticed the situation and stalked over, about to give Rachel a piece of her mind.

"I'm back in town for a while. Looks like I'm going to have to extend my stay so I can attend the wedding that should have been mine. We dated for what, six years? You never even brought up the topic of getting engaged," Rachel said icily as she crossed her arms.

"That's because I never loved you, Rachel, as well as the fact that you slept with my best friend for a year before we broke up," John spat back, pulling out of Rebekah's hold.

"We could be married now if it wasn't for that Jessy slut. What's she doing now? Is she even here still or did she run away again?"

"I sure am," Jessy said before pulling her arm back and smacking one square across Rachel's painted face. Rachel looked at her with pure anger, preparing to lunge at Jessy before John put himself between the two.

"Rachel, I think it would be best if you leave," John said in a deep and intimidating voice. Rachel glared at Jessy before turning back to John.

"This isn't over. You haven't seen the last of me," she said before stalking out of the restaurant altogether.

John looked back at her, clearly agitated, before turning to Rebekah. "Can we get out of here?"

She nodded before pulling me and Jessy into a hug. "I'll call you next week so we can arrange something to do over the next few weeks."

I nodded as I said goodbye to her and John and as they left, the rest of the boys started to leave as well, everyone's light-hearted moods crushed by Rachel's reappearance.

As I was driving home, Pat was talking about how crazy it was that Rachel was back.

"Like, she just turned up out of nowhere! That's so crazy, right?"

I sighed, contemplating telling Pat the truth. I had to bite the bullet some time. "Well, I-I kind of already knew she was back."

Pat was quiet. "What?"

"I already knew she was back in town. Eric saw her a couple of weeks ago and he told me over lunch. He made me promise not to tell anyone, we were kind of hoping that none of us would see her and she would just leave."

Pat was still quiet. "So, you kept this a secret from me?"

I sighed again, sensing that this was going to turn into an argument. "Pat-"

"No, you kept a secret from me. Alecia, we tell each other everything. I've kept absolutely nothing from you and you start hiding this shit from me?"

"Pat, it wasn't my secret to tell. If it directly concerned you or me then of course I would tell you. I just didn't want to worry you or any of the other guys, especially just before you're about to go on tour."

"So is there anything directly concerning us that you haven't told me?" Pat asked as I pulled up in the driveway. I stayed silent, not wanting to tell him what the doctor had told me. "Alecia? There's something else, isn't there?"

"Pat, don't start this, please. You leave for tour in two days-"

"Exactly, I leave for tour in two days and I want everything to be out in the open between us."

I opened the front door and Pat followed me into the living room, not letting the conversation drop.

"Fine. If you're not going to tell me what this secret is, I'm going to find somewhere else to stay tonight where they don't keep secrets from me."

"You really wanna know what's wrong?" I nearly shouted at him, fed up with his attitude.

"Of course I do!"

"There's a chance the baby could be born premature because I'm still underweight and because there's a history of premature births in the baby's family. You happy now?"

Pat walked over to face the wall, running his hands through his hair, not speaking. He stayed silent as he moved to go upstairs to our room.

"What are you doing?" I asked him cautiously.

"I'm going to pack a bag to stay with Kennedy for the night."

"Pat, stop being so ridiculous."

He turned to face me. "Me? I'm the one being ridiculous? Alecia, you kept a secret about the health of our unborn child. Why the fuck didn't you tell me before?" he shouted.

I tried hard to keep my breathing steady as he continued up the stairs and I went into the kitchen to hide my tears as I heard him throwing things around in our room before storming out of the house and pulling out of the driveway.

I realised how much he had been drinking and combined that with his current mood and went to run out the front to stop him, but he was already halfway down the street.

I dialled Kennedy's number and thankfully he picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ken, it's Alecia."

"Oh hey Alecia, what's going on?"

I blew out a shaky breath. "Pat and I just had a big argument and he's heading over to your place for the night. Can you just message me when he gets there? He was drinking at dinner tonight and combined with his anger I just-" I couldn't finish the sentence as I started crying.

"Hey, it's okay, alright? I'll message you as soon as his car pulls up. Are you okay? Do you want me to call Jessy and ask her to go over to your place so you're not alone tonight?"

I whimpered and sniffed before replying. "I'm okay. Just let me know he's safe, okay?"

"Alright. I'll to you tomorrow, okay?"

I hung up and put my phone down on the bench as I started sobbing. Why didn't I tell him before when I first found out?

I picked up my phone and headed upstairs to take a hot shower that would hopefully calm me down. When I got out, I had a new message from Kennedy.

'He just pulled up. Are you sure you don't want me to call Jessy or Rebekah?'

I replied saying thank you, but no, and went to the bedroom, moving the miniature hurricane Pat had created off the bed as I crawled in and turned off the light, hugging his pillow to my chest as I desperately tried to fall asleep.