"Maya come on. It's almost time." Keith said from the door, making me glare at him. It was time for another check up and I was not in the mood to leave the house. At 30 weeks, my backache had gone from bad to worse and let's not talk about my embarrassing bathroom accidents. Laughing, sneezing, coughing all these I couldn't do without leaking and it was so embarrassing I wanted to die every time it happened to me in public.

"Why are you here? I can find my way to my obstetrician's office thank you very much." I growled as I carefully made my way to the edge of my bed. If I was being honest with myself, I'd admit that it was a difficult pregnancy. Morning sickness had not hit me badly but the other effects were taking their toll on me. And my mood was something else. Some days I was very happy. Some tired, some angry, some in pain.

Keith had become something close to a permanent fixture in my dad's house. He was always there. After telling him to stay away and having him come back over and over again, I got tired and stopped.

When I finally got to the edge of the bed, standing up became a war. I was embarrassed because he was right there in the room and flipping through some book. I was happy he wasn't watching because I was embarrassed at the fact that I couldn't do something as basic as standing up without needing help or struggling to do it on my own. Let's not talk about how large my stomach had become. It was so huge it was scary, and I had like a gazillion new stretch marks.

I was irritated. I couldn't see beyond my stomach to look for my slippers, so I had to search for them with my toes by feeling around for them. After trying and not succeeding and feeling tired, I just laid back down, closed my eyes and waited for the mental strength to continue. I refused to ask Keith for help. I wanted him to see that I didn't need his help with that and that I could stay by myself and he didn't need to check on me every single time.

My eyes flew open when I felt warm fingers massaging my feet and slid close again because it was just beautiful. When he finished doing that to both feet, he helped me put on the slippers he found and pulled me up into a sitting position.

"You should have just called me." he said as he tried pulling me up completely.

"Why would I have done that when I don't want to be around you?" I asked while glaring at him and he chuckled before saying "Pregnancy sure brings out the mean and aggressive side of you."

"Or maybe I'm naturally an aggressive person." I replied.

"Nope. You're the sweetest person I've ever met."

"And that gave you the means to walk all over me like trash." I replied and at that, he fell silent and just continued doing what he was doing. A moment later, he muttered "That was a long time ago."

"It wasn't even up to a year ago. You even hurt me badly last month by making me sign papers I didn't want to sign. I still remember it like yesterday. Leave me alone. Your fingers are starting to feel like nails on my skin." I replied, whispering the last part. Hurting him hurt me because I did not like it and didn't want to do it but I really wanted him to stop trying and to finally leave me alone, not because I no longer loved him but because I didn't want to risk having him hurt me again, and I definitely wouldn't want to risk having my children grow up in a toxic environment where their parents disliked each other.

He didn't say anything else after my harsh words, just pulled me up before leaving to open the door for me.

The tension between us in the car was unbelievable. It had never been that bad before. Neither of us made an attempt to talk. My phone rang and it was Jason. It had been a while since I last saw him.

"Hey Jason." I said and watched Keith's jaw and his grip on the steering wheel tighten. I just carried on with my conversation. "No. Not now. I'm going to see my doctor...Yes I'm fine, there's nothing wrong, just the regular checkup. I'll let you know when I get back so we can do the video call thing. Alright then. Bye."

After a while, he cleared his throat and said "do you want to do anything fun this week?" I muttered a no and he continued. He was trying to strike up a conversation which I wasn't in the mood for.

"Have you taken any maternity pictures?"

Shaking my head and reaching behind to rub my aching waist, I said no again.

"I have a buddy. He's really good. If you're up to it, I'll let him know about it today against tomorrow or whenever you want to take them."

At that, I nodded too. I had been thinking about doing so but work and procrastination hadn't let me do that. I let him know we could do it the next day being a Saturday and he nodded before handing his phone to me to help him dial the person's number as he drove. He spoke to Jackson, the said friend while I scratched my hand and looked out the window as I really asked myself what I was doing. I already signed the papers and moved out. I didn't owe him anything but sadly, no matter how bad I felt because of the downward turn things had taken, I couldn't help this tiny part of me that rejoiced every time he came over or called or did something to try impressing me.

But it didn't suit his image in my mind. I was used to him being the take charge kind of person, so to have him kissing my ass to a certain level didn't really sit well with me. It felt like I was lording something over his head and I didn't really like that.

"Are you okay?" I heard him ask and I nodded even though I wasn't fine. Everything was stressing me out and I didn't like it neither did I want it. Letting out a small sigh, I let sleep take over even if it was just for a short while.

******

"Your blood pressure is high Maya. Not very high but the change is a big enough reason for me to be concerned. Your stress level is high and that's really really bad, not just for you but for your babies. Last time I told you to take it easy. What's going on?" My doctor said and I shrugged before giving her a reply.

"Nothing much really. I just have personal stuff going on, and work too. But I still try to rest as much as I can."

"Do you have difficulty sleeping?"

"As of recent, yes." I replied. Then she turned to Keith.

"If you're doing anything to contribute to it, for the babies sake. You should help curb whatever it is that's causing it. She's your wife. Try to keep the stressful things in the house away from her and do what you can to help. If you've been trying, try harder."

And so the questions and answers and suggestions continued until we were finally done and we left. I was feeling really sleepy because the lack of sleep was finally catching up with me, so I went straight to bed immediately he dropped me off at home.

The next day was a Saturday, so I called Keith to ask him if Jackson had agreed to do the shoot since I fell asleep in the car before he concluded the conversation and he said yes. I was really excited. I had seen other people's maternity pictures online and really wanted mine.

"I'll pick you up at 11. Be ready. We will stop at the store to get an outfit since we weren't able to do it yesterday."

"Okay. See ya."

He got there earlier than 11 and so he had to wait for me to get ready before we left for the store to pick an outfit.

The photoshoot had been an outdoor thing, with me putting on a really pretty white maternity gown and a little make-up. No matter how excited I had been to do it, it ended up being as tiring as I had expected it to be. That day,it became official that taking so much pictures at once irritates me. When it was all over, I let out a sigh of relief and Keith laughed at me while holding my head. I laughed with him because it had been funny. Jackson congratulated us and then said he'd have them printed and sent before Thursday and we thanked him and went on our way.

Except for the music that was playing in the car, there was silence in the car. I didn't want to spend another Saturday at home by myself, so I did the unthinkable.

"Let's go see a movie or two and get something to eat or whatever. I want to do something fun."

"Sure. Check the website and know the movies they're showing. It's 1:03pm now. We will get something to eat and then the movies and whatever you like."

I nodded and smiled a little. If purging myself of stress for my babies sake meant maintaining a good relationship with him and getting rid of the negative feelings I had towards him, it was a very little price to pay to keep them safe.

S