Chapter Seventeen

13 weeks


A week after being home from Hawaii, Sarah ended up in the hospital again. The change of climate had been great for her but the coming home wasn't.

It had been her second vacation in Hawaii and it was rapidly becoming one of her favorite places to be. It was beautiful, incredible nature and so many fun things to do and see.

Her week with Richie, the kids and a few friends had been amazing, a perfect spring break.

Easter had gone by too while Sarah was in the hospital even though the kids were still excited about getting Easter eggs, it was nauseating to her. Their visits after school made her feel much better. This time Richie hadn't taken every day off but still spent plenty of time in the hospital.

Mostly Sarah was kept company by Taylor, showing up every time she had a break, making sure Sarah was alright. Sarah was almost convinced she was also trying to catch a glimpse of Richie but she was fine with that, Taylor was her friend and understood she was a fan.

"Can you believe this?" Taylor said a bit angry as she walked into Sarah's room on Wednesday morning, holding a magazine.
"What?" Sarah asked absently. Her interest grew when Taylor sat down and started looking for the right page.
"Here." Taylor pointed at a picture.

Sarah's eyes went wide, it was a picture of her and Richie on the beach in Hawaii. Richie's hand was on her belly as he kissed her.

"Can you believe that?" Taylor asked, then pointed at the short text implying if Sarah was pregnant.
"No." Sarah shook her head. She couldn't believe they had been photographed and that they suggested she was pregnant.

She was pregnant, but they didn't need to know that!

"Just ignore it." Sarah said, knowing there wasn't much more that they could do.
"It's unfair. They shouldn't go around saying things like that, it's your privacy."


Sarah kept the magazine as Taylor went back to work, it didn't have many interesting articles, mostly clearly made up gossip that was going around. When Richie walked in around noon.

As always, he gave her a quick kiss as he sat down on the bed next to her.

"So how are you doing today?" He asked, noticing she was still on an IV, not much better then.
"Not so bad, just a bit tired." Sarah shrugged as she put the magazine away again.
"What's that?" He asked, referring to the magazine.
"Taylor found us in it, some picture of us at the beach and they think I'm pregnant."
"Taylor?" Richie asked suspicious.
"Don't you start making suggestions too, she worked all week while we were there." Sarah said strictly.
Richie wasn't convinced, he knew Sarah's friend was a huge fan of him but he wasn't sure to trust it. "Did she know where we were going?"
"No she didn't, stop thinking my friend caused that. If she wanted to tip off the press she could have done that a month ago." Sarah said angrily. Taylor was her friend, she wouldn't do something like that.

Richie considered that for a few seconds, perhaps Sarah was right, Taylor had known of Sarah's pregnancy for a while now.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to ask if you wanted a new dress for in two weeks."
"What's in two weeks?"
"That award I was getting, remember, the 7th?" He clarified, hoping she'd remember, he had told her about it a few weeks ago.

Sarah had to think for a few seconds, the last weeks had been a bit distracting and being in the hospital yet again, didn't help much either.

"Oh right, yeah I remember. I guess I'll need a new dress, I'll be even bigger in two weeks."
"You better start keeping food down again then. I'll take you shopping as soon as you're allowed to leave the hospital again."
"I'm trying."
"I know you are, sweetie." He reached in again to kiss, making Sarah cheer up again. "I need to take you on a date this weekend, you know."
"A date? What for?" Sarah asked confused.
"This weekend it'll be a year since we met, I think we should celebrate that."