Weekend of Discovery

Packing a suitcase for a weekend away is a nightmare. I had just finished packing mine as I walked into the wardrobe to see my partner of 5 years: with clothes all over the floor looking very forlorn, head down and eyes bulging as he looked up at me saying, "what do you pack for a weekend away when you don't know what you'll be doing," I knelt down beside his clothes and looked up at him saying, "just a few outfits that you'll feel comfortable in and clean underwear for two, maybe three days." He still looked confused so I grabbed some clothes for him, folded them and placed them in his suitcase.

After packing our suitcases into the car we headed off to the country cottage where we were meeting our friends. It took us around 3 hours driving, as we sang along with the radio and pointed out old haunts that we both remembered for past times. As we vered off the main highway towards the cottage we stopped on the side of the road and enjoyed a cool drink of coke together.

We both walked up the road a bit and stood together on top of a small hill looking around at the spance area before us. We could see the cottage in the distance from this vantage point. We say a car parked but was not sure of its occupants. My partner took my hand saying, "we'd better make a move and join them there" we both turned towards our car and bounced into it with what I felt was a longing to meet and greet our friends for an enjoyably long overdue weekend away with them.

As we arrived, Becky came out of the cottage and waved to us. The cottage garden was covered with wildflowers and the herb garden that we had made was drawing me towards it with the fresh aromatic smell of all the herbs there. I wandered towards the herb garden as my partner took our suitcases inside.

I love working and sitting in the garden. It makes me feel at peace. I wandered around to the back of the cottage and was confronted with Becky standing with her back against the wall and my partner hovering above her with one arm resting against the wall. They immediately looked up and Becky smiled over at me. As she walked towards me I could see that she had put on a bit of weight but as she got closer I could see that she pregnant, no doubt about, I'd say she was at least 6 months on. She smiled at me and nodded her head saying, "yep, I'm pregnant: nearly 7 months now." I was so jealous but not upset, happy jealous. Happy that she was pregnant but jealous that it wasn't me. My partner and I had been trying for some time now but no baby yet.

I hugged Becky whilst congratulating her and asking where Ben (her partner) was, she replied, "He's in the lounge room, getting us drinks. Let's go in and sit down, my legs are aching so much, need to sit" laughing as she turned to go inside.

There was Ben, standing by the drinks cabinet pouring drinks out for all of us. We got our drinks and sat down on the couches in the lounge. My partner grabbed the drink that Ben had made for Becky and took it over to her and he stood there waiting for the conversation to continue.

It had been a couple of years since we had seen them. Ben had a new job that took him out of state a few times each year and my job kept me busy setting up new kindergartens around our state. So we were all travelling around at some stage so it was a rare occasion for all if us to see each other often. But that was something we were about to rectify. We talked of things that have changed in our life and our plans for the future, and that's when I saw the guarded look that my partner was giving to Becky. It was a look of mischief then contempt as he drew his eyes over to Ben. That's when Becky put her juice down on the table and stepped towards my partner. I saw the look in her eyes and new something was wrong about this get together. I looked at Becky and said, "what's wrong, are you and Ben breaking up: is this why we're here." Becky looked from my partner to Ben saying, I never planned this but it's what we both want at this stage. My partner put his arm around Becky and I stood up walking towards the two of them and Ben said, "wait for it, it gets better." I did wait and Becky continued. "There is more; have a seat the two of you, but instead of my partner sitting with me, Ben came over and sat with me. I was confused now, I looked at my partner and he lowered his eyes to the ground whilst Becky just blurted it out. The baby I'm carrying is not Ben's" Whilst say this her head turned to look at my partner. That's when it hit me. Does she mean that the baby is my partner's. I shook my head saying, no, no, it can't be: John and I can't have children so your baby can't be his. That's when John stepped towards me saying, "it happened when I met Becky in the city a while back, remember me telling you that I ran into Bec , Ben was beside me now holding onto my arm. It's true he said as he looked at me, "they had an affair and this is the result." I could not believe it, I looked from John to Becky, shaking my head, " but how, why, I can't believe it." Ben guided me outside to the back garden where we sat down. I was stunned, how could this happen, John never said anything to me, why did this happen. Ben explained it all to me whilst we sat outside, I calmed myself down and was now ready to face the two of them, I stood up only to see John, my John, walk towards me with his arm around my best friend, my sister: protecting her. They both said that they were having this child together and that's why we came to the cottage, the place where becky and I grew up together as sisters: she was adopted by my parents and we lived together as sisters. Becky was five years old then. I was numb and unable to speak, I heard John say, "I'm leaving with Becky in her car today, I'm sorry you had to find out this way, you can have the car, the house, everything but this is what Becky and I want to do. I'll be in touch about the divorce papers later, you gotta understand, it wasn't planned," and with that said, both John and Becky made their way to her car.

Ben, sat me down again, I looked at him across the table, "how long have you known this," I said. All Ben could say was, "I found out on the way up here." We both walked through the garden and reached the front of the cottage just as Beckys car drove off. I turned and looked at Ben, he put his arm around my shoulders and I slipped my arm around his waist as we turned from the road and walked back into the cottage.