Chapter 13.

"Now we are going to exhale and slowly bend our legs and take it from the prayer pose to the chair pose."

Megan looked around, struggling to catch up. It was her second class and she still had a hard time understanding which poses meant what. Besides, they had been at it for forty minutes and her quads were screaming from all the stretches. She was more out of shape than she had even thought.

The yogini was a red-haired willowy woman who inspired calm on sight. She was pretty and was dressed in white AcroYoga sports bra and cotton pants. Her wrists and neck were adorned with chakra beads and she had the most soothing voice Megan had ever heard.

"Inhale and come into mountain pose."

The whole class straightened, a few sighing in relief and Megan was one of them.

"Great job, guys. We are going to take one more child pose and slide into savasana."

If there were two poses Megan liked and knew, they were child pose and savasana. She loved how relaxed they made her feel during the first class and had even tried them by herself at home after.

"Fucking finally." Someone said as they bent into child pose. Megan looked to the side, noticing the pretty woman beside her since practice started. The woman was slim and small and was spotting a round belly that made Megan suspect she had gone past her trimester.

The woman must have noticed Megan staring at her and sent her an embarrassed grin "Sorry, I just love savasana so much."
she whispered.

"Nah, it's okay. Same here." Megan whispered back.

The yogini walked towards their end of the room and they both closed their eyes, surrendering to the workings of the pose as she instructed the class's breathing.

After the class, Megan rolled up her new yoga mat and was tucking it in its bag when the pretty slim Latina walked up to her.

"Hey, I am Salma."
Megan took her outstretched hand, instantly drawn in by the woman's friendly disposition.

"Eight weeks?" She asked, gesturing at Megan's tummy.

Besides the fact that they were in a pregnancy yoga class, Megan was surprised at how close Salma's guess was.
"Seven. How did you know?"

"Piece of cake, this is my third pregnancy so it's pretty easy for me to figure out how far along most people are."

"Ohhh. You don't look like you have two kids."

Megan cooed, appreciating Salma's slim figure in her all-black yoga pants and top.

Salma glowed from the compliment. "I know. Yoga and having a health-freak friend like Chloe sure helps. Speaking of Chloe, where's she?"

Megan looked around and sure enough, a nice looking and very fit woman was walking towards them. She was also pregnant, obviously, and she had on a sky blue tee that said "Proudly Vegan" over her yoga pants.

"Salma, the instructor recommended lemon slices for the sporadic nausea. Apparently, local pharmacies sell them."

She noticed Megan then and smiled at her.

"Chloe, this is Megan. She's seven weeks along. That's all I know about her for now. Megan, this is Chloe and she's 14 weeks, she's my friend and a proud vegan as you can see and she is obsessed with her health and everything else."

"Ehyy, don't say that." Chloe said, chuckling.

"Brent says that all the time too." she added.

"That's because Brent knows you as well as I do."

Megan was immediately fascinated by their easy friendship. "Who is Brent?" she asked.

Chloe turned her soft brown eyes on Megan, wearing a doe-eyed expression. "Brent is my husband, we just got married six months ago." She showed Megan the pretty ring on her finger.

Together, they walked to the huge facade of the yoga studio and sat on one of the lounge chairs. Salma mentioned craving a soda and Chloe frowned in disapproval.

"I keep telling you, you need to cut down on sodas and replace that with yoghurt or fresh juice. Brent says the dopamine release is why you haven't been able to quit and the earlier you can discipline yourself, the better." Then she turned to Megan with a proud look "Brent is a doctor by the way."

"So, tell us about yourself. Is this your first class?"

Megan told them, leaving out all the details about Nick, her memory loss and the whole paternity confusion. She simply talked about her job at the coffee shop and her moving in with her mother.

They all agreed that coffee, although usually great, was triggering during pregnancy and Megan found out that Salma had just moved into a house on a street that was close to her mom's.

"Donald found the place and it's just perfect. Our kids have a big room to themselves and there's still space for a nursery. Donald is painting it pink, hoping it's a girl this time even though we both agreed not to check the gender."

"I take it Donald is your husband."

Salma laughed brightly "Oh no, Donald is my long term boyfriend. We live together but we haven't decided on whether or not to get married."

"Which is still strange to me." Chloe said with a bit of resignation.

Salma laughed "Chloe is so old school. She thinks relationships should lead from dating to cohabitation, marriage and then kids."

"I can be a bit old school. Although I guess I am not so old school in practice, I am not married but here I am, pregnant."

Megan said, for the first time making a joke out of her situation and the three women laughed good naturally.

They chatted some more until Chloe announced she had to leave to go shop for some rare vegan food with Brent. The women exchanged numbers and Megan left feeling lighter than she had since her accident.




*******

It was Saturday and Megan was sitting on the couch in her mum's apartment.
Just that morning, her mother had done nothing but hassle her about the DNA test. Elise had been hinting at it since Megan moved in, telling her it was best to know but she had taken it far this morning.

While they had shared a breakfast of yoghurt and grapes and pancakes, her mother had mentioned it again.

"Sweetie, I called Dr Walters to see if he can squeeze in an appointment for you."

"What for?"

"Your DNA test. You can't avoid it forever."

"Yes I can Mum. I don't want a DNA test right now."


Her mother waved a dismissive hand at her.
"There's nothing to be nervous about. You already got in this mess sweetie, and you need to know which of these men should be taking care of you and the baby."

"I can take care of myself and the baby."

"Well, you don't have to do it alone. Anthony had been such a sweet young man, coming around and checking up on you. I don't know why you are still giving him the cold shoulder."

Anthony had won Elise over completely when he came over last Saturday to drop off a book Megan had briefly mentioned she wanted to read. He had taken out the time to buy it at a charity shop and had also picked up a small bouquet of white tulips for Elise on his way. Elise hadn't stopped blushing and had since become team Anthony.

"Mum, I can't date him." Megan said, annoyed.

"I don't see why not. He knows your situation and for some reason, still wants you. And it's perfect because you need to be taken care of."

"Mom, I said I can take care of myself."

Her mother scoffed and carried the dishes to the kitchen.
"Hate to break it to you sweetie, but you are a mess. You are a poor pregnant lady missing memories worth three weeks, who's also living with her mother."

Megan silently fumed, knowing her mother was right. Her mom had thrown in a pat on her shoulder while telling her she would keep the appointment open. She then headed for her room and returned thirty minutes later all dressed up for a date with her boyfriend.

It wasn't that Megan didn't realize how dire her situation was. She knew she was a mess, having three men in her life who could be the father of her child. Admittedly, Nick was the most unlikely option which was weird because he was the only one she had dated.

From what she had gathered, there was a big chance the father was Roman and she hated that.
She didn't want to have a terrible relationship with the father of her child and mess up her child emotionally and if the father was Roman, she didn't know how she would have a cordial relationship with him. He was so frustrating.

She also didn't like that he brought out the worst in her. She didn't like to fight but she was constantly turning into a bitch in Roman's company. Some of the things she had said during that last fight still made her cringe but she refused to feel bad for them. He had provoked her.

Roman had sent a few messages since then saying they needed to talk but she had avoided replying to him and he seemed to have taken the hint because he hadn't sent a single text in a while.

And Anthony...well, Anthony was Anthony. He was sweet and kind and she even liked him. But there was just something that didn't feel right. Ever since he had helped her move her stuff when she was moving in, they had gotten closer. While he wasn't so pushy about wanting more, the signs were there for everyone to see. Which was why her mother wanted her to grab a hold of him before he gave up but Megan just couldn't.


She knew she couldn't keep acting this way but rather than a DNA, what she wanted was to feel her life fall back into place naturally. The test would answer only one question but her memories would answer them all. What she needed was her missing memories and only the hospital could tell her why she was still blank. She was irritated with the doctors that treated her and believed that something had gone surely wrong during her treatment. There had to be medical malpractice somewhere.

She decided she would ask for permission at work and set up the appointment for next Tuesday.