C4 antho - Chamber Four

~72~ The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology
and then, seeing her face, reaches out to hold her too tight. “I
only want for you to be happy,” he tells her as she struggles
against him.
* * * *
Dawn and Peter sit on the sofa, not touching, in front of
the television. “Are you watching this?” Dawn asks. “There’s
never anything good on any more,” says Peter.
Talk to me, Dawn cries silently. Let me tell you how it’s
as bad for me as it is for you.
It hasn’t worked, it hasn’t worked. The words drum
their way backwards and forwards through Peter’s brain.
“We should have got a video out,” he says and Dawn just
nods.
* * * *
Susan turns her front door key as quietly as she can
manage. She wants just five minutes peace on her own before
Colin finds her. He’s too kind these days. It makes her
edgy. She wants to be strong, hard working. She wants to
give birth in the fields, squatting down in a corner and then
back to work with the baby slung warm and damp against
her chest. Work. She’ll lose her job. Could you have a pregnant
receptionist in an infertility clinic?
“You’re home,” Colin shouts from upstairs before he
bounds down to greet her. “Now, sit down. Don’t move a
muscle. I’m here to look after you.”
* * * *