That shocked Reyona. "He was here? Why didn't you…?"
"You didn't want to hear anything about him, Rey. Mum and Dad respected that. They sent him away with a warning to stop looking for you. They didn't want to upset you or anything. That is the same reason why I didn't tell you either. You seemed truly happy these days, Rey. I didn't want to ruin that. I have seen your reaction whenever he was mentioned, you know."
"I…thank you. But did you…?"
"Of course not, I sent his ass packing after giving him a piece of my mind for being such a loser."
That brought a smile to Reyona's face as she sighed softly and asked "What am I going to do, Toria?"
"You are going to do the right thing," Toria said with the confidence that Reyona wasn't feeling a bit. "You will do what's best for yourself and for your baby. I am sure of that."
"Toria," Reyona said as she felt pinpricks of tears in her eyes.
"Do you still need me to come over and beat his ass?"
Reyona laughed softly while sniffling. She wiped the underside of her eyes and said "I wish I could have been selfish enough to ask you to come right now."
"Just say the word, sis."
Reyona smiled and asked "How are things going over there? How is Tara?"
"Things are goooood. We've made considerable progress. Aspen is a beaut. I think I am going to retire here. Guess what? We got a surprise of ours here yesterday too."
"What surprise?" Reyona asked.
"Remember Manuel? Well, he is here right now."
"What? How?"
"Well, our landscaper got some emergency and had to bail. I guess Tara told him about it when they were talking and guess who we saw yesterday? Manuel! Here to offer his services!"
"Oh wow. That is great. It is great that he could help out. He is fully recovered now, yeah? I haven't seen him since he was discharged."
"Oh, he is doing more than fine. And for the record, I think he is here to do more than landscaping. You should see Tara's face around here these couple of days."
Reyona covered her mouth to cover her laughter "You mean… Tara and…"
"And to think I was the one who asked him to look out for her in the first place. Damn, at this point, I might just start my matchmaking agency, you know." Toria said with laughter. Then she sobered up as she continued "Tara is still very scarred, but I think Manuel will be very good for her, you know."
"Yeah, yeah. I think I can see it now" Reyona said thoughtfully as she remembered the day Manuel had taken the bullet for the woman and the other times she had seen them together. "Yeah, definitely something there."
"Anyway, if I do not want a query from my boss, I need to go now."
Reyona smiled as she said "Thank you, Toria. You are the best."
"I love you, Rey. For the record, I don't really think he has a scrawny ass."
Reyona laughed out loud as the call was disconnected.
Her hands went to her stomach as she stared straight ahead with a peaceful look on her face.
Her eyes widened when she realised that the niggling urge had faded on its own too.
What?! That has never happened since it started.
*********
After coming to a decision, Reyona enjoyed the rest of her day.
She had her meal on time and spent most of the day putting in the small portion of the garden that she had asked the hardener to leave for her.
She wanted to plant some Azaleas there so she could show her baby and tell her how she planted them.
Then they were going to plant other flower beds of her baby's choice and watched them grow.
She couldn't wait to have her baby here with her, and she was beginning to wish she could feel the baby's kick already.
That was her main question the next day after her check-up.
"Your baby is fine, ma'am." The doctor said "It is normal that you can't feel your baby kick yet. Normally, the kicks could start on the 18th week, then, for the first time-mom like you, it could be as late as the 25th week before you can feel anything. There is nothing to worry about."
Reyona thanked the doctor and left her office.
As she left, she thought of the fact that the doctors were probably tired of her one thousand and one questions by now.
She smiled and vowed to try to not be so anxious about everything anymore.
She had been really lucky in her pregnancy after all.
The doctor had said it was quite rare for a first-time mom to have next-to-one pregnancy woes, as most people call it.
Reyona thought about how she was going to spend the rest of her day and figured she might go shopping.
Phil had resumed work that morning, and she didn't have much to do.
It was high time she started getting some clothes for her baby anyway.
She was about 16 weeks already and by the time her baby started kicking, she wanted to be able to show her the nice outfits she had gotten for her.
She looked up the closest baby shops around and chose the one she liked.
Her finger hovered over her contact icon for a moment before she pressed the power button and tucked her phone away.
In her efforts not to think about a particular someone the night before, her mind had grabbed onto every other thought that she could occupy it with.
One of those thoughts that refused to leave her mind even after the urge had hit her again, was the thoughts about Celia.
Reyona had tried not to think much about how the woman might feel about her sudden disappearance.
She had blacklisted her number too, because she didn't want her to learn about where she was at the moment.
There was only one reason for that.