RECLAIMING EMMA

"Congratulations ma'am." I smiled forcefully as another camera flash went off in my face, my cheeks were starting to hurt but I just kept quiet.

"Happy one year anniversary again babe." My husband, Jeff, who was standing beside me with his arms wrapped around me greeted me as well.

"Thank you love." I smiled back at him and we shared a short kiss.

My life was perfect, right? I had everything since I was married to the most powerful man in all of New York, many people envied me, my life was a fairytale, if only they knew the truth about my situation.

"Let's go and sit down, I know your feet must be hurting from standing so long." Jeff said to me, I smiled as a response and we came down from the podium together.

He accompanied me back to our table with his arms possesively wrapped around my waist.

"Mr and Mrs Anderson, it's almost time for the congratulatory toast, your wine will be brought to the table shortly." Sam, who was a close friend of mine and also my husband's PA said to us once we were seated back at our table.

"Thank you Sam but I'll have to say no to the wine, water is fine for me." I said to him and he looked at me with worried eyes.

"Are you alright Mrs Anderson?" He asked me gently.

"And what gives you the audacity to be asking her that? In my presence too?" Jeff demanded loudly from beside me.

A few eyes turned to our table's direction and I knew things could escalate if I didn't intervene quickly.

"It's alright Jeff, and Sam, thank you, I'm alright." I thanked him, knowing Jeff would never do such, he was nothing but an arrogant man who always looked down on everyone, myself included.

The rest of the evening went by without any problem thankfully and I was more than happy for it to all come to an end.

It was the one year anniversary of our wedding and Jeff hadn't even told me about the party, he only barged into the house in the evening and demanded I got ready, there wasn't anything I could do really, I got dressed and I put on a very good performance.

"You couldn't find a better dress to wear? That was the same dress you wore to the company's business gala a few months ago." Jeff yelled when we were now back in the bedroom.

"I'm sorry, I didn't have enough time to get ready, that's why I opted for the first dress I could find." I explained to Jeff while I stood quietly in the corner of the room.

"You're such an imbecile, now everyone is going to be talking about how my wife likes to repeat clothes, do you not understand that everything you do reflects on me? Including your poor choice of clothes?" He grunted out from the middle of the bed.

"All you do is embarrass me, you can't even dress properly for crying out loud, you're not my wife you hear me, you're just an embarrassment." He continued and I stood there frozen, unable to do anything.

I knew if I decided to do something or even stand up against him, I would not like the results of my actions, instead I kept quiet, only opening my mouth to apologise when he was done.

"I'm sorry, I..." I couldn't complete my sentence because I suddenly started to feel queasy and I dashed to the bathroom, barely making it in time before the contents of my empty stomach came rushing up.

I leaned over the porcelain bowl as my body convulsed with heaves. After several minutes of dry heaving and trembling, I sat back against the cool tile wall, sweating and exhausted.

I could hear Jeff still shouting from the bedroom but I paid him no attention.

As I stared blankly at the toilet, a strange thought crossed my mind, what if I was pregnant?

My period was late but I had been so stressed lately so I just assumed the stress had delayed it. Still, the nausea earlier this morning and now this vomiting seemed like it could be a sign.

I had been feeling off for the past few days but figured it was just a stomach bug. Unfortunately, the nausea hadn't subsided and seemed to be getting worse.

I pulled myself up using the sink as support and looked at my pale face in the mirror. Dark circles lined my tired eyes. Could it be possible? As the thought lingered, my anxiety grew, I needed to know for sure.

I rinsed my mouth and reached for the box from one of the cabinets, I hastily opened the box, aware that Jeff could barge in anytime and read the instructions.

I followed the steps carefully, my heart racing. After waiting the required few minutes, I braced myself and peeked at the small window. There, in the little viewing area, was a small pink plus sign.

Positive.

I was pregnant.

I felt my knees go weak and I slid down the wall to sit on the tile floor, tears filling my eyes, and a million thoughts raced through my head.

How could this be happening? We had been so careful, what were we going to do? How would we afford a baby in our current situation? My breath quickened as panic set in.

I was still a mess on the floor when Jeff started pounding loudly on the bathroom door, "Open up you imbecile, what are you doing in there?"

I quickly stood up and opened the door for him, "Did you hide another man in here? Or this is where you want to sleep?" He asked.

"No Jeff, I'm sorry I took so long, I was getting the makeup off my face." I apologized quickly and he brushed me off as usual.

"Whatever, just get out of my way." He said and pushed me away from the path leading to the bathroom.

I crawled into bed, not sure what I wanted to do but I took my phone and sent a text to the other person responsible for this.

I woke up as early as I could the next morning and I left the house, before Jeff could get up to, I needed to do something about my current predicament but I couldn't act alone, this baby was our responsibility, not mine alone.

My text last night hadn't gone unattended to, I got a message back as well, asking us to meet up at our safe place which was a little cabin on the outskirts of town.

I drove there and he must have heard the sound of the car because the door opened and Sam stepped outside.

Immediately I got out of the car too, I ran into his warm embrace.

"Are you okay? I was worried about you, your text last night seemed urgent, it killed me that I couldn't call or text you back." He expressed.

"Yes I'm fine, but Sam, something has happened."

"What's that?"

"I'm pregnant Sam," I told him and I watched as a look of disbelief took over his face.

"You're pregnant for me?" He asked in a very surprised manner.

"Yes, I am." I nodded my head and he engulfed me in a giant hug.

"I'm going to be a father," He exclaimed happily, "I love you, Emma, thank you for making my dreams come true." He thanked me profusely and it helped calm me down a bit.

"But I'm scared Sam."

"Scared of what?"

"Of Jeff, of course, I'm married to him, I can't tell him I'm pregnant, he'll know the baby isn't his, what do I do then?" I asked him and he seemed to be thinking and when he spoke, the words that came out of his mouth were the last thing I was expecting.

"We have to run away. "

"What? I can't do that Sam, I can't leave my whole family behind."

"We don't have any other choice here Emma, we have to run while we can, once Mr. Anderson gets a whiff of what's going on, that'll be the end for both of us and you know it," Sam added.

I knew what he was saying made absolute sense, I really didn't have any other choice and it wasn't like I was losing anything.

I was simply going to start a new life with Sam, the love of my life, the only people who would miss me were my family.

"Okay, let's do it. Let's run away." I told him, coming to a decision, "But I have to go back home and get some things first and I have to see my parents too." I explained and he nodded his head in understanding.

We parted ways shortly after with a promise to meet each other here again in the evening. I went to my parent's house first and thankfully they were both home.

"Oh Emma, what a lovely surprise. What are you doing here?" My mum asked.

"I just came to check in on you two." I lied to her, The truth is, I just wanted to see them one more time before Sam and I left.

"That's good, thank you for checking in on us but your father and I are doing good," Mum reassured me.

I spent a few hours with them before I decided to leave, I only hoped they would one day forgive me for what I was about to do.

When I got back to the house, I was surprised to find it empty, I guess Jeff had left for work, it was good anyway. I don't think I could start packing my things without giving him an explanation as to why I was doing so.

I got everything I needed and when I was done, my luggage consisted of just one medium-sized traveling bag. I drove back to the safe house but I found it empty.

"Sam!!" I called out once I was inside but I got no response, I checked everywhere, till I found him in the bedroom, looking out of the window.

I walked towards him and wrapped my hands around his torso, "I've been calling you," I started, rubbing my face all over his back, "Everything is ready, but I forgot to ask earlier, where will we go?"

"So this is where you guys come too and fuck each other's brains out."A voice which I knew didn't belong to Sam said to me. I took a step back from the figure and when he turned around, I felt the ground crumbling beneath my feet.

"Jeff.."

"You have some nerves, Emma, I'll give you that." He said, walking towards me very slowly.

"How? How?" I asked, fumbling over my words, not being able to get it out.

"How did I know? You're not as sneaky as you guys may think you are but I confirmed my suspicions last night with this." Jeff revealed and he showed me his phone screen, which was displaying the picture of the pregnancy test I did last night.

"So you're carrying his baby and planning to run away?" He asked and tears were already streaming down my face at this point, I was terrified and I didn't know what Jeff was going to do to me.

"You ungrateful bitch!" He yelled the same time I felt something hard land on my face.

He slapped me.

"You know what, I'll give you what you want, leave, and never come back here again." He said and threw some papers at me, when I looked up at the papers, I saw they were divorce papers.

I signed them and he looked at me with pure hatred in his eyes before turning around to leave me in the empty house.

I think I had just ruined my life.