Love Is...
Authors: Haley Hill
HALEY HILL
is a fresh new voice in fiction. Prior to becoming an author, Haley launched and ran the Elect Club dating agency â and is an expert in all things dating! She lives in South London with her husband and twin daughters.
Love Isâ¦
is her second book.
Haley Hill
To my grandmother, Grace, whose love life never quite measured up to the romance novels she read.
Keep flirting with the Elvis impersonator, nan, there's still time.
One of the greatest secrets to happiness is to curb your desires and to love what you already have.
Emilie du Chalet
Contents
I
sat on the toilet and stared at the packet.
After years spent bringing couples together, attending their weddings, then their offspring's christenings, spending more money on baby gifts than I did on my mortgage, surely I deserved my chance of happiness too. Wasn't that the way this karma thing was supposed to work? I thought Eros and I had a deal.
I glared up at the ceiling to register my protest, then ripped off the cellophane. It must have been about the hundredth pregnancy test I'd bought since our wedding day. I'd tried to restrict it to one per cycle, but invariably I ended up back at Superdrug, clearing the shelves in the family planning section, hoping that a different brand might provide a different result. And I'd tried them all, from the basic two-liners to the early-response super tests complete with digital screen to spell out the result in shouty capitals. And then of course there were the ovulation kits, the sight of which now triggered some kind of Pavlovian response in Nick, sending
him on a desperate quest for alcohol before I presented myself wearing Ann Summers lingerie and a âyou know what that does to your sperm count' nod at his wine glass.
I continued to stare at the turquoise and pink branding until the colours merged like a Maldivian sunset and my thoughts wandered back to our honeymoon. At the time, I'd believed that all it took was a sandy beach, white linen sheets and a quick flick of the fertility fairy's wand. And after seven nights of consummating our marriage in a five-star beach hut, as I skipped into the chemist at the airport, I couldn't have been more certain that the tiny mound of a stomach I'd developed was the manifestation of Nick's and my future happiness, and entirely unrelated to the ten thousand calories I'd consumed each day at the hotel buffet. I glanced back down at the box and laughed out loud. If only I'd known, I thought.
My phone vibrated. I ignored it.
âWell, I know now,' I said to myself as I pulled out one of the tests, âthat even with the aid of a NASA-engineered ovulation detector, we had no hope of conceiving.'
Our first Harley Street consultation had been over a year ago, but since then, the doctor's words had been bouncing back and forth in my head like a ping-pong ball.
âIntra-cytoplasmic sperm injection is the only option,' he'd said.
He'd gone on to explain in medical terms that I had the follicles of a fifty-year-old heroin addict, my uterine lining was thinner than an Olsen sister, and my ovaries were about as useful as a snorkel in a tsunami.
My stomach churned. This round of treatment was our third and final chance. I took a deep breath and pulled out the test. My heart beat faster. I could feel the pulse in the
tips of my fingers. I lost my grip for a second and it slipped from my grasp. I caught it swiftly with my other hand, as if it were the Olympic torch.
I'd learned from the fertility forums that it was better to wee into a container, to ensure the stick was properly immersed, rather than hold it under a stream of urine. The method was more accurate, âMum to Three Snow-babies' had advised. I rested the test, lid still on, on the cistern and spread the information leaflet open. I already knew it by heart. It didn't matter. I read it again. Just to be sure.
It is best to conduct the test in the morning after a night's sleep. The urine is more concentrated.
I couldn't recall sleeping, although my uncompromised pelvic floor muscles had at least managed to hold off any bladder evacuation.
My hands were trembling as I reached for an old lid from a toothpaste pump dispenser. It was the perfect size for collecting a sample, âHere's Hoping' had explained on the Fertility Friends forum. I sat down on the toilet and held it under me until I felt warm urine overflowing from the top. Once I'd carefully submerged the test in the container, I closed my eyes, visualising the word âpregnant' in my mind, hoping it might somehow instruct the test to comply. Moments later, when I found myself chanting and rubbing my womb, unwittingly re-enacting a hypno-spiritual video I'd seen on YouTube, I realised that I was in dire need of distraction. Instinctively, I went to call Nick, but then I remembered he had an important breakfast meeting, so instead I called Matthew.
He answered on the first ring.
âWhat?' he asked.
I could hear a child screaming in the background so I raised my voice.
âThe two-minute wait,' I said.
I heard more wailing and then a noise that sounded like something choking. Matthew issued a reprimand and then came back on the line.
âOK, Ellie,' he said, retaining the disciplinarian tone for me too. âMove away from the vision board. That photo of you and Nick cradling a Photoshopped baby isn't helping anyone.'
âIt's worse than that,' I said. âI was chanting.'
Matthew laughed. âLook,' he said, âtwo minutes is but a mere blip on the timeline of life. I've got another seventeen years to get through until these two are off my hands.'
I let out a deep sigh and flopped down onto my bed. âIt's not just the two minutes,' I said. âIt's all that came before it too. Surely you understand that?'
Matthew laughed again. âAh, but I do, my sweet.' He paused for a moment to intercept a further misdemeanour then continued. âI remember precisely what preceded this current bout of neurosis.' He took a deep breath and then exhaled. âThis all began long before you started fretting about your inability to breed.'
I'd been hoping for distraction not ego annihilation. âWhat did?' I asked.
âWell,' he said, in a manner that implied he was drumming his fingers on the table. âLet's consider Eleanor Rigby's life journey so far, shall we? What were you doing before this all-consuming quest for conception?'
âI don't know, working?'
He sighed. âEllie, you spent five years planning your wedding.'
I went to speak but Matthew continued. âPrior to that you spent four years aggressively soliciting a proposal from
Nick. Before that you engineered a career that enabled you to personally interview thousands of eligible men.'
âAnd women,' I said, âas a matchmaker. I was trying to help people.'
He chuckled. âThis behaviour, although disturbing enough in isolation, was preceded by many other alarming antics: a shambolic engagement, two disastrous cohabitations, fours years cyberstalking Hugh Jackman, a stretch hyper-parenting a pet rat and six years fanatically coddling two Cabbage Patch dolls.' He paused and took a deep breath. âEllie, you've been looking for love since the day you were born.'
âNo, I haven't,' I said, pulling myself up from the bed. âAnd FYI, Bungle was a guinea pig. Not a rat.'
Matthew must've handed the phone over to his toddler, because all I could hear was the choking sound, then wailing, then manic laughter, then some salivary noises, then more wailing then Matthew coming back on the line.
âThere you go,' he said. âThat's what your life will sound like if you get what you wish for.'
I rolled my eyes. âIt can't be all bad.'
âIt's not all bad,' he replied, âbut it won't make you happy. Just like marriage won't make you happy. And kids certainly won't make your marriage happy.' He paused for a moment, seemingly to wipe a child's orifice, then continued. âIf you kept abreast of the latest research, as you should, you would know that a recent study showed a couple's happiness decreases proportionately with the birth of each child.'
I rolled my eyes. âWho conducted that study?' I said. âWas it you, interviewing yourself?'
He laughed. âWe're conditioned to think we need to have children in order to be content, when in fact, if we bother to look at the evidence, the opposite is true.' He let out a deep
sigh. âWhy else do you think Lucy went back to work and left me looking after the little buggers?'
I giggled. âYou love it really.'
âNo,' he said, âI really don't. I love them, of course, but I don't especially enjoy sacrificing my every human right in the name of positive parenting.' He moved away from the phone to confiscate some crayons then continued. âFreud said that our need to procreate is driven by a fear of death.' He went on to adopt a lady therapist voice. âDo you fear death, Eleanor Rigby?'
I rolled my eyes. âThe only one who should fear death is you, if you don't shut up.'
He was still laughing when I hung up.
I checked the timer on my phone. Twenty seconds to go.
I flopped down on the bed again, feeling the weight of my body sink into the mattress. Nick said he would love me no matter what.
Would he really though? I wondered. Even if I could never give him the sandy-haired children he'd always wanted? The son he could hoist up onto his shoulders and teach what it means to be a man, or the little girl with pigtails reaching for his hand, eyes wide with adoration. What if it was just us? For the rest of our lives. Our union having no greater purpose than to provide comfort to each other in old age. We'd play bridge, grow vegetables and potter around the house. And then we'd die.
Ten seconds to go.
I burst back into the bathroom. Before I reached for the test, I stopped and looked up at the ceiling, retracting my earlier complaint to the Almighty and substituting it with a pledge to reinstate my monthly charitable donations.
I snatched the test from the pot and stared at the screen on the side. The words registered straight away.
Not pregnant.
I looked again, just in case I was hallucinating the âNot'. I shook it and then held it up to the light. I knew there was nothing I could do to change it. I threw it in the bin along with the backup test and then went to get ready for work.
I
nudged the front door closed with my shoulder to force the lock into place. A flake of black paint fell onto the front path.
I turned to see Victoria, who was bouncing on the spot, clad head-to-toe in Lycra, ponytail swinging like a metronome.
âMorning, Ellie,' she said.
âMorning,' I mumbled, pulling my handbag onto my shoulder. I'd hoped I would be able to sneak out before she'd emerged from her five-thousand-square-foot double-fronted mansion for her morning showy-offy jog.