Fiona knew that it would be difficult being a single parent on her own and on top of that pregnant. With the fact that she had no way of knowing where Caeden had gone and disappeared to, there was no way that she would be able to track him down to go after him for child-support. If he was that irresponsible to ditch her when she was with child, she figured that he'd disappear if found and abscond on his child-support payments as well. There was no doubt about it. She would have to raise her child on her own.
With only §6,500 in her bank account, she was hard-pressed to really get anything. Unfortunately, until such time as her baby came of school-age, she wouldn't be able to do much. Perhaps she would need to figure out an alternative method of earning income in order to pay her bills and feed herself and her daughter. But that would take some doing. As it was, she had to feed herself tonight and sixty-five hundred simoleons would only go so far. She sounded far more enthusiastic to herself than was prudent, but if positivity buoyed the spirits, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.
Fiona Kelly-McIrish had never been a whiz in the kitchen; in fact, she didn't like to cook at all. Buying food would be rather problematic since she had to make her finances stretch. In fact, she'd bought the place unfurnished to save money. She'd buy a second hand mattress with sheets in order to have a place to lay her head.
Her rumbling stomach reminded her that she was eating for two and that involved a scouting trip to find foodstuffs that she could potentially purloin. She'd noted on the taxi-ride into town that there was a science center...and there were apple trees at the park. She would take the opportunity to grab some free vegetables and fruits. At least they would sustain her while she attempted to learn to cook without burning the house down. Cooking was a skill that she hadn't yet learned to master, nor was she a natural cook so bully for trying.
Walking over there from her trailer took more out of her than she thought and it took her a few minutes before she was able to get down on one knee and start picking grapes. As she'd walked past the criminal hide-out on her way up to the science center she'd noticed that there were dumpsters and she resolved that she would hit those on the way home too. Maybe she might be able to find something that she could use to spruce up her place for a change. Right now there was absolutely no furniture in the house and it made it very hard to eat as she had to take her plate of food into the toilet and sit down on the toilet seat, which probably wasn't the most sanitary place to be eating food.
On her way over to Central Park she caught sight of a protest and nearly split her sides laughing when she found out that it was against clowns. Of course, she rationalized, clowns are probably scary for young children so I guess it makes sense to protest them. but the thought of seeing all the protesters up in arms waving their signs and hands and stamping their feet emphatically was a comical sight to behold.
In fact, the wife of her neighbour across the street got struck by lightning...which was absolutely hysterical. How Yoshinobu got stuck with a stuck-up snob like Mayumi was something else. Anyway, she was one of the screeching banshees that was protesting with all her might wanting safe-spaces for children against clowns. Mayumi was screeching "They're scary..." with a high-pitched squall that Fiona would bet money on that it would scrape paint off a wall.
When Fiona got home, she took the spoils of the harvest and made Autumn Salad, slicing and dicing up the vegetables into bite sized chunks and adding vinegar dressing. It was an olfactory fiesta for the senses; at least for a vegetarian. And then it was time for bed. The next morning was a downpour and it rained nearly all day. Thus Fiona had to stay home...she was starting to get very uncomfortable...as the pregnancy wore on and did not want to put un-necessary stress on the body. After all, stress was neither good for the foetus nor the mother.
"Cearbhall, your mother and father tossed you out! How can you say that we'll be all right?!" Moira Flanagan was nearly beside herself in panic. "If my ma finds out that I'm pregnant, she'll kill me."
"We have to run away then..." was Cearbhall's first idea which was quickly nixed. "Look neither of our families will help us if we continue the pregnancy. If it comes down to it, we run away; hide for the duration of time that it takes for you to have our baby, then we give her up for adoption. It's the only possible outcome, Moira...you need to understand that we cannot keep her if we want to make a life for ourselves. When we get settled, we'll search for her."
"Do you know how heartbreaking this is? Cearbhall...To give up my own flesh and blood?"
"Think of it, Moira, what kind of a life could we ever hope to give her? She is going to take money to raise and we don't have that kind of money to do so. What kind of a life would we be doomin' her to have if we were selfish to keep her?" Her hands were outstretched as if to ward off the words that Cearbhall was saying.
Moira's face crumpled and she sank to the ground. "I...I...can't..." she sobbed, "Don't make me give her up..."
She didn't see that Cearbhall's face was as pain-struck as hers.
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