by M.L. Cameron
hours to walk over to where she was sitting and take a seat. “I would have thought that you two would have left by now,” she murmured, balancing a fork on the table.
“We haven’t been ready to leave quite yet. Scarlett… Can I ask you something?”
She sat up and nodded, looking at me for the first time. “You can ask me anything Luke. Anything at all…”
“Why are you here?”
“Because I was invited… And I wanted to see you get married. I’m still sorry for what happened. And I know that you don’t want me here but please don’t hate me any more than you already do… Please.”
“I don’t hate you. I can’t forgive you, I don’t know if I could ever forgive you but I don’t hate you.” I stood up for the table and turned around. “Have a good night Scarlett.”
“It just got a whole lot better,” she whispered and I walked away with my hands in my pockets.
Kaitlyn
You don’t need a pregnancy test to tell you what you already know,” I told Anastasia as she walked down the aisle of the store which featured hundreds of pregnancy tests. She looked like she was dying… sort of. Her face was pale and she looked thinner than she had in a long time, her hand was on her stomach and I knew she felt like crap.
She shook her head and wiped at the tears in her eyes. “Why can’t I stop crying?”
“It’s not anything honey, just your hormones overloading. It’s going to be okay. Do you want to take a test?” She shook her head and sighed. I laid my hands on her shoulders and looked into her stunning blue eyes. She looked horrible in her hot pink sweat pants and lime green tank top with a messy bun on the top of her head.
“I don’t know… I mean, there’s nothing else it could be. I don’t know. I just kind of want to go home and throw up. I don’t know… Why can’t I make up my mind?” she cried and I hugged her close.
“You’re going to be just fine. Do you want to take the test to see that you really are pregnant?” That time she nodded and I rubbed her arm. “Everything is going to be just fine Anastasia. We’re all here to help you and make sure you don’t go through this alone.”
“I know… I know… I think, I just want to go home and sleep and sit with Luke. Thank you for bringing me here.” I nodded and we walked out of the store.
She fell asleep in the car on the way to her apartment. They were in the process of moving everything to a house, it was farther away than the off-campus housing but close enough that they could both still take classes whenever they needed to. When I pulled up Luke was carrying a box out to his car, I made sure the door shut softly behind me when I got out and went over to talk to him.
“I got home and everyone was gone…” he said, setting the box next to four other boxes on the back seat. I knew the trunk was already full.
“Jack had to go home and talk to Valarie, and Anastasia wanted a pregnancy test.”
“But… Did she get it?”
“No, she started crying and we left.” I could see the instant concern on his face. “Nothing bad, I promise. She’s going to be this way, for the next few months, and you knew that. She’s going to be just fine Luke.” I smiled and he nodded.
“Is she asleep?” he asked when the door opened and Anastasia stumbled for a second before walking up to the apartment building. “Ana!” She turned around for a second and sort of made an attempt to wave at Luke. Then she went in the building.
“Just keep an eye on her. Call if you need anything,” I said and left them to be together.
Luke
When I was done dragging boxes from the front common room to the car I went upstairs to see if Ana had woken up. What I found was Ana sitting in front of the door, almost in tears. It hadn’t occurred to me that she didn’t have a key with her. She looked up at me and I helped her up. “I don’t like being pregnant,” she mumbled as we walked into the apartment.
“Imagine having to last nine months,” I whispered as she went to the kitchen. She started opening cupboards. Her eyes went wide. “You think it’s bad now… You’re only two weeks in.” She made a face at me and continued opening the pantry and fridge. Finally she stopped and took ice cream from the freezer.
She grabbed a spoon and went back to the bedroom. I followed and sat beside her on the bed… or mattress really, it was just a mattress with a box spring. She took a bite of the ice cream and I took the spoon from her. “So, what do you think it’s going to be?” I asked with ice cream in my mouth and then handed the spoon back.
“A boy… I don’t know if I want to know what it’s going to be. I might want to be surprised. My mother didn’t know if I was a boy or girl until three hours after I was born…”
“I think it could go either way with the gender and maybe we’ll want to find out. That day is a few weeks away.”
I rested my arm around her shoulders and she leaned against me. Within minutes she was fast asleep. I was careful to set the ice cream aside and move slowly. I leaned over slightly and flipped the light off, Ana murmured in her sleep and turned so I was her pillow. “I love you,” I whispered and smiled, how many times had I whispered it to her before the whole thing with her grandparents? Before we even knew what Dancers were… “I love you more than all the stars in the sky… And I’ll love you for forever and sixteen days.”
Ana
Waking up every morning was hard and I didn’t want to do it. My stomach got bigger and bigger while my energy got lower and lower. Jack said I was just one of the few people who reacted badly to pregnancy. Luke tried to get me up and moving every day… Most days I just threw stuff at him until he went away.
“This is so stupid,” he mumbled while putting together my meal. “She’s so stupid… Thinks she can just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. She’s so stupid.”
“What babe?” I asked, sitting on the table and eating a twizzler.
“My mother called again.”
I nodded and grimaced as I swallowed a piece of twizzler. “Just ignore her, she doesn’t have any control. I love you, so much, more than anything in this entire world.”
He looked up at me and raised his eyebrows. “Please don’t tell me that you want me to make you something else…” I shook my head and looked at the twizzlers. “Then what?”
“You got me twizzlers…”
“Yeah… that’s what you asked for.”
“But red vines are better,” I whined and he rolled his eyes. “What’s your favorite vine that’s not green? Red vines!”
Then he handed me a plate. “They’re disgusting and you go on the computer way too much.”
He hugged me around my baby filled stomach and kissed my forehead. “I love you so much,” I whispered and he smiled.
“I love you too.” Over the course of my pregnancy our love grew and then expanded to include our child. We moved from out smaller apartment to a full four bedroom, four and a half bathroom house. I got bigger and bigger until the time to give birth came…
Luke
We sat in Kaitlyn’s house, in one of her guest rooms, watching our baby sleep in Ana’s arms. “Isn’t he gorgeous?” she whispered and I nodded, touching his tiny fingers, then his tiny little feet.
“And so little…” I murmured. He was so small. His mouth opened and he yawned while opening his endless blue eyes. They were bright and reminded me both of Ana and of a husky, one of the snow dogs. I ran my fingers down his arm and his eyes closed again. “What are we going to name him?”
“I don’t know… I had a million names but seeing him in my arms and I can’t think of anything. It’s like there’s no name to fit him…”
I smiled and nodded. “I know what you mean. His eyes are so open, like you could just fall into them and it would be like falling into infinity.”
“That’s it,” she whispered, touching the baby’s tiny nose. “Infinity.”
“Infinity…” I breathed. “It’s perfect. Do you think he’ll like the house?” She nodded and cradled the baby closer to her warm body.
And then she fell asleep herself. “You’re both perfect… You’ll always be the center of my universe though Ana.”
I told you she was different, the voice drifted into my head. You’re wonderful for her Luke and she’s good for you. Take your baby home, stay away from Valarie and love her forever.
What about Valarie?
I can’t tell you. I’m just telling you to stay away from her. We don’t need a repeat of what Scarlett did. Just keep a close eye on her. I’m watching over you both, now get some sleep with your wife Luke.
My mind felt empty and I sighed, falling asleep with my forever love and my son.
When I woke up I was alone in the bed… But when I looked up I saw Ana in a rocking chair, holding our son. She smiled at me and leaned over to turn on the light. “Oh yeah, look at who woke up,” she murmured to the baby, holding him up to face me. “Yeah, that’s your daddy.”
I smiled and sat up. “Kait said that it’ll be all right if we want to go home today.”
“That’ll be cool. How about we all go downstairs and get some breakfast?” It would give me a chance to talk to Jack about Valarie. Valarie was the odd sister, she always remained distant, sort of away from the rest of the family, especially Ana and I.
Downstairs Kait was making waffles and cutting up a huge assortment of fruit. She smiled when we walked into the kitchen. “I was wondering when you would get up,” she said and laughed at Infinity when Ana set him into the baby carrier on the counter. “Jack is out in the garage, would you go tell him that breakfast is done Luke?” She looked up at me and I nodded, she must have known that I needed to talk to someone.
There was a garage behind the house on the acres of land the family owned. Jack was working on finishing some new mirrors for the empty space. The family had no need for cars so their garage was like a studio, simple yet useful. “Luke, is Kait done cooking?”
“Yeah… Can I ask you something though, before we go back into the house?”
“About Valarie?”
“Well yeah… sort of… How did you know?”
He shrugged and wiped down the mirror. “I’m a Seer. I see things before they happen. Not all things and I can’t usually control it. But I figured you would ask eventually. So what do you want to know?”
“Why does she not like Ana?”
“It’s not a long story, it’s actually a very simple story really. She was the youngest daughter even though they’re twins, she and Kait, and it took her until she was thirty to find her Passion. By that time most Dancers already have a few kids so she decided not to have children. She doesn’t like Ana in particular because she sees how happy everyone is around you two and how happy everyone was around your mother and she wishes she could have that.
“I would warn you to be careful around her. She’s always had a very short temper and she isn’t one to just go mess with, trust me, I’ve learned from experience. Just watch out, make sure she isn’t the only one with you if she comes over. All Artists are very jealous and protective of everything they think they’re entitled to and Valarie isn’t a pure of soul Artist, she can lie and cheat and not feel anything about it. Not many true Artists can do it.”
I nodded and he smiled, “Now let’s go eat something.”
Ana
When school started back up again my days were completely packed, I had dropped two of my optional classes and I was nowhere near devastated. Kait was right and Infinity had grown abnormally fast. He was only a month old and he would be starting kindergarten within the week. Of course, getting him enrolled was easier than I thought it would have been.
“Are you ready for school?” I asked Infinity one morning while helping him dress. “You know some mothers say that they watch their kids grow up so quickly… well, I’ve literally watched you grow up so fast.”
“Mommy,” he mumbled and held out his