by Brandy Blake
She tried to lift Darius up to carry him to bed, but her growing belly made that much too difficult. Darius was a growing boy, so he was heavy on his own, but Imani’s belling in the way made things much harder. She thought about all the mothers she’d seen in her life that had toddlers but were pregnant again. Imani didn’t know if she’d ever be able to handle that. It was hard enough having Darius around and taking care of him when her body was exhausted and sore. Darius was old enough to feed, bathe, and carry himself, at least with the help of just a little direction. Imani wondered how anyone was able to keep their sanity when they had two or more kids in diapers at the same time. Being pregnant was definitely one of the most physically challenging things she’d done.
Adjusting to her body was just the hardest part of this transformation. Imani still had days when she’d wake up and grab her stomach, suddenly realizing again that she was pregnant, and it wasn’t just a dream. When she looked in the mirror, she’d sometimes cover up her face, realizing that her body looked nothing like it used too. She knew that her stomach was going to grow, but the rest of her body changes were things that Imani was not expecting. Her butt had somehow managed to get a little less round and a little flatter, Imani wondering if that had something to do with the fact that she was pretty much always sitting down now that she was pregnant and tired. Her hips had widened too, and Imani didn’t mind that as much. If she was going to have a flat butt. Imani at least wanted to have some curved that could kill.
Imani was never alone, always having a little human in her stomach. She had to share her body. It was more than just that too. The baby definitely had more to say than Imani did. She had eaten a few of her favorite things, the baby deciding just a few minutes later that it wouldn’t want to eat that, making Imani throw up. when it came to go in the bathroom, she had little say over that too. If she had to pee, she had to go then. Imani had to make sure she took good care of herself too, so that at least was helping. There would be some days she’d go without eating until before bed, or she would drink so much coffee that she’d feel sick to her stomach. The baby at least helped Imani’s health whip into shape, at least a little bit.
Another challenging part was her having to really miss her mother. She was about to be one herself, and with everything she had gone through and all the setting up she’d done, she felt like she was already a mother. She was with Darius a lot as well, so being without her own mother made things that much more difficult. She always imagined what it would be like to be a mother and figured that she at least had an idea of what that lifestyle might entail. Now that it was actually here and rapidly approaching, Imani had a completely new perspective. A mother’s love was completely unique, and Imani felt like a different person now that she understood just how deep it could actually go. She hadn’t been in love before, at least with a romantic partner. There were a few guys that she told she loved, one even wanting to marry her. Imani was able to look back on those relationships and see that it wasn’t about being in love, but just loving another person. She still wanted desperately to find that right person and fall in love, but this new motherly emotion she was feeling was different than anything she could have wished and hoped for.
That undeniable unconditional bond was something Imani wouldn’t be able to live without. It wasn’t about just not having her mother around that was hard for Imani during her pregnancy. Imani feared how hard it would be to have to leave her child now. Of course, Imani didn’t want to die, but she wasn’t one of those people that feared death. She would take risks and didn’t live in constant fear wondering if something bad was going to happen to her. Now that she knew there was going to be a child to depend on her, and Darius looked up to her plenty as well, Imani was afraid of death for one of the first times. She didn’t want to leave anyone behind, wanting to be there for every second of her child’s future.
She thought about Iliana, who knew that she was going to be passing, not having much of a chance to spend with her son. Imani couldn’t imagine what it would be like to not be able to watch her child grow up. She was already sad about how fast everything was passing in front of her, realizing Darius was growing up quick too. She knew it would be a challenge the first year to watch her baby grow so fast right before her eyes, but at the same time, not having the chance to watch that transition would break her heart. Knowing that she created such a life was something Imani was incredibly excited to watch even more. She could feel her baby move around, but she still couldn’t see them, so she knew once they were actually there, things would be a lot different. It was incredible to already just watch Darius’s transition, and Imani had been there for less than a year. She liked helping Darius grow, seeing his changes right before her eyes. She couldn’t imagine the excitement she’d feel once her little one was there for Imani to actually watch grow and prosper. It was an overwhelming excitement that she hadn’t experienced before.
Imani was so restless, she didn’t know what to do. Nothing had worked for her, and all the thoughts of the future were popping into her head at once. She was filled with excitement, making it hard to sleep. At the same time, that excitement would quickly fade as an anxious thought would find its way into her brain. It was an endless cycle and Imani just wanted to turn it off, but she didn’t have many options. Normally if she couldn’t sleep, she might have a drink of alcohol or take a sleeping pill. Since she was pregnant, there was no way Imani wanted to risk what could happen if she were to partake in either of those activities, so she would just have to deal with the discomfort and hope that she’d be able to maybe fall asleep again one day in her life. She was also very pregnant, so she hadn’t been that uncomfortable before.
She got up and paced around, peeking outside to see if anyone was home. Petra told them they were going to stay in Athens for the night, so they didn’t need to come back so late, but Imani was secretly hoping they would. She wanted to hear about their trip, even if it was just going to be a boring recount of a business meeting or fancy dinner party. She just didn’t want to be alone anymore. Imani needed friends again, people she could talk to and relate with. It had been a while since she could call someone her best friend. Petra and Darius were her closest companions. She had gone out with Mateo a few times, but he was younger than Imani and still interested in partying and going to clubs. Since her baby was on the way, she figured it would be best to take a break from that friendship for now, so she could focus on her family.
Imani was starting to feel like she had cabin fever. The mansion was huge and the property they had was filled with things to explore. She still felt a bit trapped, surrounded by only the same things. she just wanted a partner she could count on. Someone that she could laugh and joke with, someone to listen when she had to complain about her aching back. Sometimes talking about the pain as the only thing that would make her feel better for a minute, baby pain killers not doing much for her endless pregnancy sores.
She could tell her baby was starting to get restless too. Her baby had been awoken by Imani’s pacing, kicking her insides around, moving her legs just as Imani was. The two were restless, and Imani’s instincts started to kick in. she rubbed her stomach, starting to focus on her breathing to keep her baby calm and relaxed. She hummed a little bit of a nursery rhyme, hoping that the singing would keep everyone relaxed and give her something to focus on. The baby was still going pretty hard, and Imani wondered if there would ever be a time that she’d feel comfortable enough to sleep again.
She sat back down in bed, hoping that getting under the covers would keep her just a bit relaxed, getting the baby to stop moving so much. Imani was so thrilled with the idea that her body was creating life, and she couldn’t be more excited that she got to be the one to carry her little baby boy or baby girl. At the same time, she certainly still resented Stavros, wondering if he was sleeping peacefully while she was walking around her room miserable. Imani laid there, focusing on her breathing, slowly rubbing her stomach and doing her best to just get some sl
eep before they returned home the next day.
As Imani finally managed to feel her lids get heavy and head drift away, she heard something fall from Darius’s room. It might not have been Darius’s room exactly, but it was in the direction, and since they were the only two homes in the entire mansion, she figured it had to be his room. She sat up straight, feeling her baby start to jump and move around again, excited about the noise that Imani heard in the other room. Imani’s mind had started to enter the dream zone as her lids got a little heavy, so she wondered if the noise was something she just dreamt.
The house was large, and it wasn’t easy to hear things from each other’s spread out rooms. She knew that if something had made that loud of a noise, it couldn’t have been good. She decided getting up and checking would be her only option. of course, she could just ignore it and figure out what that noise might have been the next day. She knew the consequences would be worse if she didn’t check, so she mustered up the strength to stand up and check out what the midnight mystery noise might have been.
It wasn’t easy for her to lift her pregnant belly up from the bed, but she figured it’d be best to check out what was going on. Darius was sleeping heavily, so perhaps he had fallen out of bed. She might have heard him scream or cry afterwards if that was the case, but he had woken up early the day before and had run around a lot outside, so there was also a chance that he was just that tired and hadn’t woken up when he fell from bed.
The wind had managed to pick up as well, so there was a chance that the noise was the result of the wind. There were plenty things situated all over the house that could have potentially gotten blown over by the wind, causing a loud noise to echo through the mansion. There were a million different things it could have been, but the only way to know was for her to get out from under the covers and walk around the house until she discovered the source of the noise. Imani was excited to get back into bed already, hoping she could pick up where she left off when it came to fall back asleep.
Imani opened the door, looking down to Darius’s room. She didn’t see anything knocked over in the hall, and she had hoped that she would have gotten her answers to what the mystery noise was before having to leave her room. She reluctantly started walking down the hallway to Darius’s room, hoping that it was just something simple that would allow her to go back to bed. Her baby was kicking wildly, and Imani did her best to stay calm to not add to the kicking competition happening in her stomach at the moment.
The house was incredibly quiet. Even though the windows were open, Imani didn’t hear a thing. Not one bug, and not even the sound of the massive waves slamming against the rocks made their way into the mansion. She wondered if she was already in a dream, or maybe she had lost her hearing.
Still, the quiet was a nice change compared to the normal bustle of the house. Lately there had been plenty of people in and out, dropping off furniture and painting the nursery. The house felt more like a hotel, so Imani appreciated this small amount of solitude as she walked through the mansion.
As the summer approached as well, Imani knew the island was about to get crazy. She was so excited to have a summer baby, knowing that by the time the holidays came around again, she’d have a bouncy little baby to have fun with.
Imani slowly walked down the hallway, wearing only a long nightgown. She purchased a few for when her stomach started growing, unable to fit into the rest of her pajamas. The floor was cold on her bare feet, but she didn’t feel like going back for slippers. Her eyes were still a little fuzzy, so she did her best to get them back in focus.
As she was about half way between her room and Darius’s, she heard Darius scream out in one of the most horrific screeches Imani had ever heard. Imani felt chills go from the top of her head all the way through her toes. She could feel her hair stand up on the back of her neck, her heart dropping deep into her chest.
“Darius!” Imani shouted as she started running, as fast as she could at least with the watermelon attached to her body.
Imani grabbed the door handle to push it open, realizing that it was locked. Darius never locked his own door, Imani realizing she needed to get in desperately. He could have just been sleepwalking or having a nightmare, but if not, Imani needed to get in the room.
“Darius baby open the door!” Imani shouted as she pounded from the other side. She didn’t realize she was crying until the tears dropped onto her nightgown.
“Imani help me,” Darius screamed, Imani realizing that he was in serious trouble.
She looked to her right where a bust of some famous Greek philosopher set on an inset shelf on the clay wall. She grabbed it, and with all the strength in her body, slammed the statue down onto the door knob of Darius’s door. The knob didn’t budge and neither did the statue, Imani realizing that she would need to hit a lot harder if she was going to be able to burst through the door.
Darius continued screaming, and his cries helped strengthen Imani. As she lifted the statue up high again, she let it fall down, using the weight of the bust as well as all the strength she had in her body to break off the handle of the door. She was eventually successful, and the massive wood door could finally be opened.
As she opened the door in what felt like slow motion, she saw a tall dark figure she didn’t recognize lifting Darius out of his bed. Imani froze, not knowing what she should do next.
TheFinalChapter
“Stop!” Imani screamed as she ran towards Darius.
“Imani!” Darius cried, clearly trying to escape from the man’s arms that had lifted him from the privacy of his own bed while he was in the middle of sleeping.
“He’s our child too!” the man shouted, and Imani realized that it was actually Stavros’s ex-father-in-law. She could tell by the size of the man and the cold exterior that it was the same one that stood behind Ursa the day that she came and yelled at Imani. Petra wouldn’t be there now to scream at them in Greek until they ran away.
“You don’t have to do this,” Imani said, walking towards them slowly. She quickly turned on a lamp that was sitting on the top of Darius’s dresser, wanting the light to help her get a better sense of what was going on. She was already at an extreme disadvantage, being smaller than this man. She also had a baby ready to come out of her body protruding from her stomach, so Imani certainly wasn’t ready to physically fight this man. She hoped that using some crisis tactics would help her talk him out of whatever decision he might be making right now.
“You’re trying to take him away from us!” The man shouted. Imani didn’t even know his name. She was scared, still feeling the chills run up and down her shoulders. She was still doing her best to remain calm, not wanting to do anything to set this potentially dangerous man off. He was crazy enough to break into this mansion, so Imani had no idea what he might be capable of. She wished more than anything that she had decided to close all the windows, keeping everything in the house sealed away rather than the open invitation she had posted by keeping every entrance basically open in the house.
“We don’t want to do that!” Imani said. “We just didn’t want you to take him away.”
“Stay back! Don’t come any closer,” the man said. He didn’t have any visible weapons, but for all Imani knew, he had an assault rifle hidden somewhere in the room that he was going to bring out if he needed to. Imani knew that he had been living in the states, so perhaps he didn’t have the chance to bring any weapons with him. He was a powerful and wealthy man just like Stavros, so if he needed to get his hands on something a little more dangerous, Imani was sure he’d be able to do so fairly easily.
“I just don’t want Darius to get hurt. That’s all I care about,” Imani said, looking at the weeping Darius. He was trying to keep his calm, and Imani could see that, but there were still plenty of tears pouring down his face, Imani still crying just a little bit too. What options did she have in this situation? Make a run for it? her baby would be safe, but who knew what this man would do to Darius. He stated he cam
e there out of love because he didn’t want to lose Darius, but kidnapping wasn’t the right thing to do. Imani had read too many stories about child kidnappers getting scared and killing the child they kidnapped to keep them from getting caught. This might be Darius’s grandfather, but that didn’t mean he was a mentally healthy individual.
“He’s fine. We’re not going to hurt him. You’re hurting him. You’re keeping his family away!” The man said. Imani didn’t even know all the details of the situation, so she was certainly the last person that he should be having this conversation with. She could smell the alcohol on him.
“Why don’t you just let me hold him and we can talk about this?” Imani asked, reaching her hand out. She was almost close enough to touch Darius, but she didn’t want to risk that just yet. If she weren’t pregnant, Imani would have already tackled this man, doing what she could to get Darius the chance to escape. The baby bump was certainly in her way, so Imani had to be very strategic about everything.
“Stay back!” He shouted. Imani lifted her hands up to show that she wasn’t trying to do anything to crazy, but he must have taken this as a sign of attack. He pushed her down, Imani’s butt hitting the tile floor in Darius’s room hard. He hopped over Imani and ran out the door with Darius, the little boy crying.
“Imani!” Darius screeched, Imani feeling like time was moving in slow motion.
“It’s OK!” Imani tried to say, but she realized the wind had been knocked right out of her body. She started to breath heavily, realizing that she might be on the verge of an uncontrollable panic attack. Imani closed her eyes, not feeling the baby kick in her stomach, wondering if it was still OK. The only thing she had hit was her butt, but the air was getting cut off to Imani, so she worried about her baby. she sat there for a moment and started to quietly count, focusing on her breathing for a moment so it could get to a normal pace.