"Here let me help you with that," a woman's voice called out to the ginger haired woman who was clearly struggling with the many bags she was carrying. She looked up in confusion, and spotted a young woman, in her mid-twenties, rushing across the deserted street to help her. The woman sighed, thankful that the stranger had offered to help, wearily she nodded giving her acceptance to the woman; after all she had her wand. As the woman came closer, she realised that the woman, who was fairly short and had a mass of midnight black hair piled on her head, was visibly pregnant. The stranger grabbed the majority of the bags, and a semi awkward silence took over.
"Thank you for your help," the ginger haired woman exclaimed, "but do you really think you should be carrying them in your condition?"
"OH, I'll be fine, I have other things on my mind and the moment, I feel like I'm going to burst into tears any moment, the hormones are driving me crazy." The pregnant woman explained, it was then that the ginger haired woman noticed the redness of the woman's eyes and let her maternal instincts take over.
"My names Molly and I always find it helps to talk things through with a nice cup of tea, would you care to join me?"
"Thank you, I could do with a sit down and a talk, my names Mona by the way." With that both women stopped in front of a small café and entered. The café was rather busy for such a deserted street and the pair snagged the only unoccupied table.
After both ordering cups of tea and receiving them Mona stared explaining her worries to Molly. "If I start from the beginning it might be easier," at this Molly nodded so Mona continued, "At 17 I moved abroad to be a medic at an animal reserve, and straight away I met and fell irrevocably in love with one of the animal keepers. We started seeing each other, and moved in together soon after, and six years later, here I am pregnant with our first child." Molly nodded again not quite sure what was wrong with this seemingly fairy tale romance. "But throughout our whole relationship I've never met or been mentioned to his family, as my boyfriend is quite private, and hasn't visited his family in a while. That's why we're here to see his family before the baby is born, all my family is dead, and so it's really important that his family support us. I know that he should of mentioned me, it would of made things a lot easier, but he's just really shy and been quite busy, he sends all the obligatory gifts and cards and he really loves his family, he just didn't get round to mentioning me yet. I didn't really mind as I said all my family's dead, so I didn't really think about it we've both been caught up in our own magical world, well until now anyway."
Smiling slightly at the obvious affection between the couple Molly replied, "Well, that doesn't seem too bad, you both obviously love each other a great deal, I'm sure his family will get over the shock and welcome you and the baby when the time comes, even though it's been eight years."
"I hope you're right, I don't really want to think of the consequences if they don't accept us" Mona replied a smile starting to form on her face, "you know you're awfully good at giving advice."
"Well, I should hope so, I have had seven children," Molly smiled to herself seeing the obvious shock in the younger woman's expression.
"Seven children, I'm already at my wits end and I've only been pregnant for seven months. If the birth really is as painful as everyone says I may castrate my boyfriend." The serious expression on Mona's face made Molly laugh but underneath she could see the need for reassurance.
"Do you really think I would have had seven if it was that bad, it may be painful at the time but when you see them smile for the first time the pain is almost forgotten." Mona beamed at the reply but stood quickly realising what the time was.
"I'm really sorry but I have to go, thank you so much for reassuring me, I'm sure my boyfriend will be happy to hear he doesn't need to be castrated, I hope we can keep in touch, bye!" And will all that said in one long breath, whilst simultaneously grabbing her bag, almost knocking the chair over and waddling quickly out of the door.
Molly burst out laughing, attracting a few stares from the people around her, something about the young woman made her smile. She hoped they would meet again but without exchanging contact details and only knowing each other's first name she thought it unlikely. The young woman seemed to be a lovely, hard working girl with a good head on her shoulders, Molly left the café wondering why her sons couldn't find a nice young woman like Mona to settle down with.