I'm going to vomit. Esmeralda thought as she completed her first turn. She quickly stepped into the next alleyway and lost her breakfast. When she returned to her dance class the little girls all gave her puzzled stares.
"Sorry my sweets, I'm not feeling well today. We shall continue our lessons tomorrow."
Twelve small arms hugged her goodbye before dispersing throughout the streets of Paris. This was the third day this week she had not been able to keep her breakfast where it belonged. Djali bumped her hand softly. Esmeralda knew he was picking up on her distress; animals had their way of understanding emotions. She knew it was time to visit Madam Elderia the healer.
"Pregnant."
"Pregnant?" Esmeralda's eyebrows shot upwards.
"Yes dear and congratulations on conceiving so quickly after your wedding." She rinsed her hands and sat down next to Esmeralda.
"Your husband is such a fine man; he will be pleased. Come back and see me in a month I will tell you if the child is a son or daughter." Madam Elderia clapped her hands in delight.
"Yes of course, thank you," Esmeralda gathered her things and walked home in a daze.
How could this happen? Well of course she knew how it had happened, but how could this happen to her. She should be ecstatic to be having Phoebus's child, but that was where the problem lay. Was it his?
Esmeralda stirred her tea while her thoughts swirled around in her head. It had only been three weeks since the wedding so it was a definite possibility that the child growing in her belly was her husbands. But then what if it was His? Esmeralda had been always careful with her partners. She always drank a tea of carrot seed and ginger the next day to prevent any offspring. But then going into hiding, getting arrested, attempted execution and planning a wedding had been so stressful that she had forgotten to drink the tea. Now she was torn, Phoebus knew nothing about the child and she knew that a town nearby had a healer that she could buy some herbs from that would take care of this problem. But could she really kill her child to pay for her mistake? Not that that night had been a mistake it had needed to happen and it would never have been a problem except, that now she questioned the fatherhood of the baby within her.