Chapter 2:
A Brother For a Sister
Brotherhood and sisterhood are not roles that you are born into, but ones that you must work towards obtaining. ~
Her tiny knees press into the tiles of the kitchen while she mops up a spill that Rebecca made. She's dripping with juice and tears are dripping down her face, while Rebecca and Rachel standoff to the side snickering. She's not completely sure what she's doing, but Rebecca told her Sarah would be really mad when she came home from the doctors to see the spill on the ground and they can't clean it up because they're allergic to juice when it touches their hands but not when they drink it.
They tried to be nice; they let Bella clean it up with paper towels instead of licking it up like they originally told her to do. Mommy always told them not to waste any juice because it's expensive, but they decided after Bella broke down in tears that it would be ok this one time.
Rachel turns to her sister and pushes the palms of her sticky hands to her ears to block out Bella's annnoyyyying whining. She thinks Bella should understand that they were just taking precautions, even though they didn't tell her that Becca spilled the juice on Bella on purpose and that Bella actually didn't have magical command over Becca's hands.
It said in the movie that Daddy had secretly allowed them to watch, that girls who appear from thin air are actually witches. Evil, terrible people who will kill little girls like them. To get rid of them you melt them with water. Water is icky so they used juice instead. Apparently, she wasn't a witch since she didn't melt into a pile of goo like they expected. But still! They didn't remember ever having another sister. What did she expect them to do?
"Becky?" She whispers, though her voice is two octaves too loud to be considered a whisper. It doesn't matter though, they already gave Bella the house rules, and number three was: if you hear us whispering turn off your ears. They're whispering so it counts! Number one was that they get all the good things first and number two was that the new sister in mommy's tummy is theirs and not hers. But the really important one is number three.
"Yes?"
"It di-…sh! Mommy's home!" Rachel's tiny yet strong-arm latches onto the crook of Rebecca's when the sound of their mother's rickety old truck pulls onto the stones in front of the house. Though Rachel is the smaller of the girls, it is widely agreed that she is stronger than Rebecca. It takes only a bit of effort to drag the 30-pound girl into the bedroom they share before the front door clicks open and their very pregnant mother waddles in.
Bella's tearful eyes click up to Sarah's. She sits back and hangs her head, as Sarah sets her bag down by the front door and makes her way over to the little girl.
But Bella is already in heart throbbing sobs by the time she gets to her. She gathers her in her arms and holds her as close as she can to her chest. She was only gone for 15 minutes, and yet it seems like the girls can ruin her entire world in only a matter of seconds. She feels awful for trusting them even that long, "Bella what happened?" She coos to her softly. Bella's hand is pressing into the sore spot on her belly, where her baby boy always seems to kick, and even though it hurts her, she doesn't dear move her.
"Becky n' Rach-" On the 'h', her already squeaky voice jumps higher in pitch. Her skinny arms wind around Sarah's neck, and she knows at that moment that whatever Rebecca and Rachel did, is made worse by the fact that its Sarah who will comfort her and not Charlie.
"What did they do sweetie?"
"They's threw juice at me." She whispers through her firmly clamped lips. Sarah pulls back to look at her face, but she's looking over her shoulder into the girls room at the end of the hall. The girls' wild hair is visible from between the tiny slit in the nearly closed-door.
"GIRLS!" Sarah yells. She hardly ever raises her voice, but she warned them to make Bella feel welcome, and it pisses her off that they did the complete opposite, even when they told her they could be trusted to be left alone. She should have known better.
She's trained them well, so she isn't surprised when two little downcast faces slink into place in front of her. She untangles her arms from around Bella and rests her hands on her belly. Her baby boy kicks just at that moment.
"I think it would be wise to tell me what happened exactly. No lying ok?"
Rachel steps forward, her wide brown eyes even wider than normal, "Ma! It was Becky's fault! Not mine I swear!"
"NA UH!" Rebecca pipes up. She pokes Rachel firmly in the shoulder, her pink lips scrunching up into a defiant pout.
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"N-"
"GIRLS!" Sarah cuts them off again with an exasperated sigh. She can't wait until Billy comes home from work so she can get some sleep. It's only five in the afternoon, but she is already exhausted, "I don't care whose fault it was. All I want to know is what happened."
Sarah watches as Rachel and Rebecca glance between themselves. It's clear that neither will confess, and Bella is crying to hard to offer any insight. "Go to your room girls." She breathes. Aggravation is so crystal clear in her voice that Rebecca's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. She grabs onto Rachel's arm and drags her back to their room. The door slams behind them, and their frantic whispered voices, reveal that Bella is not their friend anymore. Sarah doesn't even bother to yell at them for slamming the door. Billy is so much better with punishments then she is, and she's too bushed to care.
Instead, she decides to do the one thing that she is capable of. She carries Bella's heaving form to the couch and drapes her across her lap, so her tiny face presses into her belly. She doesn't say a word, but she doesn't need to.
After a couple of minutes, she can't take it any longer, "Bella…can you please stop touching me there."
Bella's gentle hand freezes on her stomach. The baby is kicking frantically wherever Bella touches. She doesn't know if it's a good reaction or a bad one, nevertheless, the constant kicking is making her insides throb.
Bella's lip is bit in thought. Sarah is thankful it's not quivering.
"Is baby sister angra at mes for touchin' you?" She finally stammers after apparent contemplation. Her eyebrows relax, her chin turns up, and worry creases her forehead.
Sarah shakes her head and gently caresses the hair on her head. Sarah is pleased the stroke relaxes her. "It's a boy Bella. So that means you will have a brother soon…but no. He's not angry with you. He's just reacting to your touch."
There is a pause, then, "Den why you tell me to top?"
"Because…" Sarah says slowly, willing the little girl with wide, innocent eyes that sits on her lap to understand. At just that precise moment, Billy's scraggly head peers through the door. She smiles warmly at him in greeting, and lifts Bella off her lap.
Her arms wind around her left leg, and a whimper brushes out of her mouth. Bella still remembers the time, a few weeks ago, when Billy yelled at her for whining. She quiets quickly, but still looks at him sheepishly. She watches his movements carefully, and tightens her hold on Sarah's leg as he draws near.
"Hello Bella…" He muses once he stands right in front of her. He lowers himself down onto one knee, as his bones groan in protest. He's getting older now. He's surprised he was even able to conceive another child.
He peers around Sarah's toned calf, into Bella's big brown eyes, "Bella…" He says again and pauses. Billy looks up into his smiling wife's face, as her hand gently rubs her stomach. "Can you go to your room for a little while? There's a puzzle in the toy chests near your closet. You can play with it until suppertime. We'll call you when it's ready ok?"
She walks away obediently, without so much as an utterance of protest. Her bedroom door closes slowly behind her, until finally it clicks closed. Compliance was a trait she obtained from her father.
Billy doesn't say a word until he's sure no little ears, can hear. "A boy…"
"How did you know?" Sarah mumbles with a smile. She knows behind the emotionless mask he wears, hides a happy man. He had been content with the possibility of having a girl in the beginning, but when it turned out to be two, he longed for a boy to complete the picture, "Did Marie phone you? I told her not to. I said that I would tell you as soon as you came home, but of course she does-"
He cuts his wife off with a finger to her lips, "I've been meaning to replace the doors. They're quite thin… I heard you mention it to Bella before I came inside."
"Are you happy?" She asks, though she already knows his answer will be yes. But what she doesn't expect is for the distance between them to become closed, she doesn't expect his warm breath to sweep across her lips, or the shivers he gives her as his finger tips parade over the surface of her full belly, and the beaming smile he gives her once it's all over, as they lay in each other's arms in bed with the sweet-smelling blankets pulled up to their chins.
"Did you wash the sheets this morning?"
"Yes, I know you like them that way."
"Good woman."
They've just begun to kiss again, when the bedroom door creaks open. Bella stands at the foot of the entrance, her fingers tumbling over themselves; her lip bit in concentration as she looks at them meekly, "Is supa ready yet? I's finny the picta."
"I guess I'll have to change the locks too."
Sarah smiles.
