Chapter 7: Father

By the end of the month the Undertaker took me to a local hospital and said he had invited my father to see me. I thanked him for his kindness for not making my father nervous by seeing me at the Undertakers.

Settling into bed, I took in the others who were in the ward. Two woman were nursing babies, and four men had their arms or faces bandaged. A nurse helped another one on crutches to his bed. The Undertaker sat beside me and I looked at him.

"I have a new customer to take back," he shrugged. "May as well wait and take both of you back at the same time."

"I thought I was staying here," I said.

"Oh no my dear, you are not really as safe here as you think." He leaned closer to me and smiled a bit. "You are a month along in your pregnancy and soon that baby will be changing your mind," he said, tapping my head. "Best not be around too many men when that happens."

I blushed. "I thought my conversion would not happen until I had the baby."

"Normal, with another human pregnancy, yes. Demon pregnancy, perhaps not." He crackled again and pet my head. "You don't want to take that chance."

I sighed and nodded. The prospect of going back to the Undertakers, as long as my father did not know, did not faze me. Soon my father came and was sitting next to me.

"Oh you look better," he said, awkwardly hugging me. "The doctor," he nodded toward the Undertaker, "says another few months and you will be able to walk like new."

"I am looking forward to that."

"So how is London?" he asked. He shook his head. "Sorry, it's not like you are here on a trip."

"Well, a broken hip trip," I said lightly. He smiled and we fell into silence. I felt like I was a little girl, not a 18 year old who was Awakening and pregnant. I looked at my hands. I could not say any of this to him; he would not understand at all.

"How is the farm?" I finally asked.

"Good. A few new chicks are peeking, and the hogs are fattening up nicely. The spring is finally settling into the trees, and I hope our apple tree will blossom and we can have apples."

I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes. There was a good chance I would not be able to go back to the farm I had grown up on. A chance I would not leave the Undertakers - I had not decided if I really could continue my Awakening and bring a child into the world. I brushed the thoughts and tears aside and soon my father was leaving to our farm. I leaned on the Undertaker as he helped me walk to the carriage. He lifted me gently into the flat bed, next to a corpse, and helped me keep my leg straight.

"Undertaker?"

"Yes, my child?"

"Will I really ever go home?"

The silence stretched all the way from the hospital to his parlor. When he carried me into the back room we shared, my eyes were red, the tears long dried.