Trust

Epilogue

Thoughts

"Speech"

Raven was sitting on the couch reading her book while her four year old daughter, Grace was playing on the floor with her Barbie dolls. "Momma, when will Daddy be home?" Raven looked up about to reply when she heard the front door open and close. "That sounds like him now" Grace jumped to her feet and ran towards the living room door yelling "Dadddyyyyy" Richard appeared in the doorway and crouched down to scoop his little girl up. "How was my favorite girl today? Were you good for Mommy?" He asked as he went to sit on the couch with her in his lap next to his wife. Grace nodded excitedly as Raven added "She's always good Richy" Raven leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Eww cooties" Grace giggled covering her eyes with her small hands. "Yeah, but you weren't feeling well this morning" Richard reminded gently as he wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her closer. "Are you sick Momma?" Grace asked curiously. "No, I'm fine sweetie." Raven assured her family. "Then I have nothing to worry about" Richard grinned at her, before leaning over and kissing her. Grace slid off her fathers lap yelling about cooties making both her parents smirk.

Grace ran into the kitchen. Her and Raven had made cookies earlier. Where did she put them? Going over to the table she dragged a chair over to the counter and climbed up onto the counter. The counter was still messy with ingredients from earlier. She stood up slowly, scanning the room for the hidden treats. Spotting them on the top of the fridge she made her way over. Her foot bumped a bag of flour, knocking it over which caused a chain reaction of spills coming from sugar, canola oil and cinnamon. The flour flew all over the kitchen floor with the oil dripping over the edge of the counter making a big sticky mess when it missed with everything else. Grace never noticed, all her attention was on the fridge. Just a few more steps and she would be able to reach the cookies. She grabbed a few and shoved them in her mouth, taking the whole tray in her hands. Grinning ear to ear Grace went back over to the chair and climbed down dropping a few snacks on the way. When her feet hit the floor she slipped and landed on her back with the tray clanging loudly a few feet away.

Once Grace had run out of the room Richard laid back on the couch and pulled Raven down next to him. "Are you sure you're feeling all right?" he asked when they separated for air. Raven laughed lightly, making her husband smile. He had always loved her laugh, from the very first time he had ever heard it. "I'm perfectly fine Dick. I promise." The last bit was whispered into his ear making him shiver. "What I saw this morning tells me that you're not 'perfectly fine'. What did the doctor say?" The laughter died from her eyes and she sat up slowly. There was suddenly a loud thump followed by a loud clang from the kitchen.

Springing to their feet the two adults ran to the kitchen to see what happened. Richard got there first, taking in the trashed kitchen, looking for his daughter. Grace had crawled under the table to try and stay out of trouble. Raven stepped in behind him. "What the mhhmh" Richard put his hand over her mouth. "Grace. Come out here now" her mothers cold hard voice demanded. The two parents watched their flour covered daughter slowly walk up to them. "What happened?" Richard asked crouching down to her level so he could look her in the eyes. "I-I wanted a cookie" she said looking at the floor. "No! No desert for you tonight or tomorrow" Raven basically yelled at her daughter. She shot a glare at Richard, daring him to contradict her before she went up to their room. "I-I'm sorry Daddy" Grace sobbed. "It's ok sweetie. How about we go get you cleaned up and then I'll go talk to Mommy" his voice was gentle as he picked her up and carried her to the bathroom.

An hour later Grace was sitting in front of the TV watching cartoon, the kitchen had been cleaned up and Richard was on his way to talk to Raven. Quietly opening the door to their room he saw her curled up on the bed on her side. "Honey, why did you get so upset before?" he asked as he sat on the bed next to her. "It's because I'm-" she cut herself off and sighed. "I'm sorry. Something in me just snapped." He reached over and pulled her curled form into his arms. "You never snap as Grace, I know there must have been some reason" Raven shifted so she was sitting in his lap. "Well, you know how I was sick this morning?" Richard nodded worriedly. When Raven had finished throwing up, she had been so weak she couldn't even stand. "Well, this wasn't the first time I've been sick like that, it's just the first time you caught me" she looked away, suddenly feeling guilty. "How long have you been getting sick?" Raven ignored the question and asked him one. "Would you ever want to have another baby?" Richard just looked at her. That came out of nowhere. What does wanting to have another baby even have to do with this? As the silence dragged on Raven got more and more anxious. She finally slid off his lap as her eyes started to water. Raven walked over to the window and wrapped her arms around herself.

Richard watched her curious as to what she was hiding. Why is she upset? Raven never cries twice in one day, she's just not like that. Last time she cried this much she was pregnant with Grace. Then he realized that everything made sense the strange meals, her getting sick, snapping at Grace. He walked over to her saying "Raven, sweetheart, are you pregnant?" He went and stood in front of her. Raven nodded without looking at him. He lifted her chin, smiling at her. "That's wonderful"

The End