Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jūshirō's POV
I swallowed nervously as I brought Heather to my home once again. I looked over to her and was content to know that I was not the only one that was jumpy. "You know that only my mother knows that your baby isn't mine. Would you like to keep it that way?" I reminded her with question and watched her bite her lip while she was deep in thought. "Yeah, we should keep it that way. I don't want someone to slip to the baby that you're not its father. That would be awful." she replied and continued, "I don't want this kid losing respect for you just because you're not blood and have it stress you out because of that fact. And I want you to feel like you don't have to go to me every time the kid does something wrong 'cause it won't take you seriously. We'll tell the kid when he or she is ready." I was taken aback. She certainly knew a lot about this kind of thing. I was honored, if anything, that she would trust me with her baby enough to be a respectable father-figure. I nodded in understanding and replied, "Thank you." I could not help but to feel a sense of pride well up in my chest though I cannot explain what the cause was.
We reached Ugendō and I no longer felt afraid. "Let's meet the family." I suggested as I watched her take a deep breath then nod to me. I opened the door and let her walk through first. I had noticed that everyone decided to come to meet her. I guess you can always rely on family to be there when they are feeling particularly nosy. I guess they have a right. I am going to spend the rest of my life with her and for the most part they think she is baring my child. We walked inside and every eye was turned to us. I wrapped my arm around her and introduced loudly, "Everyone, I would like to introduce you all to my fiancée, Heather." There was a mixed greeting simultaneously scrambled with my relatives' voices. I pulled her up close to me with a smile and tried to calm my family down, "It's alright everyone, one at a time." I noticed a familiar face make way to us and I braced myself. "So this is my future daughter-in-law." my mother greeted happily. She put her hands on my friend's face to get a good look at her. "Oh, my sweet little Shirō." my mother started, causing me to blush slightly as she complimented, "She's lovely. You should have brought her here sooner." Heather rolled her eyes trying to fight a blush that was starting to form. "Thank you, ma'am." my friend replied humbly. She was going to blend in nicely here. "Now, don't be so formal." my mother warmly corrected and advised, "Call me 'mom'. You are getting married to my son after all."
From that point on, it seemed like a walk in the park. I could not believe how smoothly it went! My brothers and sisters seemed to like her, my nieces and nephews clamored to meet their aunt-to-be. I had taken notice after a little while, that Heather and a good portion of the kids started to nod off a little bit. "I guess you still haven't learned." one of my sisters teased me. I could not tell which twin she was. "What exactly did I not learn?" I challenged lightly. "Women in her condition need their rest, Jūshirō. You should know." my other sister said from the other side of me. I thought for a second on how to get my friend out of here without having to tell anyone our predicament and came up with nothing. I had to keep her home for the night. It was obvious Heather was not up for the journey back to her barracks and arranging for a room to be made would look…suspicious. "You two are right." I tried to slide away from the curiosity-driven questions that were bound to arise. My sister asked, "Don't get us wrong, big brother, but how did you manage to keep her this long? The others were…" "Inflexible." I finished trying hard not to fight the welling despair. It would be my luck that I would meet a girl that had no other choice but to choose me. "Heather is very different." I told them vaguely and made my way to my friend's side. She seemed to be busy being given the talk by my mother. "…and I hope you have enough respect for him to keep your eyes from prowling, no matter how your relationship started." I overheard my mother almost warn. I hung back to hear my friend's reply even though I knew better than to eavesdrop. "The last thing I want to do is to hurt him." Heather replied softly but kept her voice firm when she continued, "And I have no intention to find out how to. You have my word that I will behave myself."
I took a deep breath and made my way towards them. "Excuse me, ladies." I called for their attention. They looked to me and smiled lightly. "I couldn't help but notice that you look a little tired. You need your rest in your condition." I recommended watching my friend roll her eyes and take my offered hand. "Didn't even take our vows yet and you just jumped right into the part." she teased while wrapping me into a one armed embrace. "What can I say? You make it easy." I replied smoothly. Heather looked startled at the reply. I simply smiled and noticed that my mother was smiling at us. Her presence reminded me to tell the family that we were leaving. "Everyone, it has been a long night and I am afraid that we are going to have to retire." I announced receiving a mixed chorus of well wishes. I took my friend's arm and led her away.
"Where are we going?" Heather asked me, noticing the change in scenery. "We're getting married soon and everyone here thinks we've been…you know. So it would look strange if I brought you home." I explained and she gave me a worried look. "Don't worry. I don't expect anything of you. We just need to look the part." I assured her as I showed her into my room and lit a candle. Heather looked around curiously. "I can loan you something to sleep in for the night, if you think it will make you more comfortable." I offered, watching her trying to be polite with her investigation. "If you can find something, I'd appreciate it." she replied timidly. I smiled and shuffled through my wardrobe and found a yukata, it might be really big on her for it was a little too big for myself. "Here you go." I stated and then directed, "There is a changing sheet over there."
After we changed we looked at each other for a few moments and back at the bed as if we were asking each other what to do. Heather sighed and laughed lightly, "What are we doing?" I chuckled as well and motioned for her to go first. She crawled in and chose the side closest to the wall. I crawled in after her and turned to face her. It felt strange to have Heather in my bed but this was going to be the first of many nights. My friend shifted uncomfortably. "What's wrong?" I asked fearing the worst. "Nothing's wrong." she stated before grabbing my hand and placing it over her stomach. I was confused, why—a tap against the palm of my hand interrupted my thoughts. "Oh wow!" I gasped. "At least you're excited. It feels weird on this end." she retorted with a sheepish smile. "This is amazing, Heather." I replied searching her stomach for a closer feel. My friend sighed with contentment and commented, "That feels really good, just like a belly rub." "I take it you're fond of those?" I questioned feeling more taps against my hand. "Sweetheart, momma's tired. It's time to settle down in there." my friend spoke to the child within her. I chuckled lightly and asked, "What's riling her up?" "Her?" she questioned me. I nodded while stating my reasoning, "Retsu came up with a method on how to determine the gender by certain patterns with the child's energy. This event really inspired her, you know. She doesn't really deal with maternal cases often." Heather rolled her eyes and replied, "That explains all the hyper activity: male attention."