Chapter 15
Even though Karen's pregnancy was not a high risk pregnancy, her gynecologist insisted that for the remaining two months of her pregnancy she stay mostly in bed. It was, for the most part, the fact that she had miscarried and she was over forty. It did put the pregnancy at somewhat of a high risk, but the doctor's were convinced the baby was going to be fine. Despite that, they recommended that Karen take to her bed.
So she was stuck, and she hated it. She couldn't lie on her back, it cut off the circulation to the baby; she couldn't lie on her stomach, obviously; she could only lie on her side. She hated lying on her side. It was either that, or propped up with pillows behind her. She preferred that position. Nathan, before he had left to go to work, had propped her up, kissed her goodbye, and then had reluctantly left her.
Now she was alone. Alone was never a good thing. Sure Rosario was there, but she was off earning her keep, cleaning the manse. Karen couldn't interrupt her.
Well, she did have this baby growing inside of her to keep her company.
Karen glanced down at her protruding stomach. It rested heavily on her lap. She had not expected it to be so heavy, so suffocating at times. Nathan did his best to help her. He didn't mind when she had to shift in bed at night. He would often times wake up and help her. If she was going to be up he was up, too. He didn't care that she had completely lost her sex drive, well not completely, but it was more on her terms now. Most of the time she hurt too much to work up the energy to have sex. Plus, sex was a little confusing. Neither knew exactly what to do with a baby in between them. Nathan had taken to a different position to get the job done.
Now Karen was alone for the next two months with this thing growing inside of her and only her thoughts and the television to keep her company. Well, occasionally one of the gang would stop in. Jack was the one to come over the majority of the time. He'd hop in to bed with her and they would watch some old movie. Will would come on occasion, mostly when he was bored and had nothing better to do. Ever since Grace had moved out, he'd seemed kind of down.
Yes, Gracie had moved in with Mark. Karen had no idea how that was working out. She wished Grace would come over more.
Now she was sitting in her bed, feeling the weight of the child inside of her. She gently rested a hand on the top of her stomach and tenderly trailed her fingers down her stomach. She tilted her head, looking at her stomach, admiring how huge it had gotten over the months. It made her smile. Sitting there in her bed she was actually content. The pain was there, but it was all so minimal, so small compared to what it would be like to finally hold the baby in her arms. It was worth it to go through the pain. She was finally beginning to let go of her doubts. This child had held on longer than the last. She just prayed it would be all right.
"I can't wait to see you." She whispered, her voice frightening her at first in the quiet room. "I'm sure you'll be beautiful, like your father, and well I guess like me." Here she giggled, but kept her eyes trained on her stomach. She could feel the baby moving around. The constant movement assured her that everything was fine. She loved when the baby shifted. She moved her hand to where she could feel the baby was kicking. "Are these your feet?" Karen smiled, imagining what the child looked like all balled up inside of her.
A silhouette stood unnoticed in her bedroom doorway. She was too entranced by the baby inside of her to become aware of the fact that someone was watching her. "You've taken to talking to yourself, wow; I must have been away from you longer than I thought." An all too familiar voice was heard coming from the threshold of the bedroom.
"Oh," Karen jumped, startled by the voice. However, she knew who it was and was glad that she was there. "Gracie!" Karen held out her arms for Grace to come to her.
Now she would no longer be alone. Surprisingly she had not been plagued with horrible thoughts from her past. She was instead consumed with thoughts of the baby. But still sitting in bed, talking to a fetus was no comparison to having an actual human being sitting next to her, talking to her.
Grace went to Karen, but something wasn't right. Grace's face was tear stained and she looked like she might cry again by the time she got to Karen's side, sat down on the edge of the bed, and wrapped her arms around Karen. "What's wrong, Grace?" Karen asked, wrapping an arm securely around Grace and pulling her to her.
Grace shook her head, unable to speak. The tears were coming once again.
"Oh, honey, come lay down with me." Karen pushed the blankets off the empty side of the bed and patted it, waiting for Grace to comply, which she did without hesitation. She climbed in to bed beside Karen and rested her head on Karen's shoulder. Karen put her arm around her once again and did her best to look down at Grace, to study her. "What happened?"
"I left him." Was all Grace would get out before breaking in to another round of tears.
"Oh, honey. You left Mark?" Karen shook her head.
"Yes. It was horrible. We were fighting all the time and there was never any sex afterwards." Grace pouted. So maybe fighting in a relationship didn't bring about great sex.
"Sounds to me like there was no relationship." Karen wiped at Grace's tears.
"There wasn't." Grace stated, almost angrily. "I convinced myself there was, I convinced you and Will there was, but in reality there wasn't. I don't know why I moved in with him, or why I thought it would work." Grace was beating herself up over this and Karen hated to see her like this.
"Honey, no, don't beat yourself up about this. Men can be awful bastards sometimes, but you just collect yourself and move on." Karen encouraged, but it wasn't working.
"But you don't have these problems." Grace cried. "Nathan's perfect."
Karen shook her head. "He's no more perfect than any other guy. Really, he gets in his moods sometimes. Not every man is perfect." Grace still wasn't cheering up. Karen decided for a flattering recovery. "Gracie, listen to me. You are a beautiful woman; you have your whole life ahead of you. I'm sure there is someone out there waiting for you. You just haven't met them."
Grace frowned. "Why do you say them?"
Karen's eyes left Grace and wondered to the opposite wall, then back. She frowned, "Well, honey, I just thought that after you had your little thing for me you were open to a more bisexual way of life." Karen glanced around, confused.
"That was only for you, Karen. I only felt that way towards you." Grace, a bit flustered said as if to say oh-come-on. "Really, I have never felt like that towards any woman, but you." Grace wished Karen wasn't happily married and pregnant. She was slipping in to her old feelings again. Why else would she have come to Karen before going to Will?
"Oh, honey." Karen looked at Grace and really studied her. She leaned down and kissed her, at first gently, but Grace deepened the kiss, groped for her mouth. Their tongues collided together. "Gracie, I know you love me, but there has to be a guy out there for you. Or a girl. You never know." Karen took Grace's hand in her own and squeezed it.
Grace nodded. She knew she couldn't get stuck liking Karen again. It would never work. She needed to go out there and find somebody else. But right then she needed Karen. So she agreed that she would find someone, and then snuggled in to Karen's side. Karen quite enjoyed her company.
"How's the design firm?" Karen questioned.
"Oh, it's good. No so much fun now that you're not around, but the state requires that I let you off on maternity leave, so I'm dealing." Grace smiled. Karen had pulled Grace's hand to her stomach and Grace was now gently running her hand over Karen's belly. Sometimes she could feel the baby kick, and Karen would smile like any proud mother would, and watch to see how Grace reacted to the kicks. "Doesn't it hurt?"
"No, not really. Not after awhile. You kind of get used to it." Karen shrugged, running her hand over her stomach, searching for another kick, an elbow, a shoulder.
"Wow," Grace grinned, "I can not believe you are going through this before me. You know. I always thought the story would end the other way around."
"What, with me ending up with some loser and you happily married?" Karen sneered. "In your dreams, honey."
Grace smiled, but underneath it all, it hurt that she still hadn't found Mr. Right. Sure Leo had been great, but only when he was around. Nathan, her Nathan had been a God send, but she'd destroyed the relationship. All her other relationships had been meaningless, and only good for sex. It was time she buckle down and really look for someone.
"But I'm sure you'll find someone." Karen moved Grace's tear damp curls out of her faced and kissed her forehead. "I'm tired. Do you want to take a nap with me?" Karen inquired.
Grace nodded, also feeling worn out from crying all morning. She would still have to face Will and try to get him to let her move back in, but somehow she felt better about the situation. Karen always knew how to make it better, well except for a couple of times when she'd only made the situation worse…but that was in her past. Now she was thinking logically and functioning normally. Her help really did help. She knew just how to flatter Grace.
The two floated off for an afternoon nap, which was only interrupted by Nathan's return home.
Grace decided to go to Will's after having dinner with Karen and Nathan. She was beginning to feel like their child.
She arrived at Will's and knocked on the door. She could hear a commotion coming from the other side and it seemed like it was taking Will longer than usual to get to the door. "Will!" Grace cried, knocking again.
"Coming, Grace." Will sounded panicked, but moments later when he finally pulled the door open he looked clam and unruffled. "Hey sweetie. I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow night. Remember, we were going to make those little egg rolls you like?"
Grace frowned, and tried to look around Will, looking for evidence that someone, or something else was in his apartment. She completely ignored what he was saying. "Is someone else here?" She asked, looking him straight in the eye.
He swallowed, hating being under Grace's inescapable stare. "No, no there's no one here." Just then something went crashing to the floor in the other room. "Could you keep it down in there, Joey?" Will cried, and then looked back at Grace as if nothing had just happened.
"What are you hiding, Will Truman?" Grace demanded.
"It's nothing." Will grabbed her arm and pulled her in. "Come on, sit down." He ushered her to the sofa. She frowned, but no longer able to keep it from him she broke down.
"Will, Mark and I broke up." Grace blurted out.
"Oh, my gosh, sweetie, that's awful." Will saddened, reaching out for Grace.
"It's okay. I just…well I just need a place to stay, so I was wondering if I could have my old room back." Grace broke away from his embrace and looked at him with tears brimming in her eyes.
"Oh, sweetie…" Will glanced nervously at his room, and then back at her.
"What?" Grace turned to follow his gaze, but saw nothing but his closed bedroom door.
"I, um, I kind of met someone and he's…uh…kind of moving in." Will bit his lip.
There was a pause. "What?" Grace cried. She jumped up and went to his bedroom door, pushing it open. The door opened to reveal the most beautiful man sitting like an angel on Will's bed.
The man looked around, trying to avoid Grace but he couldn't. "Uh, hi. I'm Joey."
"How could you!" Grace turned on Will. "How could you meet someone? Does everyone have someone? Am I destined to be alone for the rest of my life?"
"Does everything always have to be about you?" Will gave her an evil look. "Grace, come on. You should be happy for me. I finally met someone."
"Well, Will, you should have thought about how this would affect our friendship." Grace finally shoved at him as a last resort. She couldn't handle this situation. She had to leave, she had to get away.
But once she was out on the street she had no idea where to go.