Chapter 26: Around the tables

Chapter Text

It's been a hectic week of finishing off a historical wedding dress that was 8 months in the making! But it's done! I am Free! Woo!

Hope everyone is well and enjoys this. Sorry for the constant doctor's office visits, but sadly it's a fact of life for her at this point!

April-2018

38 Weeks.

"I hate shopping," I groan as I follow my mom and Joy around Babies R Us. My back hurts, actually scratch that everything hurts today. Still, I get dragged out to go shopping at the nearest shopping centre despite being practically two weeks or so from my due date. All for something mom deemed that I would need, or something that was on sale that we would need for later.

"You haven't left the house all week," Mom gives me a look.

"Well, tell that to the shooting pain in my hips," I say sarcastically.

"Sciatica, though lightning crotch was never fun either." My mom frowns, but also has a look on her face that tells me she remembers the feeling well enough.

"I don't know, I just know I need to sit down, eat, and sleep sometime soon," I say out of breath from talking alone.

"Why didn't you say something," Joy exclaims as she reaches in her purse and pulls out a bag of snacks. "These are usually for the boys but I am sure you will enjoy them as well." She tosses me a granola bar.

I sit down on one of the random benches and take a breather. (At least the baby store gets it with the benches!). Over the past week, it felt like my body had changed more so overnight. Each day was more uncomfortable than the last. No amount of stretching would make me feel better. I watch Joy who is busy looking around her, occasionally picking things up and looking for my approval and I just smile at her. This baby doesn't need another thing for the next year but somehow that doesn't stop my family.

In the corner of my eye, I see Ken, still dressed in his dress pants and shirt from work. Holding some sort of pouffy dress that caught his eye, or maybe it was the young woman who worked there seemed to be flirting with him? He was still holding on to the dress when he finally made his way to us. Still not seeing us or me sitting down but when he does his face lights up.

He smiles as he sees us and waves. "Isn't this adorable!" He said holding up a tiny dress that was meant to be some sort of spring or summer dress.

"She'll probably outgrow it before she wears it," My mother tells him. "I would get one size larger, it would be a nice little fall dress with a sweater."

I stare at her. If I had picked up the dress she would have deemed it unnecessary. Angry I start the motion to pull myself up, Ken quickly holds out his hands and pulls me up. Taking in my mood and how my stomach was oddly pronounced, not quite as high as she was previously but had not completely dropped into place as of it.

"Say anything and I will hit you," I tell him.

"I wasn't going to say a word," Ken said smiling amused. I can feel my mother watching us, and finally, I advert my gaze from his face and sigh.

Mom knows Ken is antsy and on high alert like most first-time fathers. Which also meant he spent whatever free time he had with me. Even if it meant just helping me with school work, or shopping. "Well, you're the strong one of the group and grab that box for us?" She says pointing at the box with the playpen. They had planned to get on later one, but when the email said they were on sale. Mom saw no reason to wait any longer, plus it had a detachable bassinet on it as well. For the lower level of the house should I need a safe place to put her?

Ken manages to pick up the box and managed to easily put it in the cart that mom had. "Anything else?" He asks

"Just this," Mom shakes her head. "What were you planning on doing tonight?" She asks looking at the both of us, meaning after my appointment that was scheduled as they were weekly now.

"Oh?" I look to Ken unsure of what we planned on doing.

"Nothing much, get dinner after the appointment," Ken says smiling. "Maybe drag Rilla to the book store, Persis asked if I could try and find her a book," he tells her and then looks at me with a smile. He talks to Persis a fair bit and when I was at his place I did as well. She was nice and sent some pretty Japanese baby clothes for us in the mail.

"Have her back no later than ten then?" Mom tells him and Joy looks at me with a raised eyebrow at Mom's curfew. I am beginning to think that she's giving me two weeks of freedom because that is all that I have left for freedom.

"You've been eating?" Ken asks as we get in the car. I give him a look of 'are you kidding me?' "Hey, just trying to have some sort of the answer if the doctor turns around to me."

"Yes, I eat all the freaking time, like six small meals a day, plus some snacks," I tell him, praying that I wouldn't get chastised again. I hadn't gained weight but I also hadn't lost any either since I lost those few pounds. Thankfully doctor at the end of it all is at least satisfied that I hadn't lost any more weight.

Still, it had been an awkward moment when she looked at Ken and me. "So I need to do a pelvic exam, just to get an estimate about how things are coming along. Do you want him to wait outside, do you want to wait outside?" She looks at Ken. "Though the reality is that if you're planning on being in the room for the birth together. Well, you might want to get rid of some awkwardness now?" She says to us.

"It's your choice," I say to Ken. "She does have a point?" Ken looks around for a moment. Uncomfortable but she did have a point if we couldn't even manage this? How would it go during the birth? He slowly nods his head.

"I'll stay I guess," He tells the doctor still unsure, but clearly the doctor had a point!

"All right then, Rilla since you're wearing a dress. You don't have to get undressed, but I'll give you a moment to remove your panties and get settled on the bed and you can cover yourself with this blanket." She tells me before she steps out of the room.

I look at Ken who turns around to give me a moment of privacy, looking at the posters on the wall for the first time.

"Did you know the entire countries statistics went down, but the Atlantic province had a raise in teenage pregnancy?" Ken reads from a poster, "and according to this, the average father is five years older than the mother," Ken adds on

"Yet people were still surprised?" I ask him as I shove my panties into my bag and settle onto the medical bed as the Doctor knocks on the door opening it a crack. "Ready?

"Yes," I say.

"People were surprised at what?" She asked

"Oh, your poster of statistics," Ken says awkwardly and I see her look towards it. "We seemed to, unfortunately, prove them correct?"

My doctor raises an eyebrow and hums a small chuckle. "I think no matter the statistics, an unplanned pregnancy is always a surprise to people. Scoot up a little closer to me Rilla," she tells me and I wiggle down until I feel like I am about to fall off the bed. It's not comfortable, and Ken sits down behind my head.

She disposes of her gloves and washes her hands. "Still no dilation, but she hasn't completely dropped yet which makes sense. Just keep eating and getting a good walk-in once a day if you can manage it. I will see you next week. I think we have you booked in for Monday if you notice anything irregular with discharge or think you lost your plug, or even have some unexplained leaking. Give me a ring to keep me updated."

"Of course," I say still red in the face.

"You can breathe dad," She says to Ken who seemingly looks like he's holding his breath. "You did good, I think you'll both manage just fine, but remember Rilla you can ask us to toss anyone out of the room at any time if you're uncomfortable. The bathroom is across the hall if you wish to use it." She tells me. I nod my head and carefully managed to swing my legs and keep myself covered I grab my purse and let my skirt fall into place.

Ken was waiting for me when I came out. "We're all good to go," he tells me and I nod my head.

We grab dinner at one of the local Chinese restaurants. It's quiet and doesn't take too long to order and have our food brought to us. Ken gets some sort of noodle dish while I stick with tofu and mixed vegetables as a stir fry.

"You're a pig!" I say the reading of the Chinese zodiac that was one a placement. "Pigs might not stand out in a crowd. But they are very realistic. They are a bit materialistic, but this is the motivation for them to work hard. Being able to hold solid objects in their hands gives them security. They take each day at a time and calmly face all difficulties. They have plain but smooth relationships." I read out loud. "Hmm it's not really you," I say to which Ken chuckles.

"You're a snake," Ken says finding my own birth year and I make a face. Seriously why couldn't I be a dragon or something? "Snakes are brave and decisive in their actions. They are born leaders who have a balanced mix of strictness and freedom. Sometimes they are arrogant, but even in a crowd, their aura can be sensed easily. Works well with Ox, Dragon and Rooster. Tiger and Pig will only bring trouble."

I snort at the trouble aspect.

"I guess that's somewhat me?" I say pondering. "Brave or incredible stupid at least."

"You're too strict with yourself," Ken adds to which I frown at. Discipline was the core of ballet, you needed the discipline to make it. Being strict was a discipline in itself. 'Though you are far from being arrogant." He says. "And apparently I only bring you trouble," he says with a teasing voice.

"I guess Owen will have to get used to us being opposites then," I respond faking a huff. "And on that note," I add on as I carefully stand up. "I have to pee," I tell him before a head off to find the washroom.

We get the leftover boxed up when I come back and as Ken reaches for the bill, I grab it before he could. "Dad gave me some cash," I tell him as I reach for my purse and find my wallet and grab the forty dollars that dad gave me, which come with a 'don't tell your mother look'. It's not often I get a chance to pay for things. He rarely lets us split the bill, saying his mother would slap him silly if he didn't. I once argued saying this wasn't exactly a date, but still, he wouldn't budge. It might not be a date-date, I was still carrying his child and that means something to him.

I get up once more, another woman gives me a look of sympathy as if she knows exactly what I am going through considering the two kids she's with at the table. I pay and leave a tip and put away my change as Ken comes up with the food behind me.

"I still can't believe you don't like fortune cookies," he says shaking his head as we go back to his car. We drop off the containers of food checking his phone for a moment showing up one of the photos from Di's portfolio shoot. A shoot where his hands are cradling our daughter.

All the photos Di sent my way blew me away, she showed the ones for her portfolio. Which were more about the dress than me, but also sent along with all the ones that I looked pretty in and the ones with Ken.

One tagged with a comment of 'If that's not love, I need to re-evaluate my love life' it made my cheeks burn, but we were both gazing down at my belly. It was probably our terror of what we were doing that she had mistaken for love. Because we were both terrified, terrified to mess this up, to be parents to this child. We just never voiced them because we knew the answer we would receive.

Well, you should have thought of that before you went drinking, okay maybe it more of a whole every parent feels that way, but still, we don't want to open up that can of worms.

What I was most surprised at was how two photos of me at the lighthouse, learning over the rail of the Spiral staircase (I was completely safe!) Found its way onto the wall of photos my parents had my hair was like a curtain as it tumbled over my shoulder. Granted it one of the few photos that barely showed I was pregnant, you have to squint to see it and that was if you knew to look for it. But there was another of me out on the dunes. Clearly pregnant as it mimics the photo that Ken took of me in the setting sun, except I was bathed in sunlight. Plus whatever filters or editing Ken's cousin put on it, making it even more fairytale-like.

"Where too now?" I ask him as he makes no move to get in the car.

Actually, would you be opposed to meeting some of my friends and co-workers? Ken asks clicking his phone off. "Xav, says he found that book and is out with a few people? We don't have to stay but they are just down at the board game cafe?"

"You want to introduce me to your friends?" I ask him carefully needing clarification.

"Ugh, I guess so?" Ken says awkward unsure of what to say. "I mean they know about it a bit, it's not something I can hide from them? They have a bunch of drinks and what not and dessert? I know even you can be tempted with cake now and then?" He says teasing me slightly. I know he doesn't mean in it a mean way, but it still sends me into a rush of defiance of not eating it.

"I'm still pretty full, but we'll see," I tell him sighing. "Lead the way?" I say as take his hand. We walk to the cafe, which I had never been to before but it was full of young people and hipsters. I know Shirley comes here often with his friends and only works down the street from this place.

"Ken!" They call out his name when they see him, I shrink back slightly, to which he gives my hand a small squeeze. "You made it, and you brought the little lady! That's Steve, Meg and Sasha, I'm Xavier by the way," The blond man flashes me a smile.

"Rilla," I say back. "But I have a feeling you knew that."

They pull up another table when Ken and I come back with Xavier, I shyly wave to them as Ken introduces me to everyone. Steve works at the university, while Xavier works in the library archives. Meg and Sasha are history T.A's and Meg works part-time at the museum as well if I retained everything that he said to me. Once I was settled, Ken gets up and orders some drinks. I notice others have some sort of drink or beer, but when Ken comes back he has a coffee for himself and a chai tea latte for me.

"You know Ken won't shut up about you," Steve says who is a decent-looking guy with brown hair and eyes. "Though seeing you in person I get it to know."

"Steve," Ken groans as he sits back down and I blush.

"So what are we playing? I think the last game I played was Candyland with my nephews," I say. "Or maybe a family game of monopoly or clue. This doesn't look like that?" I asked out loud.

"We were going to play Castles of Burgundy, you own a small princedom and have to build a settlement before anyone else," Xavier explains.

"So you're finished with school for now?" Sasha who was an icy blonde asks me.

I look to Ken unsure of what he's told them about our history and he nods his head that they know. "Oh umm, I suppose I am? I mean, I'll go back in the fall, but right now I'm just sort of waiting at this point?" I tell her.

"I know I see Ken jump a foot every time someone texts him at work," Meg who was a brunette with bright blue eyes says teasingly. "I don't think I've ever seen someone be so antsy."

"He's been wonderful through all of this," I say simply smiling. "Given the circumstances of everything?" I add on quietly before taking a sip of tea letting the warmth flow through me. When it gets to a certain spot I could feel the baby react to it and send a series of kicks. I rub the spot and when I look back up I see some of the girls looking at me with a smile on their faces.

The game picks up and I got strangely into it and I enjoyed the fact that the baby wasn't the focus of the conversation as they talked about various things. Some of the topics were well over my head but they tried their best to keep me in the conversation.

"What's your tattoo of?" I ask Sasha who has a large one down her arm.

"Oh, it's Viking goddess Freya," She grins showing it off me too. "Actually Ken I ran into my artist and he says he can definitely help you out if you go talk to him." She tells him and I look to Ken for some sort of clarification.

"I've been thinking that after she's born I may get her name tattooed down my arm," Ken explains to me. It's not a revelation that's terribly shocking to me. After all, he does have a tattoo on his back after all. Some mythical creature or god that I asked about once when I saw it and promptly forgot the name five minutes later.

"Dad has all of our names in a tattoo," I tell Ken meaning I get the meaning behind the idea. "I just don't think I could ever sit through one," I add on letting a shiver run down my spine.

"I didn't know your dad had a tattoo," Ken says a touch surprised.

"He has two when he was young when he got Joy's a name, and it felt wrong to leave out the rest of us were added on slowly. Though unless you see him shirtless, the chances of seeing it are rare," I say to him, to everyone at the table. I can picture it in my mind as I think of it. It was all in the same neat script he wrote out himself so it matches seamlessly.

Joyce Marie,

James Matthew,

Walter John,

Anne Phillipa & Diana Stacey,

Shirley Gilbert,

Marilla Nadine.

"He also has a pair of carrots on his chest which is an inside joke for my parents because of mom's red hair," I say with a laugh. "I know my brother Shirley has one on his calf, of some sort of comic book thing, and my eldest brother has one up on his shoulder of a lion."

"Your Lee Blythes sister," Meg says looking at me curiously. "I knew your sister Di in high school, you have similar hair colours."

"The Shirley curse," I say mimicking my mother as I run a hand over my curls. "I guess we shall see what this one ends up with. It's a toss-up between us," I look to Ken who smiles at me.

"Well, I wouldn't be upset if she was another ginger," he grins at me.

"Why? So another one can steal your soul?" Steve chips in teasing Ken and I see his ears go red.

"It's your turn, Steve," Ken replies gruffly back to his friend who takes the dice and takes his turn. We spend the next two hours making light conversation and laughing as I try not to pee my pants at the same time.

"I won, won!" I dance in my seat when I was declared the winner. "I never win at games!"

"And I should probably get you home," Ken says realizing it was later than anyone realized. I wince when I see the time, but it's been a long while since I had fun like this.

"It was nice meeting you all," I tell his friends as Ken helps me up from my chair.

"Don't be a stranger," they all said to me. "Also we're looking forward to Ken's goofy face when he tells us the news."

I could hear mom tapping away at her keyboard when I unlocked the front door. She was curled up on the couch, a cup of tea in her favourite mug and laptop on her lap. She looks up at me and then at the clock with a raised eyebrow.

"We lost track of time," I say quietly slipping off my shoes.

"Have some cake," Mom says nudging the blueberry cake that she had made earlier that was only half-eaten on her plate with her blanketed foot. "It partly healthy, it has fruit." She tells me as if it would make me feel better about it.

I sigh and sit down and nibble at it.

"What are you writing?" I ask her. "One of you weird romance stories?"

"I do not write weird romance stories," Mom replies haughtily.

"Keep telling yourself that then," I say rolling my eyes. "Oh Averil, what a wonderful cake you made," I say in a high-pitched voice.

"Watch it young lady, that story one-first prize," Mom warns me, but her voice full of mirth.

"So why do you work at the school? Doesn't dad make enough for everyone?" I ask

Mom snorts. "You try having seven children with three of them in college, and one in medical school. Plus I do occasionally write freelance for magazines." She reminds me and I make a face

Yes, magazines about parenting or women topics that start with how to keep a sex life when you have seven kids or how to not let your seven children drive you crazy. Or How to balance motherhood and a career without being exhausted( you can't but here are some of my all-time tips and tricks of staying sane!)

"You used to make the best fairytales at bedtime," I say quietly to which mom looks slightly sad. Part of me wonders if she wanted more than just being a teacher or principal? "Just seems sad that no one else got to hear them? Now you just literary porn on the internet for people to read."

"First off, I write much more than tasteful romantic love stories thank you very much," Mom gives me a look and I just give her one back. "I mean if you want to really get into it, I could say that you are the youngest of seven children. If I'm writing anything it comes from experience."

"Urgh, don't be gross," I make a face and she laughed and wraps her arm around me.

"Gross would be bringing up the time that you were conceived and I remember it like yesterday," Mom grins at me. Clearly enjoying this moment between us!

"No, no no," I say shaking my head. "I don't want to know or even think, or hear about you and dad."

"Just you wait, give it sixteen years and that little one will be saying the same thing to you as you are to me," Mom tells me. "Though let us hope that she has a bit more sense than her mother and grandmother?" Mom says before she taps my stomach. "You hear that don't you? I don't need to be a great grandmother before I'm seventy."

"Oh she's not dating until she's graduated high school," I say automatically. "Ken and I already discussed and made the rule up."

Mom chuckles and pats my head. "Good luck with that working out, so what did you do tonight?" She asks me as she takes a sip of her tea.

"We ended up with a few of his friends actually as the board game cafe," I tell her honestly. "It was oddly nice? They were nice," I say quietly. "They didn't focus on the obvious."

"Well, it good to know that Ken is making friends here, and trusts them enough to introduce you to them," Mom says after a quiet moment.

"Mom?" I say quietly after chewing on my lip for a good two minutes.

"Yes?"

"What's it going to be like?" I ask her in a small timid voice.

"It's going to be the most painful, but the most meaningful, extraordinary experience of your life," Mom tells me with a small sad smile on her face. Automatically understanding what I was asking her. "You've never quite ready for it, but you get through it. At the end of it this goopy-smushed-up little thing gets placed in your arms and suddenly you don't think you could love anything more. All the while you're equally terrified and dumbstruck that you created this little person. That you're responsible for them for the rest of their lives in some form or capacity. Them turning eighteen doesn't make you suddenly not a parent, or that they don't need you anymore."

I sit there quietly unsure of what to say after that.

"Sometimes I watch you calmly go through this and I remember just how freaked out and anxious I was all the time with Joy." Mom adds on.

"I'm scared, I'm scared all the time. So is Ken but what's the point of freaking out over something that going to happen if I freak out or not?" I try to tell explain that I wasn't always calm and collect as I appeared to be. "Or maybe it's just easier that I know, that Ken feels the same way and I know it's normal?" I say quietly trying to explain myself to her.

I hope everyone is enjoying this, the baby is coming soon enough!

Tina