Chapter 29:
(Camilo POV)
- 2 years later -
I smiled as I pulled Liv in closer to me. She started to stir, "Sshh don't wake up." I whispered but, it was too late. She turned over to face me, "Morning." She smiled. I planted a quick kiss on her lips, "Good morning." She sat up as she stretched herself out, "What are you doing today?" I sighed, "I'm babysitting." She frowned but I quickly stopped her, "As myself and only for a few hours. What about you" She nodded her head, "Ok. Mirabel is teaching me how to embroider today," I smiled, "Because quilting, sewing and crocheting just weren't enough for you." She nodded her head, "Exactly, after that I have a few blankets to bring to the church and then I am going to the town library."
She kissed my nose and then leaned back throwing the blanket off her, "Breakfast is ready." I don't know why but after being blind for so long her sense of hearing and smell were just better than mine (although not better than Dolores's hearing) and I knew that if breakfast hadn't been called yet that we could rush downstairs and get food before everyone else, "A woman after my own heart." I whispered as we were both getting dressed.
We made our way downstairs her arm wrapped in mine as we saw Tía in the kitchen, "Everyday you are the first two down. How?" We smirked, "Just luck I guess." We made our plates and took our places at the table as the rest of our family slowly joined us, "Every morning." Someone commented as they saw us, but honestly I was enjoying it. I looked over at the clock and back at Liv, "I will see you in town later." She nodded her head, "See you then. Love you." I smirked, "Love you too." I whispered as I kissed her cheek.
(Olivia POV)
I was working with Mirabel in the living room as she was teaching me how to embroider. "I don't understand why you want to learn how to embroider Olivia. Believe me I am glad to teach you but, you already know so much about all this..." I smiled up at her, "Well I like to work with my hands and now that I can actually see my work I kind of want to see all the different ways I can make it work." Mirabel nodded her head, "Yeah embroidery gave me a purpose for a while too. Are you going to give this one to the church too?"
I shook my head, "No these ones aren't right yet. I don't want to give it to them until they are perfect." "I'm sure they will appreciate either way," Mirabel started but I shook my head. "I take a lot of pride in giving people nice, warm, decent blankets and clothes and other things. I don't want to give them anything that doesn't meet that standard." Mirabel seemed to understand and we continued working on them as Mirabel taught me new patterns and ways to stitch into the fabric.
After we finished I went up to our room to get everything ready. When I caught a glimpse at the calendar. I hadn't realized what day it was. I counted the days again and again to be sure before I sat down and took out a scrap of fabric. I was working quickly and it wasn't up to my usual standards but it would have to do. I had to give this to Camilo tonight. Now that I was sure I couldn't keep it to myself. I finished and looked at my work, it wasn't perfect and a few stitches were off but it would work.
I packed up my basket with all the stuff that I had finished before and went into town. I smiled as I watched him. He had a group of kids sitting around him as he told them a story changing into different characters as the events went on. I watched from the sidelines until he was done and waved at him as he made his way over, "Hi Liv, I didn't think you would be coming into town later." "And miss the show," I commented. He laughed shaking his head, "Yeah well now that you can read I need to be useful in one way or another." I shook my head, "Please." He scoffed, "What it is true?" I looked around, "Want to walk with me to the church?" I asked holding up my basket. He took my hand, "Of course. Why would I ever say no to that?"
(Camilo POV)
I held onto Liv's hand as we walked through town. I noticed that she was being quiet but, she didn't seem upset. Even after knowing her for as long as I have and being married to her for 2 years I could never tell what was going on her head when she got quiet like this. I also knew better than to assume anything too. We went into the church and she handed everything in her basket to Padre Sanchez except for something in the bottom. As we left the church I pulled her aside, "Liv is something going on?" She bit her bottom lip, "Nothing bad." She said and I sighed, "Are you going to tell me?" She nodded her head, "Yeah here." She picked up the stray piece of fabric that was still in her basket.
I looked at her confused as I began to unfold it and see the patterns that Mirabel must have been teaching her, "It looks nice Liv." I unfolded it a few more times and that was when I saw the word Papa embroidered in a really fancy script across the handkerchief. I looked up at her, "Are you serious?" She nodded her head and I wrapped her in a warm hug. She held onto me tightly, "I'm about 2 months along give or take." She said into my shoulder. I couldn't believe this. I was going to be a Papa.
I kissed the top of her head before setting her down, "We have to tell everyone." I said but she held me back, "Do you think that this could just be between us for a little while?" "Why?" I asked and she let out a long breath, "I- I know that we are a part of this big, important family and I love all of them..." she took my hand and placed it on my stomach, "but this is the start of our little family and I kind of what to enjoy it with you for a little while first." I nodded my head, "Yeah we can enjoy it for a little while first. I can't believe this Liv you are going to be such a great Mama." She gave me a kiss, "You're going to be an even better Papa." I think I smiled the rest of the day and each day that followed. I couldn't wait to meet our kid.
(Olivia POV)
- 5 weeks later -
I looked in one of the many mirrors in our room at my stomach. It was extremely faint and looked like I had just had eaten too much or something but I knew that was it, that was my baby. Camilo came up from behind me, "How did my girls do today?" I smiled as I turned to face him, "You are so convinced that it is going to be a girl." He nodded his head, "Look at my family. Every first-born is a girl and you were an only child and on your Mama's side they had a girl first too. It is just the destiny of our families." I rolled my eyes, "You have a point."
He looked at me, "Speaking of our family. You know we can't hide this much longer." I nodded my head, "I know." "So when do you want to tell them?" He asked looking at me. I let out a long breath, "Look in a few days it's Pedro's second birthday and we are not going to overshadow that but after that we can tell everyone." He kissed the side of my cheek, "Ok. I guess I can wait until then. Now come on I need to get you two into bed." I nodded my head and I laid down resting my head on his chest, "Camilo?" I asked. "Hmm?" I looked up at him, "If you think it is a girl, what names do you have in mind?" He looked down at me, "I liked the name Marisol." I smiled as I ran my hand across my chest, "Marisol." I looked down at my stomach and back up at him, "You better pray it is a girl because if we name our son that he would never forgive us." "You like it too?" He asked and I nodded my head, "Yeah. I do." "I love you Liv," he whispered. "I love you too." "Love you Marisol."
- 2 days later -
I could feel my stomach cramping all day and I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. I thought I might have just eaten too much cake or something. It was Pedro's birthday today and we were all there for him throughout the entire da. I could feel my stomach hurting more and more though. I excused myself and went up to our room and laid down in bed. I didn't know what was going on. I let my eyes closed as I held onto my stomach. I felt really cold and felt beads of sweat coming across my forehead as I wrapped myself in a blanket.
"Hey Liv. I know that you weren't feeling well, but I still had to bring you a piece of cake," I heard Camilo say as he came into our room. I looked at him though and I could see his face drop, "Camilo. Something is wrong." He came over to me and sat me up a little bit to get a better look at me, "Liv you are burning up." He grabbed my hands and I knew that they must have been cold. "I'm going to get my Tía ok?" I nodded my head as he ran downstairs before he even left the room though I knew what was happening. I could feel it during all the pain as I started to bleed. I was losing this baby.
(Camilo POV)
I went back downstairs and saw that everyone was still celebrating. I went over to Tía and whispered, "Liv needs your help upstairs." She turned to face me and saw the desperation in her eyes. She went to the kitchen and made something quickly before coming upstairs to see Liv.
"Olivia what is going on?" She asked. Liv looked up at me and nodded I guess she didn't know what to say. "Liv is about 3 months pregnant and she wasn't feeling well today. She came up to lay down but she was burning up. I don't know what to do Tía." Tía looked at me and back at Liv, "Olivia do you know what is happening?" Tears were in Liv's eyes as she whispered, "Please tell me you can help." Tía shuffled the blanket around and sighed, "This can help with your fever and make all the other pain go away." Liv started to cry and Tía came over to me and whispered, "She lost the baby Milo." No, no we were going to tell everyone soon. We were going to have our own little family. Everything was going so well.
I swallowed the harsh lump in my throat as I staggered over to Liv and pulled her into a deep hug. She was sobbing into my shoulder and all I could do was hold her. I saw the blanket shuffle and the blood on our sheets. I was going to have to figure out a way to get rid of them eventually. I looked over at Tía and back at Liv before laying her down for a second.
I went over to Tía and whispered, "Can you please not tell anyone anything about his." "Camilo," she started but I shook my head, "Look if Liv wants to tell people then we will but I want it to be her choice nobody else's so I'm asking you not to tell anyone until she makes that decision." She sighed, "I don't agree with it but, I will respect your wishes." I nodded my head, "Thank you." She looked back at me, "What should I tell them though? They are going to ask why I came up?" I sighed, "Just tell them that Liv was feeling sick and you came to check on her." She nodded her head and went downstairs as I went back to Liv. "We're going to be ok," I whispered as I stoked back her hair, "We are going to be ok."
- 5 days later -
Liv had not left bed since that night. As far as I knew she was physically better, but she just refused to move from her spot. She stopped crying after that first day and hadn't spoken to me since then as well, just nodding and shaking her head. My family was all asking about her and I kept to the same routine that she had been feeling sick the last few days.
I leaned over to her and whispered, "I'm going to go into town today for a while, do you want to come with me?" She shook her head no. "Ok, do you want me to bring you something to eat from downstairs?" She shook her head again no. I bit my bottom lip, "Ok I won't be gone too long so I will see you soon. I love you." She didn't respond at all. I kissed the top of her head and left the room. I wanted to breakdown. I wanted to scream, to cry and feel everything in between but I had to keep it together for Liv.
Daniela came up to me, "Tío why is Tía Livvy so sad?" I gave her a sad smile, "She just hasn't been feeling good the last couple of days. Don't worry too much, ok Mono?" She nodded her head and then smiled, "I have an idea maybe I can make her a card to help her get better." I smiled at her, "Yeah I think she would like that. Good thinking Mono" She ran off to her room to get started on making the card. Maybe that would get her to talk again?
(Olivia POV)
I looked down at my stomach running my hands across my bump. I felt Camilo wrap his arms around me as he smiled, "My two girls." I turned to face him, "I love you." "I love you too..." he would say but his smile would quickly dip as he looked down at my stomach. Suddenly the bump was gone our baby was gone and I looked up at him, "Camilo." "How could you lose her Olivia? How could you," he started to ask. Suddenly Papa would walk over, "This is the world punishing you. You didn't really think you deserved all this did you?" He snapped his belt, "You are pathetic. I'm doing this for your own good." I then saw a little girl coming up to me. She had light brown curly hair and hazel eyes, "Why couldn't your protect me Mama? Didn't you love me?"
My eyes opened but I didn't even flinch awake. I had, had the same nightmare every night since I lost the baby. I felt completely hollow inside. Nothing made sense to me anymore. Every time I closed my eyes I could see him telling me this was my fault and that I deserved for this to happen. Everyday Camilo would try talking to me but the words wouldn't come to me. I just found myself waiting for the day he told me he didn't love me anymore. I couldn't blame him. I lost our baby, I deserved to lose him too.
(Camilo POV)
I went into town and just got through everything as quickly as possible. I really didn't want to leave Liv alone for too long. I made my way back to Casita and went up to see Liv she hadn't moved from her spot. "Hey Liv I'm back," I said and she nodded her head, "Liv please look at me, I need to talk to you." No response, "Please Liv we need to talk." No response the desperation in my voice was evident, "Liv, please." No response.
I don't know what happened but something in me snapped as I turned her to face me, "Look at me Olivia." Her eyes widened as she saw me, "God dammit Olivia I need you to talk to me. I know you need to talk to me too. I can't take this anymore. I can't keep doing this and acting like everything is ok. We are not ok. But I can't do anything to fix this. I have to keep living our lives doing everything to make it look like nothing is wrong, when everything is wrong." She touched my shoulder as I let out, "WE LOST OUR BABY I CAN'T LOSE YOU TOO!" I slid down to the floor and began crying into my arms.
Suddenly I felt a pair of small arms wrap around me and I looked up to see Liv, "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep her safe. I'm sorry that you have been doing all of this alone. I'm sorry I lost our baby." Something in her last statement shocked me. She blamed herself for everything that had happened. I shook my head in her shoulder, "Liv you didn't lose our baby. What happened wasn't your fault." She leaned back and looked at me, "It really feels like it was. I was holding her. She was in me." I nodded my head, "Yeah and you told me you weren't feeling well and I let you go up to our room alone." We both looked at each other as all the pain we had been bottling up came up to the surface, "We can't do this alone Liv. I can't survive this alone, anymore." She nodded her head looking up at me, "I don't think I can either." I wrapped my arms around her and whispered, "I love you." And for the first time in almost a week she said, "I love you too."
We talked all night about everything that had happened and what we were going to do next and when the sun rose the next morning we both washed ourselves off and went downstairs for breakfast ready to face the next day. And slowly we put ourselves back together again.
(Olivia POV)
- 2 months later -
Camilo and I were more and more back to ourselves and it felt so good to be like this with him again. We sat down at the kitchen table. I looked over at Camilo, "What are you doing today?" He smiled at me, "I'm going into town doing what I do." I smiled at him, "Yeah I'm going to finish up some things and bring them to the church. I'll meet you in town for lunch?" He nodded his head as he lifted my hand up and kissed the back of my hand. "We have an announcement," all attention turned to Dolores and Mariano. Dolores took a long breath, "I'm pregnant again. With triplets." Everyone was clapping and congratulating her and I looked toward Camilo and smiled, "Let's go congratulate her." He nodded his head. I smiled at her, "Congratulations Dolores." "Thank you, I was wondering if you wanted to be there when we told Daniela?" Camilo's smile broadened and I was relieved, "Of course."
We left the kitchen together and Camilo turned to look at me, "Are you ok?" I nodded my head, "Yeah. I'll be ok." "Be ok?" He asked and I sighed, "I just wish that she was still here with us." He nodded his head, "I do too, but hey it will happen eventually." I nodded my head and planted a kiss on his cheek, "Yes it will." I looked at him, "I don't feel like going into town today." He nodded his head, "Neither do I. I'll go with Dolores and Mariano when they talk to Daniela and then after that how about we sneak away to Limbo together?" I nodded my head, "Yeah I would really like that."
I watched as Dolores pulled him away and Julieta pulled me over to the side. She was the only other person who knew, "Are you alright Olivia?" I nodded my head, "Yeah. I am happy for her." She nodded her head, "I never thought you weren't, but it is ok if you aren't ok." I nodded my head, "It's sad but, I'll be ok." She nodded her head, "Ok."
Camilo met me by the door as soon as he finished, "How did they take it?" I asked. He smiled, "As long as one of them is a girl I think they will be ok." I nodded my head and held out my hand. We walked out to Limbo together and we sat under our tree. "Liv, do you want to talk about it?" I looked up at him, "I would rather we not talk about it right now." I planted a firm kiss on his lips wrapping my arms around his neck pulling him down towards me. He looked down at me, "Are you sure?" I nodded my head, "Yes Camilo I'm sure." I said deepening our kiss. And we didn't talk for the rest of our time in Limbo.
Author's Note:
I know that a lot of people might be upset with me about this chapter and I am sorry. I had planned this out back when I wrote Dolores's Story and for continuity reasons I had to incorporate it here. There is one chapter left after this one. I hope you enjoyed the story so far and thank you for your continued support.
