Month eight
Nicky stared at Gloria from across the kitchen. Breakfast had been served already, and Gloria flicked through her letters. Nicky had taken to spending more time in the kitchen instead of out with the others. In the penultimate month of her pregnancy she had been growing more and more uncomfortable by the day.
"You got letters?" Nicky asked, craning her neck to see the chicken scratch that was Gloria's youngest son's handwriting.
"Mhm," Gloria said, mostly ignoring the presence of the younger woman as she scanned the letter. She smiled as she read that he was doing well at school, and that he had found a date to his spring dance, and yanked the next letter from its envelope.
"Who's it from?" Nicky asked curiously. She hopped - though hopping, she found, was becoming increasingly difficult - from the chair she was perched on and sidled next to Gloria. "Anyone I know?"
Gloria rested the letter on her chest, shielding the words from Nicky. "None of your damn business," she said, but there was no malice in her voice. She rested against the kitchen counter, and, finishing the letter, she turned her attention to Nicky. "How you holding up?"
"I have a stomachache." Nicky whined. She pulled her shirt down, annoyed that it barely covered her growing bump, and waited for sympathy.
"Well," Gloria shrugged, setting the letter down on the counter. "I offered you the drink that helped every woman in my family for fourteen - fifteen, if you count Daya, who it definitely worked for - generations, but you didn't want it."
Nicky scoffed. "Why should I trust you're not gonna put something awful in it?"
Gloria raised an eyebrow. "There's definitely going to be something awful in it." She smirked at Nicky. "The horrible things are the things that make it work. Now, you want me to make it or not?"
Nicky groaned, but nodded. When Gloria turned to grab the ingredients, Nicky swiped the letter from the counter. She immediately recognized the handwriting as Red's. When she had scanned through the letter and was satisfied, she waved it in the air. "You two are talking about me again? Don't you get bored talking about me?"
Gloria turned with a frown. "You're stealing my letters as well as my free time now?"
"You just leave the evidence laying around. That why you in prison, Mendoza?" Nicky countered, holding the letter out teasingly and then yanking it out of Gloria's grasp every time she reached for it.
Gloria snatched the letter back as she arched an eyebrow. "You're a junkie, Nichols. Didn't realize you were a thief too."
"Well, that's stupid. I was arrested cause I stole a cab." Nicky says, watching warily as Gloria still prepared the drink despite her sass.
"Here." Gloria said finally, ignoring Nicky's last comment. She passed her a plastic drinking glass filled halfway with brown liquid. Nicky looked at Gloria suspiciously as she swilled the liquid around in the glass. "Drink this."
Nicky wrinkled her nose and put it down on the counter challengingly. "What is this?"
Gloria pushed it closer to Nicky. "Did I tell you to question me, or did I tell you to drink it, huh?"
Nicky took the drink reluctantly, but it went nowhere near her lips. "Well, thanks, Mendoza. But I gotta get to work," she said quickly.
She spun on her heels and turned, dropping the drink into a trash can on the way out, ignoring the pains in her stomach. "Probably caused by all the fucking spicy food," she muttered, but she flashed a smile and a thumbs up to Gloria as she turned the corner.
Gloria shook her head as she turned her attention to prepping for lunch. "Fucking Red. Gotta keep her girls in check…"
But she smiled to herself as she scanned through the letter again. She'd grown close to Red in the later months of her sentence, and it was nice to think that Red thought she could turn to her for help with Nicky.
Lorna flicked through a baby names book in the library, her scarlet lips mouthing each name as she found one she liked the look of. When she was younger, she imagined that she would already have kids by now. A husband. A beautiful life! But it hadn't panned out that way. Lorna glanced at Nicky furtively. She looked so different now - she wasn't exactly….glowing, but she looked content as she rested on the table. Looking back at her book, Lorna gasped. "What about Trixie?"
Nicky lifted her head from her folded arms and scoffed. "Sure, if this baby was a cocker spaniel. Or a stripper."
Lorna stiffened and slammed the book shut. "Well, you could have just said no," she said with a frown. She tucked her hair behind her ears and looked reproachfully at Nicky.
Nicky softened and held her hands up. "I know and I'm sorry." She looked up through her lashes at Lorna and grinned. "You wanna feel her kicking?"
"Always!" Lorna smiled, quicking forgetting that she was offended and placing a cold hand on Nicky's stomach. She loved feeling the little kicks. It also made her feel a little queasy, but she pushed that down in order to marvel at the tiny hands and feet kicking at her palm. "Are you ready to come out, little one?"
Nicky let a smile ghost over her features. "I'm ready for her to come out."
"You still think she's a girl?"
Nicky nodded. "I think so. I don't know why, just a feeling."
"Sit back." Lorna instructed Nicky. She slipped off her wedding band and pulled a thread from the bottom of Nicky's shirt, looping it through the ring. Then she held it over Nicky's belly. It swung in a circular motion. "You're right!" Lorna exclaimed. "There. You're having a girl."
Nicky laughed. "Lorna, you know that's complete bull, don't you?"
"Maybe," Lorna sung cheerfully. "But my nonna did this test on my mom when she was having me and my sister, and it came out right every time!"
"Well," Nicky said, leaning forward as Lorna slipped on her wedding ring again. "We'll find out in a month or so." She nibbled on her thumbnail.
Lorna looked up at Nicky regretfully. "I wish we'd met in different worlds. In different lives. Wouldn't that be nice?" She placed her left hand on Nicky's stomach and made her fingers tap dance over her tummy, tickling her with the hair that touched her skin. "I'm never gonna know her," Morello whispered. "Not really."
"Me either." Nicky said after a moment. Her own hand had fallen to rest on her stomach. "Not for the first few months of her life, anyway."
"Well, maybe we could say what we wanted her to hear now?" Lorna suggested. She leaned closer to the bump and whispered. "Your mommy is the sweetest person I know. She's gonna take care of you real well." She smiled. "Maybe one day I'll see you again. I really hope that I can," she said earnestly.
Nicky's mouth was dry. "Thanks, kid," she rasped. "And I hope so too."
Lorna beamed up at Nicky and came to a stand. "Come on. Let's go watch some TV. Books are overrated anyways!"
Nicky laughed. "Sure."
"Come on!" Lorna said impatiently. "What are you waiting for?"
Nicky struggled to come to a stand, and eventually sat back in the chair angrily. She blew her hair out of her face. "I'm waiting for gravity to give me a fucking break!"
Lorna's tinkly laugh filled the library, causing them to get a sharp "shh!" from a woman neither of them knew at the next table. Lorna took Nicky's hands and pulled. "Come on!" She whispered through her giggles. "You're not even trying!"
"I am trying!" Nicky hissed, glaring at Lorna. "I am trying. Don't know if you've personally tried it, but it's like trying without succeeding. Ring any bells?"
Lorna laughed despite Nicky's dark tone. "Spend a little more energy on getting up and less on sassing me!"
Nicky glared but a smirk shined through despite her anger. "I'm gonna make you pay for that when I can get up from this damn chair."
"Red!" Nicky beamed as she sat down at the table in the visiting room. The older woman wrapped Nicky into a bear hug, squeezing her as tight as Nicky's ever expanding bump would allow. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, milaya." Red said with a smile. She sat down at the table across from Nicky. "You're glowing!"
Nicky chuckled. "And you're lying."
"How are you feeling? You look so big now. Is she moving around a lot?"
Nicky nodded, her eyes bright, and ran her hands down her bump. "Always, ma."
"Maybe she'll be a little dancer." Red laughed. "We can put her into ballet."
"I'm not sure I'd fit in with the other moms there, if I'm honest with you," Nicky said with a smirk. It was slowly setting in that she would be a mother, despite the months she'd have to spend without her baby. It was a hard, bitter pill to swallow, but a challenge she was up for.
"Well, that doesn't matter. All of them have fake tits and a faker personality to match." Red said thickly. She waved a dismissive hand. "Everything will be fine. Can you imagine how cute she'll be, though, in a tutu?"
Nicky laughed. Red was thinking way ahead. "She's gotta come out before all of that," Nicky said grimly. "I'm not looking forward to that part."
"Mm." Red commiserated. "No-one does, honey."
"But I'll have to do it all alone." Nicky said quietly. "I'm scared, Red." It was the first time she'd admitted that to anyone. She had never really had anyone in her life, but now she did, it felt even worse to be going at something alone.
"I know, I know." Red sighed deeply and smoothed down Nicky's hair. "I'm working on that. I really am."
"I don't know what you could do." Nicky said miserably.
"No, you're right." Red said, cupping Nicky's cheek. "You don't know what I can do."
Nicky forced down another bite of her dinner, feeling sick but knowing she'd feel faint later if she didn't. She rubbed her knuckles down her chest, trying to ease the discomfort. She swigged from her cup, downing the rest of the water.
"You okay, Nichols?" Lorna said, her forehead wrinkling. She turned to face Nicky. "You look a little...green."
Nicky nodded quickly, dismissing Lorna's concern. "Yeah, yeah, it's fine. Just heartburn." She winced. "And my back hurts a little."
Lorna swept hair from Nicky's eyes and sucked her teeth. "Are you alright? It's not the baby, is it?"
Nicky forced a laugh. "Isn't it fucking always?" She eased her back by switching positions. "The books all say you can get Braxton Hicks now. They're bullshit but hurt just the same."
"Are you sure?" Lorna's eyebrows knitted together. "You had those last week but you didn't look so….you know, terrible."
"Thank you, Lorna. That was extremely helpful of you. Incredibly insightful," Nicky hissed between gritted teeth.
"Sorry, honey," Lorna said, feeling flustered. She scraped her hair back worriedly. "I can get the CO. It's Bell," she said encouragingly. "You like her."
"Not particularly." Nicky replied. "I don't think it's anything. You got any words of wisdom, Norma?" Nicky shot across the table. Norma stared back at Nicky, and took her hands, but predictably said nothing. Her eyes said it all, though. "Thanks," Nicky sighed. The twinges in her stomach were beginning to get more intense.
Gloria watched from across the kitchen. She could see from Morello's face that something wasn't right, but she wasn't sure what it was.
"Maria, run the dishwasher." She craned her neck to get a better look. "I gotta deal with something."
"That fucking white girl again? Leave her alone, she don't want your help!" Maria called. "
"Don't be a bitch, Ruiz. She's a first time mom and scared. You don't remember what that's like?" Gloria snapped back. "Just run the fucking dishwasher and cut the crap." She hung her apron on the hook as she left the kitchen, speed walking over to the table where Nicky sat.
Lorna spotted her first. "Hey, Mendoza! You've had kids, right?"
"Mhm." Gloria said, her attention on Nicky. "Too damn many. What's up, Nichols?" Her voice was soft and Nicky glanced up.
"Braxton Hicks." Nicky said, but unlike before, her voice was quiet, not confident. "...I think." She bit her lip as she felt another twinge. "At least, that's what the books all say."
"Mm." Gloria said. "Babies haven't read the books, you know."
Nicky snickered. "Neither have I. That's why I'm not sure."
"Come on," Mendoza said, offering Nicky an arm to help her up. "Come into the kitchen. It's quieter. We can talk," she offered.
Nicky hesitated for a moment but began to stand as Lorna encouraged her. "It'll be okay. The kitchen's got that comfy chair in the office!" Lorna reminded her.
Nicky shuffled over to Gloria, feeling exhausted. The weight of the world seemed to be on her shoulders as she made her way to Gloria, the few feet feeling like hundreds of miles.
"Oh, god." Lorna said from behind her. Nicky immediately whipped round, worry written all over her face.
"What?" Nicky asked.
"Well, shit, Nichols." Gloria whistled, seeing the growing wet patch on the back of Nicky's pants. She took her arm and nodded at her, trying not to freak out despite the anticipation she felt for Nicky. "I don't think those were Braxton Hicks."
Hello lovelies! I hope you liked this chapter.
Thanks to Johanna-002 for her help with this chapter...it was much needed lmao!
Please leave me a review telling me what you thought/what you'd like to see...
I hope you're all having a wonderful day!
- Star xo
