It was official, I was pregnant. I had begun to feel ill, so Shem had father brew his test and the water turned yellow. Shem, like every time we found out I was pregnant, had dropped to his knees and kissed my stomach while I cried. We made father swear not to tell anyone because we wanted to wait until I was showing. That was about ninety-two days ago; Shem kept count on one of the walls in our hut. I had finally had a bit of swelling so we agreed we would tell the family tonight while we ate.
We were all sitting around the fire eating the meal mother and Na'el had made. Mother had wanted me to help her but I made an excuse not to, saying Elijah was hungry and pretended to feed him in my hut. The girls were covered in their food, Evi in Shem's lap, while Adah was sitting in Ham's. Adah had become very attached to Ham in the time he had been back. Father was holding Elijah, trying to feed him some herb to soothe his teeth, which had just started to come in. Shem looked over at me and I nodded.
"Ila and I are having another baby." Shem told everyone, standing up.
"Oh that is wonderful!" mother cried, throwing herself at Shem, "How long have you known?"
"Ninety-two days, Shem counted." I replied.
"That long." Ham said, engulfing me in a hug.
Mother detached herself from Shem and came over to me. She pulled me into a hug and then put her hand on my stomach.
"I can feel some swelling!" she happily exclaimed.
"What do you think girls?" Shem asked them.
"No more babies!" Evi screamed.
"They cry." Adah said, a bit quieter than her twin.
I couldn't help but burst into tears at their reactions. Shem put Evi down and put his arm around me.
"Sh, it is okay." He told me soothingly, "they do not understand."
"It'll be wonderful Ila." Mother added, stroking my hair.
"No!" I heard, and turned to see Elijah giggling in father's arms, "No!"
"He spoke." Shem whispered, astonished.
He removed his arm from my shoulders and grabbed Elijah from father. He tossed in the air and kissed him.
"Come on Elijah say it again!" Shem encouraged him.
"No!" Elijah said in return.
"My baby!" I cried taking him from Shem.
"Ma." He whispered, burying his head into my neck.
"Did you hear him Shem?" I asked my husband, crying, "He called me ma!"
"I did, I heard it." He replied rubbing Elijah's back.
We all stayed by the fire a bit longer. The children had all fallen asleep, Elijah in my arms, Evi in Shem's, and Adah in Ham's. Shem, Ham, Japheth, and father were all discussing something. Ham and father had gotten over their problems since Ham had gotten back and had made up; Ham had his arm around Na'el, who was asleep on his shoulder. I was thinking when mother decided to interrupt my thoughts.
"What bothers you daughter?" she whispered, getting closer to me so nobody would hear us.
"Nothing bothers me." I replied.
"Do not lie to me Ila." She told me, looking me in the eyes, "tell me what the matter is."
"I do not know." I sighed in defeat, "it's just before we had children, Shem and I were so in love and we would spend hours running around and kissing, but now we are barely alone and I don't think he even loves me anymore."
By those last few words I was sobbing and everyone and stopped what they were doing to look at me.
"It is nothing." Mother told everyone, "I will take her to bed."
She got up, handed Elijah to father, and helped me up. We walked in silence back to my hut. I was still crying and she let me walk with my head on her shoulder. Once we got back to my hut, she helped me lie down and handed me a glass of water.
"I want you to listen to me Ila." Mother told me sternly yet gently, "you and Shem did not fall out of love, you grew up. You have children to care for now and they are most important. I see the way Shem looks at you child, he still loves you."
Her words had calmed me down and I had begun to fall asleep when Shem came in. He dressed in his night clothes and crawled into bed with me. He kissed me and before I drifted off to sleep I heard him say,
"No matter what Ila, I will always love you."