Chapter Twenty Four

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Narcissa blinked rapidly, not so much as to make sure she had not been mistaken in what she saw, but to try and keep the tears glassing her eyes from falling. She could hardly believe it; all the pain she had gone through, all that she had lost, and here Viola stood before her, with all that she had ever wanted.

"Narcissa?" asked Viola, clearly a little bemused by her friend's strange behaviour. She did not know, of course, neither of them did, and so she had every right to be confused. A thought crossed the blonde woman's mind. How could she possibly tell them now?

"Viola. It's been too long." she greeted, standing to embrace the woman, and seating herself while Carolyna did the same.

"It has." Viola affirmed, though her brow still furrowed a little. One hand moved subconsciously to her stomach, her palm flattening down across it, although Narcissa could see that the gesture was not one of affection, but rather of her friend trying to disguise her condition as best she could.

The three of them sat at their table in silence, not quite sure how to begin. It was strange for Narcissa, to behave in this way with two of the people she held most dear in the world. 'Then again,' she thought, glancing briefly at the bulge of Viola's stomach. 'Perhaps I don't know them as well as I thought I did.'

Eventually, it was the eldest of them, never accustomed to being quiet for a long period of time, who spoke, grasping a moment of opportunity to explain her situation while the other two women remained in stunned silence.

"I know that this must be a bit of a shock." Viola began, avoiding the eyes of her friends, not wanting to see the accusation she was sure would be held there. She caught a glimpse of the anger in Carolyna's eyes as she looked downwards, but entirely missed the pain and sadness in Narcissa's.

"How could you have done this, Viola?" Carolyna breathed, her voice filled with the disbelief that had been evident in her eyes, a tinge of anger and of disappointment poisoning her question. Viola's gaze fell, her head hanging with shame. Narcissa had never seen her friend so passive in her life, and had she not been so shocked herself, she would have tried to stand up for the woman.

"I didn't plan for this to happen. It was a shock to me as well..." Viola tried to explain, but she was cut off once again by Carolyna, who was not satisfied in the least with her explanations.

"It shouldn't have been possible, Viola!" the woman all but shrieked, the only thing restraining her being the fact that they were still stood on the balcony outside of a busy restaurant. Even with her attempts to retain a little calmness, they had already begun to attract attention from people in the street below, glancing up at the balcony to try and see what had caused such a ruckus. "You're not married!"

"I know I'm not!" Viola shouted, not caring if she made a scene. In any other situation, Narcissa would have smiled to see her friend back to her old ways, but with the jaws of pain closing around her heart, she could not bring herself to do it. "It was a mistake, a stupid mistake. It was only once..."

Carolyna made a noise almost akin to a whimper, her hand rising to cover her mouth. "You mean you don't even intend to marry him?"

"Why should I?" was the given response, defiance burning in the older woman's eyes. She had crossed her arms across her chest, no longer making any attempt to hide her stomach. "I don't love him and he doesn't love me. I don't see why I should get married to a man I hardly know just because one night of fun produced an accident."

"An accident?" This time it was Narcissa who had spoken, her voice soft as goose down, yet with an edge to it that neither of her friends could recognise. But they did not have a hole cut into their heart where their first-born child had been ripped from them.

"You don't think I meant for this to happen, do you?" Viola asked incredulously, her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what her friend had meant. She didn't know the reason for Narcissa's disbelief, nor did Carolyna; she had been planning to tell them, not wanting to hide anything from the girls who had never hidden anything from her, but then she had realised what Viola was hiding. "It was an accident, Narcissa, and I'm unbelievably sorry for it. I wish this baby had never happened."

It was all too much for Narcissa to take, as the phrase landed another blow toward her heart. She had felt such love for her child, the child she would now never meet; she could not believe that anyone would disregard their own offspring in such a way.

"Narcissa, where are you going?" Carolyna asked, the anger fading from her face to be replaced with sympathy and confusion.

"I think that I'm going to go home. I'm rather tired; I've not been well recently. I should never have come." Narcissa was speaking at a rapid pace, that much she knew. She knew that she could not leave with no explanation, as the two women would merely follow her, but she did not want for them to see the tears falling from her eyes, although she was certain they could hear the tears in her throat.

The moment she had finished speaking, Narcissa bolted from the doorway, sprinting out of the restaurant, out of the Alley, running blindly until she reached a point where she could Disapparate. Her speed meant that it took just a minute for her to go from the restaurant to the grand staircase of her home. It was there that she collapsed in tears, holding her stomach as she cried.

For a long while, she sat there alone, cradling her abdomen, cursing Viola's hatred of her child and wishing desperately for the return of her own.

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