WARNING MENTIONS OF MISCARRIAGES IN THIS CHAPTER, READ WITH CAUTION IF TRIGGER
Luisa huddled into herself, whoever named morning sickness, morning sickness should be sued for false advertisement. She was just plain miserable and didn't seem to have the will power to pull herself out of bed, even though it was almost lunch time, and she was sure that Sofia was getting hungry. She just hoped that Sofia was staying out of trouble. Isabela had showed up earlier, planning on heading to Casita, maybe she took her with her. She was trying to win her over as favorite tia.
"Mami?" a soft voice called out, causing Luisa to groan and roll over, coming face to face with curious bright blue eyes.
"Hey Bebe," she said softly.
"Mami sick?" Sofia asked, holding up a smashed arepa.
Luisa propped herself up on her forearm, grimacing as she did so, ugg her back was killing her.
"Mami?" Sofia asked again, offering her the arepa. This was wrong, she was the parent she should be taking care of Sofia, not the other way around.
"Sofi," Luisa said softly, "Can you go over to Abuela's house? Tell Abuela that I'm sick, okay? She'll get you lunch."
Sofia nodded, her cute little baby face scrunched up seriously, then she toddled away. Luisa could only hope that the toddler would listen to what she had told her to do, and head to Casita as her stomach cramped painfully. Was this normal? She didn't remember much from when her own mother was pregnant with Mirabel as she hadn't been much older than Sofia was right now, and all she really remembered about Tia Pepa's pregnancy was that she had been super sick during it and had to be put on bed rest so she wouldn't miscarry. Was that what was happening here? Was she having a miscarriage? Her stomach cramped again. She should have asked Sofia to have Mama come over.
…
Sofia for her part was worried, and confused. It wasn't like Mami to stay in bed all day, and she kept crying out like she was hurt. That was why she had offered her an arepa, because whenever she was sick Papi would give her an arepa and she would feel better. Only, Mami didn't take the arepa, instead she sent her to Abuela's. Why didn't she want the arepa? It would make her feel better.
The three year old shrugged as she opened the door that led to her Abuela's living room. Papi told her to be good and obey Mami, and Mami told her to tell Abuela that she was sick, so that was what she was going to do.
…
It was quiet, Bruno having finally soothed Panzy to sleep for the moment, and Julieta, after rescuing Agustin from a bee hive worth of bees, was starting to make lunch, walking Isabela through the process of making arepas, when Casita rattled her tiles and led Sofia into the room.
Julieta smiled softly, since discovering the portal between homes, Sofia would often come over during the day to play, or steal some of her food, "Hola, Pequena, do you need something?" she asked softly.
Sofia nodded her head, giving her a serious look, "Mami's sick," she announced, grabbing Julieta's skirt and peering up at her, "Abuela help? Make Mami better?"
Julieta nodded, scooping the little girl up, "Of course I will help," she insisted, "Now you stay here with Abuelo," she announced, handing the girl to her husband, who hesitantly took her, "And I'll check on your Mami."
"Do you think Luisa's okay," Isabela asked nervously.
Julieta nodded, "It's probably just morning sickness," she insisted, "Everything is going to be okay."
…
Alma frowned as Julieta rushed into the nursery, grabbing her medical bag from the table, before hurrying out again. She didn't usually used it unless the person was sick, or having a baby. Perhaps someone had gone into labor? Well, she knew well enough that Julieta wouldn't answer any of her questions even if she could hear her, so she would just have to follow her.
Julieta rushed downstairs, unaware of Alma on her heels, and practically threw herself out of a glowing door with Luisa's picture on it. On the other side of the door was another living room, with faded worn out furniture. That was right, she had heard that Julieta's new house was somehow connected to Luisa's house. She supposed that it made getting to town faster now that she was living so far from it.
Julieta did not, however, leave through what was obviously the front door, instead, going deeper into the house, to another glowing door with Luisa's picture on it.
Was something wrong with Luisa? Alma wondered, Was it the baby?
"Now that's something I haven't seen in years," a voice said behind her, "Alma Madrigal actually concerned about another family member's health and well being. You might actually have a heart after all."
Alma whirled around, "Pedro? What are you doing here?"
"Same as you," Pedro admitted, "I'm worried about Luisa."
"What's going on?" Alma asked, trying to open the door, only for her hand to go through the doorknob.
"She's having a miscarriage," Pedro confessed.
"But…" Alma frowned, "You told her that she was having a boy."
"She was, I'm not Bruno, I can't foresee things like this, yesterday she was going to have a healthy little boy. Today…" He shook his head sadly, letting out a loud sigh, before glancing at Alma, who was subconsciously rubbing the fringe of her shawl. He smiled softly as he placed a supportive hand on her shoulder, "You know how Luisa feels right now, don't you?" he asked, "The fear, the pain, the overwhelming feelings of guilt and grief. The feeling that you just weren't good enough? Luisa and Tomas were looking forward to their son as we were our baby all those years ago, and you know it."
Alma opened her mouth to say something, but Pedro raised an eyebrow at her, "Well?" He asked.
"I… it's nothing," Alma snapped, "honestly, It's her own fault that she's miscarrying, she shouldn't have slept with Tomas before the wedding."
"Perhaps she shouldn't have, but she did the right thing, fix that mistake and at the moment she is suffering in a way that you understand all too well."
Alma sighed, glancing at the closed door, "You're right, I do know what she's going through."
"Maybe that's the key to get you to open your eyes," Pedro announced, "You can't see what you're doing wrong… I think I can make arrangements for you to experience it."
Pedro turned around and disappeared once more.
…
Julieta found Luisa curled up in a ball in the middle of her bed, whimpering. She quickly placed her bag on the floor and reached out, touching her shoulder.
"Luisa, what's wrong, where does it hurt?"
Luisa sniffled, "My stomach, it's cramping, really, really badly. It hurts Mama," she whimpered.
Julieta sat on the edge of the bed and pushed a strand of hair out of Luisa's face, "When did the cramping start?" She asked.
"Last night around nine," Luisa said, "After we left the party and put Sofia to bed, but it wasn't really that bad, I figured I just over did it. That it would be better in the morning, but…"
"It got worse?" Julieta guessed.
Luisa nodded miserably, whimpering slightly, "What's wrong with me?" She asked.
"I… I won't know for certain until I do a full exam," Julieta insisted, trying her best to shove her worried mother's reaction back in its cage and grab hold of her professional medical provider, instead. Sometimes being the closest thing to a doctor had a downside. Like today, when she was fairly certain that she was going to have to tell Luisa that she had lost the baby.
She pulled out her stethoscope, and draped it over her shoulders, "Okay Luisa, let's see what's going on."
…
Bruno glanced down at the small bundle tucked into the cradle that had appeared in his room when he brought Panzy home. She had finally stopped fussing, and was gracefully sleeping peacefully.
His head was feeling fuzzy, and seemed to swim around a little, which was the usual sign that a vision wanted to be seen.
He sighed, since having his gift changed, he hadn't had many involuntary visions, yet the ones he did have were important.
This one was making no sense, a lot of crying and screaming, but Bruno couldn't figure out why there was a lot of yelling and crying.
He was going to have to do a full vision. He glanced at Panzy and smiled at her, brushing his hand across her cheek, "Papi will be right back," he promised before turning towards the stairs to his vision cave.
…
Julieta sighed as she pulled the sheet off of Luisa's bed. The exam had gone as expected, with her finally having to tell her the heartbreaking truth, the baby was gone.
Luisa now was hunched into herself, sitting in an armchair next to the bed, just staring out in space while her mother cleaned up.
Julieta felt awful, but there wasn't anything that she could have done. Now all she could do was hold her tight and give her love and compassion while they waited for Dolores, who Julieta had called out to, to fetch Tomas home.
"I don't understand Mama," Luisa muttered, sniffling loudly, "I just don't understand, why would Abuelo tell me that I was having a boy, if I was going to lose the pregnancy?"
"I don't know," Julieta muttered, "I really don't know. Life is like that sometimes, you know that. What matters is how you let it affect you. You can close yourself off, become cold and distant like your Abuela, or you can learn to cherish every minute of every day because life is short, and you never know when you are going to lose someone else."
Luisa sniffled but didn't say anything, so Julieta continued, "You are a wonderful madre. I see the way that you interact with Sofia."
"It's not the same," Luisa sniffed, "I want a baby that I can hold and snuggle with, you know. Sofia is sweet, and all, but she's three and that's just not the same. I wanted the baby, Tomas will be a good father, he is a good father," Luisa sniffled loudly.
"I know," Julieta insisted, "I wish I know how to help you better, but I don't… Would you like to come over for lunch, or should I bring some food over for you? Don't worry about Sofia, we'll keep her tonight."
"Where will you put her?" Luisa asked, "Abuela's in the nursery."
"You let Pa and me worry about Sofia," Julieta insisted, placing a hand on her shoulder, "You just focus on healing, you can pick Sofia up in a week, when we celebrate Pa's birthday."
"But…"
"No buts young lady, you need time to grieve and heal, and you are going to take that time, no chores and no stressing out over Sofia, do you understand me?"
"Si," Luisa muttered, sniffling slightly.