Everything I Know - Just Breathe Sequel - Adopted by Mandy Gonzalez

21 - Pain

I ran over to her and sat next to my mom. "Mommy? What's wrong? You're in pain!"

"Nothing is wrong sweetheart."

"That's a lie Mommy. I can see the pain all over your face."

"It's just Braxton hicks, nothing to worry about."

"Mom? Do I need to take you to a hospital? Should I call daddy?"

"Becky honey. I love you, and I appreciate your concern. But baby, I'm okay. It'll go away in a bit and then won't happen again for ages." I looked down at my lap.

"Okay. I'm just worried about you mom. Especially after you started having proper contractions really early and you're on medication. I don't want something to go wrong and for you to lose Charlie. Or potentially even lose you." I closed my eyes tightly to stop both the tears and thoughts.

"I know sweetie. And I love how caring you are of me and your brother. It means the world to me. If I feel anything unusual then I'll call you and tell you straight away. Lo prometo." Her arm went around my shoulders and squeezed my far shoulder. I leant against her and watched as my sister laid on the grass with Benny. Once they were both out of breath, they headed over to us and Benny sat on my lap and fell asleep.

"Someone had fun then." I said looking at them.

"Yeah, I'm tired. Can we go home?" My sister asked.

"Of course, I'll make us all lunch."

"No becky, you have fun. It's you're girly day."

"Yeah, and you need to rest. I was going to make cupcakes with Mari."

"I don't need to rest Becky, I'm perfectly fine."

"Yeah, But you're also a busy mom, who's the best mom in the world and who I adore with all my heart. And she deserves a break, plus you're really pregnant now."

"Fine." She sighed defeated. "The problems of having an adult daughter, sometimes they actually know what's right." I giggled.

"I know! I'm the best." I joked.

"You really are Becky, you're the best oldest daughter I could have asked for, and Maribelle, you're the best little girl in the world. I love you both so much."

"We love you too mom." We then headed home together and I made lunch. We all sat and ate and I watched dad's empty seat. "It's been a while since I ate here without daddy being there. It's weird."

"I get why." Mom responded. That moment something rushed to me and I gulped down the remainder of the pasta and ran into the art studio and got to work on painting something. It was something for my dad. It was a painting of him painting in his studio. As I let layers of that dry, I painted a picture of Benny and Maribelle for her bedroom. Once they were both done the front door shut and dad walked into the apartment.

"Daddy!" I called running into his arms.

"Hey princess, I've missed you."

"I've missed you too. It's been weird being both mom and Mari all day and not having you there. Especially at lunch, also I made you something."

"Ooh let's see." I took him into the studio and showed him the painting.

"It's beautiful Becky. Thank you so much. I'm going to take this in tomorrow and hang it up on the wall."

"Thank you." I said hugging him. "I want to hang this in mari's room without her seeing."

"Okay, let's do that." Dad helped me and we put the painting up together and then I said goodbye to my family and headed back to my apartment for the night, knowing I had rehearsals with Nino the next day.