Abrielle could smell the paint, but she wasn't allowed to go and see what was being painted. Shawn was being really secretive about the whole nursery and kept it locked when he wouldn't be around to keep her out of it.
Now it was Easter break, and he had Evan and Larielle in there doing something, but she wasn't allowed to see.
Abrielle sat in her armchair, looking at her swollen feet. She couldn't wait to get this baby out of her. Just thinking about that led her to look at her birth plan, seeing if there was anything she had changed her mind about in the last six weeks.
Abrielle and Shawn went out to visit Nurse Carla and get a check up on their little boy. Nurse Carla sat down after the sonogram part and looked at the young couple seriously.
"Abrielle, I don't want to freak you out, honey. Okay?"
"Okay. Is everything fine with the ba-"
"He's fine. But you will be giving birth soon. And I want you to understand that nothing will go exactly the way you want it to. But it's a good idea to have a birth plan in order. You're not in a hospital, and this is 100 percent in your jurisdiction. Well, more like half yours and half Mother Nature's. How you want to do it, I'll make sure you get to as long as you can. Do you understand?"
Abrielle nodded. Nurse Carla handed her a small packet of papers with the words Abrielle's Birth Plan watermarked on each page.
"So I want you to take a look at that and get it back to me ASAP. I want this experience to be as comfortable for you as it can be. Having a child is a beautiful thing. Giving birth the way nature intended... Well... I've done it and I've watched over sixty women do it. And you can do it too."
Abrielle looked down at the paper, over at her husband, and back at Nurse Carla. "I was told that having a baby outside of a hospital is stupid and dangerous."
"Having a baby is dangerous period, Abrielle. However, I have a feeling you already knew that. I once had a woman say that giving birth outside of a hospital is actually unnatural. Can you believe that? I suppose women have always been hooked up to IVs with pushy doctors since the beginning of time."
Abrielle made a small breath of a laugh at Nurse Carla's bad attempt at humor. She did appreciate it at least.
"Listen to me, Abrielle. I'm just as qualified to deliver your baby as any obstetrician. But the difference is that I don't back you into a corner and tell you how to do it. I listen you tell me what you want and make plans just in case things make a turn. Do you think your husband would have hired me if he didn't think that this was safe for you to do?"
Abrielle looked over at Shawn. And she could honestly say that she felt that whatever Shawn did for her, he did it with the intentions of it being the best. Her safety was always a factor. So her safety along with their unborn's played a big role in who he hired for the job.
"No," Abrielle answered softly.
Nurse Carla patted Abrielle's hand reassuringly. "Don't worry, honey. Believe me, in hospitals, they cut women who don't need to be cut. They give you drugs that numb you even after the birth but you still feel the baby come down. They give you a really stressful environment. How is that conducive to having a baby? Now, this is what you're provided with: comfort and no one making you feel you have to do this a certain way, no more interference than is necessary for the health of you and your son, and the support of a practitioner who has only you to focus on. I am at your beck and call twenty-four hours a day. How's that?"
"I think I'm glad I'm not doing it in a hospital."
Nurse Carla smiled and Shawn helped his wife up. "Thank you," he told the midwife. She smiled and the two let themselves out, heading up to the main house, Shawn massaging Abrielle's back on the way.
Unlike most people who worked for Shawn, Nurse Carla was on her own terms. She owed no debts to him and was here simply to help a young woman have a healthy pregnancy and delivery. She would stick around for the first year or so to help with the baby and take care of Bri postnatal.
Abrielle had begun nesting a few months ago and felt the constant need to clean up everything. Poor Sapphire was afraid to go near her. She had been receiving multiple baths a day, and Shawn had to tell her to let the dog alone. She had even begun messing in Shayla's room cleaning up. So Shayla, taking advantage of having a free maid, didn't bother to clean her room anymore.
Shawn always scolded his sister for this, telling her she knew she was wrong and that the girl was seven months pregnant. Shayla shrugged. If her pregnant ass wanted to be doing the shit, she was going to let her.
When they walked into the house, Erma was making dinner, and Abrielle immediately started cleaning dishes her mother was no longer using. Erma paid this no mind. She had had three children and was unphased by nesting. Shawn, on the other hand, was freaking out, telling Abrielle to sit down and just chill out. But Erma had informed it was normal, and Bri wasn't doing anything strenuous and would be fine. Dish soap never killed anyone, but stop her from playing with those chemicals.
Fortunately, Abrielle didn't have as much energy as she did during the last three months. So she wasn't bouncing around to clean up anymore.
Shawn left it alone and went to the nursery he had set up. He was nearly finished. All that was left was to put together the crib. He had gotten a pale blue carpet put down and painted the walls a deeper baby blue with little white clouds.
He had asked Larielle to come out one weekend and do some painting on the walls with Evan. He was sure they'd get a kick out of that. Until Evan would start talking about babies and freak the poor girl out. Which, to Shawn, never got old. It was hilarious.
When Abrielle came up the stairs, she looked at her husband and tried to see the nursery, but he closed the door and redirected her. "Nice try. I told you it's a surprise, and you have to wait."
She pouted, but he just kissed her head. "Shayla, let's go and eat," he called.
"How did you know?" Abrielle asked.
"Because I'm me. Stop asking questions."
They went down to the kitchen, and Shayla was right behind them. "Hey, where's Evan?" Abrielle wondered.
"He's with my future daughter-in-law, hopefully holding off on the future grandchildren."
"So are we going to skip the chit chat and... I dunno... Eat?" Abrielle asked, sitting down and piling her plate up with food.
Shawn shook his head as he watched her. He could see the baby move as Bri shoved her face with what she could.
"Didn't he just go see her? And isn't today your birthday?"
Shayla just ate her soup, ignoring the question. Yes, it was her birthday. No, she wasn't going to celebrate it. She had practically started the engine for Evan. If he was in Larielle's face, there was no way he could be in hers.
It was the middle of February, but Shayla was still grieving. And would be fine some days, but then be not speaking the next. Living with her was like walking on eggshells. The only person she never seemed to yell at was her son.
"So what are you, Shay? Pisces or Aquarius?" Bri asked, trying to make conversation.
Shayla shrugged, twirling her spoon in her soup. "Both, I guess. I don't really care much for astrology. I'm going to bed."
Shayla took her unfinished soup into the kitchen and went to her room. There was silence in the dining room as everyone else finished eating. And then Abrielle was back to cleaning everything. She went as far as reorganizing the drawers and closets before she finally exhausted herself and climbed into bed with Shawn. He rubbed her back as she put her head in his chest.
"You gon wear yaself down," he told her.
"You can suck my dick."
"I'd like to see you try and get a baby through one," he told her.
She rolled her eyes before closing them and dozing off.
Abrielle decided that she was good with what she had for now. But she and Nurse Carla both had copies, and when something on Bri's list changed, she made sure to report it to her midwife so she would be in the loop.
Meanwhile, Lari and Evan were in the baby's nursery, painting a stork carrying a little blue bundle, and a little cloud with a baby in it. The baby was facing away because they didn't have a single clue what his face would look like.
"Hey, Larielle when-"
"Don't you start talking about children that do not exist, Evan Carmichael," she told him seriously.
Evan didn't say anything, and Shawn, putting together a rocking chair in the corner, didn't say anything. But he laughed a little bit. It amused him, how freaked out Larielle was.
"Sheesh, Lari. Don't you wonna hear about my future nieces and nephews?"
"I'm beginning to understand why Abrielle turned violent," Larielle said, her voice lilting with her syllables.
Shawn chuckled, and Evan looked over at his uncle before he turned back to his task.
"Lari, nobody is going to get you pregnant. If I wanted you pregnant, I've had four long months to get you there. Are ya there yet?"
Larielle said nothing, huffing out a breath as she finished her task. She was all for being the godmother for Abrielle's unborn. She wasn't all for being a mother. Not right now. She had plans and things to do.
When Larielle had finished her portion of the paint job, she went back to finishing the padding for the crib and the rocking chair.
Abrielle knocked on the door. "Hey, I have lunch," she called inside.
"Nice try, wife. Go have a seat somewhere," Shawn called back. He could practically see the pout on his wife's face as she walked away.
Shawn hadn't let her have a single glimpse of the nursery. But it didn't stop her from trying to see it anyway.
Grumbling, Abrielle went to sit with Shayla, offering her a plate with a steak quesadilla. "Thanks."
Shayla took the plate and immediately began digging in. Abrielle just nodded and started eating her own. "What are they doing in there?" she asked.
"It won't kill you to wait and find out."
"But it will, Shayla," she told her, taking her wrist with a tighter grip than what was necessary. Shayla removed her wrist from Abrielle's death grip and rubbed her wrist.
"Teenagers are so melodramatic," she muttered. "All three of y'all. You, Evan, and Lari. So the drama. It's never that deep, Bri. You probably won't die any time between now and when he's done."
Abrielle pouted as she ate her quesadilla. Sometimes, she swore that Shayla had never been a girl. She only looked like one.
Erma came up the stairs, calling for her daughter. Abrielle stepped into the hall and passed her daughter a fruit smoothie that she had snuck carrots into. "Gracias, Mami."
Abrielle and her smoothie went back to Shayla's bed, pushing her sister-in-law so she could lay with her. "I'ma start charging you rent," Shayla told her.
"I love you, sissy," Abrielle said sweetly, trying and failing to nuzzle Shayla.
"I don't like you that much, Bri. You stay on your side of my bed."
Abrielle just smiled and sipped her smoothie. An hour later, Shawn was coming in and putting his arms around her, lifting her up.
"Now you can see it, big crybaby."
"Hey," she whined. "I am not a crybaby."
"I beg to differ. Get out," Shayla told her.
Abrielle stuck her tongue out as Shawn escorted her to the baby's nursery. He turned to her before he opened the door, and he could see her frustration as she furrowed her brows. "Now what?"
He just chuckled and turned the knob, opening the door for her.
She looked inside at the blue and white room, walking in and running her hand over the sleek finish of the crib, feeling the plush silk padding her baby would be sleeping in. When he was about six months, of course.
Her eyes went up to the little musical mobile and then she walked over to the rocking chair and sat down, imagining cradling her son in her arms, singing Spanish lullabies to him.
Shawn watched Abrielle as she took in the room. She got up and started touching shelves. She saw a little teddy bear sitting on a shelf all handsome and proud, his little vest displaying the baby's name. There were shelves with little blankets folded up and all ready for him when he got here.
She noticed the drawer with its sleek finish. "Is that homemade?" she wondered.
"Yes. So is the crib. So is that chair."
Abrielle knew Evan hadn't been home enough to have done that, and she looked up at her husband. "You work with wood?"
"I work with wood," he confirmed. "I do things besides be a criminal. Did you know that?"
"I do now," she told him smartly, going to touch the dresser and open a drawer. They were empty, of course. But they wouldn't be for very long.
Inside of the closet, Abrielle found the gifts from her so-called baby shower and the things that she and Erma had gone shopping for: a baby swing, a vibrating chair, a baby bathtub, diapers, bottles, a diaper pail, and a bottle warmer. It was all organized, so she didn't feel the overwhelming urge to reorganize it.
"I like it," she told Shawn, smiling in approval.
"Good. Because I'm not redoing it."
She came out of the closet and put her arms around Shawn, standing on her tippy toes to kiss him. He put his arms around her as Larielle came back. She had forgotten her paint set. She hurried out of the room, not willing to watch them get busy in the poor baby's room.
Abrielle laughed and let Shawn kiss her again. She pulled out of his embrace though. "I really did make lunch. So go and eat it," she ordered.
"Yes, ma'am."
He kissed her again and started down the stairs. Abrielle went into her room and sat in the heated massage chair Shawn had gotten her for her back. As small as she was, the belly and new full breasts were doing a real number on her back. She just couldn't wait to get this kid out.
As Abrielle was sitting there, Nurse Carla came up. "How are you doing, Abrielle?" she asked.
Nurse Carla checked on Abrielle a lot more frequently the closer she got to giving birth. She would just drop by to see how she was feeling and if she needed help with anything.
"My back hurts," Abrielle admitted.
"Come here, let me help you, sweetheart. Take your shirt off."
Nurse Carla was a fifty-something-year old woman who had seen almost a hundred women have their children, who had grown children of her own. Abrielle didn't have to think twice about taking her shirt off.
Nurse Carla gave her a much better massage than Shawn could. Not that Abrielle didn't still appreciate when her husband did it.
"Nurse Carla, do you usually stay with other new moms as long as you're staying with me?"
"No, not usually. I stayed with Shayla for a few months after she had Evan."
"You delivered Evan?!" Abrielle asked in shock.
"And your husband and Shayla too. I've been around almost as long as your mother."
"Wow. So you're like the family midwife."
Nurse Carla chuckled, rubbing Abrielle's back. "I guess you could say that. Your husband wants me to be here when you have your next child too."
"My next? He didn't consult me about that," Abrielle said, thinking she was going to have to talk to that dear husband of hers.
"Right now, you think you won't have more. But I can almost guarantee you'll have at least two more, child."
"Two?! Un un, Nurse Carla. I like kids. Not that much. I like having my body to myself. If I have another child, you can bank on Shawn being the one to carry it."
Nurse Carla just laughed a little bit as Shawn came into the room and turned her chair off. "You stop talking smack and let that lady give you a massage," he told his wife.
Shawn respected Nurse Carla enough not to use profane language in her presence. She was one of few people.
"Leave me alone," Abrielle whined as Shawn went in the closet and picked up a black duffle bag.
"I have to go, Abrielle. I'll be back later tonight. I love you."
"I love you too."
He leaned down to kiss her and exited the room. Abrielle sighed. Nurse Carla knew what Shawn did, but she stayed out of it. Her job was simply to get their son into the world and to help care for him and Abrielle.
"Nurse Carla, how does it feel to have a baby?"
"It feels like you'll learn when you have the first one."
Abrielle didn't know why she kept saying first. Abrielle liked being pregnant. But not enough to have to share her body this way again. She just couldn't.