The temperature dropped, a lot. Today it began to snow and that isn't a good sign because the pond will freeze over and I will have to figure out a way to cut a hole and get the fish out. Cason went hunting two days ago and got two deer and should be okay with meat while I figure out a way to ice fish.
My job today is to keep the fire going and to help Anya with cooking and cleaning. Locklyn is doing the laundry and Hadley is cleaning the bathrooms and organizing the books in the living room. I went into the kitchen and saw Anya washing the meat off and then putting it in a pan.
I went over and began to take dishes and silverware out to set the table for lunch. Anya smiled and continued to cook.
"What are we having?" I asked suddenly.
"Leftovers from yesterday for lunch and pan seared deer with some vegetables for dinner. Can you get the plates out and start heating them up?" I nodded, went to the fridge to get the plates from last night, and put them on the counter. Locklyn's plate wasn't touched.
"Is Locklyn sick again?" I asked.
"No, she was fine last night. Why, she didn't eat again?" I nodded and put her plate to the side. I put Hadley's in the microwave first.
"Anya," Locklyn said walking into the kitchen, "I'm taking some crackers off the shelf downstairs. My stomach is hurting." I looked at her and saw this bulge in the stomach area of her shirt. "What, Trace?"
"Are you okay? No offense but it looks like you gained weight and you haven't been eating."
She glared at me while Anya smacked me in the arm. "Yeah, fine." She looked down and walked downstairs to the basement.
"Wow, Trace, way to make her upset."
"You didn't see it?" She shook her head and then shrugged. "Anya, she has a stomach and not a beer gut kind of thing, more like a baby bump kind of thing."
"Look, I saw the bump but I'm not going to say anything to her. She doesn't want to be pregnant right now. She doesn't want to believe it."
"Well, this is reality and it's happening and she needs to come to terms with it. She needs to take care of herself because if she doesn't this baby will be born prematurely or dead."
"She having more than one baby, Trace."
"What?!" I yelled.
"Since she has two uteruses her chances of having twins or more is close to almost eighty percent. If she has a bump now and conceived two weeks after we got here, she's having twins and maybe even triplets. For right now, we are predicting her to be having twins and conceived within the first two weeks of getting here." I nodded. "Now, can you go check on her, she looked really pale and upset. If she needs help with the laundry, help her there."
"No problem." I went downstairs and saw Locklyn sitting in a chair crying. She was staring down at her stomach. "Lock, you okay?" she shook her head. "What's wrong?"
"I can't do this," she sobbed.
"Do what?"
She looked up at me and had tears falling down her face and onto her shirt. She was shaking and breathing heavily. "I'm pregnant."
I sighed and went over to her. I sat on the ground next to her. "I know." She looked at me and wiped her eyes. "I've known since you became sick in early October. I noticed the bump about two weeks ago but can actually see it through your shirt now."
"Great. Then that means Anya knows also."
"Locklyn, we all know. It was you who didn't know. Think about it, you stopped your birth control, you had sex with Cason for a week, maybe longer, and you have a split uterus and ovulate more. All of these factors mixed together makes you pregnant with twins. You wouldn't be this big if it wasn't twins you are having."
"I'm scared, Trace. I'm so tired and hungry and this is just the beginning of the pregnancy, right?" I shrugged. "Trace, please, don't judge us."
"You two are the last people I will judge about being pregnant. We all knew something would happen like this and truthfully I'm happy you two are having children together. We will raise these babies as a whole, not just you two, all five of us will help raise these babies." She smiled and wiped her eyes. I gave her a hug. "You will be the best mother out there and will make sure these babies are perfect."
"Thank you, Trace. I appreciate it." I nodded and did the laundry for her. She went upstairs and told Cason she is pregnant. He knew anyway, it was just a matter of time before she knew what was happening to her body. At dinner we sat down and ate together. Anya was quiet and not eating her food while everyone else was. "I need to tell you all something that you may already know." Locklyn looked over at Cason with a slight smile showing. "I'm pregnant."
"We all knew that, it was you who didn't know," Hadley said.
"I just want everyone to be on the same page as me. My body is changing, quickly. I'm having some trouble adjusting to the changes happening."
"Like what kind of changes?" Anya asked. "Anything we need to know just in case something happens."
"Well, I have a baby bump, bigger than what I was expecting by how far along I am." She stood up and lifted her shirt. She looked about five months pregnant, but she wasn't before we left, or was she. "And Cason and I had sex while we were in the cabin because I had my monthly friend a week before, so I wasn't pregnant before leaving. My boobs literally went from an A to a C overnight because I can't even wear my bras, I'm wearing a bikini top right now. My senses are at an extreme high and all I want to do is make out with Cason and maybe more." Cason's eyes widened. "This is all new to me and I'm scared about the outcome of what will happen. I want to go home and be with my family during this time. I want to know how many there are because I shouldn't be this big for only being three months at most."
"By your medical history, you were most likely to conceive twins or even triplets. Having two uteruses causes high ovulation and you stopping birth control suddenly, it was bound to happen and with twins," Anya said using her EMT language as I call it.
"Listen, Locklyn, we will just say you are having twins. If they are in one uterus wouldn't you see one side larger than the other or feel kicks on one side only," I said.
"I might, I don't know. Doctors only told me I couldn't get pregnant. I have no idea." I nodded. "We'll see in the spring what I am carrying because I know it is twins by how big I am, but there may be more than two."
"We will help you Locklyn, don't worry about that," Hadley said. "Cason, how are you about this? You've been quiet all of dinner."
"I'm fine with it. I'm scared for the babies and Locklyn. We have no medical equipment or supplies for a pregnancy in this cabin. We need to figure out a plan on how to escape and get out of here. If Locklyn is pregnant with more than two babies, she needs a doctor and medical equipment. What if something is to happen to one or more?"
"You can't think about that right now because we don't know how many there are. We need to stay positive about Lock's pregnancy and to help her and make sure she is comfortable. Pregnancy is a very uncomfortable thing happening to a women's body. When my mother had my siblings, the first and last one was the worst because she wasn't expecting the first one. She was always sick, tired, complaining, and just a bitch. With the last one she cried because she thought she was done having children and she wasn't. She had many back and hip issues and had to go on bed rest in this special chair because of how much pain she was in," Hadley paused and sighed, "lets just make sure Locklyn is comfortable and if she needs anything, we give it to her."
"I know and I was thinking of making her a body pillow because she keeps using me as one. I get too hot with her hugging me at night," Cason laughed.
"Very funny Cason, love ya too." She smiled and kissed him. "Thank you guys for understanding and trying to help me through this. I really appreciate it."
"Anything for you two, we're best friends, we support you and will support these babies. We're going to be a family now," Anya said.
"No," I said suddenly. "We are all ready a family; we are just adding to it." Everyone smiled and looked at each other. After dinner, Cason lit a fire and we sat around, talked and laughed about the past, and what our lives would be like if we never came here.
"Do you still feel sick, Lock?" I asked.
"No, not anymore. I feel unbalanced though. I'm all ready huge, it just adds to the questions."
"What if we never came here? Where do you think we would've been now?" Hadley asked. "What do you guys think?"
"I wouldn't be pregnant; I know that for sure." Locklyn looked over at Cason and grinned. "Sorry babe, but I'm being honest."
"Don't be sorry. It's true. I would probably be playing soccer and working."
"Playing soccer also," I said. "And maybe arguing about something stupid with my father."
"I would probably be in a mental hospital because of Armin's death and doing something destructive to myself." Anya sighed and looked at the ground.
"Anya, don't think like that. You don't know what could have happened," Locklyn said. "You are being really strong about Armin's death and we are all very proud of you." She nodded. "Hadley, what about you?"
"Finding out if my parents are my biological parents or not."
"Whoa, what?!" Cason sat up. "You think you're adopted?"
"Come on, Cason, do you really think Colleen and I are their real kids. We have darker skin than everyone else and we barely look like them anyway. Colleen and I sent in our DNA and I was supposed to get the results in October. I will never know now."
"What is making you think you are adopted? Like what caused the thought?"
"One day we were looking in family photos and there were never of Colleen and I being infants, only from the age of two and three we could find. Then we compared ourselves to our siblings and none of them have the dark skin tones, the noses are different, everything about the little ones are the same and not Colleen and I. We decided to get tested."
"And you didn't think to tell any of us that you were dealing with the fact you may be adopted?" Locklyn was a bit angry. "Hadley, we are here and that is something you don't keep from someone especially your best friends."
"I wanted to know if it was true or not. There is a reason I didn't tell you because if it came back saying I'm not adopted, I worried for nothing. It's just we didn't want to tell anyone because what if we were wrong then it would make us look like idiots. Our parents don't even know we sent in our DNA."
"Hadley." Anya and Locklyn got up and went over and hugged her. "Talk to us next time you do something like that. Jeez."
"I will, promise." She smiled widely.