I told her I would be down on the floor to meet them in five minutes, and she nodded excitedly, hurrying off.
Eugene was sitting with Audrey, talking to her about something still unknown to me.
"Hey...I'm gonna go with Belle and Ray to show Zarina and Ariel around the room. I'll be back, okay? Love you two,"
Eugene stared as if I'd lost my mind. "You're staying right here, dearest."
"Why? I'm feeling okay, and it's not like I'm going to be completely alone." I reassured him.
"I still..." he sighed. "You already promised Belle, right?"
"Mmhmm."
Huffing, he nodded. "I really don't have a good feeling about it, but if you think you can, go ahead. If you're not feeling well, you come right back, okay?"
I nodded, bending to kiss his cheek as well as Audrey's. "Thank you. I'll see you all later!" I turned to hug Casey and wave at Jordan, who was busy playing with Pascal, and then rushed to go to the floor.
Well...rushed being a relative term. With my huge, swollen abdomen, I can't go very fast! I actually wouldn't dare; I'd more than likely trip and fall.
The walk was long and slow, much longer and slower than I ever remembered walks being. Ariel didn't talk to me, so I didn't talk to her; she was far ahead with Ray (who looked none too amused about it). I walked with Belle, until I noticed Zarina was lagging behind, looking very small and left out. Feeling a pang of guilt, I promptly dropped back, letting Belle go ahead to talk to Ariel.
"Hey," I said quietly. "Lonely?"
She started, almost as though she hadn't seen me through her thick curtain of hair, but quickly shook her head and mumbled that she was just thinking.
Sooo, I just backed off and let her have her space.
After a few hours, we headed back, but we took a quick break to rest about halfway across the room, which was greatly appreciated.
I noticed Zarina by herself, sitting on the trunk at the foot of Tangled Fan's bed, which we had just left...so I doubled back around and heaved myself back up there, sitting down with a heavy sigh, rubbing my stomach as I felt the baby moving. A slow, nagging pain had spread across my midsection, and I was mildly concerned, but not enough to head back quickly. Plus, I wanted to talk with Zarina.
"Well, I think I need to sit for a bit. How are you, Zarina?"
"I'm fine. You should probably go on ahead, though. You look really pale," she told me.
I shrugged, biting my lip. "So... You're really shy, aren't you? Punzie giving you a hard time?"
She nodded, letting her hair stay fallen over half of her face. The other eye peered curiously at me. "Why do you care?"
"Because...about a year ago, I guess...I was in your shoes. I know how it felt, and I know how nice it felt to have a friend," I offered.
"Who was it? Belle?"
"Eugene...my now husband," I smiled. "Belle came along later."
"I see." she looked down to her lap, and an awkward silence filled the air around us for a little while. I noticed that everyone else was heading back already, so I spoke up first.
"You should tuck your hair back and not hide behind it. You're gorgeous!" I complimented her.
"Really? Th-thanks," she acknowledged it, but still didn't push her hair from her face. "I guess we should catch up with the others. And...thank you for hanging back with me."
"You're welcome. I'm right across the table if you ever want a buddy, and I'm sure my girls would love you." I told her, watching her drop gracefully down to the floor.
My hand, however, slipped and I missed the step down, falling hard on the floor. I landed on my feet, but it still made me drop to my knees. Plus, the sudden and strong wave of pain that had caused my hand to slip came back for a second wave, and I panted breathlessly. What WAS this?? I bit my lip, pressing a hand into my side until I felt the baby move. Whew. The baby was okay, but I still didn't know what THAT was about! Zarina helped me to my feet, but I couldn't shake this annoying pain.
"You really need to go home, you're so pale in the face," Zarina bit HER lip, too, but I shook her concern off, promising her that I was okay.
I made it almost the whole way back to the table before Ariel stopped me.
"You okay?"
"Yes, I just need to get home," I panted, leaning against the saw horse Tangled Fan had a horse saddle on . The pain was nearly unbearable right now, most of it centered around my lower back and hips. I must have hurt myself jumping.
"You don't look okay,"
"I'm fine," I said shortly. She wasn't the doll of choice to talk to right now, and I just wanted to go back home.
"Look....I'm sorry about yesterday. For some reason, I thought that your husband was just trying to play hard to catch and pretend to be uninterested, using the common 'I'm married' excuse, and I went too far. I am sorry, I truly am, and I hope you don't view me as a horrible doll."
"It's okay; I forgive you. I just really need to go home," I swallowed against a sudden wave of nausea. I thought I had been done with the stinking nausea after my third week!
But then Ray rushed to me, quickly followed by Belle. They surrounded me, asking if I was okay. Zarina was behind them, fiddling nervously with her hair as she stared at me.
They ended up helping me to the table, but to keep the girls from worrying, they all said they were just taking a shortcut through our side to get to their side. Which was quite illogical, but they didn't know that.
Eugene read through it, though, but he kept quiet until the girls were settled down for their afternoon nap, an hour late at five PM. By then, I could barely stand being on my feet a single moment longer.
He sat down on the couch, but I collapsed on it, flat on my back.
"Cmere," he said, offering to let me use his lap as a pillow. I gratefully accepted it, and mostly because of the hand he kept using to stroke my hair. "What's wrong?"
"You were right....I jumped off of the trunk and missed the step, and now my back and hips ache like nobody's business." I elected to ignore the nausea and pain beforehand, still unsure about that.
"Are you sure that's all? You still have three weeks to go, you don't want anything to happen."
"I'm sure...I just need to rest, I think. Wow..." I groaned, rubbing at my back.
I barely made it the rest of the day.
But I was wrong about just hurting my hips and back: I found that out at approximately two in the morning when I woke Eugene, sobbing and frantically begging him to get the girls over to Zelia because I was having the baby and didn't want to scare them or wake them, since it was all I could do to not give in and scream because of the immense pain I was in.
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