Page 141 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

“Shouldn’t she be in a bed?” I inquire.

“I had you,” she groans. “I had you while I was sitting in a chair.”

“Not this chair, but a special chair that has a hole in the center so I can catch the baby. I have it here, but it’s not time yet,” Maria explains.

“Right,” I whisper.

I’m out of my depth here. I don’t know what I’m doing or where I should really be. What can I do right now that I can stop at any point and help if needed?

Sewing.

I can work on some pants or fix one of my dresses that I’ve been needing to for a while. I can stop that whenever and help.

“I’ll be in my room. Call out if you need anything,” I gently say right before my mother screams, and I wince.

Hearing her scream like that, I don’t know if I want to have children. Will it be just as painful with Kieran, or will it be better? The blood leaves my face as I think about it. They are so much taller than humans. How big are the babies? Do the babies have wings when they are born?

With a hand over my stomach, I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. No time to think about that. I rush off to my room and sit on my bed for several minutes, trying to clear my head.

“Everything is going to be okay,” I whisper to myself as my mother yells out. “Everything is going to be fine.”

Grabbing my sewing kit, I sit on my bed and begin working on my dress with the scraps I have. I try to think of this as a new dress, something I’ve always dreamed of wearing. All I can see is the faded blue with several different patches from where I’ve fixed it so many times.

Are things going to continue to get harder because Father is gone? I push it to the back of my mind and focus on my dress. I need to think positively right now.

Mother screams, and I close my eyes, trying to block it out. But as I hear the baby cry, I stand from my bed and rush into the room. Maria is holding a fluid-covered baby in her arms, looking down at it with a small smile on her face.

“Is the baby all right?” I hesitantly ask. “Is Mother okay?”

“Your mother is perfectly fine, just tired,” Maria replies as she starts to wipe the baby with a cloth. “Come meet your baby brother.”

I grip onto the wall as I stare at the baby. “Brother?”

“Yes, it’s a boy.”

I take several steps forward, looking at the bundle in her arms to see my baby brother crying. How is he going to survive in this world when so much is changing?

CHAPTER 43

Ilean my head up against the wall and take a deep breath.

So. Many. People.

So many people are coming over to visit, see the baby, congratulate my mother, and bring food and gifts. I’m happy we are getting some food to keep stock so we don’t run out, but I am exhausted from everyone coming over.

“Do you want me to turn away the next group of people?” I look over at Mother.

She is sitting on the same chair, holding my baby brother who doesn’t have a name yet, instead of lying in bed where Maria told her to. Apparently, Mother never has rested in a bed after having a baby longer than half a day.

“No, they are allowed to come in and see,” Mother gently replies. “Just a couple more, and then you can tell them to come tomorrow or the next day. They will understand.”

Nodding, I take another deep breath to try and calm myself down. I’ve almost snapped at several people today to tell them to go away and leave us alone, but I’ve kept it all inside and politely invited them in. That is what Mother wants me to do and that is what I am going to do for her.

Father would have been by her side, helping her and meeting all the people while I was out, but he isn’t here.

He’ll never get to meet his baby boy.

A son.