Chapter 2.33- I'm Alright

          “Why are you reading a baby book?” Tiburcia asked, merely glancing at her father’s book out of the corner of her eye. “I’m not a baby anymore.”

          Smirking, Ignacio thought of just how odd that sounded. This might be a bigger shock for her than he’d thought.

          “But it’s been a long time since you were a baby. I need a refresher.”

          “You’re not adopting Melly’s new babies are you?” Tiburcia frowned, turning fully to Ignacio. Melly Pelly, Tiburcia’s mother, had recently given birth to twins who were very obviously not the children of her third husband. Melly Pelly had recently been through a very nasty public divorce.

          “No, no,” assurance dripping from his tone as Ignacio patted his daughter on the leg and she returned to her book. Taking his cue from her, he also returned to his book even though he wasn’t paying a lick of attention to it. “We’re not adopting a baby. Layla is going to have one.”

          “Oh,” Tiburcia’s answer conveyed none of the enthusiasm he’d hoped she would have. However, she was well aware that babies could be a lot of trouble and nuisance from her visits with Melly. It could just be that clouding her judgment of the situation. 

          When she sighed however, Ignacio was truly saddened.

          “Do you ever feel like some of the butterflies are watching us, and listening? They’re everywhere.”

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          “Merry Snowflake Day!” chirped Layla, getting her breakfast.

          “And a merry one to you Mi Llamita,” smiled Ignacio in return. “Are you ready for my family to come over? When are you calling your dad to tell him the news?”

          “Right after I eat,” Layla and Ignacio had decided to wait to tell anyone outside their home their news until they were sure everything was going alright. In the end though, waiting until Snowflake Day seemed fitting and added a touch of magic to the day for the couple.

          She had just finished cleaning up from breakfast when the phone on the wall began to ring. Instantly a pit formed in her stomach and her jaw went oddly slack hearing it. That phone never rang with anything she wanted to hear. Never.

          Pushing through the lead in her legs, Layla took the few steps to the wall, staring hard, almost breathless. Ignacio’s fork rattled against his plate as he scrambled to get to her.

          “Please let this be Nalleli or Shad, or Lottie, or Sally, Dear PlumbBob, let this be a Snowflake Day Call.”

          “Merry Snowflake Day!” Picking up the receiver, her voice held a tremor no matter her words. “Oh Galen! Hi! Did you guys get our card?”

          Coming closer, Ignacio could feel the tension rolling off of Layla and worried afresh over her ability to cope with anything that might be stressful. So far though, this phone call seemed innocent and he pushed aside his worry to listen in.

          When her body suddenly went rigid a desire to protect her flared up so fast he thought he might explode.

          “Layla,” he said quietly.

          “Oh Galen, no,” her voice trembled as her breathing came more quickly. “No, not today.”

          “Layla,” Igancio repeated her name more urgently. “Layla, give me the phone.”

          “Not Daddy, not today,” she said again as her shoulders slumped.

Ignacio turned impatiently, pacing to the bar, beating himself up for letting her answer that damn phone. He would rip if from the wall if he thought it would help anything. More bad news. Forever bad news. They find a spark, a happy place finally, and it’s shattered once more.

          The receiver clicked softly against the cradle and he missed it. It took the gentle tap on his shoulder to get him to turn around and find Layla in front of him, needing his support.

          “Your father?” He asked. He didn’t need to ask more than that.

          Her response was a tremble of her lower lip as her face worked and she fought tears.

          “At least he’ll stop pining after your mother now. He’s at peace.”

          “But I’m not!” moving into his waiting arms, Layla finally released her tears, to a degree.

          Rubbing her back, cradling her, Ignacio again thought of the phone on the wall. Now he’d need to use it to call his family and tell them not to come over. There was no way Layla could handle having everyone over for lunch.

          “Hang on,” he tried to disentangle her a little. “Hang on, just let me call my family to tell them not to come and I will be right back, ok?”

          Pushing away on her own, Layla shook her head trying to clear her throat.

          “No,” her voice was stronger sounding than she’d expected. “No, don’t. I’m alright. They should still come over. It’s Snowflake Day and family is supposed to be together on Snowflake Day.”

          “Mi Llamita, you are not alri-”

          “I am alright,” Layla said, her jaw jutting as she looked at Ignacio fiercely. “I am just fine. I will not be the reason we’re not all together.”

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          “Those are really unusual gems Layla,” Sabria said uncertainly. “And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen quite so many all together before.”

          Layla merely nodded, forgetting that if Sabria didn’t look at her, she couldn’t hear her nod.

          “I’ve missed you all lately,” Sabria continued, thinking Layla had chosen to ignore her remark on the gems. “It looks like you’ve been very busy, too.”

          “Yeah, very busy,” Layla said abruptly. “I’m pregnant!” Not realizing what exactly she’d just said or how. Ignacio and Layla were supposed to tell his parents together.

          Ignacio stopped in his tracks hearing Layla blurt the news. Shaking his head in amusement he continued on his way to try and get to Tibi. His young daughter had managed to provoke a promise of a snowball fight out of his Father and Brother and he was determined to get to them before they carried it out. She had no idea what she was in for with those two.

          As Tibi, Ignacio, Raul, and Santiago all filed out of the kitchen to play in the snow Layla was continuing to trip over her announcement.

          “And- and I want your help with something,” she had just realized how odd this request would sound, but hoped Sabria would be able to assuage her fears a little.

          Arching a single brow, Sabria inclined her head to acknowledge her willingness to hear Layla’s request.

          “I want to make sure there’s only one in there.”

          Laughing aloud before she’d realized what she’d done, Sabria passed her hand over her face, trying to regain her composure. Is this why Layla was such a scattered mess today?

          “Of course, honey,” besides, touching Layla would let her in on all she had missed with her son and granddaughter too lately. There were big things afoot, and certain events seen hazily long ago seemed to be coming into focus. “But can I ask why you’re so concerned about there only being one? Are you hoping for more?”

          “Oh, PlumbBob no,” blurted Layla. “It’s just my mom was one of triplets, and I’m a twin. I’m not sure I could handle more than one.”

          How had Sabria overlooked that before? Was she not very close with her twin? Her surprise registered on her face and she again tried to cover her reaction by turning it to something else.

          “Of course,” she said. “Would you like a gender, too? It can really help planning things if you know what you’re having.”

          “No,” Layla surprised Ignacio’s mother by saying. “The nursery is done neutrally, green. And I think we’d rather be surprised.”

          Sabria nodded sagely and reached for Layla’s rounded belly.

          Layla waited patiently as Sabria stood silently, touching her. Her left hand was being tightly held as she stood listening, or seeing, or whatever it was exactly she did.

          At long last, Sabria looked back up.

          “Just one,” smiling, Sabria said to Layla.

          “Oh good,” Layla was obviously relieved.

          “Are you sure you don’t want to know the gender?”

          “Positive. Thank you, though.

          “Now,” Sabria’s face softened. “Why didn’t you say your found out your dad had died this morning?”

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          In the front yard, a snowball fight raged with Ignacio and little Tibi losing spectacularly.

          The biggest problem was Santiago kept forgetting that his granddaughter was still just a kid. She might be starting high school soon, but Tibi was still small for her age. So when he’d send a snowball her way he’d frequently fling it so hard he’d knock her back into the snow.

          “Papi! Enough! Go easy on her,” Ignacio called after hearing Tibi cry out in shock at being hit again.

          Flaring her nostrils at her dad, Tiburcia waited for him to throw a nice large snowball that hit Uncle Raul squarely in the chest, exploding in a shower of snow and ice.

          “I’m not so little anymore, Dad! Don’t go easy on me!” And attempting to get up, she slipped and fell right back into the snow once more making the men outside roar with laughter.

          Santiago walked over to his little granddaughter sitting up to her waist in snow. Offering her hand he pulled her up and into a hug.

          “Come on little big girl,” he teased. “Let’s go in and warm up. I bet lunch is nearly ready, too.”

          Despite her reassurances to the contrary to Sabria, Layla was still being hit by wave after wave of grief. It would hit her at the oddest moments. It hit her as they ate lunch with Lottie and Raul. Lottie was just announcing that she thought she, too, might be expecting.

          It would hit her while taking rests.

While doing laundry.

It would hit while cooking or collecting the pretties she still insisted she needed. No one else was appreciating them out there under the snow. And she loved them. They were so pretty.

          In those sweet moments where the soon-to-be new parents would share their wonder over new life it would hit her afresh and she’d pummel it back down to deal with another day.

          Ignacio could tell that she was still grieving, but she refused to talk about it. And when he’d suggested that the baby be named Buck if it were a boy Layla had flown into a fury that had worried him worse than her bottled grief ever did. Even after all the time they had been together, they still seemed to operate as two separate entities keeping so much from each other. Maybe, it was time for that to change.

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Going all the way to the top of this chapter, Melly Pelly is kind of pissing me off with her ways. Mostly because of who husband number four is: Galen. Leave it to SP to finally decide Galen needed to get out there and be romantic with That.

Right now, I’m kind of in love with Pregnant Layla. She’s probably the cutest pregnant sim I’ve ever had. Helen always looked so awful in maternity wear and her features didn’t lend well to an expanded size, so I’m purposely drawing this out just a bit to spend more time with her all cute. She’s just cute like that!

And I know that cut off kind of oddly there, but the next one is a big one so we’ll just let things rest with that.

Finally, as my dearest Buck has passed on at last I have put him and Helen up for download. You can find them on the downloads page up top, or in the post list to the right.