SAFEHOUSE

When Julien sat down to let his mother know about the situation, she hung up on him immediately. I wasn't privy to the conversation he tried to have with her after she cooled down a bit, but the way it seemed was that she was not at all happy.

I didn't want that to affect me, but it did. I tried to give myself some space to cry in private.

I had never met Julien's mother before, let alone any of the rest of his family. But something told me that they weren’t too pleased that he had taken up with ‘the help’.

How else would it come across?

Even though I had no proof of it, I just knew that his family didn't like me, and were not supportive of what was going on. It hurt to know that they couldn’t see the love I had for Julien.

"I read that a high heartbeat in the first trimester means a girl," he teased me, pulling me into his arms.

I let out a little sigh as he released me, looking around the room I would give birth in. I was scared… I knew plenty women liked to do the home-birth thing, but I just wasn't one of them. Of course, Julien had spared no expense in making this room in the château a proper delivery room. It put me a bit more at ease to know I would have the absolute best post possible doctor and nursing staff on hand when the time came, even if I wasn’t in some big fancy hospital…

"I guess we'll just have to think of some more girl names, then, won't we?" I teased him back, intertwining my fingers with his.

Part of me really wanted to be excited, and to fully enjoy the excitement that danced in Julien's eyes whenever we spoke about the baby. But there was still that small part… Okay, maybe not such a small part of me, that was still hesitant.

Maybe it was just me being selfish, but becoming a mother was something I wasn't sure I knew how to do. I was just going to have to roll with it.

Julien picked up the phone in the room and dialed for the kitchen, asking Gervaise if he would mind bringing me and Julien some lunch. Not even twenty minutes later we had hot sandwiches and soup sitting on the small coffee table between us. Usually Julien and I liked to have lunch outside when it's nice enough, but it had been pretty hot since the summer was starting to really blaze down here between the mountains.

My sandwich practically melted in my mouth, and I groaned, thoroughly enjoying the taste even if I was going to regret it in a few hours. If there was one thing I knew, it was that I couldn't wait to be done with the morning sickness. I had read somewhere that most women start feeling it fade away by now, especially with second trimester approaching. Apparently, I was one of the unlucky few who enjoyed morning sickness just a bit longer…. All I could do was hope and pray that I wasn't going to be one of those cases that had to take Zofran the entire pregnancy.

His phone rang, and he quietly picked it up, holding up a finger to me to signify that it was important.

"Yes?" he answered, dabbing at the corners of his mouth. It always cracked me up to see how manner-driven he could be in the silliest of moments to me. Nobody but me was watching him eat, yet he found the need to stay as polite and on point as possible. Me? Ha! I didn't care at this point. I was wolfing down the sandwich even though I knew there was really no point of it.

"Really?" His voice wavered a bit at the end, and he sounded incredulous. I raised my brow at him, as if to ask him what was going on.

He took in a deep breath, clearly listening with great detail to the person on the other line.

I slowly chewed my sandwich, bringing my glass of water up to my lips, not bothering to take a sip until he looked back up at me. He shook his head slowly, and I shrugged. Whatever it was I would probably find out eventually anyway. No need to worry about it now, right?

Julien slowly rose from his seat, not bothering to look back at me as he walked out of the room.

I frowned. Seriously? Not even a backwards glance? Sometimes he could be so off-putting and not even realize it, I swear.

I wanted to follow him, but I knew that would be r

idiculous and so I stayed put, trying to finish my soup as best as I could. Thank God for Zofran, because heaven knows I wouldn't have been able to eat anything without it. I drank the rest of my glass of water and picked up the plate, along with Julien's barely touched food, and loaded my arms full before heading back towards the kitchen.

I struggled down the hallway, but when I heard his voice above the clanging of the glasses in my arms, I knew something was going on. Something that I wanted to listen to…

I sat the dishes and food on a nearby hall table, and crept closely to the door where Julien had shut himself inside the room. It was a room I wasn't familiar with, and probably just some room that didn't matter much to him, either of which told me he was quickly trying to get rid of me so that he could speak freely to the person on the phone.

I didn't know what to make of that, but I knew that I wouldn't just let him shut me out. His voice carried even further down the hallway, and I leaned up against the door, trying to carefully listen.

"And there's nothing that can be done?" He roared into the phone, sounding angrier than I had ever heard him before. Most of whatever conversation he was having was coming from the other person, so I could barely make out was going on, but whatever it was, it was not good.

A few minutes later he was quiet, and I heard his footsteps coming quickly towards the door. I picked up the tray and headed down the hallway and by the time he opened the door and closed it behind him, I was already a few doors down. Was I that stealthy? Probably not, but it certainly didn't hurt to try.

I gave him the sweetest smile I could muster, and shrugged innocently as he eyed the dishes. "Sorry babe, I had no idea when you'd be finished. So I figured I would go ahead and take things to the kitchen. I didn't make it all the way past the soup," I explained, slowly rubbing my belly for emphasis.

He wrapped his arm around me, placing a quick kiss on my cheek, before taking everything out of my hands and walking alongside of me. I didn't know what had been going on, but he seemed fine now. So maybe there wasn't much to worry about, after all.

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Chapter 28