1: Denial

Jillie

 

           Swinging my feet out of bed, I sat up and stretched. Walking over to the mirror on my closet door, I placed my hand on my stomach. Pregnant. I shook my head. I wasn’t pregnant. Sure, I’d missed a menstrual cycle or two…or three, but I wasn’t even having morning sickness. It was just stress, stress from what was, at the time, unknown, and stress now from the wedding, which was now only a month away. I let out a deep breath and headed into the bathroom.

           Turning on the shower, I undressed before stepping inside. I let the hot water run along my body before washing myself and my hair. When I was done, I wrapped a towel around my body and one around my hair. I walked back into my room to find Jarren sitting on my bed.

“I swear I locked the window.”

He chuckled, amused. “Teya, let me in.”

“Oh. Okay.” I stated, pulling out a bra and matching panties.

“How do you feel?”

I turned my back, rolling my eyes as I slipped into my bra. “Fine.”

“No sickness?”

“Nope.” I responded while popping the “p.”

“Hmm.”

“Reid was wrong,” I stated simply, pulling out some clothes.

“No, I don’t think he was,” Jarren replied.

“Then explain why there’s no change in my body. Why I have no morning sickness.”

“I can’t explain that. I haven’t been around many pregnant women, especially those having a half-vampire baby. What I do know is that you’re pregnant. It’s either that or you suddenly have two heartbeats.”

I turned to look at him. “What?”

“I can hear the baby’s heartbeat. It’s a slow fluttering sound.”

           I placed my hand on my stomach. Even two months later, I was still in denial. I still didn’t believe I was pregnant and probably wouldn’t until I saw this small bundle growing inside me. It was even more challenging to believe because I didn’t want to be a statistic. I didn’t want to be a teenage mom. Yes, my fiancé and the father of my baby was over three hundred years old. That still didn’t make me feel any better. What would my parents say? Better yet, what would the people of his Kingdom say? How would they react?

“Come here.” Jarren requested, pulling me from my thoughts. I walked over to him and stood between his legs. “Don’t worry about any of that. Our parents will be fine with it. They know we love each other, and they know grandkids are inevitable. As far as the other people, they won’t say anything. We’ll be married, and it’s none of their business.” He kissed my lips gently. “So, please relax. I can’t have you stressing more than you already are. It isn’t good for you and the baby.”

I let out a deep breath. “Okay.” It sounded strange to hear him talk about a baby I wasn’t sure I was carrying. I mentally shook my head. There I was again with the denial.

“Let’s get some breakfast,” I stated, slipping on my pants.

“Where do you want to go?” Jarren asked. I furrowed my eyebrows. “Teya was on her way out when I got here.” He explained.

I pouted. “But she always cooks breakfast on Saturday.”

He chuckled. “You’re so spoiled. We’ll go get something.”

I pulled my shirt over my head. “Or,” I started wrapping my arms around him. “You could make me breakfast.”

He kissed my lips. “Definitely spoiled,” he mumbled against them.

“Well, whose fault is that?”

He bit my bottom lip. “I have no idea.”

I moved away from him. “Come on. I’m hungry.”

“So am I.” He informed me with a smirk as he reached out to grab me.

“For food.” I countered, narrowly sidestepping him.

“Fine.” He stated as he stood, heading for the door. “But I’m only making you pancakes.”

“We’ll see about that,”  I mumbled, slipping on my bracelet.

“I heard that.”

“Of course you did.”

           By the time I finished blow-drying, leaving my natural curls free, my stomach was making harsh demands for food. Going downstairs, I headed into the kitchen.

“I thought you were just making me pancakes,” I stated with a smirk looking at all the food he’d cooked.

“I did only make you pancakes. The rest is for the baby.”

           My smirk instantly fell. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know. I let out a deep breath.

“Are you okay, Piccolo?”

“Uh yeah. I’m fine.”

           I took a seat, and he placed a plate in front of me. I’d lost my appetite. But my stomach was still growling. My body was still demanding food. So I forced my way through about half before pushing the plate away.

“You’re finished?” Jarren asked, eyeing me skeptically.

“Yeah, I guess I wasn’t as hungry as I thought.”

“Alright, you go get your shoes while I clean up, and we can go.”

           I nodded before heading upstairs. I slipped my feet into my shoes, ensured everything was unplugged, and turned off all the lights before heading downstairs. Naturally, the kitchen was spotless.

“Jarren!” I called when I didn’t see him in the kitchen. “Jarren!”

*I’m outside, Piccolo.*

Rolling my eyes, I headed for the front door. He was leaning up against his car on the phone. I locked the door before heading over.

“You know what? I’ll let you talk to her because I don’t know.” I heard him say before holding the phone out to me.

“Hello,” I spoke.

“Princess Jilliannah, I really need to go over a bunch of small details with you and Prince Jarren, and he’s just not being cooperative. No offense. We need flower arrangements, bouquets, ring pillows, tablecloths…”

“Angela,” I spoke, cutting off our frantic Royal Wedding planner while glaring at Jarren. “We’ll be in later to take care of all that.” Before she could say anything else, I pushed the phone back to Jarren’s ear.

“We’ll see you later, Angela.” He spoke before hanging up.

“I should set you on fire,” I stated, sliding into the car.

“Why?” He asked innocently once he was in the driver’s seat.

I glared at him again. “Because you know I don’t like talking to her. She talks too fast, and it makes me dizzy.”

“Maybe it’s not her talking. Maybe something else is making you dizzy.” He stated, pulling off.

“Yeah. Maybe.” I responded.

           We pulled up to the caterer about fifteen minutes later. Since Jarren’s family and my mother’s side were Italian or of Italian descent and Caribbean, and my father’s side was of Indian descent, we decided to base our first wedding’s menu around that.

           Jarren took my hand as we exited the car and headed into the building. My Aunt Carla was already there waiting on us.

“Hey, kiddos.” She greeted.

“Hey.” We replied pretty close to unison.

           We wasted no time getting down to the taste testing. All of the appetizers were delicious. I knew it would be hard to make up my mind. The main course came next. The first three were delicious, but the fourth…well, I never got around to tasting it.

“Ewww. What is that?” I asked, one hand over my mouth and the other over my stomach. “Can you please just take that away?” I asked, pushing the plate away.

           The rest of the tasting went on in the same fashion. There was always something that turned my stomach after that.

           Once we were done, we headed to the bakery where we were having our cake made. I wasn’t up to tasting anything else, so I decided to go with something safe—a simple white cake. To think I’d have to do this all over again.