The baby

The baby:

The new parents bring their baby back home, Marcus, Layla and I Make arrangements for the baby shower in seven days.

As Clara and enters the house with the baby in her arms, I rush to embrace my brother and congratulate him on becoming a father, I also congratulate Clara.

“Mason! You’re a father now! I’m so happy!”

He chuckles.

“Stop yelling so much, you’re an aunt now, you’ve got to be a bit more quiet”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that, congratulations, brother.”

I whisper and giggle.

The house is filled with friends of the new parents and Mason has a lot to attend to so I help Clara upstairs to her room

“She’s soo cute, can I hold her?”

“Sure, of course.”

“Carefully she hands the baby to me as we walk upstairs.”

“It’s a he”

“What?”

“You have a nephew, not a niece.”

I marvel at her words as I stare at her with eyes wide open.

“You mean…”

“Yes, in a few years our pack will have an alpha candidate to take over the Reid pack.”

“I can’t believe this, he’s not beta blood?”

“He’s not, we confirmed it from father.”

“Then this boy; my nephew is a blessing to the pack.”

“I guess he is.”

During Clara’s time in the hospital, I gave a lot of thought to fixing the relationship between me and her, I no longer wanted to always be on loggerheads with her.

“Clara”

“Yeah?”

“There’s something we have to talk about.”

“I’m listening”

She opens the door to her room and sits on her bed, I hand the baby to her and seat on a chair close to the bed.

“I just think we should fix things between us?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I’m talking about”

“No I don’t”

“Okay, I’ll just say it in a straight forward manner.”

“Go ahead.”

“I know that we haven’t always been the best of friends or anything like that but let’s fix it; for the sake of this baby, let’s put all our differences aside.”

“If I may know, why did you hate me so much in the first place?”

“I don’t hate you, I’ve never hated you.”

“What was the problem then?”

“I just got upset because my brother already had someone In mind before you came along”

“Well, I didn’t bring myself into his life, did I? Last I checked, I am not the moon goddess.”

“I’m sorry, I apologize. It was just me being childish.”

“I’ve always wanted your approval, you know.”

“ thought you didn’t like me”

“I’ve never disliked you, Ruby. It’s always been quite the opposite.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you were away, there wasn’t a day Mason didn’t talk about you. There’s not a day he didn’t tell me about his beloved sister.”

“I looked forward to seeing you; I thought that if I gained your approval, then I’d gain all your brother’s acceptance too but I guess things didn’t work out the way I envisioned.”

“I see, I sincerely apologize. I want us to be like sisters. We’re women of the Reid household and we’re supposed to stick together.”

“There’s no reason for you to apologize; you had your brother’s best interests at heart, I understand that.”

She carefully drops the baby on the bed and embraces me.

“We’re sisters”

“We’re sisters, things are gonna be different from now.”

“I truly hope for it.”

We let go of each other and smile.

“Is the baby asleep?”

“Yeah, he fell asleep a while ago. In your arms.”

“I didn’t even notice.”

Someone laughs and immediately we turn to the door. It’s Mason, he stands by the door and takes a dramatic pose.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to watch this sister bonding blossom”

“You creep!”

“Ruby, you’ll wake the baby.”

“Oh, my bad….you creep.”

I whisper as I throw a pillow in his face.

“I’m going downstairs, Daddy. I push him aside as I storm out of the room in embarrassment.”

I had gotten a new phone and sim the previous day; I tap my phone in anticipation of an email from a hospital I submitted my resume at.

As I descend from the stair case in Marcus and Layla’s direction, my phone rings.

“Unknown number? I wonder who could be calling.”

Although reluctant at first; I pick up the phone call.

“Ruby Reid speaking, who am I on to?”

“You never honoured my invite, Ruby. I waited for you.”

That despicable voice rang in my ears and made my skin crawl.

“What do you want?!”

“ know what I want, I told you the last time we had that lovely conversation.”

“Why can’t you leave me alone?”

“It doesn’t matter whether I rejected you or not, you belong to me.”

I scoff to his words.

“Oh? Was that the reaction you were hoping on? Sorry if I disappointed, I just can’t waste tears on you anymore.”

“Someone’s getting rather confident, what’s the secret?”

“Secret? I have no secrets. I just decided to move past you.”

“That’s …an improvement; still, I’d like you to meet me tomorrow at the spot we usually played.”

“You’re so full of yourself, who do you think you are?!”

“Your owner….”

In disgust, I end the call before he has the time to say anything else.

“Are you okay? Heard you yelling to someone.”

My dad inquired.

“There’s nothing to worry about, it’s a colleague from work who was asking me for….tips”

“Tips on what?”

“She wants to break up with her boyfriend, but she doesn’t know how to tell him.”

“You’re rather harsh”

He walks upstairs unsuspecting.

The doorbell rings a couple of times; everyone appears to be busy so I head to the door.

When I turn the knob, the face I see makes my heart jump with excitement, although I try to conceal it.

I stare at the person; completely speechless and embarrassed for a while before the silence breaks.

“Hey, Ruby.”