Chapter 94

GABRIELA

The days went by peacefully, that a month passed. I don't think I've ever been so calm in my life. When I told my cousin everything he wanted to know, he was a little shocked, and even though in the last year, my life had basically become a disaster, I had also been the happiest of my life because finally and eventually I have with me the love of my life and we would get married, although we don't know when yet, we're in no hurry.

The day Alex asked me to marry him, we hung out at my grandparents' house and had a great time, but I must admit I had a better time at night. I don't know if it was luck or what, but there would be no one at Alex's house, and I didn't want to go my parents' house home so as not to wake them up, so Alex told me I could go to his house. Every time we make love it felt great, every time felt different and so good.

I don't know what time it was when I noticed some swaying, and I didn't want to wake up, so I roll over and put the pillow on my head. "Gabriela, it's time to get up." said grandma's voice. "It's too early, grandmother." I protested "No, it's not, it's twelve noon."

"Well, it's early, I'm tired and I'm sleepy, can't I sleep longer?" I asked. "You can't, and lately you're always tired and sleepy." Grandma responded and I rolled my eyes. "It's too hot to sleep well, grandma." I defended myself even though that had nothing to do with it. "I know it's hot, the thing is, they're waiting for you downstairs."

"They can wait a little longer, they always have to be bothering you." I mumbled the last part. "Well, I'll tell Alex then." With that I quickly sat on the bed and dizziness took over me making my vision a little blurry, but my grandmother thought it was funny that as soon as she said Alex's name, I got up so quickly.

"Is he really downstairs?" I asked "Obviously, I wouldn't lie to you about that, I want to see you get married before I die." She admitted and I rolled my eyes again "Hey grandma, don't start with that." I asked, "It's the truth, one day I'll die, but first I want to see my granddaughter married." She commented "I know that will happen one day, but I don't want to talk about it. You can tell him I'll be down in twenty minutes; I want to take a shower to clear my head."

"By the way, congrats." With that she left the room and I sat there trying to understand why my grandmother congratulated me, because I don't understand it, but I soon stopped thinking about the reason because I shouldn't waste time, I didn't want to have too much time waiting for Alex, more than anything, because my cousins were probably there, and Nerea is capable of making anyone uncomfortable in less than two seconds. When I got out of bed, I got a little dizzy, but I ignored it because it had been happening for a couple of days, I guess it was because I wasn't getting enough sleep because of the heat.

It still took me a little more than twenty minutes, and when I got downstairs everyone was congratulating me, and the worst of all is I didn't see Alex anywhere, I guess he was out, so I make my coffee and go out to the garden to have breakfast, because I must say they were making me angry.

Luckily for me there is no one in the garden, so I'll be able to be quiet at least for a while, but when I was going to sit down the cup where my coffee spilled. "Fuck, damn it." I was going to start putting the pieces of porcelain together when I heard footsteps approaching quickly in the direction where I am, and honestly, I don't want to be with anyone, right now I'm in too bad a mood to take it out on anyone.

"Look, I want to be alone without anyone bothering me, so before you get to me it's better that you leave." I asked whoever was coming here, "Gabriela, are you okay?" Kevin asked in a worried tone. "Have you not understood anything I just told you, Kevin?" I questioned without turning in his direction. "Yes, but I heard it break…"

"I dropped the cup, and it broke, it's nothing. Leave me alone." He left, but before going I heard him say under his breath, "What a mood you're in today." Right now, everything is hell, or at least I feel that way. I'm tired, sleepy, and couldn't drink my morning coffee right now because the damn cup had slipped, so the tranquility of this whole month was gone. "Beautiful, are you okay?"

With those words, I turn in the direction I heard them and see Alex standing there, slowly approaching my direction until I assume he notices the table and sees the broken cup. "Have you cut yourself?" my fiancé asked, and I denied "No, I'm fine, really." I assured, "You don't look like it, you look angry."

"It was already a bad start to the day, my grandmother comes to wake me up telling me it's twelve noon and you were downstairs, when I come down, I don't see you anywhere and everyone congratulates me for some weird reason, and now I'm left without coffee. How can you expect me not to be angry? Besides, I'm sleepy and tired." I admitted, "Are you still not sleeping well?" He asked in a worried tone. "It's too hot to sleep well, and if I turn on the air conditioning, I'll get a cold."

"Wait, you don't know what day it is?" He asked, surprised I don't know what day it is "Tuesday" I said "I mean number day." He pointed out and I denied, "Well no, I have no idea." I admitted "July 26." He said simply and I frowned, still not understanding why it's so important that it is 26 "And what happens…? Oh shit."

"It's your birthday, my beautiful queen." said my fiancé with a big smile on his face. "Has it been that long already?" I asked, more to myself than to him. "Yes, but I have a surprise for you." He said with a smile "Not surprises today, Alex, I'm not in the mood for a surprise." I asked, "I know, and that's why I'll tell you."

"If it's to do something you can forget about it, because I don't feel like doing anything." I answered sincerely, "Okay, but I can tell you tomorrow we're going to the beach, all day." He commented and my eyes increased to their normal size. "Really?" I asked to make sure I wasn't imagining it. "Seriously, don't you feel like it?" He asked and I nodded quickly "Of course I feel like it."

"At least you're not in such a bad mood anymore and you're smiling, we're moving forward." He commented "You always get it; I don't know what you were thinking honestly." I admitted, "Well, I don't know, but you look beautiful like that. Let's go get a coffee before you kill someone, we don't want that to happen." He noted, "No, not really." We held hands and headed inside the house to make me another coffee. I can say my mood had improved, so much that I'm no longer angry.

"How quickly your mood improves, cousin. Aan je stemmingswisselingen kon je zien dat je zwanger bent en zo. (From your mood swings I could tell you're pregnant and all.)" Kevin commented with a smile on his face "Dat is onmogelijk Kev. (That's impossible Kev.)" I replied, rolling my eyes "Ik hoop dat je op zijn minst bescherming gebruikt. (I hope you at least use protection.)"

"Oh ha, mom!!!! (Of course, mom!!!!)" I exclaimed "Ik moet er gewoon voor zorgen dat het mijn plicht als moeder is. (I just must make sure, it's my duty as a mother.)" I don't know why at that moment I noticed Roberta, who had been looking at me in a strange way, starting to get on on my nerves a little, but luckily for me, the topic of conversation of my supposed pregnancy ended, and by the way it's impossible at the moment, we always use protection.

During mealtime, there's no silence at all. In the end they had accepted Alex well, which I'm glad about. When we finished eating, they had coffee and I settled into Alex's arm, because otherwise I would fall asleep and crash on the table, and I didn't want to have a headache. When Roberta gets up, she stands next to me and starts pulling on my arm to get me up.

"Roberta, what do you want?" I asked exasperated "We have to go to Marcos' house; you can go there now." She said and a small smile appeared on my face "Well thank goodness, because they haven't let me go there for a week, who knows why." I protested, "Ana was preparing a surprise for you, that's why."

"Surprise? Me?" I asked confused "Exactly, so let's go, and then you can accompany me to a place we have to go first." She responded and I frowned "Where?" I questioned, "Gabriela, don't be so questioning and let's go now. Don't make Ana wait any longer." She asked and I rolled my eyes "It's ok. Right now, I'm hating you too much Roberta." I admitted despite not being true "That's true Roberta, you're lucky she didn't dismember you like she almost did to me this morning just for asking if she was okay."

"I don't doubt it next time, Kev, I assure you. Now let's go before I change my mind." I got up even though I didn't feel like going anywhere, at least it consoled me I would see Ana, because I hadn't seen her in a couple of days. We spoke on the phone, but I couldn't see her because she told me, I don't know if because she's angry with me or why, the thing is Marcos assured me there's nothing wrong with Ana, that she was just preparing something and didn't want me to found out ahead, so I ended up accepting it. We were in the car about to take the street that led to Marcos' house when we stopped, and I noticed Roberta stopped at a pharmacy, which is weird. "What do you need from the pharmacy?"

"Some pills to have at home, don't worry, it won't take long." She assured, "I hope so because I want to see Ana." I responded, "Yes, it won't take long." My cousin got out of the car, and it was true it didn't take her long to return. I was going to take the bag to see what pills it had when Roberta took it out of my hands and put it on her door. "Are you going to tell me I can't see what you have inside that bag?"

"I already told you; pills." She simply said, "And why can't I see them? Maybe we have them at home, and I could give you some." I responded, "It's not necessary, really, so we can take them to Holland." She commented, "And that's the reason I can't see them? What are you hiding from me Roberta?" I asked, smelling something was up to her. "Nothing, don't worry and get out of the car before Ana comes."

At that moment I notice we're already standing in front of Marcos' house, so I decide to leave the topic of pills and get out of the car to go see my little girl. When I rang the doorbell, I was surprised to see the one opening the door is Carlota, it surprises me a little, but then I remember she has been hanging on to Marcos ever since he found out about Clara, or rather, when she reproached him for what he told me that day, that the only reason they came to us was to keep their cousin informed, he got upset, and at first we were stuck with him, especially me because I hated seeing him this bad, but since I couldn't step foot in their house, and they practically didn't leave the house, I hadn't seen them in all this time.

"At least they let you be at home, because they didn't even let me near." I commented "Mommy!!!!" Ana exclaimed, appearing through the door. "Hello princess, you look beautiful," I said, giving her a kiss on the temple. "To answer your question, Gabriela, I guess someone had to take care of them since they wouldn't let you near the house." She pointed out and I nodded, "Aunt Carlota, you spend your time stuck in the house. You go once a week, and not even that."

"Ah, really? What's going on Carlota?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing, didn't you have a surprise for your mother?" Carlota asked, distracting the little girl. "Yes, come on, mommy." With that she took me to her room and made me sit on the bed, that he was going to show me the new song she composed, my birthday present, which excited me even before she started playing it. As always when she played the guitar and finished playing the melody, I was crying with pure joy, because she's the person who made me happy, well, along with everyone, but the ones who made me most happy were her and Alex.

When we got down, I could see my cousin and Carlota were whispering something and they stop as soon as they see me, which makes me wonder what they were talking about and didn't want me to find out, but I ignored them and sat on the couch. "It seems you liked Ana's gift." said my best friend with a smile on his face, "You know I liked it. Someday she will be famous, you'll see."

"Just like the mother, so I don't know what you're talking about." He commented on this, and I denied, "I'm not." I replied, "Are you really going to tell me you haven't seen the magazine which has a report on the exhibition you did months ago?" He asked surprised and I denied, "How is she going to see it if she spends the day sleeping or in a bad mood." my cousin pointed out "That's not quite like that, Roberta."

"No, that's why you almost killed Kev this morning and told grandma you wanted to keep sleeping even though she told you it was twelve noon." Roberta refuted, making me roll my eyes. "Are you going to tell me you got up at that time?" Carlota asked, surprised. "Obviously I got up at that time, I'm sleepy, I'm not sleeping well because of the heat."

"But your tiredness it's not because of that." commented Carlota "Of course, and now why don't we leave the topic that I'm sleepy and tired and tell me what you're talking about, Marcos?" I asked, focusing my attention on him, "This morning when Carlota went shopping, she stopped to look at that magazine and saw it had a report on you, so she ended up buying it."

"But that doesn't make sense, the exhibition was months ago. It makes no sense for them to do a report now after all this time." I pointed out "But that's what's happening. Wait, I'll go get it and you'll see for yourself." Marcos went out to the kitchen, and I stayed sitting on the couch without understanding anything at all, because it didn't make sense to me. Also, if that were the case, Rose would have called me, which she didn't, so it must have been from another exhibition they were talking about and not mine.

"Mommy, I'm going to get some juice from the kitchen." Ana said, getting up from the ground. "Okay, princess." I responded "And the three of us are going to the bathroom." Carlota said, getting up from the couch and taking my arm. "I don't want to go to the bathroom." I said "But we're going to do it, come on." Carlota had gotten up and grabbed my arm to get me up. I don't know what obsession they had today for grabbing my arm to get me up, but the only thing I'm sure of is I'm sure these two were weird, and there's something they weren't telling me.

"What the hell is wrong with you two today? Can't you leave me alone?" I asked irritably. "Mood swings are another symptom, right?" Carlota asked my cousin and she nodded. "Now do you understand why I doubt it?" Roberta questioned and I frowned trying to understand what they were talking about. "What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, "Don't worry, you'll understand now."

With that they took me upstairs and put me into the bathroom, they were practically forcing me to enter, which I wasn't understanding until Roberta handed me a box, and now I understand why she didn't let me see what was inside.

"Did you really believe what Kev said?" I asked, surprised she considered it. "I didn't believe Kev, I believed Gabriela's evidence." Roberta replied, "What evidence? I'm not pregnant." I said, "Well, then if you're so sure you're not, why don't you get tested anyway? Overall, you know it comes out negative."

"I'm only going to do it so you can leave me alone with the baby, because I can assure you, I'm not." I responded, "Well, now go into the bathroom and do it. We'll wait for you out here." My best friend commented as she walked out the bathroom door, "I really hate you girls, you're too annoying."

"And you're too grumpy, so come in before I kill you myself." I went into the bathroom to stop listening to them and to see if they would stop being so annoying, I read the instructions and followed them. As soon as I made it, I went out, handed it to them and went down the stairs, because they were the ones who wanted to see the negative, I knew it was.

"Hand me that magazine, I want to make sure that's true." I said, "Here, but where are your cousin and Carlota?" He asked when he saw neither of them were in the living room with us. "Upstairs, they are too stuborn and they are checking that what I tell you is true." I commented and started reading the magazine and it was true, but it didn't make sense, at least to me.

"See how that was true?" asked my best friend. "I see it, but it doesn't make sense." I said, totally confused. "The weird thing is that Rose hasn't called you to tell you." He commented and I shrugged my shoulders. "I know, although thinking about it, I didn't have my phone on me for weeks, just to talk to Ana, so it's possible she called me."

"Well, now can I tell you something?" He questioned "Yes, of course. What's going on?" I asked curiously, "Carlota and I…" At that moment we heard my cousin and Carlota scream, which makes Marcos stop talking, and we hear him say something, but the truth is I didn't understand them. "What do they say about you going to be uncles and aunts?"

"What?" I asked, turning in the direction of the stairs, where both girls were coming from. "We were right. We told you so." I was left with my mouth open without understanding what's happening, because this couldn't be, I couldn't be pregnant. "What are you all talking about?" Marcos asked as confused as I am. "We're going to be uncles, honey, Gabriela is pregnant."

"Is she serious, Gabriela? Are you and Alex going to be parents?" He asked, "Of course, you just don't see it." I got up from the couch and walked over to them to see what they were saying, and as soon as I looked at it, I realized it's true. This couldn't be happening, not right now. "Hey, hey, relax Gabriela." It's at that moment I realize I was going to fall to the floor if it weren't for Marcos holding me on and taking me to the couch so I can sit down.

"You don't seem to be very excited about the news." I still couldn't believe it. I'm pregnant? Alex and I had talked about having children, and of course I would like to have them, but not right now. "I'm going to get a glass of water for her, she seems to be in shock."

Marcos left the room to bring the water and they sat next to me with a worried look, I must say, I think they didn't expect my reaction. "What's wrong Gabriela? Don't you want to have a child with Alex? He asked and I denied, because that wasn't what's happening. "So, what's going on?" She questioned as I tried to wrap it in my mind.