⇾ 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐄 𝐈'𝐌 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 | 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐌𝐜𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐈𝐈

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙮-𝙀𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 ➪ 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨

ꕥ November 16, 1969 ꕥ
31 weeks

The contractions had really picked up now. During the hours that I was experiencing them, I stayed on the couch. Mary would always cuddle up to me and talk to me while I was in pain. Having her around to see this pregnancy felt strange considering it had just been Paul and I the last time. Now, Mary was a constant reminder of why I was in all this pain.

As time went on, everything got worse and I got much bigger. If it wasn't already obvious that I was growing more than one baby, it was really obvious now. I looked like I was already full-term even though I still had eight weeks until I hit 39 weeks.

This week, mine and Paul's parents and Arabella were all flying out to stay with us for a week and see the house. I was nervous about my mother's oncoming reaction. Something told me that she wouldn't be remotely impressed with the house. Our parents had met a few times before, but I wouldn't exactly call them the best of friends. I really hoped they'd get along this week. It would honestly just make my life so much easier.

Despite how excited I was to see everyone, today I was having a terrible day. My head had been hanging over the toilet on and off all day long. Paul had taken Mary into town to give me some time alone, but now I was hoping they'd be back soon. I was getting a bit lonely.

I was sitting against the far back wall of the bathroom, trying to catch my breath after another vomiting spell. Not only was I nauseous as hell, but my back and my legs and my feet were all killing me. Martha entered the room, sitting down right beside me and leaning over to lick my directly in the face before I could stop her.

I giggled and reached over to pet her behind her ears like she liked. "Hey, Martha, girl," I said with a warm smile. "I don't look like I feel, do I?" I asked her jokingly.

I heard the front door open and I pulled myself to my feet with a sigh. I placed my hand on my back as I went out to find Paul and Mary stepping into the house, both carrying an alarming number of bags.

"Hello, love," Paul greeted, coming over to kiss me on the lips, but I placed a hand on his chest and shook my head.

"You don't want to do that," I assured him. He decided instead to give me a kiss on the cheek. "Did you guys have a nice time out?" I asked, smiling when I noticed how happy Mary looked, but she also looked tired. It was almost her nap time, so I wasn't surprised about that.

"We got you somethin'!" Mary said enthusiastically.

I raised an eyebrow. "Did you?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yes, we most certainly did," Paul added and I turned around to see him holding a bouquet of sorted flowers out for me. I smiled and went to take them from him. "They're beautiful," I told him gratefully.

"Are you still sick?" Mary asked me, coming up beside me and tugging at the hem of my flannel nightgown. I reached down to scoop her up into my free arm, shaking my head. It seemed like a flimsy lie considering I'd probably be hacking up my entire bloody digestive system in a few minutes, but she'd believe it, I knew. God, at this point it felt like these babies might just come out my damned mouth I was puking so much.

"I'm okay," I told Mary. "How about we get a vase for these pretty flowers and you guys can show me everything else in these bags?"

Mary nodded enthusiastically, seeming on the edge of bursting in anticipation. She was clearly excited about whatever she and Paul had purchased today. I was glad she had had a good time with him because my time here hadn't been so good, unfortunately.

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It made me feel just a tiny bit better now that I had Paul behind me, doing his best to comfort me, as I vomited. Puking alone was certainly a lot more sad than puking with a little buddy, it seemed. Mary was napping now, so it was just us.

"C-can you get me some water?" I asked him when I had a moment to spare.

"Of course," he responded, standing up immediately.

I wasn't even sure what was coming out of my mouth anymore. Anything I had eaten for the last bloody week had to have been gone by now. There was one recognizable thing I could make out amongst the complete mess, though. Was that...blood?

"Uhhh, P-Paul?" I said timidly, stopping afterwards to wait for a response. When I got nothing, I spoke up a little louder. "Paul?" I asked the air. God, where was he?

"What is it?" he asked, sounding calm as he handed me a cup of water. Lord knows I was about to ruin that.

"There's blood," I said.

"Blood?" he asked, just to be sure. I could already tell that he was freaking the hell out on the inside and that it was about to start to show on the outside.

"Don't freak out," I said as a result, taking a drink of the water he'd brought me and bringing a Shelly hand to cover my face. The water tasted disgusting mixed with the taste in my mouth. It wasn't refreshing really at all.

"Blood where?"

I frowned. "What do you mean where?" I asked him.

"You mean—." He pointed to the toilet. "—In there?"

"Yeah, it's not a lot though, so—."

"No, no, and no. You're going to call Bella and ask her if you need to go see a ruddy doctor," he said rather sternly, placing his hands on his hips.

"Oh, Paul—."

"No," he said. "Do it. Don't wanna end up with one twin, do we?"

"Don't say that," I warned.

"Then, go call, please." He pointed down the hall and towards the living room.

"Fine," I answered reluctantly. I carefully pulled myself to my feet, the sudden movement making me dizzy, so I lunged for the counter and Paul reached forward to keep me steady.

"Are you alright?" he asked me. "Maybe I should call for you, yeah? How about you come lie down?"

I shook my head quickly. "I'm f-fine," I said with an encouraging smile as Paul helped me towards the living room. My legs were feeling a little weak, though. I sat down in one of the armchairs and reached for the phone that was on the table next to it. "I feel like everything's okay," I said as I picked up the phone.

Paul raised an eyebrow. "Call her or I will," he said.

"God, you're so demanding," I said, punching Bella's number in as fast as I could. I listened as it rang a few times and Paul stared down at me intently. "Stop lookin' at me like that," I whined.

"Hello?" Bella greeted as soon as I stopped talking. Paul sat down next to me, looking at me in concern.

"Yeah, hi, it's me," I said. I hated talking on the bloody phone. "Juliette."

"Hey, Juliette!" Bella responded. "Is everything alright? Babies still in?"

"Oh, yes, they're definitely still in there, I just...I'm a little worried about something. I wanted to call you before I went in to see a doctor or anything."

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Okay, so—." I stopped and Paul glared at me. I scowled in his direction. He took the phone from me and answered Bella for me.

"Her vomit has blood in it," he said quite bluntly and I dropped my head into my hands.

"I could've done that," I whispered bitterly, but he just waved his hand at me dismissively.

"Okay...okay, I'll give her back to you," he said before turning to me. "She's got some questions for you," he said with a grin, holding the phone out to me.

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Mf I'm running out of good chapter titles help