⇾ 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐄 𝐈'𝐌 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 | 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐌𝐜𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐈𝐈

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙮-𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚 ➪ 𝘼𝙧𝙜𝙝, 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙮!

ꕥ November 17, 1969 ꕥ
31 weeks

I was fine, of course. Bella had told me to at least go in and get checked, but there was only blood because of how much I'd been puking beforehand and I was only a bit lightheaded because I was dehydrated since I'd barely had anything to eat or drink all day. The symptoms together had made Bella fear the worst, so she opted to tell us to go in. It wouldn't hurt just to be told that everything was alright, and we agreed, so I ate a little food, let my stomach settle, and drove myself to the hospital while Paul stayed back with Mary. He had been a bit upset when I offered to go myself, but eventually, I'd argued enough to the point where he gave up and let me go alone.

They'd kept me there for a few hours while they checked everything. They told me that the twins were both head down now, which was certainly a good sign. Not only that, they were measuring a lot bigger than 31 weeks. It was looking more and more like I was going to give birth early. Other than that, they were completely normal. They gave me some crackers and some water and then sent me on my way in a calm state of mind.

I'd gotten home quite late, but Paul and Mary had still been waiting up for me. As soon as she greeted me and I picked her up, Mary laid her head on my shoulder and fell straight to sleep. Paul and I put her to bed and I recalled everything the doctor told me to Paul. He looked more relieved than I'd ever seen him in my life.

Now, we were enjoying a nice breakfast since I wasn't feeling nauseous really at all. We'd all piled into the car and gone into town. We found a bakery that we'd happily stopped at and then took our treats to a nearby park to eat and pass the time before our guests for the week started to show up.

Mary was bundled up in a jacket and wearing a hat on her head. It was getting more and more cold outside as the days went on and winter got closer. Paul was wearing a long overcoat and a sweater underneath as we all enjoyed our jelly-filled donuts. Sitting on the bench next to me was a box of Scottish shortbread cookies. Ever since I'd first tasted them, it seemed I'd forgotten all about strawberry fool because the shortbread was all I ever wanted anymore. The bakery we'd gone to this morning had been the place where I'd first tasted one, and it had become my favorite place to buy them out of every place I'd found in Campbeltown that made them so every time we were in the area, we'd snag some up for later.

Next door to the bakery was a coffee shop. The old lady who owned the place was named Isla and she already knew us and our orders by heart. She always looked so happy when we'd go inside. She'd fix Mary some peppermint hot chocolate (but not too hot!) and Paul and I would get some coffee with caramel mixed in. She'd also give Mary one of her famous-in-the-area chocolate chip cookies. To call what was mixed in chocolate "chips" would have been an understatement. She would chop the chocolate up into pieces herself, and they were huge. Even so, they were Mary's favorite because they were always so soft and easy-to-eat. Not to mention, it had more chocolate in it than the cookies at the store had in them!

Martha had come along this morning. She hadn't been allowed to go into the bakery, so I had sat outside with her while Mary and Paul went in to pick out what they wanted for breakfast, but Isla was happy to let Martha into her coffee shop while we got our drinks. She even had some homemade dog treats behind the counter for such occasions.

Mary finished off the last of her donut with a contented "mmm" sound and smiled over at me. She had some of the filling on her face, so I laughed and reached for a napkin to clean her up. She grumbled as I went to wipe her face off. She hated when I did that but I couldn't just leave it like that, could I? She jumped up off of the bench as soon as I pulled my hand away from her mouth and she and Martha ran off. There was a playground just a few feet away, so Paul and I watched as she went over there excitedly. Paul scooted closer to me, filling in the space that Mary had just left between us. His arm moved to rest around me and I leaned my head on his shoulder after taking another sip of my coffee.

Mary climbed up onto the playground using a ladder and found a steering wheel stuck to one of the walls. Martha found a set of stairs and followed right behind her. She said something to the dog before pointing off into the distance. Martha followed her pointing finger and barked. Mary began to laugh.

"I wonder what they're doing," Paul said to me with a chuckle.

"God only knows," I responded, laughing with him.

"Last time I checked, that is not how a steering wheel works," Paul said skeptically, watching as Mary gave the wheel a spin and pulled her hands away, leaving the wheel to spin on its own.

"You read into things too much," I told him with a giggle.

"Nonsense. I'm making an intelligent observation."

I rolled my eyes. "Right," I replied. I sat up and reached for my purse, digging around to find my camera that I'd brought along.

"Oh, no, don't tell me you're going to take more pictures of me!" Paul said, covering his face with his hands dramatically.

"Oh, don't act like you don't love the attention!" I retorted, smiling at him like a loon.

He pulled his hands away with a smirk. "You're right," he said. "I do love the attention! Photograph me, baby!" He threw his arms to the side, jokingly striking a pose.

I rolled my eyes and raised my camera to my eyes, snapping a photo of him before standing.

"Aww, where ye goin'?" he asked me, frowning.

"To take some pictures of Mary," I replied. "Don't worry. These babies won't let me stay on my feet too long. I'll be back before you know it!"

He grinned and reached forward to pat my belly. "Good job, guys. Bring her back soon, will you?" he said quietly as if he didn't want me to hear.

I giggled before turning around and going towards the playground. Mary immediately spotted me and smiled. She turned to Martha. "Someone's drowning!" she said urgently. "Let's help!"

"Oh no! I need a miracle now!" I said dramatically, flailing my arms as if I were trying to swim over to the ship-shaped structure.

"Get her, Martha!" Mary said and Martha went for the stairs and Paul joined in.

"I'll save the pretty lady!" he cried, standing up from the bench and coming over to me. He wrapped his arms around me from behind and we went over to the wooden playground, Martha circling around our feet.

"Oh, don't you make me go up those stairs," I warned Paul with a smirk.

"C'mon," he begged. "Time for you to climb aboard!"

I rolled my eyes, but complied anyways. Once I'd made it up there, he went over to stand next to Mary. "I'll be your lookout!" he said excitedly as if being a sailor was his one true aspiration in life.

"What does a pirate say?" I asked Mary expectantly.

"Argh, Matey!" she shouted, spinning the plastic steering wheel and causing us to laugh. I stepped down a few stairs to make myself closer to Mary's height and went to snap a picture of her. She turned and tugged on Paul's pant leg. I snapped another photo as he knelt down beside her to see what she needed.

"I wanna go on the swings!" she told him.

"Do you?" Paul responded, reaching forward to pick her up with a smile. "Let's go there, then." He scooped her into his arms and came to take me by the hand, helping me back down the stairs and onto the ground. I went over to the bench we had been sitting on and gathered our things, carrying them over to a bench closer to the swings so I could sit down over there instead. I was beginning to have contractions and they were making standing quit a bit uncomfortable.

Paul had sat Mary into the baby swing and went to push her. "I'm gonna go under you," he told her and I gave him a hard look, telling him not to do anything stupid with her. "Don't give me that ruddy look," he told me with sarcastically narrowed eyes.

Then, he gave her a small push. "Ooone..." He gave her a slightly bigger push. "Twooo...threeee..." He pushed her forward, running underneath the swing and to the other side in one motion. "WEEEE!" he cried as Mary laughed and the swing went back and forth.

I sat down on the bench and raised my camera again, snapping a picture as he pushed the swing back again. Today was shaping up to be a good day!