Belle Morte Bites (Belle Morte 4.3)

Three's Company: Part Three

Weeks had passed since they had left St-Guilhem-le-Desert, eventually settling in an abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Ludovic had patched up the holes in the roof, and Lucille had placed bunches of wildflowers in every room, trying to make it seem more like a home, but the shadow of what had happened hung over them all.

Ludovic no longer shared a bed with the women – it was too much for Régine, and Lucille wouldn't let her sleep alone. They curled up together at night, Lucille soothing Régine through the nightmares, and all Ludovic could do was lie in his small bed in a separate room and listen to Régine crying. There was nothing he could do to help. She didn't go for her walks anymore. No one else lived for miles around, but Régine barely even left the house.

When she started throwing up in the mornings, Ludovic was naive enough to think it was caused by the trauma she'd suffered. But when her stomach started to swell, he realised the truth.

Régine was pregnant.

"What are you doing to do?" Ludovic asked as they sat around the kitchen table one night, the women eating bowls of soup that Lucille had made. Ludovic hadn't been allowed to cook anything since they moved here.

"What do you mean?" Régine asked. Her voice was always flat these days, like someone had hollowed her out and left behind an empty shell.

Ludovic and Lucille exchanged looks.

"There are herbs that can end a pregnancy," said Lucille carefully. "If you –"

"No."

Lucille blinked.

"I know you mean well," said Régine, stroking Lucille's hand, "and I understand why you would think that I don't want this, but . . . I do." She pressed one hand to the curve of her stomach.

"Are you sure?"

nodded, and for the first time since that terrible morning, there was a spark of something in her eyes.

"I'll also understand if you two don't want to be a part of this," she said.

"We're not going anywhere," said Ludovic. "If you truly want this, then we'll be with you the whole time."

"Raising a child is hard work," Régine warned.

He ached to hug her, even to touch her hand, but male contact was something she just couldn't cope with yet. Maybe she never would again.

"It'll be easier with three of us," he said.

Régine gave him the glimmer of a smile – a shadow of what it used to be, but still more than he'd seen in weeks. Tentatively she slid her hand across the table and brushed her fingertips against his.

"I love you," she said softly. She looked at Lucille. "I love you, too."

Lucille kissed her cheek.

Régine patted her stomach again, and in her eyes was an echo of the defiance that Ludovic had seen years ago, in the tumbrel. "We're going to be a family," she said.

"We're already a family. We're just waiting for our newest member," Ludovic said.

That newest member arrived earlier than expected. Towards the end of the pregnancy, they'd debated whether they should try to find a midwife – Ludovic thought they should, since none of them had any experience with childbirth, but Lucille supported Régine's insistence that she didn't want a stranger coming into their home. Being pregnant had helped chase away some of the shadows that had been haunting her, but those shadows hadn't gone far. She still spent almost all her time indoors. She still couldn't sleep in the same bed as Ludovic. They had hugged once, but she'd stiffened in his arms like she couldn't stand his touch.