For All Of My Life | C. Cullen

005

CHAPTER FIVE
Three Loves

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-Boston, Massachusetts, Six Months Later, December 1780-
-Annabelle-

"Carlisle, it hurts!"

The scream echoed through the small house and Annabelle could see her husband wince out of the corner of her eye, but her attention was drawn mostly to the child that was going to make its way into the world very shortly. Carlisle was definitely right in his diagnosis from six months ago, there was no doubt about that. Slowly the nausea and sickness had went away, but it was replaced by backaches and foot cramps. But truthfully, Annabelle decided she loved the sensation of being pregnant, of watching her belly grow as her children did. And Carlisle always liked to put his hand there to feel their baby move around. It always put a smile on his face, lighting up in the wonder way that only a new father-to-be could. He was always so worried because of the unknown—as a doctor, he never dealt with pregnancies, plus this baby was a vampire-Immortal hybrid—but neither of them could deny how wonderful the prospect of new parenthood was.

The baby grew so quickly, too, and they both knew that it wouldn't be the regular human gestation rate of nine months. She could have only been a month or two along when they found out, but when the six month mark hit, she just new deep inside that it would be that month that she had her baby. It was just two weeks later that she woke up with the pain, crying out loudly and bringing her husband right to her side. That had been six hours ago, and the feelings got more and more intense, now a constant pain rather than coming and going. It was something she had never experienced in her life, like her body was splitting in two, and all she wanted to do was sleep. But she couldn't, every time she tried, it just got worse and worse until she screamed again.

Unfortunately there was nothing Carlisle could do at the moment. Any type of medicine could be dangerous and so she worked through the pain, panting on her bed as she let him check her progress. It felt like she should be ready, but according to him she was only half way there and she whimpered, head falling back against her pillows. She knew as much as she begged, he couldn't make it go faster.

"I know, my love," he whispered, pushing some damp hair off her forehead. "Just a little bit longer."

"You said that three bloody hours ago!" she snapped and then winced, but he simply smiled and kissed her forehead. It wasn't the first nor would it be the last time she snapped at him like that. He told her it was just the hormones after she sobbed her apology the first time. It had never effected her like that, not in any of the six months. It gave her other emotions and feelings, like a more intense need to cry or the heightened need to be with him, but the anger never hit her until she went into labor.

"I promise you that it will all go away soon. And we will have our little baby." He smiled. "Do you remember the names we chose?"

She sighed and nodded, opening her mouth so he could give her a bit of water. "Of course," she whispered. Her lips parted, ready to tell him, but another loud cry left her lips before she could, her back arching as another contraction ran through her.

Four more hours went by before anything else happened, and finally she was able to push. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do physically, which was saying something considering she left behind her parents. Over the months she had thought about what their reaction would be to her having a child that was half-vampire, whether they would be disgusted by the notion or thrilled for having a grandchild. She truly hoped it would be the latter, but it was far too late to ask them that considering she knew they weren't even in Virginia anymore. Three years previously, Carlisle had sent a request to an acquaintance he met on one of the battlefields, Garrett. He was also a vampire, and a new one at that, but was too patriotic to give up fighting no matter how much the call of blood ate at him. Carlisle requested Garrett look in on Henry and Gwendolyn Steele, but their house was boarded up and hadn't been lived in for quite some time. That made Annabelle ache, to know she didn't even know where they were, but she knew it was her own choice. And she also knew they left because Carlisle was a vampire and he knew where they were, and they didn't trust him. That hurt even worse.