I'm Yours (Sequel to "You're mine")

Chapter 113: What's the pressure?

Leah's POV

"So the crib is all done?" Eva asked as she smiled at us.

"All done." Heather said, smiling proudly. The difference between her here and back when I found her, was enormous. It's odd and, at the same time touching how she's trying to keep this strong persona for Eva. She didn't want Eva to worry, so she kept it all inside.

Eva looked at me. "Thanks for helping," She reached for my hand, putting hers on mine. "You don't have to feel obligated."

"I don't," I said and, in the corner of my eyes, I could see how Heather looked at me. As if hoping I'd keep our conversation private. "It's truly my pleasure to help you guys." I then looked at Heather too, and smiled.

Thankfully, she returned that smile. 

"I guess everything is set then," Eva said, mainly looking at Heather. "All the preparations are done," She thought a bit. "Right?" She seemed unsure then. It was one of the few moments I saw Eva like this. She always came across as a person who knew what to do next, who knew what to expect. But here, with the baby, she seemed lost.

I looked at Heather and could just tell Heather was trying to keep it all together. Seeing as Eva was kind of lost, I understood why Heather felt the need to support her wife, to be her stronghold. Though, I wished they'd be honest with each other about their feelings. It seemed they wanted to spare the other.

"Yeah," Heather nodded, agreeing with Eva. She showed her a smile, one that was clearly forced. "Everything is ready."

To lighten the mood, I decided to joke around: "Ok, baby boy or girl, you can come now."

But instead of getting two laughs, I got two frowns. "Do you think this is funny?" Eva spat.

I gulped. "No, I was just - "

"You were just trying to pressure my wife." Heather interrupted me.

"What?" This was going wrong horribly! "No, I was just trying to joke."

"Joke?" Heather got up, leaning over the table, leaning over me. "Does it look like we're laughing?!"

I gulped again and shook my head.

She kept frowning at me, as did Eva. "Apologize," Heather demanded. She motioned at Eva. "Now."

I was surprised. I really didn't feel like I had to apologize for a joke. I opened my mouth, to say something, anything, but nothing came out.

"Now!" Heather raised her voice, like she used to do as my teacher. Somehow, her towering over me and using that voice brought back memories I wish to forget. 

I gulped and looked at Eva, hoping she'd wake up, hoping she'd see this was just ridiculous. But she didn't see it. Were they both serious about this? 

"Now!" Heather repeated. By the tone of her voice, I knew I better went along instead of fighting it.

So, despite my better judgment, I said: "I'm sorry."

____________________________

I opened the front door and got out of my jacket.

"Hey baby," I heard T say from the living room. "Mama is home." She said to the boys.

"Mama!" The boys said as I entered the living room.

I tried my hardest to smile at them. "Hey," I knelt to be closer to them. "What are you two doing?"

"We make a house." Emil said, Jin nodded.

"A house?" I nodded and looked at their building. "What's this?"

Emil looked at Jin, allowing him to speak too. "Pool." Jin simply said.

"People can swim," Emil clarified the obvious. He took their two puppets and showed it to me. "When they come home fwom work."

I nodded. "I'd love that."

"Me too!" They said together, as if we'd suddenly also get a pool.

"Enough talking about a pool," T said and pulled me up to join her on the couch. "How was therapy?"

I shrugged and looked back at the boys.

T clearly could tell I wasn't saying everything. "Why don't you help me in the kitchen for dinner, baby?" Without waiting for my response, she got up.

I looked at her and knew I should probably follow her. I sighed and got up. "We'll be in the kitchen if you need us, ok?"

The boys simply nodded but didn't look up at me. They were too busy building their dream house.

When I entered the kitchen, T closed the door behind me. As I turned around to look at her, I saw she had her arms crossed. It was a sign she was ready to get into this. "How was therapy?" She tried again.

I sighed and looked away. "It was great."

She raised her eyebrows. "Baby, that's not the way you come home when therapy went great," She dropped her arms by her side again and walked to me. She reached for my hands, holding them in hers. "What happened? Please, talk to me."

I gulped. "They're so fake."

She frowned immediately. "What?"

I looked down for a bit.

"Come," T pulled me with her to the table. We both went to sit down. "Why are they fake?" She tried again.

I looked down for a bit. "Heather told me she's worried about being a good mother," I looked up at T, seeing that she didn't know this either. It seemed Heather didn't talk about her deep feelings to anyone really. I guess I got lucky... Or unlucky... "So I tried to comfort her."

T nodded.

"We built the crib together too," I smiled a bit as that was a fun thing we did together. "But when we got downstairs, they just made each other worse."

T frowned again. "Worse how?"

"Eva is completely lost in this pregnancy."

"Lost how?"

I shrugged. "Like she doesn't know what to do, what to expect," I sighed. "I think Heather knows that too and so she's trying to keep the facade that she can take it all."

T nodded. "They're not being honest about this to one another."

"Exactly," I looked down. "I tried to lighten the mood with a joke but they didn't laugh at all," I looked at T again. "They felt insulted. Heather made me apologize to Eva."

T raised her eyebrows. "What did you say?"

"Just that the baby can come because everything's ready," I looked down, sniffling. I guess it all got to me now. "Is that really so bad?"

"Of course not, baby," T scooted closer to me, putting her arm around me and pulling me into an embrace. "They're just stressed and I guess they unleashed that onto you," She kissed my head. "But that's not fair of them."

"No." I sniffled more.

"It's ok." She started slowly rocking me. I truly loved how she took care of me like a mother, at moments like these. I never really told her how much I appreciated her affection for me. I guess she'll know now, when I wrote this down.