The World Behind My Wall

Chapter Nine: Here's To New Beginnings

Because Aunt Cindy's son had been eighteen, and I'd been a minor, the RCMP were notified and asked if I wanted to press charges for sexual assault, physical assault, and rape. I said yes. He was arrested the next day. As for Aunt Cindy, well, Carolyn and I got restraining orders against her. She wasn't allowed to contact either one of us in any way.

Carolyn was less than a month away from her due date, so she wouldn't be able to fly back home until after the baby came. But from what I could tell she would be staying here with Tom. They were going to get married and it was a shame that Mom wouldn't be able to attend, because of medical reasons.

"C'mon, Car! We're going to be late!" Tom called from the kitchen. They had an ultrasound booked so they could find out the baby's gender, and like always, Carolyn was in the bathroom dicking around with her makeup. Not that she needed it; Carolyn was naturally beautiful.

"Yeah, I'm coming." She grumbled and waddled towards Tom.

"Bye!" I waved. Finally, they were gone and I could resume reading The Walking Dead fanfiction. Well, that's what I thought. But Bill had other plans.

"We're going shopping!" He exclaimed, grabbing his keys and dragging me to the car.

"Do we have to?"

"Yeah, the baby can't sleep in a cardboard box shitting all over the place." Bill drove to some high-end baby boutique where everything was crazy expensive. The cheapest crib I could find was just over five thousand. It was crazy, because you could probably find one just like it at Walmart for not even two hundred. I got a text from Tom, saying it was a girl, and I told Bill. "Excellent! This makes it easier to buy toys and clothes!"

"You're crazy." I muttered, rolling my eyes. "I wanna go to Walmart, it's cheaper there and you'd spend a buttload if we stayed here."

"Okay, fine. I'll pay for this and we'll go." He held up a baby-wipe warmer, three frilly dresses, and a pink teddy bear. While I waited, I texted Mark to see how he was doing, and to ask about Mom. She'd been placed on suicide watch again. "Done! Let's go!"

/-/-/-/

Bill and Tom had business meetings every day for two weeks and spent a lot of time in the studio; they had a new album in the works. Most of the songs had already been written and needed to be recorded so Georg and his family flew out, followed by Gustav and his girlfriend. Annie and the kids would be staying with us. The guys would spend most of their time in a studio house downtown anyway.

I left with Bill at about 6 am to pick up Simone at the airport. "Want me to drive? You look like a zombie."

"Mhm." He handed me his keys and got in. "Starbucks first. I need coffee."

There was a Starbucks in the airport, thankfully. Because I still didn't know where anything really was, I made sure Bill didn't fall asleep so he could give me directions. He told me where to park, and went to get him a coffee before he killed someone.

"I think I see her!" I nudged Bill and we waved to his mother. To make room for her, I had moved my things to Bill's room and I would stay in there. With him.

But it was like he told me, most nights he'd probably sleep at the studio house. So would Tom, and that worried Carolyn because she could go into labor early and that's partly why they called Simone to come for a visit. She also had information about my birth father, and the adoption.

"Bill! Elena!" She hugged us. "It's good to see you again! Now let's go."

Bill went to baggage claim to grab her suitcase.

"Are you hungry?" I asked, hoping she would say yes because I was so hungry I could eat a walrus. Figuratively of course because eating an actual walrus, I wouldn't be able to do that.