Give me Woe

Chapter 27 - Comfortable

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Wednesday! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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After spending the next few days comfortably secluded at 112 Killaman Drive, as Wednesday's heat slowly came to an end, she and Xavier returned to the Thorpes' mansion.

They quietly resumed their daily lives without much fuss as the next few weeks came and went in a state of decently suspended bliss.

Bliss remained something as fleeting as life itself.

Late one evening, the younger Thorpe couple shared dinner with the older Thorpe couple while Desmond cooed in his high chair.

"Thanks for watching him today, Mom.....Dad." Xavier nodded at his parents, "I really needed to finish the line work on that one piece while Wednesday met with her editor again."

Wednesday offered no words of thanks but she gazed at her in-laws with a wide-eyed stare of curiosity as if she were trying to determine if they were guilty of some great crime.

Xavier's father took another bite and nodded, but Mia gladly chimed in, "Oh, of course, dear! Anytime! Desmond's such a good baby! He reminds me a lot of you at that age!"

"He's been pretty relaxed from the beginning." Xavier nodded, ".......Especially considering how his beginning went." He added with a bitter chuckle.

"Your father told me all about the wreck." Mia frowned. She glanced between Xavier and Wednesday as she went on, "I'm glad you three made it through safely.....I do wish I had already been back by then, though. Wednesday," She nodded at her daughter-in-law, "If you would have allowed me, I could have helped you right here at home. Then the two of you wouldn't have had to drive out in that awful storm."

"........Helped me?" Wednesday scowled, "Do you mean......with Desmond?"

"Oh yes, dear!" Mia smiled, "I would have understood, of course, if you had gone with another provider, but it would have been an honor and a pleasure to deliver my own grandchild! I can assure you, omegas who choose to birth their little ones at home are almost always happier with the process!"

"I didn't really get to....." Wednesday started to say. As she thought more, her words fell from her mind and she shook her head, ".......There really wasn't a birth. After the crash, they took me into surgery, I don't even remember it."

"A birth is a birth, dear." Mia nodded as she smiled, "As long as mother and baby are happy and healthy, that's the important part."

".............I wasn't happy at all with my son's birth." Wednesday frowned.

An uncomfortable silence flooded the room.

"Well......maybe if you and Xavier ever have another, I could be of assistance......if you'd allow me, of course," Mia smiled as she kindly offered her services.

Wednesday kept a firm frown on her face as she nodded, but while Mia moved on to discuss another topic, her mind lingered on Xavier's mother's words.

Would her experience with another pregnancy be any different if she decided to hire Mia Thorpe as her midwife?

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Wednesday knew what had happened as soon as she opened her eyes one morning only to be greeted by a pounding, familiar, yet merciless pain.

She gnashed her teeth to avoid groaning as she lifted a hand to her aching head and bent her neck.

".........Wednesday?" Xavier asked gently as he sat up, "What's the matter?"

"Don't speak so loudly." She hissed in the slightest whisper.

Xavier frowned as he watched.

Concern washed over his handsome face the instant he realized something wasn't right.

"Where does it hurt?" He asked, "Do we need to go somehwere or see someone?"

"No." Wednesday said quickly, "There's nothing anyone can do......I know what's wrong."

Xavier blinked as a moment of silence passed.

"........Well, do you mind telling me?" He asked at last. A frown marred his features as he pressed one of his large hands against her back, "I'm here to help you, Wednesday. What's the matter? I don't want to see you suffer."

"Then you may as well leave for the next few months." She snapped, "The headaches didn't stop with Desmond for weeks on end."

Xavier's mouth fell open as he realized what she had said.

Realization set in and widened his eyes as he asked in a breathless gasp, "You.....You think there's another baby?"

"No, I know there's another baby." Wednesday huffed, "The pain is exactly like it was before. I'll fall behind on all my deadlines." She sighed in irritation, "........My next novel is doomed."

"No, it's not!" Xavier quickly exclaimed as he lovingly massaged her back, "Everything will be fine! It'll be different this time."

"How?" Wednesday sighed again.

"You have me, don't you?" Xavier asked as he gave her a warm smile, "I'm here with you."

Wednesday silently moved her hand to see the giddy look of joy on his face.

He laughed when she returned it with nothing more than an irritated scowl.

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Eager to avoid the cold sterility of mainstream, modern healthcare, Wednesday brought her concern to Mia that very morning, who promptly escorted her new patient into her recently established office, close to the center of town.

Xavier waited anxiously for the results while his mother checked his wife's urine and blood for any evidence of her suspected condition.

"Congratulations, you two!" Mia smiled as she reentered the comfortable exam room in which Wednesday and Xavier sat waiting.

"She's pregnant again?!" Xavier asked as his eyes widened.

Wednesday gave in to the instinctive urge to glance over and see the look on his face.

The stupefied expression of dumb awe she found on his handsome features both annoyed and amused her.

Of course he was happy, he wasn't the one who had to endure another nine months of-

"-Yes!" Mia smiled before her eyes flickered over to Wednesday, "Only about three weeks, but I don't have any signs that anything's less than healthy, so that's good! I know this isn't your first time, my dear, but I'm going to give you some information anyway that I give to all my expecting moms, whether it's their first baby or their tenth."

As Wednesday listened to everything Mia had to say, she frowned as she glanced over and noticed Xavier hung on every word.

She silently reached out and accepted the small, paperback book that Mia handed her as well as some homeopathic headache remedies and nausea bands, which her skilled midwife had already prepared in a neat little pack under the counter for whichever patient they would be given to.

Xavier happily rattled on about the new baby and every different way he could help with the pregnancy as they rode home later, but for once, Wednesday was not aggravated by the unceasing noise.

In fact, she left her first official visit with her midwife feeling fulfilled.

A part of her was actually stunned as to how much she already preferred her mother-in-law over the doctor she had seen during her first pregnancy.