Silent Pain

37

Marie sighs. Wednesday was one of the shop's slower days, so she had time to keep it clean, get a few projects done, and count up the money she did make. She was in her office counting inventory and what she needed when the bell on the front door went off, showing that someone was inside.

Getting up, she peeked her head in and smiled, "Dani, Cass, Bela. Where's your mom?" she asked, giving each bug baby a hug. "She's with Miranda. Donna is with them as well as Angie." Marie nodded. It'd been a month since they found out, and she told Alcina a day after some rest.

"What do you girls need?" Marie's eyes flitted between them as she smiled, "Not much. It was warm enough, so Mother said we could come by and check on you." Bela watched as her baby sister flew around and finally settled on a chair, her red hair turning bright orange in the sun.

Cassandra sat across from her, and Bela sat down with them on her left and right, her golden locks shimmering in the setting sun. "How was business?" Cassandra asked, crossing her legs. Marie got up and smiled. Going behind her counter, she leaned down and grabbed a special wine bottle and glasses.

Setting the wine down for the girls she hummed "Today is one of the slower days, Wednesday is usually when everyone is doing things like gardening, fixing some things up doing this or that. I get some that come in for a wood matching or maybe looking for a design on something they want."

Bela smiled and drank her wine while she looked at Marie, "Mother told us the big news. Congrats to you and Auntie." Marie's tail wagged, and she smiled. "We are super excited." The door went off, and Marie stood up. The three girls emptied the wine between them.

"Hello Marie," Miranda spoke; behind her were Donna and Alcina, who stood where the ceiling was at the highest point so she didn't injure herself or knock anything over. Donna came over, Angie on her waist, and kissed her lover. "We got done with the appointment. Miranda said everything sounds and looks fine."

Marie sighed and hugged her wife; she laid her hands on the tiny baby bump showing through Donna's dress, "That's good." She sighed. Alcina chuckled at her daughter's, "How has today been?" Miranda asked, sitting with the bug babies. "It's been slow; everyone is off doing other things."

Marie pulled a chair up just the size for Alcina, which she took gracefully beside her youngest. Donna sat on the couch, where Marie settled beside her. "It'll be better tomorrow; Thursday is usually when we have more come in for projects, it seems." Miranda nodded, "Can you get away for a moment?" Marie looked at the priestess. "I could close up early. I checked inventory before the girls came in, and I need to sweep."

Miranda chuckled. "Come on, let's help her close up." The bug babies got up, and Miranda handed them a broom, dustpan, and a mop where they got to work. Alcina settled with cleaning the higher shelves while Miranda cleaned the lower shelves. Donna and Marie worked with the inventory.

"So, no complications or anything?" Marie asked as she wrote some stuff down in a notebook. "No, Miranda said that the first trimester will be the hardest, other than severe morning sickness like yesterday." Maire nodded and sighed, she relaxed knowing nothing horrible was going on.

"I'm glad." She kissed the dollmaker's head and smiled when Angie came back with the list of things they were missing. Donna wrote them down while her doll settled on her lap and told them that the women were done cleaning, even getting the windows done.

Once the inventory was finished, they walked out. Miranda had finished cleaning the glasses and gave Marie the new bottle of wine for the next time Alcina or her daughters visited. She set them behind the counter, out of view, before shutting the open sign off and locking the doors, etc.