Another Reason to Love

chapter 9

Dinah wasn't all that surprised when two completely drenched adults showed up at her door to pick up their little girl. She just shook her head and smiled, knowing full well what probably happened in the rain. Camila had always been one to share about her romantic escapades so the other girls were aware of how unbelievably lovey-dovey Camila and Lauren's life turned out to be on a daily basis.

"Brooklyn! Your mamas are here," Dinah shouted so that the little girl would hear. It wasn't long before they heard her tiny footsteps making their way towards the front door.

Brooklyn gave them a puzzled look, handing Lauren her shoes so that she could help her put them on. "Did you take a bath with your clothes on?" she asked. The little girl had one hand on Lauren for balance, but managed to put her other hand on her hip in a sassy way.

The three women laughed and Camila thought about how to explain. In a moment of weakness, she just gave up. "Yep. We took a bath in the rain and you know what? That rain wasn't clean enough...so it looks like we're going to have to take another bath when we get home. Can I share one with you tonight?"

Lauren finished tying the laces and picked the little girl up, situating her on her hip. Brooklyn seemed to be deep in thought until finally she agreed. "Yeah, I can share. But no splashing!"

Camila held her hands up in surrender. "Oh, I won't. I know the rules, little one," she said. A common conversation in their household was the "no splashing in the bath" conversation. Sometimes it was directed at Brooklyn, but just as many times it was directed at Camila.

Lauren waved at Dinah. "Thanks, Dinah. I hope she was good for you," she said.

"Oh, of course she was. It looks like you two were the bad girls today." Dinah winked at Camila and opened the door for them.

"Bye, Dinah," Camila called out. Brooklyn shouted her goodbyes as well and they were finally on their way.

"I'll be so glad to get home," Lauren said as she buckled Brooklyn into her carseat. She opened the passenger side door and kissed Camila quickly, effectively surprising her wife.

"What?" she asked, when she noticed Camila looking at her weirdly. "I just needed to kiss you one more time."

*****

Two Weeks Later

Bitterness is a strange emotion. It often comes disguised as anger, or guilt, or sadness. It makes you momentarily forget all of the good things that have happened in your life. Instead of your main focus being how thankful you are for those good things, your main focus is that you've been mistreated, unfairly forgotten, tragically overlooked.

As Camila sat in the cool doctor's office listening to the doctor read her fertility test results, she felt bitterness take over her body. Just last week she had set up an appointment to make sure everything was ready to go. She was set to start trying to get pregnant in a few weeks, but this caused a major road block in that plan.

Now she was sitting in a chair that was cold as ice, alone, listening to a man talk about how she wouldn't be able to conceive a child. His monotone voice blended in nicely with the numbness she was already feeling.

Lauren had insisted upon taking a day off work to come with her to get her test results, but Camila had been clear that it wasn't necessary.

"I'll just go and get the results and that will be that. We have no reason to worry," she said. Little did Camila know that it wouldn't be that easy. When the doctor asked her if she was alright, she nodded her head. Because he probably sees this all the time, right? Camila thought that maybe he even had told other women that very day that they were unable to have the children they wanted. No big deal, right?