The Mating Games

Chapter 37- The End

It's funny how fast time passes; how quickly the vibrancy of life can fade and drop away. Even quicker is how fast the life comes back around and the sun is high in the sky once more. It's true the saying that time heals all wounds, or at least dulls the pain that used to be so raw.

I thought the pain was going to be something that plagued my heart like an open wound but it feels more like a scar; like a throb of what was there, a forever reminder. And I had done my healing, I had lamented those feelings of anger and hurt, the unfairness of life and I had put them away, locked in a box in my mind.

It didn't hurt me anymore to think about it, to think about her... My Rose. We had given her a proper burial in the same cemetery as Theo's mother; I hope she was looking after my little girl for me.

April had been a huge part of my healing; her persistent badgering of me to talk about my feelings and go on date nights had not only pushed Theo and I closer, but April and I as well. I had forgotten why we were friends in the beginning, we were both free spirits that had bonded over our loneliness. Not that we were lonely anymore, there were two constants in our lives; Colin and Theo.

"April, stop moving so fast!" Colin shuffled me out of the way and rushed after a waddling April already trying to pry the car door open.

"Open the fucking door!" she snapped back, plonking herself down in the passenger seat and adjusting the recline. "Get a fucking move on!"

Colin ran down, taking the stairs two at a time with a bag pulled over his shoulder and bolstered into the car. The car roared to life and he peeled out of the driveway and down the dirt road to town. He went 20 meters before screeching to a halt, the car sliding to the left on the loose stones,

"Meet you there!" he yelled out the window before taking off once more. I waved from the porch, pulling my cardigan closer to my body and ambled my way back inside. The house was quiet for once, too quiet.

I tiptoed across the hard wood floor, fingers crossed that no one would hear me. I gently pushed on the living room door, letting it swing open with a slight creak, "here you guys are."

Theo pushed up from the floor, gently cradling a sleepy toddler to his chest like a delicate treasure. Another head popped up beside him, a sleepy smile on the teenagers face,

"Did they leave already?" Sophie asked me. I nodded my head and walked over to the tired trio; Theo offered me the child and I shuffled him into my arms so his head could rest on my shoulder. The baby tensed, scrunching up his little face and wiping it across the material of my shirt before relaxing again into the hold. I breathed a quick sigh of relief, getting him to sleep was much too hard to simply wake him up now. Boy cried just as loud as his mother.

"They're going to the hospital now but April's going to be in labour for a long time. We don't have to rush over, we can wait for a bit," I walked over the improvised napping changing station in the dining room and gently placed the baby down.

"I can do that if you want," Theo placed a soft kiss to the side of my neck, letting his hands wander over my stomach, "don't want you over doing things." He cradled the swell of my stomach and traced little circles around my belly button.

"I can do it, it'll be good practice for us," I got to work on changing his nappy and putting him into the cutest little bunny onsie that I knew would make April cry when I brought him to the hospital later to meet his little sibling.

"I love practising with you," Theo whispered huskily into the shell of my ear, pausing briefly to bite the lobe before pushing me aside and picking up a now awake baby. "Are you still sleepy, little Finny," he baby talked, blowing raspberry's on his neck. This was my favourite sight in the world; watching my man holding a baby, it was making me broody, and horny.