First Flower

Painting the walls

Maca's Pov

Another couple of months have quickly gone by. I'm now a bit more than eight months pregnant, and we're more eager than ever to get to know this baby. Besides the sickness and mood swings I sometimes experience, the pregnancy has been incredibly easy, and that's definitely thanks to Zulema.

She has never been a domestic person, but she's the one that's been doing all the chores around the house, and has been also able to give me tons of affection, which is something I've been craving a lot these past few months. It's incredible how every day I seem to find a new side of this woman. Some days ago I was having these awful nightmares so I was barely sleeping during night time, which made me take a lot of naps during the day. So,, one day, we were watching this horrible movie on tv and I ended up falling asleep on the couch. Once I was starting to wake up, I felt her around my belly and heard her talking:

"We're gonna give you so much love once you are born. And I promise you, I'll be the best mother you could possibly have. I'll give you and your mother all I wasn't able to have."

I immediately feel my eyes getting wet, but I try to do my best in order to act like I'm still sleeping, to hear if she was going to say anything else. But she doesn't. I consider finally opening my eyes, but then I feel the light weight of her head on my belly, and a soft kiss deposited on the place.

I open my eyes to find that she's still in the same position, and I start to caress her hair, making her face me.

"That was very sweet." I finally manage to say, whilst my hand is still on her hair.

"I did have a slight feeling that you were listening." She answers with a smile on her face, and slightly blushing.

"Well don't be embarrassed, it was lovely." She smiles and pulls me for a kiss. She then faces me for a few seconds.

"Don't you think we should finally start to decorate the baby's room? I cleaned that small empty room and we bought her stuff so long ago and we never got around to do it.

"Yeah I guess you're right. We should at least paint it."

We decide we should just do it right away, since I probably wouldn't even be able to stand on my feet probably on the next month.

The baby's future room was small, but she definitely wouldn't need a bigger space for some time, and with some of my ideas we could turn it into something lovely.

I say with "my ideas" because Zulema's ideas are really inappropriate for a what a baby's room should look like. Not being a big fan of colour herself, she keeps insisting that we should paint the walls black, which really didn't seem like her best idea, so I'm desperately trying to talk her out of it.

"I agree. I'm glad we already agreed on a colour." Okay Maca, now it's time to gather some courage.

"Look Zulema I know that you already bought the black paint and that you're really excited about it, but don't you think the beige one we also bought would look good as well? I just don't really like that colour for the walls."

Her face remains serious for a bit. "Okay fine, maybe you're right, but you have to let me choose some of the furniture."

"Of course."

"And absolutely no pink. I can't stand that colour." I let out a laugh and shake my head as an agreement.

"Fair enough." I was happy that we could finally make choices between us without turning such conversations into arguments. We were finally able to talk with each other without fearing some bad reaction coming from the other.

_

The baby's room was small but comfortable, and with enough light coming from the window. The paint that was already there was getting old and some parts had a greyish tone on them, so painting them was really necessary. We already a few things for the room, like the crib, chosen by Zulema. It was made from a dark wooden, and it was big enough to fit the child for a long time.

Decorating the baby's room was like being a step closer to meet her. I was incredibly to see how Zulema would deal with a baby, specially since she never got a chance to do these kind of things with Fátima. On one hand, I was afraid she would remember constantly about her deceased daughter, and wouldn't be able to cope with a new one, but on the other hand, I was confident enough that she would channel that energy and become the best mother I knew she could be. She made so progress on herself throughout these last years, so I believed in her.

We begin the first brush strokes on the first coat and the room immediately feels lighter. Because I've gotten so big in these past few months, that with these work only I already feel my body getting immensely tired, so I try to give the biggest strokes I can in order to finish this as soon as possible. That being said, as I give one of the last strokes on the first walls, I don't measure the strength of my arm, and end up splashing some paint all over Zulema.

I don't know what to expect from her reaction once it all happens, but it doesn't take too long for a smile to show up in her face. Next thing I know, I feel a splash of paint in my body, whilst I hear Zulema's soft laugh in my ears.

It's my turn to do the same thing, making Zulema laugh even harder as the paint hits her face. After that, she takes my hand and pulls me closer, joining our lips.

The kiss begins as a soft but passionate one, getting more intense as I feel her tongue entering my mouth, and her hands arriving to the end of my back.

As things get hotter, I start feeling the area between my legs getting hotter and wet. But then, Zulema breaks the kiss and takes one step behind.

"Maca, I think your waters just broke."

I listen to those and try to look down, noticing my trousers getting wet. I start to feel a bit dizzy and feel Zulema's arms holding me tightly, as she leads me to outside the room.

Shit. It was really happening.