Chapter 33

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"Do you really want to go?" His eyebrows went flat as he tried to dissuade her from the outing. He had been picking up on her inner turmoil all morning. She was strangely nervous.

She was desperate to make a good enough impression so she could be around for her niece or nephew.

Gabe was frowning again as he took in her expression. His keen green eyes missed nothing. She was a jittery mess and it was so clear to see. He on the other hand was as calm as still waters. Just ebbing and going with the flow.

"As opposed to what?"

"Hanging out at home, chilling. Just the two of us. I don't want you stressing over this." 

He was being cautious. Her weekly blood tests were still showing elevated results and her blood pressure was a couple of points higher in the last couple of days.

Gabe was determined to keep her at home and as stress-free as possible. Since school had been out they had hardly left each other's presence. Surprisingly, they hadn't gotten sick of each other yet. Gabe was so easy to be around. Every moment was better than the one before.

"No, don't tempt me, we have to go, it's my brother's love child. Ashley has never ever put a foot wrong in his life. I'd like a front seat to this please."

"You're so petty."

"And you love it."

"I do," Gabe admitted wryly, shaking his head.

"You're still coming with me right?"

"As promised," he said and let out a deep sigh but settled in to watch some TV as Natalia got ready. The screen showed two men facing off across a tennis lawn.

Anytime there was sports on the telly and he happened to be watching he got engrossed in it like it was the most interesting thing in the world. It could be Mongolian cow racing and he'd watch it like he'd been spectating his whole life.

It was a good thing, it meant that she could get ready for as long as she liked at her own pace without him grumbling. Gabe was impatient by nature and didn't understand the process of getting ready. He thought she looked good in anything, if it was up to him, she'd only wash her face and tie up her hair before she went anywhere.

She was nervous, her stomach was in knots. Her belly was up so high these days, the butterflies were somewhere near her throat. She was 6 months and some change but she felt ready to pop at any time.

Gabe wanted to take her away the following week, to spend some time together in a different city, she was dying to go to New Orleans, it had always been on her travel bucket list but the way she was waddling, not sleeping through the night and swelling up everywhere, she knew she'd rather be at home, where she was comfortable.

"I'm ready," she announced when she made her way down the stairs.

Dreased in a short sleeved ribbed maxi T-shirt dress that was so tight it hugged and exaggerated every curve and she loved it. Normally this kind of dress would make her feel self conscious but being pregnant was literally the best excuse to have a fat belly and she was going to take full advantage.

"This is pretty, is it new?"

"Oh, this old thing?"

"Mmm..." he said, twirling her around by her elbow so he could get the full view and then his large hands were on her behind, squeezing and kneading her cheeks until she was sure bruises would form.

"Don't start," Natalia warned.

"Don't start what?" Gabe asked evasively while trapping her between him and the hallway wall.

"We're late." Natalia tried desperately and she was lucky that Gabe relented, letting her escape from being dwarfed by his big frame.

"You nervous?" He asked in the car and it was a silly question really, the bridge of her nose was dotted with tiny beads of perspiration. She didn't know what to expect. She was starting to wish she had never accepted the invite.

"No," she lied badly.

Chuckling, he said. "You're a terrible liar, babe."

"I'm not!"

"You are, you have so many tells. Like this wiggle you do with your lip before you tell a lie." He touched her lip with his finger. "Everything will be okay. Relax."

Natalia drew in a deep cleansing breath, almost as if she was gaining her strength from him. "Okay, let's go."

"That's my girl."

Music thumped so loudly she felt it through her shoes as she stepped out of the truck. She could tell it was a Black party and a Black neighbourhood because the music could be heard down the whole street and the police were no where in sight, as they pulled onto the cul de sac where the house was located.

Pulling her up the patio stairs, Gabe was half dragging her up as if it had been his idea to come. She was starting to regret it all. The flimsy paper handle of the gift bag she had brought was starting to dissolve in her sweaty palms.

Gabe rapped on the door confidently using the door knocker, they could hear the patter of feet coming to the door and then it swung open.

A young girl opened it, who looked about 12. Her eyes swept over Natalia's belly and then at Gabe who stood next to her and then yelled, "There's another pregnant lady and a white man at the door," before she ran away.

"Oh Lord, girl. Where are your manners?" Someone could be heard scolding her, then more footsteps and then Amber and an older woman were standing at the door.

"Natalia, hey," Amber said. The skin around her eyes looked tight. She looked uncomfortable.

"Hey," Natalia greeted. She didn't know what was going on but the vibes were severely off.

"Come through, we're all at the back. This is my momma's house. Mom, this is Natalia, his sister and that's her fiancé."

Natalia didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that the he in question was her brother. Maybe that was the source of the tension.

"Nice to meet you," Natalia and Gabe said in polite unison. She felt his hand at the small of her back reassuringly and felt better.

They stepped out back into the garden, they sure loved a garden party in the great state of Texas, where a table was laden with food under a big canopy. People were milling about and the music was blaring from the DJ table set up in the corner. If anything she was bound to have a good time. Nothing she loved more than food and good music. She would forget about the weird atmosphere in no time.

Someone pushed a drink in her hand, and then she and Gabe were led to seats at the table. Amber introduced them round, but everyone clearly already knew each other and it was too loud to make benign small talk with people. So she settled for leaning back in her chair, nibbling at the food and letting Gabe draw circles with his thumb on her skin with the hand he had slung over her shoulder.

"You okay?" the ever observant Gabe asked, and Natalia nodded meekly. He was right, they shouldn't have come. She felt weird, like she was imposing herself on Amber and her family. She had no right to think she had any obligation to include Natalia in her child's milestones or life.

"We'll stay the least amount of time we can and then we'll go," Gabe promised.

"When can we duck out?"

"In about 18 minutes."

Natalia made a face and stuck a piece of fruit in her mouth. It was going to be the longest 20 minutes of her life.

She forced herself to relax, and when there was a break in the thumping soundtrack she had worked up an interesting conversation with the people on their side of the table.

Amber had a nice and big circle around her of family and friends. It kind of made Natalia a little envious, her family in Texas consisted of Gabe, the little sprog she was carrying and his mother.

"Sorry I'm late, traffic was a nightmare. But here's the moment we've all been waiting for, the reveal cake," a voice said. A familiar voice with a familiar accent. Her brother was here in the flesh.

Natalia was confused, she craned her neck, almost reflexively to gaze at Gabe but he was looking straight ahead. There was a tick in his jaw, and a glint of anger shimmering in his eyes.

Her brother had arrived in Austin without telling her, it was a pretty shitty thing to do, especially since she had been the one to tell him he was expecting a child. He seemed quite pally and informal with Amber and her family, like he had spent a good amount of time with them. How long had he been here? And why hadn't he even called to say he was in town, hell in the same continent even?

Natalia felt a bitter wave of feeling pushing into her consciousness. The bitter taste of betrayal was all too familiar in her mouth. She wanted to gag and vomit. When they had made up, he promised he'd be there for her as an older brother should. When Gabe had gotten shot, he had sprung into action and had been amazing throughout. She couldn't have made it through without him. She had thought they had finally turned a corner.

She couldn't help but make the comparison that Nick, her twin, the other half of her soul would never. Why did Ashley find it so easy to discard her and be so present for others?

The answer became clear when a russet coloured, petite woman with greying black hair pulled into a chignon appeared from the doorway behind him. If one looked closely, they'd see the same tawny coloured diamond shaped eyes that Ashley and Natalia had, also on her face.

She had barely changed, apart from her hair. There weren't any extra lines on her face. In fact she looked younger and more relaxed than she had ever seen her before. Her mother had always been a beautiful woman but living in Jamaica all these years had clearly agreed with her.

As they made eye contact over the crowded room, every venomous word she had spat at Nick's funeral came back to her and Natalia couldn't stand to be in the same space.

She didn't want to make a scene, but she desperately wanted to leave, disappear or meld into the fake grass crunching under her platform heels.

Relief came in the form of Gabe moving swiftly through the gathered crowd with her in tow, going towards the door. "This is bullshit. I have a half mind to beat the light out of him," she could hear him mutter.

"I told you, you should have called her."

"I didn't know she was invited."

She couldn't place who the voices belonged to, darkness was edging into her vision and words were starting to sound like they were being said underwater. And then everything went black.

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Sorry about the long wait for this chapter and the cliffhanger :s Leave me your thoughts!

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