Title: Por si éramos pocos by Belenuski - Chapter 12 (Part 9)
Title: Por si éramos pocos by Belenuski
Rating: R
NB: This is the last part of Chapter 12. Hope ya'll like it because it's gonna be the last update for a while...I'm gonna be really busy next week, and I leave for a trip to Spain!! :-D I'll get started with Chapter 13 (titled "And Then, He Arrived") after I get back.
Pepa was leaning against the headboard, sitting, she couldn’t sleep. She was sweating and strands of her damp hair stuck to her forehead. She had stopped panting, but it was difficult. Her neck was bruised from such a night of passion, and she still felt heat emanating from her naked body covered only by the thin sheet that also wrapped around her, around Silvia.
Her red hair was tussled on top of the pillow, she had also broken a sweat and now was resting. She was only covered from the waist down, and she slept on her side.
Silvia sighed and turned over on her stomach, calling out to the brunette. With the movement, the sheet slid down the redhead’s body and uncovered her completely. Pepa smiled and lifted the sheet back over her, causing Silvia to peek open her eyes and turn to face her. Silvia rubbed her eyes and smiled. Pepa tangled her finger in one of Silvia’s curls.
“Hola…” Pepa whispered.
“Hola,” Silvia greeted, still half-asleep. “What time is it?”
“4:30 in the morning. You’ve been asleep for an hour.”
The redhead yawned and Pepa leaned towards her to kiss her shoulder, her back, and lifting the sheet along the way, her waist. Silvia was smiling by the time the kisses finally reached the end of her spine.
“You haven’t slept?”
“No.” Pepa covered Silvia again and traveled up to leave a kiss on her neck.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, I couldn’t stop looking at you.”
Pepa returned to her spot leaning against the headboard and Silvia also sat up so she could hug her ex-wife around the waist, settling her head on her bare chest.
The redhead let out a sigh and closed her eyes when she felt Pepa’s hand running through her hair. It was something Pepa always did and Silvia loved it.
“The tickets to Málaga are for tomorrow,” the brunette announced pensively. Silvia clenched her fists.
“I wanted to talk to you about that.” She sat up a little higher so she could kiss Pepa’s cheek and give her a quick peck on the lips. “Look, I don’t want you to get mad, vale?”
Pepa exhaled loudly.
“I’m not going to get mad, come on, out with it.”
“I…I want to go to Málaga alone.”
The brunette pulled away to be able to see Silvia better and frowned, uncomprehending. Silvia sat up against the headboard next to her, looking at her.
“I’ll pay you for the ticket and the hotel and whatever else you’ve reserved.”
“I don’t want you to pay me anything, but…why do you want to go alone?”
“Because I’m still not sure and I need to think, Pepa, but really think, spend some weeks away, far from everything.”
“You’re not sure about this?” Pepa asked, worried, but Silvia smiled.
“I am…what I’m not sure about,” she dropped her hand to Pepa’s barely-swollen belly, “is this. This is still Aitor’s child.” Pepa was about to reply, but the redhead placed a finger over her lips, silencing her. Then, as she spoke, she stroke her face. “I think it’s lovely that you want me to be his mother…but he’s the father, and I’m always going to be aware of that.”
Pepa nodded and smiled a bit painfully. Silvia felt bad, but she wasn’t going to back down on this issue. It still hurt her to know that the woman she was terribly in love with had slept with another guy.
“Mi vida, I’m doing it for us,” the redhead insisted. “I want…I want to be sure before accepting this motherhood.”
“Sure of what?”
“That it won’t hurt me every time I look at him.”
There was a silence and Pepa rubbed her tummy. She looked into her ex-wife’s eyes.
“I understand…” The brunette whispered. Yes, she did understand, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt her, though she hurt not for herself, but for Silvia… she knew Silvia had had a horrible time over this.
Given Pepa’s sad look, the redhead shook her head effusively.
“No, no, it’s better that I don’t go.”
Her ex-wife lifted her gaze.
“Why?”
“Noah has the mafia after her and I should be with her. I had forgotten…vale, pretend you never heard any of this.”
Pepa smiled and this time, it was she who shook her head.
“Noah’s going to be fine.”
“No, Pepa, I’m not going to just leave her alone.”
“Trust in me, the girl’s going to be safe.”
Silvia smiled and kissed the brunette.
“You always have to contradict…” she mumbled and Pepa kissed her back.
“It’s not that, it’s just that you’re right, cariño. I can’t ask you to be the mother of a child that…well…that was unexpected. I understand that you have to think about everything, and there’s no better place than the south, right?”
Silvia looked at Pepa with her eyes shining and a smile full of joy. Pepa was a bit confused, but her ex-wife’s smile was contagious.
“What is it?”
“You called me ”cariño”.”
Pepa kissed Silvia again, and this time the kiss was long and sweet.
“I missed that,” the redhead whispered.
They shared a mutual smile before they both laid down under the sheets again. Silvia looked at Pepa, who had her eyes focused on the ceiling. She didn’t want Silvia to leave.
It wasn’t because of Noah, she would be safe at her side, and it wasn’t because of herself either, she could manage without Silvia just as she had the last few months. It was because of him. The baby that caused her belly to bulge more every day was growing at breakneck speed, and very soon it would be time for the fifth-month ultrasound. With this ultrasound, they’d do one in 4D, giving them a really good look at the baby, even the features of his face. She wanted Silvia to be by her side for that, but, how could she ask for them to go together for the ultrasound of a pregnancy that wasn’t initially wanted? It was Aitor’s child, just like the redhead had reminded. Trying to hide it and pretend that nothing was wrong was okay at first, when Pepa wasn’t noticeably pregnant, but now that she was beginning to show, thinking about the baby’s birth meant she also had to think about the child’s appearance and his upbringing.
Should they tell him who his father is some time in future? Should they let Aitor act as his father even though his mother’s partner is Silvia? What last names would he have? Would he look like Pepa or Aitor? How would they answer when he asks the same kind of question Noah did about family? And what’s more, if he calls Aitor “papá”, does Noah have to as well?
There were many unanswered questions, but the majority of them would be answered if Silvia said yes. Yes to motherhood again, and yes to a new life as a family.
“Are you okay?” The redhead asked.
“Yes, I’m just tired. I haven’t slept.”
“Oh…”
Pepa turned her head and, seeing Silvia looking thoughtful, she decided to relieve the tension by acting silly.
“Oh!” She exclaimed like a little kid. “I’m not gonna be able to talk to you!”
Silvia laughed loudly at the sight of such a childish expression on her ex-wife’s face. It reminded her so much of Noah, mother and daughter were identical.
“They invented the phone for a reason.”
Pepa pouted.
“But I won’t be able to see you…”
Silvia pouted as well.
“You’re not going to be able to see me?” She jokingly imitated Pepa’s voice.
“Nope!”
“Yeah…” Silvia looked at her mischievously and stroked her arm. “That’s why I was planning on showering you with more affection, but if you’re really tired, well…”
Pepa smiled, sat up, and positioned herself over Silvia. She gave her a soft kiss on the lips.
“I’ve already rested.”
“I don’t believe you…” Silvia whispered as she closed her eyes when she felt Pepa’s lips against her neck.
“Well, I’ll have to prove it to you…” Pepa mumbled, lowering herself to Silvia’s breasts, tracing her nipples with her tongue. She lifted herself up again and looked into Silvia’s eyes, feigning anger. “You owe me a trip to the beach.”
“Don’t worry…Mmm…” Her lips drew tight as she felt Pepa’s mouth travel down between her legs. “We’ll go in the summer, all three…Ahhh…”
Silvia started to rock her hips, but Pepa suddenly pulled away and looked at her angrily, this time she wasn’t kidding.
“Right! In the summer! And me with hot flashes and a seven-month belly! At the beach and not even able to wear a bikini! No fucking way, pelirroja!”
Silvia rolled her eyes when Pepa crossed her arms. The redhead looked at her ex-wife with reproach.
“You’re mood swings are messing with our sex life, you know that?”
Pepa looked at her and realized how quickly she had stopped her ministrations, just as Silvia was really starting to enjoy it. She let out a laugh.
“You’re pissed because I stopped when you were half-way there!”
This time it was Silvia who crossed her arms.
“Obviously.”
Then, Pepa suddenly got out of bed and stretched. Silvia looked at her quizzically, still waiting for her lover to continue what she was doing earlier.
“Where the hell are you going?”
“To the kitchen. You have no idea how much I want some chocolate.”
Pepa walked out of the bedroom, wrapped in her robe, and Silvia’s eyes opened wide, still not believing what happened.
“This can’t be real…” she said incredulously. “Wow…” She covered herself with the sheet and sat at the edge of the bed. She smiled, shaking her head before finally laughing. Her ex-wife’s cravings and mood swings were sometimes inopportune, but still, they were just about as funny as they come.
…
Noah shut the fridge with her cheeks inflated, and her mother started to laugh. Silvia, with her nightshirt on, was warming up the pancakes the three of them would eat that morning, as a family.
“It’s not funny!” The girl complained, stomping on the ground. “I wanted cherries!”
Silvia still hadn’t stopped laughing, and she looked at her daughter who had crossed her arms in anger.
“When she was pregnant with you, she also at a ton of cherries. They’re cravings, you see.”
“What’s a craving?” Noah asked, loosening her knitted brow and her crossed arms.
“It’s when pregnant women really, really, really want to eat something. And they have to have it no matter what.”
“And what if they don’t?”
“They get in a really bad mood, like abuelo.”
Noah laughed and opened the fridge again. She pulled open a drawer and was surprised.
“Mami, and the chocolate?”
Silvia bit her lower lip but was unable to stop the laugh as she thought about how angry Noah was about to get.
“Mamá at it.”
The girl’s eyes widened.
“All of it, all of it, all of it??” She asked.
“All of it.”
“Ah! She’s going to get a tummy ache!” Noah turned her gaze back to the fridge and frowned. She slammed it shut. “If she ate it all, she didn’t leave any for me!”
“Don’t blame me, I didn’t do it. Go and tell mama and wake her up, it’s time for breakfast.”
Noah nodded forcefully and when Silvia saw her walk out of the kitchen with that sour look on her face, she started laughing again. She put each pancake on their corresponding plate and snuck down the hall to the bedroom.
“Mamá! You’re bad!” She heard Noah scream. She peered into the room and saw how Pepa was covering her head with a pillow. Noah was tugging on the sheet with a frown. “You ate all the chocolate! I wanted some! You have to share!” Noah repeated the phrase they had told her thousands of times.
“Ay, Noah…and you also have to let me sleep, and you don’t,” the brunette mumbled, looking at Noah sleepily.
Silvia walked into the room and stroked her daughter’s hair.
“Noah’s right, you have to learn how to share, Pepa,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Don’t fucking start, princesa, it’s too early and I’m in a horrible mood.”
Noah’s mouth opened wide, as if her mother had said the worst thing in the world and she climbed onto the bed.
“YOU’RE A LIAR! HOW CAN YOU BE IN A BAD MOOD IF YOU ATE ALL YOUR CRAVINGS!” She shrieked angrily.
Silvia started laughing so hard she had to lie on the bed, and Pepa started laughing, too. Noah didn’t understand, but her words had come out in the exact same tone of voice Silvia had used before. It was such an adult way to say it that, hearing it come out of that tiny mouth, they couldn’t help but laugh, and she had said it so angrily and hysterically that it just accentuated it even more.
“Ay, I just want to eat her, my god!” Pepa exclaimed, wrapping the little one in her arms. Noah started laughing, too, and hugged her mother back.
The giggling continued for a while longer and after eating breakfast, they went shopping. It seemed like something so normal, but it had been such a long time since they had all gone together that the girl and her mothers we wearing smiles bright enough to light up all of Madrid.
Silvia drove calmly amidst the bustle of the capital and Noah moved her legs in rhythm with the Chayanne song that she knew so well. Pepa looked at her ex-wife and Silvia nodded. Pepa released her seatbelt and turned in her seat to look at her daughter.
“Did you know that mamá is going on a trip?” Noah shook her head. “Well, she’s going to Málaga, where the beach is. And without us!”
The girl opened her mouth in displeasure.
“Ah! Why? I wanna go!”
“Me too, but it’s for work,” the brunette lied. “You know, there are a lot of bodies to open up there. Since it’s the beach, well, mamá is going to kidnap whoever’s in a bikini, and she’s going to cut them in half to see if they have anything bad inside.”
Noah looked at Pepa attentively and, little by little, her face began to show fear. Silvia, who was smiling at Pepa’s absurd story, knocked her lightly on the head making the little one laugh.
“Don’t listen to mami, she’s crazy,” the redhead assured. “I’m going to meetings and boring things like that.”
Noah shrugged her shoulders, that seemed like a good enough reason not to go, so she was satisfied with the response.
“So you know, cariño, today in the supermarket, we’re on a mission!” Pepa said animatedly. Silvia smiled with every word Pepa said knowing that with Noah, the brunette’s imagination and desire to play were always overflowing.
“What mission?! What mission?!” The girl asked anxiously.
“Well, to buy supplies for mamá!”
“Oh! That’s right!”
“Don’t you go crazy in the supermarket,” Silvia warned. “And when I say ‘you’, I mean both of you.” She looked at her ex-wife. “We both know how you are, you get her all riled up.”
“It’s because I like to embarrass you.”
Silvia smiled and rolled her eyes. Noah also smiled, and she stared at them as if she were watching a tennis match. Were her mothers starting to get closer again?
They finally arrived at the supermarket and after a few turns looking for food, the family headed off to the electronics department. Noah was breathing with a bit of difficulty after racing down the aisles and her mother handed her the inhaler which was promptly put away once her breathing evened out. It was incredible how quickly she had grown accustomed to the medication and how well she had learned to use it, she was now asking for it herself whenever she felt bad.
“Look, mamá! I’m on tv!” Noah said as she moved in front of a camera that was showing her image on a plasma tv. Pepa looked all around in concentration.
“What are we doing here?” Silvia asked.
“Shhh,” Pepa ordered her to be quiet. “There they are.” She pointed to an aisle and they headed in that direction. Silvia took Noah’s hand and followed after Pepa. At other times, she would’ve let Noah stay in the reading area or even there, playing with the camera, but since the mafia’s threat, she preferred not to run the risk.
“Laptops?” The redhead asked aloud when she saw that the aisle was full of them.
“Yes.”
“What do you need a laptop for?”
“For you.”
“For me?”
“This way I can see you when you’re in Málaga.”
There was a silence and Silvia looked at her ex-wife. Pepa knew that that look meant she would’ve gotten a kiss if their daughter weren’t in front of them, but Noah, though she wasn’t looking at them, was really close by and could catch them.
“We’ll pay half and half,” Silvia stated.
“I thought you were going to outright refuse for us to buy one.”
“It’s just that, I want to see you, too, even though I’m going to be 500km away.”
They looked at each other. Pepa’s tongue swiped across her lips, and she turned towards her daughter who was entertaining herself by clicking away on a display keyboard. She shifted her gaze back to Silvia pleadingly, but Silvia shook her head.
“She’s going to know sooner or later.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Please…” The brunette uttered, starting to pout.
“Pepa…”
“Please…”
Silvia rolled her eyes and quickly shot a glance at Noah. She got on her tip toes and gave Pepa a short peck. Pepa smiled and stepped closer to Silvia, she took her by the nape and kissed her more deeply. Noah chose that moment to turn around and when she saw them, she was in a bit of shock. Then, she slowly smiled and covered her face with her hands, embarrassed.
When Pepa and Silvia separated, the redhead was blushing but she smiled helplessly. They both looked at their daughter and laughed when they saw her.
Noah dropped her hands from her face and ran to her mothers. There was no need for words, just the three of them laughing and the enormous hug their daughter gave them. A few people who walked by saw them and smiled. They might not be the most common of families: two women together, mothers of a four-year old girl, divorced, and one of them pregnant from the guy she slept with out of despair, but after all was said and done, they were a family. After all these years, they were.
Links to the original story:
http://pepaysilvia.mforos.com/1469855/8481210-por-si-eramos-pocos-01-11-09-23-40/
http://pepaysilvia.mforos.com/1469855/8680673-por-si-eramos-pocos-ii-28-11-09-21-35/
http://pepaysilvia.mforos.com/1469855/8848739-por-si-eramos-pocos-iii-14-02-10-0-55-finalizado/
Rating: R
NB: This is the last part of Chapter 12. Hope ya'll like it because it's gonna be the last update for a while...I'm gonna be really busy next week, and I leave for a trip to Spain!! :-D I'll get started with Chapter 13 (titled "And Then, He Arrived") after I get back.
Pepa was leaning against the headboard, sitting, she couldn’t sleep. She was sweating and strands of her damp hair stuck to her forehead. She had stopped panting, but it was difficult. Her neck was bruised from such a night of passion, and she still felt heat emanating from her naked body covered only by the thin sheet that also wrapped around her, around Silvia.
Her red hair was tussled on top of the pillow, she had also broken a sweat and now was resting. She was only covered from the waist down, and she slept on her side.
Silvia sighed and turned over on her stomach, calling out to the brunette. With the movement, the sheet slid down the redhead’s body and uncovered her completely. Pepa smiled and lifted the sheet back over her, causing Silvia to peek open her eyes and turn to face her. Silvia rubbed her eyes and smiled. Pepa tangled her finger in one of Silvia’s curls.
“Hola…” Pepa whispered.
“Hola,” Silvia greeted, still half-asleep. “What time is it?”
“4:30 in the morning. You’ve been asleep for an hour.”
The redhead yawned and Pepa leaned towards her to kiss her shoulder, her back, and lifting the sheet along the way, her waist. Silvia was smiling by the time the kisses finally reached the end of her spine.
“You haven’t slept?”
“No.” Pepa covered Silvia again and traveled up to leave a kiss on her neck.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, I couldn’t stop looking at you.”
Pepa returned to her spot leaning against the headboard and Silvia also sat up so she could hug her ex-wife around the waist, settling her head on her bare chest.
The redhead let out a sigh and closed her eyes when she felt Pepa’s hand running through her hair. It was something Pepa always did and Silvia loved it.
“The tickets to Málaga are for tomorrow,” the brunette announced pensively. Silvia clenched her fists.
“I wanted to talk to you about that.” She sat up a little higher so she could kiss Pepa’s cheek and give her a quick peck on the lips. “Look, I don’t want you to get mad, vale?”
Pepa exhaled loudly.
“I’m not going to get mad, come on, out with it.”
“I…I want to go to Málaga alone.”
The brunette pulled away to be able to see Silvia better and frowned, uncomprehending. Silvia sat up against the headboard next to her, looking at her.
“I’ll pay you for the ticket and the hotel and whatever else you’ve reserved.”
“I don’t want you to pay me anything, but…why do you want to go alone?”
“Because I’m still not sure and I need to think, Pepa, but really think, spend some weeks away, far from everything.”
“You’re not sure about this?” Pepa asked, worried, but Silvia smiled.
“I am…what I’m not sure about,” she dropped her hand to Pepa’s barely-swollen belly, “is this. This is still Aitor’s child.” Pepa was about to reply, but the redhead placed a finger over her lips, silencing her. Then, as she spoke, she stroke her face. “I think it’s lovely that you want me to be his mother…but he’s the father, and I’m always going to be aware of that.”
Pepa nodded and smiled a bit painfully. Silvia felt bad, but she wasn’t going to back down on this issue. It still hurt her to know that the woman she was terribly in love with had slept with another guy.
“Mi vida, I’m doing it for us,” the redhead insisted. “I want…I want to be sure before accepting this motherhood.”
“Sure of what?”
“That it won’t hurt me every time I look at him.”
There was a silence and Pepa rubbed her tummy. She looked into her ex-wife’s eyes.
“I understand…” The brunette whispered. Yes, she did understand, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt her, though she hurt not for herself, but for Silvia… she knew Silvia had had a horrible time over this.
Given Pepa’s sad look, the redhead shook her head effusively.
“No, no, it’s better that I don’t go.”
Her ex-wife lifted her gaze.
“Why?”
“Noah has the mafia after her and I should be with her. I had forgotten…vale, pretend you never heard any of this.”
Pepa smiled and this time, it was she who shook her head.
“Noah’s going to be fine.”
“No, Pepa, I’m not going to just leave her alone.”
“Trust in me, the girl’s going to be safe.”
Silvia smiled and kissed the brunette.
“You always have to contradict…” she mumbled and Pepa kissed her back.
“It’s not that, it’s just that you’re right, cariño. I can’t ask you to be the mother of a child that…well…that was unexpected. I understand that you have to think about everything, and there’s no better place than the south, right?”
Silvia looked at Pepa with her eyes shining and a smile full of joy. Pepa was a bit confused, but her ex-wife’s smile was contagious.
“What is it?”
“You called me ”cariño”.”
Pepa kissed Silvia again, and this time the kiss was long and sweet.
“I missed that,” the redhead whispered.
They shared a mutual smile before they both laid down under the sheets again. Silvia looked at Pepa, who had her eyes focused on the ceiling. She didn’t want Silvia to leave.
It wasn’t because of Noah, she would be safe at her side, and it wasn’t because of herself either, she could manage without Silvia just as she had the last few months. It was because of him. The baby that caused her belly to bulge more every day was growing at breakneck speed, and very soon it would be time for the fifth-month ultrasound. With this ultrasound, they’d do one in 4D, giving them a really good look at the baby, even the features of his face. She wanted Silvia to be by her side for that, but, how could she ask for them to go together for the ultrasound of a pregnancy that wasn’t initially wanted? It was Aitor’s child, just like the redhead had reminded. Trying to hide it and pretend that nothing was wrong was okay at first, when Pepa wasn’t noticeably pregnant, but now that she was beginning to show, thinking about the baby’s birth meant she also had to think about the child’s appearance and his upbringing.
Should they tell him who his father is some time in future? Should they let Aitor act as his father even though his mother’s partner is Silvia? What last names would he have? Would he look like Pepa or Aitor? How would they answer when he asks the same kind of question Noah did about family? And what’s more, if he calls Aitor “papá”, does Noah have to as well?
There were many unanswered questions, but the majority of them would be answered if Silvia said yes. Yes to motherhood again, and yes to a new life as a family.
“Are you okay?” The redhead asked.
“Yes, I’m just tired. I haven’t slept.”
“Oh…”
Pepa turned her head and, seeing Silvia looking thoughtful, she decided to relieve the tension by acting silly.
“Oh!” She exclaimed like a little kid. “I’m not gonna be able to talk to you!”
Silvia laughed loudly at the sight of such a childish expression on her ex-wife’s face. It reminded her so much of Noah, mother and daughter were identical.
“They invented the phone for a reason.”
Pepa pouted.
“But I won’t be able to see you…”
Silvia pouted as well.
“You’re not going to be able to see me?” She jokingly imitated Pepa’s voice.
“Nope!”
“Yeah…” Silvia looked at her mischievously and stroked her arm. “That’s why I was planning on showering you with more affection, but if you’re really tired, well…”
Pepa smiled, sat up, and positioned herself over Silvia. She gave her a soft kiss on the lips.
“I’ve already rested.”
“I don’t believe you…” Silvia whispered as she closed her eyes when she felt Pepa’s lips against her neck.
“Well, I’ll have to prove it to you…” Pepa mumbled, lowering herself to Silvia’s breasts, tracing her nipples with her tongue. She lifted herself up again and looked into Silvia’s eyes, feigning anger. “You owe me a trip to the beach.”
“Don’t worry…Mmm…” Her lips drew tight as she felt Pepa’s mouth travel down between her legs. “We’ll go in the summer, all three…Ahhh…”
Silvia started to rock her hips, but Pepa suddenly pulled away and looked at her angrily, this time she wasn’t kidding.
“Right! In the summer! And me with hot flashes and a seven-month belly! At the beach and not even able to wear a bikini! No fucking way, pelirroja!”
Silvia rolled her eyes when Pepa crossed her arms. The redhead looked at her ex-wife with reproach.
“You’re mood swings are messing with our sex life, you know that?”
Pepa looked at her and realized how quickly she had stopped her ministrations, just as Silvia was really starting to enjoy it. She let out a laugh.
“You’re pissed because I stopped when you were half-way there!”
This time it was Silvia who crossed her arms.
“Obviously.”
Then, Pepa suddenly got out of bed and stretched. Silvia looked at her quizzically, still waiting for her lover to continue what she was doing earlier.
“Where the hell are you going?”
“To the kitchen. You have no idea how much I want some chocolate.”
Pepa walked out of the bedroom, wrapped in her robe, and Silvia’s eyes opened wide, still not believing what happened.
“This can’t be real…” she said incredulously. “Wow…” She covered herself with the sheet and sat at the edge of the bed. She smiled, shaking her head before finally laughing. Her ex-wife’s cravings and mood swings were sometimes inopportune, but still, they were just about as funny as they come.
…
Noah shut the fridge with her cheeks inflated, and her mother started to laugh. Silvia, with her nightshirt on, was warming up the pancakes the three of them would eat that morning, as a family.
“It’s not funny!” The girl complained, stomping on the ground. “I wanted cherries!”
Silvia still hadn’t stopped laughing, and she looked at her daughter who had crossed her arms in anger.
“When she was pregnant with you, she also at a ton of cherries. They’re cravings, you see.”
“What’s a craving?” Noah asked, loosening her knitted brow and her crossed arms.
“It’s when pregnant women really, really, really want to eat something. And they have to have it no matter what.”
“And what if they don’t?”
“They get in a really bad mood, like abuelo.”
Noah laughed and opened the fridge again. She pulled open a drawer and was surprised.
“Mami, and the chocolate?”
Silvia bit her lower lip but was unable to stop the laugh as she thought about how angry Noah was about to get.
“Mamá at it.”
The girl’s eyes widened.
“All of it, all of it, all of it??” She asked.
“All of it.”
“Ah! She’s going to get a tummy ache!” Noah turned her gaze back to the fridge and frowned. She slammed it shut. “If she ate it all, she didn’t leave any for me!”
“Don’t blame me, I didn’t do it. Go and tell mama and wake her up, it’s time for breakfast.”
Noah nodded forcefully and when Silvia saw her walk out of the kitchen with that sour look on her face, she started laughing again. She put each pancake on their corresponding plate and snuck down the hall to the bedroom.
“Mamá! You’re bad!” She heard Noah scream. She peered into the room and saw how Pepa was covering her head with a pillow. Noah was tugging on the sheet with a frown. “You ate all the chocolate! I wanted some! You have to share!” Noah repeated the phrase they had told her thousands of times.
“Ay, Noah…and you also have to let me sleep, and you don’t,” the brunette mumbled, looking at Noah sleepily.
Silvia walked into the room and stroked her daughter’s hair.
“Noah’s right, you have to learn how to share, Pepa,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Don’t fucking start, princesa, it’s too early and I’m in a horrible mood.”
Noah’s mouth opened wide, as if her mother had said the worst thing in the world and she climbed onto the bed.
“YOU’RE A LIAR! HOW CAN YOU BE IN A BAD MOOD IF YOU ATE ALL YOUR CRAVINGS!” She shrieked angrily.
Silvia started laughing so hard she had to lie on the bed, and Pepa started laughing, too. Noah didn’t understand, but her words had come out in the exact same tone of voice Silvia had used before. It was such an adult way to say it that, hearing it come out of that tiny mouth, they couldn’t help but laugh, and she had said it so angrily and hysterically that it just accentuated it even more.
“Ay, I just want to eat her, my god!” Pepa exclaimed, wrapping the little one in her arms. Noah started laughing, too, and hugged her mother back.
The giggling continued for a while longer and after eating breakfast, they went shopping. It seemed like something so normal, but it had been such a long time since they had all gone together that the girl and her mothers we wearing smiles bright enough to light up all of Madrid.
Silvia drove calmly amidst the bustle of the capital and Noah moved her legs in rhythm with the Chayanne song that she knew so well. Pepa looked at her ex-wife and Silvia nodded. Pepa released her seatbelt and turned in her seat to look at her daughter.
“Did you know that mamá is going on a trip?” Noah shook her head. “Well, she’s going to Málaga, where the beach is. And without us!”
The girl opened her mouth in displeasure.
“Ah! Why? I wanna go!”
“Me too, but it’s for work,” the brunette lied. “You know, there are a lot of bodies to open up there. Since it’s the beach, well, mamá is going to kidnap whoever’s in a bikini, and she’s going to cut them in half to see if they have anything bad inside.”
Noah looked at Pepa attentively and, little by little, her face began to show fear. Silvia, who was smiling at Pepa’s absurd story, knocked her lightly on the head making the little one laugh.
“Don’t listen to mami, she’s crazy,” the redhead assured. “I’m going to meetings and boring things like that.”
Noah shrugged her shoulders, that seemed like a good enough reason not to go, so she was satisfied with the response.
“So you know, cariño, today in the supermarket, we’re on a mission!” Pepa said animatedly. Silvia smiled with every word Pepa said knowing that with Noah, the brunette’s imagination and desire to play were always overflowing.
“What mission?! What mission?!” The girl asked anxiously.
“Well, to buy supplies for mamá!”
“Oh! That’s right!”
“Don’t you go crazy in the supermarket,” Silvia warned. “And when I say ‘you’, I mean both of you.” She looked at her ex-wife. “We both know how you are, you get her all riled up.”
“It’s because I like to embarrass you.”
Silvia smiled and rolled her eyes. Noah also smiled, and she stared at them as if she were watching a tennis match. Were her mothers starting to get closer again?
They finally arrived at the supermarket and after a few turns looking for food, the family headed off to the electronics department. Noah was breathing with a bit of difficulty after racing down the aisles and her mother handed her the inhaler which was promptly put away once her breathing evened out. It was incredible how quickly she had grown accustomed to the medication and how well she had learned to use it, she was now asking for it herself whenever she felt bad.
“Look, mamá! I’m on tv!” Noah said as she moved in front of a camera that was showing her image on a plasma tv. Pepa looked all around in concentration.
“What are we doing here?” Silvia asked.
“Shhh,” Pepa ordered her to be quiet. “There they are.” She pointed to an aisle and they headed in that direction. Silvia took Noah’s hand and followed after Pepa. At other times, she would’ve let Noah stay in the reading area or even there, playing with the camera, but since the mafia’s threat, she preferred not to run the risk.
“Laptops?” The redhead asked aloud when she saw that the aisle was full of them.
“Yes.”
“What do you need a laptop for?”
“For you.”
“For me?”
“This way I can see you when you’re in Málaga.”
There was a silence and Silvia looked at her ex-wife. Pepa knew that that look meant she would’ve gotten a kiss if their daughter weren’t in front of them, but Noah, though she wasn’t looking at them, was really close by and could catch them.
“We’ll pay half and half,” Silvia stated.
“I thought you were going to outright refuse for us to buy one.”
“It’s just that, I want to see you, too, even though I’m going to be 500km away.”
They looked at each other. Pepa’s tongue swiped across her lips, and she turned towards her daughter who was entertaining herself by clicking away on a display keyboard. She shifted her gaze back to Silvia pleadingly, but Silvia shook her head.
“She’s going to know sooner or later.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Please…” The brunette uttered, starting to pout.
“Pepa…”
“Please…”
Silvia rolled her eyes and quickly shot a glance at Noah. She got on her tip toes and gave Pepa a short peck. Pepa smiled and stepped closer to Silvia, she took her by the nape and kissed her more deeply. Noah chose that moment to turn around and when she saw them, she was in a bit of shock. Then, she slowly smiled and covered her face with her hands, embarrassed.
When Pepa and Silvia separated, the redhead was blushing but she smiled helplessly. They both looked at their daughter and laughed when they saw her.
Noah dropped her hands from her face and ran to her mothers. There was no need for words, just the three of them laughing and the enormous hug their daughter gave them. A few people who walked by saw them and smiled. They might not be the most common of families: two women together, mothers of a four-year old girl, divorced, and one of them pregnant from the guy she slept with out of despair, but after all was said and done, they were a family. After all these years, they were.
Links to the original story:
http://pepaysilvia.mforos.com/1469855/8481210-por-si-eramos-pocos-01-11-09-23-40/
http://pepaysilvia.mforos.com/1469855/8680673-por-si-eramos-pocos-ii-28-11-09-21-35/
http://pepaysilvia.mforos.com/1469855/8848739-por-si-eramos-pocos-iii-14-02-10-0-55-finalizado/