Chapter Twenty-Five

The mothers at the dance studio haven't lightened up at all. They glare at me through the blinds of the classrooms. Some of them have asked when I am leaving. Others have mentioned that their little ones have been asking about my growing tummy. A few of them did congratulate me and asked how I am doing.

The kids don't seem to have a problem though. Some of them have asked a few questions and I gave them the best answers I could. A few have even asked to feel my stomach, which I didn't mind.

Today few mothers are looking rather displeased with me. I try and ignore them as I teach the girls a new step. After a few more minutes of practising the class ends and the girls hurry out the door to their mothers.

"We need to talk." I place a smile on my lips and turn to address the mother. It's Holly's mom. She's been trying to keep Holly away from the studio, but her daughter loves it here, so she brings her.

"Yes?" I ask trying to use my best smiling voice. She tries to send me her best smile, but it only looks like she smelt something funny. "This is Colette Pertuit, she landed last night from France." A tall, slender, blond woman, her hair pulled into a tight bun, comes to stand next to her. She doesn't even try to seem friendly. "She is one of the top ballerina's and she's agreed to teach here until Catharina and Anina are back. Take the load off you." I frown, "I don't need her help. I'm fine."

She reaches out and pats my arm, "You're at the end of your second trimester?" I nod. She pulls a face which I assume should be sympathetic, but really it still looks like she's smelling something horrible. "It's going to get worse. You think you're fine now, but soon, all you want to do is sleep." When she sees I'm not going to budge she drops her hand.

"You will deprive the children the chance to be taught by a professional ballerina?" She sounds horrified, but I know she's putting on a show. "Colette is welcome to be a guest teacher a few times, but she's not taking over my classes." I say firmly.

Holly tugs on her mother's dress, "What's wrong, mommy?" She looks down at her daughter, "Colette is going to teach you while Miss Lindsey rests for a few weeks." I try not to roll my eyes as she tells her daughter lies. "No!" The little girl yells. "I don't want her!" She points at Colette. "Calm down, Holly." Her mother says through gritted teeth as she grabs the toddler's arm.

The little girl breaks free and runs over to me, "No! I want her." She wraps her arm around my leg. I pat her hair before asking her to let go. I crouch down to her level, "I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart." She sends her mother a glare. "Holly, you come here right now." Her mother says, giving Holly the look.

"No!" Holly screams and starts running down the hall. I turn to follow her. I smile when I see Catharina and Anina coming down the hall. Catharina squats down and catches the little girl. "Where are you going?" She asks her with a smile. "Mommy says Miss Lindsey is leaving." She answers, blowing up her cheeks and folding her arms.

"Is that so?" By now they have reached where I was standing with Colette and Holly's mom. Catharina sends the woman a questioning look. She falls over her words as she tries to explain that she only wanted to help me and give the girls a chance to dance with a professional ballerina. Catharina lets out a laugh, "Is my daughter not good enough for you?"

The woman looks at Anina and shakes her head, "You weren't here and she is pregnant and-" "And what?" Catharina asks, raising a brow at her. Holly's mom doesn't reply. "I danced with Anina in my womb until the very last minute." The woman seems very displeased with this piece of information.

Then her face sets into a glare, "You were married. Anina has a father. You didn't teach the girls that it's alright to just be pregnant." Catharina laughs, "Do you see a husband or father around here?" The woman bites her lip. "No, when he heard I was expecting he threw a hundred on the table and left. He's never seen his daughter. I assume he wanted me to get rid of her." I see Anina shift in her stance and I wish the woman would just stop her nonsense.

"I didn't. I kept my little angel. And I had to teach until the last second to make sure I can buy the things she would need. I had to start dancing again a week after, or she wouldn't be here today. So, Lindsey stays." Catharina leans over to Anina and plants a kiss on her daughter's head. I assume it's to apologise for what she had to say.

"Then we're leaving." Holly starts screaming again as her mother tries to take her away from Catharina. "Holly, stop it." She snaps, but that only makes the little one scream more. "I want to stay here! I don't want to leave Miss Lindsey!" She screams. Her mother goes white. "Fine. Fine. We won't leave. We'll come back to Miss Lindsey." She says through gritted teeth.

Holly stops screaming and almost jumps from Catharina's arms into her mother's. "See you next week." She says bitterly as she starts to leave.

"You are welcome to teach here anytime, Colette." Catharina says as the slender woman walks past her. She nods and follows Holly and her mother.

Catharina and Anina wrap their arms around me. "Let's look at you." Catharina demands, stepping back. I turn to the side and let them look at my baby bump. It's not very big, luckily. "You look beautiful." She coos, looking at me with a warm smile.

"You're starting your third trimester?" Anina asks. I nod, "Yes, only three more months to go." They both smile. Then I remember, "You are both invited to the baby shower of course. You'll have to call Taylor for the details. I don't know when it is or what we're doing." They let out heartily laughs, "Very well, dear."

When I arrive home I find the door unlocked. I follow a lovely smell into the kitchen where I see a warm pie standing on the counter, cooling down. I frown and try to figure out who is here. It can't be Amanda, even though I am sure she would have baked the pie, she would have been in the kitchen cleaning up and buzzing around making sure things would be spotless.

I hear something fall upstairs and head up. A part of me is trying to warn me to stay away, but I keep heading up the stairs. There's another crash and then a muffled swear word. The door to the baby room is slightly ajar.

I push it open and find Daniel sitting on the floor with a lot of wooden pieces and screws around him. In front of him is a large piece of paper with lots of words all over the place with a few sketches here and there.

"Daniel?" I ask. He looks over his shoulder. "Damn it." He gets to his feet. "What are you doing here?" I shrug, "Anina said she'd take the afternoon class." He smiles, "That's nice of her." I try to peer past him, but he steps in front of me, to try and block my view. "The better question is what are you doing?" "Nothing. Mom made us a pie for dinner."

"We're having dinner?" I ask. He nods, "I thought it would be fun to have a meal together again. And I was-" I push past him and hurry to the white paper. The heading reads, Rocking chair: How to build.

"I wanted it to be done by the time you got here." He says behind me. "I thought we were going to pick one out together." I say softly. "I know, but I was at the store and saw it. It will look so good once I figure out how to put it together." He comes to stand in front of me and I look away.

"Linds? What's wrong?" He asks stepping closer. I shake my head, "We were going to pick it together." I say, anger boiling inside me. "I'm sorry, but I thought you'd like it." He says looking irritated. "But if you don't want it, I'll take it back." He starts picking up pieces and throwing them into the box.

"Stop it, Daniel." I grab one of the pieces off the floor. "Give it." He demands, holding out his hand so I can give it to him. I shake my head, "No." He groans, "Stop being so childish." I glare at him, "I'm childish? Who's the one having a tantrum?" "Apparently, you." He snaps, grabbing the piece from me and stuffing it into the box.

I grab a new piece and hold it to my chest. "Oh, stop it, Lindsey. We'll take this one back and you can pick one yourself." I roll my eyes, "Together, we pick it together." "Whatever you want to tell yourself." He snatches the piece from me.

I feel a slight scrape on my hand and look down. There was apparently something sharp in the piece which left a long cut along the palm of my hand. "You cut me." I say, stunned. "I didn't cut you, Lindsey, I just got a chair. Stop being so dramatic." He says irritated with me now.

"No, you cut me!" I yell, holding out my bloody hand for him to see. He stops and looks at my hand, the blood pooling in my palm. He glares at me, "Well if you hadn't taken the piece-" Then we just start snapping at each other, not even letting the other finish their sentence. "If you hadn't thrown a tantrum-" "If you would just stop-"

"Daniel." I place my palms on my stomach. "No, Lindsey I am not-" "Daniel!" I snap. He looks at me and sees me holding my tummy. "What? What's wrong? What's happened?" I reach for his hand and place it on the baby bump.

At first, I wasn't sure, but then it happened again. A small flutter in my stomach. It was soft at first. Now, you can clearly feel the baby moving. Daniel's blue eyes sparkle and his mouth pull into a smile. "Is he?" I nod my head. The movement stops. "Say something." I urge.

"What would I say?" He asks, looking very scared. I smile, "Anything." He crouches down and rubs my tummy. "Hello, little one. We, we uh, don't know if you're a girl or a boy, but we do love you. And we, um, can't wait to see you." He stops and looks up at me. "Go on."

He looks back to my stomach, "Things are a bit complicated out here, but just know there are a whole lot of people ready to love you. Starting with your mamma and me." I feel a slight flutter and smile. Daniel looks up, "Was that?" I nod, "A kick." He smiles.

After he cleaned my hand and ate the pie we spent the rest of the night sitting on the couch. Daniel's hand almost never leaving my stomach. He talks to the baby, telling about the family and how I'll be a good mother.

At some point, he leaned over and placed his ear against my stomach. He sat up and smiles. We stayed up half the night just feeling the baby move and talking to each other and the baby.