Season 6 Once Upon a Time

Chapter 6

Jane held back a sigh of frustration. She looked down at her hands before excusing herself and rushing out of the patio to go back inside. She crossed the kitchen heading straight for the small bathroom that was close to the living room.

Her fingers burned. As a matter of fact, the sensation had spread in her hands the moment she had touched Maura's stomach earlier in the morning, in bed. She hadn't felt anything at first. Or at least not really. It all had happened when Maura had shivered and that Jane had noticed her friend's reaction to her touch.

Her remark about eating too much pasta had been a vain subterfuge to escape from the awkwardness of the moment. It had worked out rather efficiently until Maura's parents had shown up. Then Jane's hands had begun to burn anew, for a reason Jane couldn't understand.

The cool water running on her hands soothed the singular feeling for a while. Somewhat reassured, Jane dried her hands then walked out of the bathroom. She couldn't spend the rest of the day in there. Maura was waiting for her. She almost bumped into her friend's mother who was obviously waiting for her turn.

"Oh." Jane's cheeks turned red. Maura's mother often made her feel uncomfortable, and intimidated. "I'm sorry. Please, come in."

Constance Isles was one of these few woman everyone noticed in spite of her soft and low voice. She owned a natural presence that made Jane green with envy because Jane was her exact opposite. She had to be loud to be seen. Really loud. However, a certain coldness rose from Constance's attitude as well. It scared Jane slightly.

"It's fine."

Jane was about to leave when she realized that Maura's mother was simply washing her hands. Constance Isles hadn't even bothered closing the door behind her. Jane looked at her. Obviously her gesture - or better said absence of gesture - had to be interpreted a sign. Jane understood it and she politely remained by the door.

"It's great to see you in Boston. Maura's..."

"She's pregnant." Constance straightened up. She barely cast a glance at her reflection in the mirror above the sink and went to dry her hands almost immediately. "I may not be a specialist of the matter but I still can spot a pregnant woman in a crowd."

An icy shiver ran down Jane's spine. The world hadn't stopped turning but her certainties had nonetheless collapsed. Within a sentence. She and Maura had honestly believed that they had fooled everyone until now. Her pregnancy had remained unnoticed and they were proud of it. Yet Constance's comment had swept away such certainly within a very short sentence.

"But..."

This time Constance turned around. She looked into Jane's eyes and let's a delicate smile play on her lips. A delicate and mysterious smile. Jane couldn't say whether Maura's mother was happy or hurt. She seemed to be standing somewhere in between. Something was off. Of course, she wasn't mad but she didn't look ecstatic either.

"I suppose that it was only a matter of time. My remark about her slowing down on sweets was a mere joke. It didn't have to be taken seriously at all." Constance adjusted her dress. She then made a step closer to Jane. "But err. May I ask you something, Jane?"

Jane shrugged. She honestly didn't feel like answering Constance's questions - even less the ones that came up out of the blue - but she hardly saw how she could turn her down. It would be extremely impolite and absolutely not justified. Thus she gives her friend's mother a timid nod and waited in silence for her sentence.

"Are you in a domestic relationship with my daughter?"

Jane wondered if Constance was joking anew. For long seconds she remained quiet and tried to read through Maura's mother's eyes. In vain. Thus she swallowed hard and forced herself to speak out loud.