The Teachers pet

A day at the beach

Turns out the beach was only about twenty minutes away, I still managed to fall asleep about ten minutes into the drive, so I didn't even know what beach we were at until we got there and I asked Beau, Brighton beach, we set up a few chairs and an umbrella not far from the water, James took Skye to the water but Luna wanted to stay on the beach with me, I sat in one of the chairs next to Emily, it was sunny but not too terribly bright, Emily had nova in a little portable bassinet thing next to her, while Luna sat at my feet playing in the sand, beau took his shirt off and laid it in the chair next to mine
"Are you coming love?" He asked as he started towards the water
"Not right now baby, maybe in a little bit," I told him
I still hadn't taken the shirt I put on over my bathing suit off yet, and I wasn't sure I even wanted to take it off
"You know, the beach was my favorite place when I was pregnant with Nova," Emily said out of nowhere
"Really?" I asked
"Yeah, it was like a craving but instead of food it was a place, I wanted to be in or around the ocean the whole time I was pregnant" she replied
"That's very interesting Emily, I never knew you could have a craving for a place," I said
She chuckled
"I didn't either, it was one of those things that you don't really notice, then when you're pregnant and you're hormones and senses go wild, you start to pay more attention to little things you're body tells you," she said
Luna climbed up into my lap and laid a big orange and white seashell in my hand
"Is this for me?" I asked her
She nodded her head at me
"Thank you, Luna," I told her
She hugged me and then got back down to play in the sand, I put the shell she gave me in the little beach bag I got at Walmart, for safekeeping
"She clung to me when I was pregnant too, it's like a sixth sense little kids have," Emily said
"She really does love you, I've never seen her open up to someone as fast as she did you" she added
"Yeah," I sighed
"It hurts my heart that we have to leave here in a few days, I really don't want to hurt her like that," I added as I began to sniffle
"I understand how you feel, beau was 14, Theo was 7 and Emmie was 2 when James and I moved, of course, sometimes I wish we would have gone back to Virginia instead of staying here, no one from home has ever met Luna or nova, besides you and beau," Emily said with a sigh
"Haven't you thought about moving back?" I asked
"We've talked about it a little before, but we aren't sure it would be worth uprooting and leaving everything the kids have known" she explained
"I mean yeah, it would mess with them a little bit, but y'all would be closer to family," I said
"You know, I'm really glad Beau found such a nice girl, he doesn't have the best track record in dating" Emily admitted
"What do you mean Emily?" I asked
"There were a few girls that... weren't the best for Beau, got him In a lot of trouble when he was a teenager" she stated
"Like what kind of trouble?" I asked
I was extremely intrigued, Beau had never mentioned that he had a rebellious phase, in fact, he never really mentioned anything from when he was younger, except about his dad, which made me wonder whether he and Emily were full siblings or half-siblings, obviously, I figured that Emmie and Theo were his half-siblings
"The usual: underage drinking, drugs, smoking, sneaking out, and going to parties, stuff like that" Emily explained
"Oh wow, um, speaking of which, Beau told me about his dad which made me wonder if the four of you have the same dad or? If that's not too personal" I wondered aloud
"Me and Beau have the same dad, but Theo and Emmie have different dads, Theo's dad was one of moms boyfriends and Emmie was a one-night stand, Mom isn't quite sure who emmies real dad is" Emily stated
"Oh Emily, I'm so sorry,"  I told her
She shrugged her shoulders
"None of them were ever around long enough to know any of us, it was probably better that way" she admitted
Beau came back from the water, he smiled at me, then came to sit next to me, I turned to look at him and smiled
"What's that face for baby?" He asked
"Wondering," I said
"Wondering about what?" He asked
"When you were going to tell me that you had a rebellious phase in high school" I said smirking at him
Emily was distracted feeding Nova, while Luna was still playing in the sand by my feet, which meant that they weren't listening to what we were talking about, I saw Beau's face flush as he started to scratch the back of his neck out of nervousness
"So?" I hinted
"So what? I had a rebellious phase growing up, nothing special" he said as he shrugged his shoulders
"Why won't you tell me anything from when you were younger?" I whined
"I did anything a normal kid would do," he told me
"I was a normal kid" he added
I frowned at him and crossed my arms
"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked
"It means that I did anything kids did from the day I was born until I was eighteen," he said calmly
I let out an annoyed sigh
"That doesn't give me much, every kid's life is different beau, you and I, for example, you have three beautiful and kind siblings, while mine is—" I cut off holding back tears
I saw Beau's face drop in both surprise and shock, like he didn't know what to do or say, beau grabbed my hand trying to calm me down, Emily started to pay attention now, her eyes were a little more wide now, I could tell she had dozens of questions, and I knew there was no way she was going to let me stop there. She put her hand on my back, I felt tears start to roll down my cheeks
"Ella, what's wrong?" She asked
I tried to stop the tears but they had already started, I tried to shake my head at her to tell her nothing was wrong which would have been a lie, but she saw right through me
"Estella something is wrong, what is it?" She asked
My eyes continued to water, I pursed my lips before I spoke
"Before I was born, my mom had another baby, a boy, Joey, but—he was stillborn," I said nearly breaking down in tears
I'd never been this sensitive about this conversation, I've had it many times, whenever it's brought up, especially around Mom, I have to speak for her, it used to hurt a little, but I had gotten used to telling the story and I was immune to the pain of it, I immediately chalked it up to be the hormones, of course, it would always hurt knowing that my only sibling was gone before I knew him, before I was even thought about, mom and dad had always said they didn't have any more kids because I was enough for them, whenever I asked for a little brother or sister it was always the same answer "we have everything we could ask for, you." They would always say, but I knew they were scared the same thing would happen again
"Ella I'm sorry honey, what brought this on?" Emily asked
"I did, I brought it on myself," I told her
"It's okay, it wasn't something—" she started but I cut her off
"Oh whoa whoa—that—ow, ow, ow, that hurts" I stumbled over my words
It felt like I was having a period cramp but, obviously, I wasn't supposed to be having period cramps
"Baby? What's wrong?" Beau asked in a panic
"I don't know it felt like a period cramp," I told him
"Braxton hicks," Emily said
"What does that mean?" I asked
"It's like a contraction but it's just your body preparing itself for labor, like a pre-contraction contraction, if that makes sense" she explained
I saw Beau visibly relax in his chair
"Yeah, it—it makes sense," I said stumbling over my words again
I felt relieved that it wasn't anything bad and that there wasn't anything wrong