Birdie

31. Pregnant

The end of her two week 'break' was nearing, and it was going about as slow as molasses.

Carmen found herself trying to be anywhere but home until well in the evening, because cabin fever was alive and well inside her.

Since she was coming home at around the same time as Chancellor, some nights later than him, he was becoming very agitated with her, she could tell. He hadn't said a word about how he felt, but she knew this man, this man who was not only her best friend, but her lover, the man she wanted to marry, and she knew when he was trying to bite his tongue, and judging by his sour attitude, it'd be bleeding soon. He'd learn soon if he hadn't already that she was not the type of woman who would sit home all day and be in the kitchen, barefoot and finishing up on cooking his dinner as he walked in the door, and he'd be fine with it, too. 

Carmen had just left Chance's parents' house, having spent the majority of the day helping Mayra clear out a room in the house that she kept a mass amount of things that Carmen was sure hadn't been touched since Chance was a child. There was also newer things, like kitchen supplies that had never been open. Carmen had taken home a brand new nutritional blender, which she planned to start jarring food for Claire soon with. She was almost seven months old, and was just now starting to eat baby food. She was still refusing anything that wasn't a bottle filled with formula or juice, and poor Morgan had been trying everything to get his picky baby to eat, and ended up just waiting for Claire to tell him when she would take more than a bottle.

Mayra had also given Carmen two sets of curtains that she set about putting up in her bedroom the second she got home. Apparently Chance had told his mother of the time Carmen had been high off pain medicine and complaining that the living room needed better curtains. She left the Seams's house with a set of olive green curtains, and also a set of a cool shade of carob brown curtains. 

Chance was in the closet, rummaging around for something when Carmen walked through the front door calling out, "Babe, I've got some stuff from your Mom that I'm bringing in, but I'm here."

He emerged a moment later as Carmen lay the curtains that were still packaged on the back of the couch, and she whirled around with a grin as he wrapped an arm around her waist, dragging her closer to him until they were touching, "Hey there,"

"Hi," She grinned as she leaned up to her tip toes to press her lips to his chin first, then his lips when he lowered her head, "How was work?"

He landed a rough kiss to her lips once more, then shrugged as he kissed her forehead, "Fine. Didn't really do much. You've been on my mind all day."

Worried, Carmen's brow furrowed as she looked up at him, "Why? Is everything alright?"

Chance's lips pulled up into a smirk as he ran his knuckle under her chin, "Everything's good," He murmured, "Your momma called me."

"About what?" She couldn't help how she snapped at him, though she was nowhere near upset with her man. Delilah Guy and her daughter were on shaky terms at the best of times.

The two hadn't gotten along in years. It was like Carmen and Ira came along and when they did, their mother had refused to grow up. Ira just took it into stride, but his baby sister on the other hand, did not.

Carmen's mother was unreliable, rude, self-centered, and stubborn. The only person who could tame her so to speak was her husband. She acted with Carmen as if she was more of an annoyance than the daughter she was supposed to love and cherish, and when Carmen started to see this sometime during elementary school, the mother daughter pair started to butt heads shortly after.