within the meadow √ h.s.

t w e n t y e i g h t

delilah's belly was growing faster than the skin could adjust. faint stretch marks adorned her stomach, emphasizing the baby that seemed to be active during the night when she was trying to sleep.

she felt the kicks of the little feet, or maybe it was punches being made by tiny fists, but delilah smiled in amazement at the blossoming life within her. "can you please go to sleep with mommy? i'm really tired." she rubbed her belly and hummed as she turned on her side and hugged the pillow that was supposed to help her sleep.

laura began making weekly visits to delilah's apartment. she took her to the doctor's and she helped her with grocery shopping and cleaning. she only had three months until she would be able to greet her beautiful angel, time was running out. delilah needed a nursery.

"mom, would it be totally crazy if i moved into lenny's house?" she asked laura as they walked down the aisles of the grocery store.

"i think that's why he left it to you, dear. he wanted to give you and the baby all of the help he could offer. i don't see why you haven't thought about before, the place has just been waiting there. it's a beautiful place, lots of windows and space."

"my lease is almost up, so i should probably get on it soon," delilah chuckled while finding fresh fruits and vegetables.

"we'll head over there later and figure some stuff out." her mom smiled at her, glad that all of the right things fell into her lap.

dust was being collected on all surfaces of lenny's house. everything was exactly as it was left, and she wasn't sure what she would be keeping and what she would get rid of.

"i think it's safe to say that most of this furniture is older than you, and maybe even me," laura remarked. "maybe you should hire someone to take care of this. you can't lift too much, and i have to go back to work and won't be back until next week."

"i'll get someone for the big stuff, but i'll ask mila if she could help me out," delilah reasoned.

and that's exactly what she did. and entire day was spent packing up lenny's belongings into boxes and labeling them to later decide what should be donated and what should be stored.

all of the furniture was soon moved out, and the boxes worth keeping were moved to the center of the room. mila and delilah were going through photographs of lenny and alice.

they found one of the two standing in front of the house, each raising one hand into the air with young, large grins plastered on their faces. on the back, messy handwriting was printed.

when we bought our home.

delilah found a frame, and put the photograph into it, planning to display it on the mantle.

within the next week, delilah had her belongings brought to the house. she hadn't had time to check on the cafe more than once a week, but months ago she hired more help to ease the weight.

she was sore. the pregnancy had taken its toll on her body leaving her exhausted most hours of the day.

delilah had two cans of soft yellow paint waiting to be applied to the walls of the nursery. she had picked the room with the most natural light flowing in and open space.

opening all of the windows in the room and laying down the tarp as well as taping up edges, she poured some of the paint into a tray and used a roller to apply it to the walls. the fumes of the paint were strong, but was quickly diluted with the fresh air from the windows.

finishing one wall left her drained, so she took a seat on the floor and stretched. her belly prevented her from touching her toes, so she just made an attempt to reach. when she was done with all on the walls, paint could be found in her hair as well as splattered on her clothes. delilah never had an artistic bone in her body, but she had to say that she did a good job painting the walls.