Pieces of the Present - [Danona] Book Two ✓

03. unthinkable

"I can feel you staring at me," Katie whispered, feeling her mother's presence from the doorway burning a hole in the back of her head. She had spent the morning sitting on the edge of her bed, gazing out the window as the snow fell. It didn't snow in Georgia. It never snowed in Georgia. Yet, the crispy white flakes fell from the sky and practically melted before they reached the ground. The lucky ones, the really lucky ones were the ones that made it to the ground, painting the grass with a delicate highlight. 

She wasn't really sure what she was staring at. Her eyes hadn't focused on anything in particular from the window. Maybe it was just the falling snow that had her mesmerized. Something that wasn't supposed to happen was happening. It was snowing. She was pregnant. Everything was backwards. 

She was watching a universal anomaly in front of her, all while also living one. Well, pregnancy wasn't quite as rare as snow in the south, but the sentiment remained the same. Maybe it was the world's way of showing her the rarities that could occur. If it could snow in Georgia, anything could happen. Maybe not anything, but rare things. 

There was no reason to be bothered to look behind herself, to make eye contact with her mom. She already knew what they were thinking; the questions they were dying to ask. She didn't have the answers. At least not to the ones they really wanted to know. She knew the answers to the smaller questions like how far along she was or how she was feeling. The other questions; the ones that pertained to the rest of her life, she didn't know.

Consideration had been lightly paid to some of the bigger thoughts. As soon as the lines turned positive, those bigger questions had fluttered through her mind, earning no real proper answer. She didn't know. Plain and simple. 

"I uh... I figured maybe Dad outta sit the bench for a little bit. That maybe we could avoid a screaming match if you talked to me first. Only if you want to," Winona offered, stepping in the room and carefully closing the door behind her. "I promise I won't yell at you if that makes you feel any better."

Katie slowly turned, pulling her legs back up on the bed so she could sit and face Winona. Her eyes still remained red and puffy from the late-night crying she had done into her pillow. That, and the tears that had continued to fall throughout her alone time in the morning. As she and Winona both settled back onto her bed, she clutched a pillow to her chest and rested her head on it. 

"I don't really know what to say," she said, trying to avoid her mother's sad eyes. 

"Well... just say anything, I guess. I've been in this situation before, sweetheart. I know that even though you don't have any words, it still feels like there are a million of them sitting on your chest. And I know just how badly you want to run off into a field and scream until the situation isn't what it is anymore. So, just say whatever you want to say and I will listen." she said. 

Katie looked back down at the duvet on her bed, studying the rainbow polka dot pattern on the fabric. "I'm eight weeks..." she mumbled. "I uh— I found out when I was in Santorini. We went there after Italy for a few weeks."