A Dance of Life

35

I wake up to find Pat staring intensely at my face. I shift away from her, and she sits back, grinning at me.

"Sorry. I wasn't sure how to wake you up," she tells me, scratching her head

"It's fine," I yawn, stretching my arms above my head. I notice the bus pulling away from a station, and I glance at my watch. "Where are we?"

Did I just seriously sleep for 3 hours?

"We're leaving DC and heading to Pittsburgh," she replies, buckling her seat belt.

"Wait, what? And you didn't wake me?" I pout.

She gives me a weird look and shakes her head, "You've been to DC a million times, Annelise, plus you need your rest."

My stomach grumbles, and I grab it in fear. "Oh my gosh, Pat! I haven't eaten, you could have woken me up for that."

"Calm down, Ellie," she says, her eyebrows creasing. She reaches for something under her chair and pulls out a take-away pack of food with a logo I don't recognize. The aroma fills my nose, and I practically grab it from her.

"I wouldn't let you go hungry. When we stopped, I went to get some food and snacks for the rest of the trip. I also got these." She raises up two snowy white tiny hats with embroidery of the White House.

"Oh, Pat," I start, taking one from her. "This was so thoughtful and amazing of you."

She's thumbing the second one but examining my face. Her brows are still furrowed, and she's biting her lip.

"I'm sorry," I mutter, pursing my lip. "I don't know why I reacted that way."

"Hormones?"

"I don't want to blame it on that, I want to take responsibility for my actions." I clutch my fingers into a fist and put the hat on it. It fits perfectly, and my eyes start to sting. "Can you believe their heads are going to be so tiny?"

"And then it'll grow to the massive size of yours? Yep, unbelievable."

She snickers at her joke, and I know she isn't mad at me anymore, so I take her hand and give it a small squeeze. "I have a very important question to ask you."

She glances up at me, an eyebrow raised, "Should I be worried?"

"Would you like to be one of the babies' godmother?" I ask, my heart beating in anticipation.

She's obviously not going to say no, so why are you scared?

"Oh my gosh, are you serious?" She bounces on her seat in excitement, looking from my swollen tummy to my amused face. "Wait, which one? The left or the right?"

I giggle and shake my head. "I don't know Patricia, I'll let you know after birth."

"Ooh," she squeals. "I'm suddenly so excited. I mean, I was obviously going to be part of their lives, but this way, I'm really involved."

"Well, I'm glad to have made you happy." I smile at her and take the second hat. They're so soft and wooly that I can already see the comfort that they'd provide to those little heads.

"You have, Ellie, you really really have."

"That's enough emotional stuff; time for food."

I carefully place the hats into my bag, making sure that there's nothing close by that could ruin them. I try to make myself comfortable in my seat, gearing up for the seven hours ahead.

Pat pulls out her food tray and mine, and places three food packages on it. I put the pack I took from her beside the other three, and I give her a look.