The Crown

Chapter Sixty Five

Beatrice had been up all night with ongoing pain in her abdomen. She tossed and turned, sometimes even crying herself to sleep. When the morning came, she had finally passed out due to sleep deprivation. Tobias had just finished placing a wet towel on her head before retreating back downstairs. 

To pass time, he decided to try and memorize the contents of the yellow folder, which held all his fake history, along with his fake name.

As he studied, a knock interrupted his thoughts. Tobias put down the folder and walked over to the front door. He opened it and forced a smile at the woman in front of him. It was Abby, the midwife who had coincidentally appeared yesterday when Beatrice received a hard pain in her stomach. He invited her in, closing the door behind him.

"My wife is asleep at the moment, and I've just placed a wet cloth on her forehead per your instructions," Tobias informed.

Abby looked back and furrowed her brows at the vocabulary the man was using - highly unusual for a common villager - but shook it off eventually. "Where did you say you came from, again?"

"I never said."

"How about your name? And your wife's?"

Tobias looked over at the yellow folder and sighed. "My name is Toby, and my wife is Tris."

Abby snickered. "You two have names that start with 'T'. Funny."

He shrugged. "I guess so."

Abby nodded and excused herself up the stairs. She entered the master bedroom and went to Beatrice's side, checking her stomach. Beatrice stirred when Abby applied pressure in some areas of her abdomen. Tobias walked into the room, leaning against the door frame and watching attentively.

"She's going to give birth very soon, Toby," Abby said, standing up. "If her water breaks and her contractions are minutes apart, call me. Until then, don't let her push. You have to keep her walking. Do you understand, Toby?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I understand. When do you think she'll give birth?"

"It could be as soon as tonight and as far as next week. We can't know until her water breaks, obviously," She walked over to Tobias and lowered her voice. "Your wife is going to be in a lot of pain, okay? You have to be there to comfort her. She's giving birth to possible twins, and labor will be much harder than everything she's ever gone through."

You don't know how much stuff she's been through, Tobias thought to himself, you have no idea. "Thank you, Abby. I'll come over if anything happens."

Abby pursed her lips. "Why not, instead, I come over for dinner with my family. I can watch over Tris, and you can make some neighborly friends. It'll be great."

Tobias crossed his arms and led her to the door. "I'm a little embarrassed to say I can't cook that well."

"That's not a problem, I'll cook. I love to cook. You should learn soon, it's really fun." Abby then went on to talk about how much she loved to cook, and when she realized she was trailing on a conversation, she cleared her throat and left the house quietly.

He let out an exasperated sigh as he closed the door. Tobias went back to the counter, grabbed the folder, and groaned as he read through it over and over again until Beatrice awoke.

~

When Beatrice's eyes opened, she groaned loudly and turned, which only made her stomach experience pain. She looked down, rubbing hard on the areas where she felt pain.

"What's wrong?" She asked herself. "Why are you guys kicking so hard?"

Another blow and Beatrice groaned loudly again.