EDEN rolled her eyes at the headline in today's newspaper. It was all she saw for the last two weeks and it felt as soon as they entered the sixth month of the year, the papers were non-stop.
Sure she knew there was a crisis, but she couldn't imagine what the world would be like if every man enlisted and went and fought in this... war. She didn't believe it would be all fun and games like the papers said.
"You seein' this?" Eden put down the paper, looking up at Polly just as Ada went upstairs.
It was Sunday afternoon and the Dawkins woman stopped by to drop some medicine for the Shelby girl, who had a raging headache.
"Everyone's seein' it love, the boys won't stop goin' on 'bout it," Polly chuffed, placing a cup of tea down on the kitchen table for the nurse to consume.
Ever since Eden stepped through the door, the was something off about her, and Polly was determined to find out what.
"Tom hasn't said much to me," Eden murmured, rereading today's column.
"He won't, it's men's business as he puts it, the cheek of 'im'," Polly scoffed at her nephew's previous comment.
Eden hummed in agreement, "I've learnt to tune out his outlandish comments, if I didn't he would be rewarded a smack."
"Got a powerful backhand, Eden?" Polly asked, very amused.
Eden innocently shrugged, "John said I did."
"That boy," Polly tutted, "Martha's at her mum's again with Katie. I dunno what he said to her, but it can't be good."
"It never is," she knew how John could get, especially when he felt ganged up on or wronged, he would say anything and everything that came to mind. He has to learn.
"Now go on, drink your tea," Polly nodded to the cup that hadn't been touched.
Eden leaned back at the scent, "Can't drink much more, I've been pissin' like mad," she said and Polly leaned forward at that, "Woke Tommy up three times last night because of it".
"Sure that's the only reason he woke up," Polly jested, with an eye roll.
Eden gasped, "Polly?!"
"What?" she then insisted again, "Finish your tea."
Sighing, Eden picked it up, "Fine but the smell is potent."
Polly began more intrigued, "Potent ey?"
"Come to think of it, everythin' smells strong," Eden exclaimed, scrunching up her face, "Tom tried kissin' me in the Garrison yesterday, caught a whiff of his whiskey and I got up and left."
"Odd."
"Very. Let me finish the tea."
Eden reluctantly took a sip, then another, before forcing the whole thing down her throat.
"Been havin' dreams recently? No —" she shook her head, mouth full of the beverage, so Polly continued, "I 'ave, dreamt of a little girl, little brown one. With a man holdin' her up whilst they watched the horses galloped by ain't that funny?"
"I guess," Eden breathed out, not thinking much of it.
All she felt was nausea.
Polly reached over, and dragged Eden's cup to where she could see, much to her confusion. Polly took one look and stared up at the younger woman.
"What is it?" Eden's eyes grew wide at the alert look on her face.
"Stand up," Polly said, doing so herself.
Eden whined, "My feet are killin' me."
"Stand up, side on."
She finally stood up, a bit too quickly, so she leaned against the table, Polly seemed very concerned by her fatigue after getting a good look at her.
Eden was caught off guard when the matriarch reached over and grabbed her breast, "Ow!"
"Eden..."
"I'm sensitive," Eden whined.
"How late are you?" Polly wondered, returning to her seat as the pregnant nurses stood there stunned beyond belief.
"A couple of days," she whispered, gulping at the thought, well she hadn't given it much thought to be honest, "... a week I think."
Polly choked out a laugh, "Eden Dawkins."
"Two weeks," she added, mind running rampant, thinking back to all the times she'd been with Tommy.
It was mostly hate sex, hate on her part, even though it was very pleasurable.
Polly couldn't stop laughing, "You're a nurse."
"I'm aware of my occupation Pol," Eden muttered out of frustration, then quickly apologised, "Sorry. It could just be stress, not pregnancy."
"You're pregnant," Polly spoke with indifference, despite hoping it would happen. Another great-neice she thought, but decided to keep that fact to herself.
"Stress, just stress," Eden tried to convince herself.
It's not like she was too young, her mum was twenty when she had her, but it was all too soon, she and Tommy only stopped arguing, their best friends were gone, (in different ways of course) and she just was starting to get the hang of things at work and she prayed he wasn't considering enlisting in that godforsaken war.
"You better tell him soon," Polly instead.
Slumping back into her chair, Eden sighed into her hands, "What if he leaves me?"
Polly softly scoffed, "Tommy looks at you like you're the sun to his moon, he'll marry you on the spot."
"I don't want him to marry me out of obligation," Eden rushed out and Polly gawked at her like she was mad.
"How can you be so stupid and yet so smart?" sorta like our Tommy in that aspect, Polly thought.
"Polly!"
"I should get paid for dealin' with a lot of ya," she muttered, rolling her shoulders back and shaking her head. "Tommy loves ya, he'dmarry you if you decided today was the day. That baby inside of you," Eden's gaze dropped to her stomach, "my nephew is a lot of things, but he's a man of his word, you understand?"
Eden meekly nodded, her eyes hadn't moved, almost as if she wanted to see some sort of bump, but she had to be sure, needed to be, but the thought of a baby was oddly comforting, half her, half Tommy... what a good looking baby, Polly noticed the smile tugging at her lips and grinned herself.
Footsteps approached them after the front door slammed shut.
Tommy entered the room and immediately smiled at the sight of his woman, coming over and pressing a chaste kiss to her cheek since her punishment was going strong, no kissing 'round people, not until you're forgiven.
"Well, I must be a ghost," Polly remarked, feigning hurt when her nephew ignored her presence.
"Pol," Tommy quickly greeted her with a forehead kiss, much to her amusement.
"Hi Tom," Eden mustered up a smile, all while sending a pleading look to Polly.
"You alright? Jeremiah said you were sick this mornin'" he said, rather worried, though slightly happy she stopped calling him Thomas.
Eden made a face, "How does —"
"He told your dad, he ran into Charlie and Charlie told me."
"And let me guess, the lads at the Marquis know too?" Eden murmured, irritably, earning a look of confusion from him, making Tommy return to her side, "And I'm fine, just somethin' I ate."
Tommy eyed her just like he eyed him, the couple tended to communicate through expressions, which drove both families mad.
"You looked pale yesterday —" Polly quietly laughed at the look on Eden's face. Tommy cleared his throat soon after, "All alright, how's your day?"
"Not bad, you?"
Eden didn't see how his eyes nervously flickered to the headline of the paper on the tables but Polly did.
"Not bad."
__
Quietly shutting the front door, Eden rushed into her home, senselessly palming her stomach.
"Mum," she whispered, watching as Celestine prepared their Sunday dinner. She hoped her father in the next room didn't hear a thing, she couldn't deal with him just yet.
"You should've been here —" Celestine dropped her rant the moment she saw the worry on her daughter's face, "what's the matter?"
Eden nervously looked around, "I fucked up."
"Watch your language," Celestine gently cupped her daughter's face, "and what did you do?"
"I'm two weeks late."
"Fuck," Celestine muttered, despite herself, as her gaze dropped to her daughter's stomach, realising where her hand was placed.
"I think... I'm pregnant."
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a/n:
yes, it seems both tommy and eden are keeping something from each other.
polly knows the gender of the baby, what names are we thinking, of course, I've already come up with one, but I'm curious what you guys think.
los labios se entreabren con sorpresa pero no hay sonido que escape de estos. miente, la vocesita dentro de su cabeza se apresura a ordenar y ella, obediente, lo hace. ' pf. s-sí ... ' monosílabo escapa atropellado, torpe. ' n-no — quiero decir, ¿a qué te refieres con esa pregunta? ¿qué consideras como mucho o poco? ' los pulmones le obligan a hacer una pausa para inhalar y, posteriormente, exhalar. ' ¿te parezco como alguien sin experiencia en citas? ' seguro sí.
' bueno, pero tampoco es que eres medio buenx ... ' las arrugas en el puente de la nariz se marcan, esforzándose porque la sonrisa no delate sus intenciones de incordiar. ' aún no estoy seguro de si esto va a funcionar. ' y el fantasma del nerviosismo ronda por su rostro, haciendo clavar incisivos sobre su labio inferior. ' aquí es donde me das ánimos, eh. '
