Little Pink Plus Sign - Rose POV - Part 9/?
“Dimitri! Hurry, come here!”
Almost running into the door frame, Dimitri came sprinting into the bedroom. Panic filled every feature of his face. “Roza, what’s wrong?”
“Come here!” I urged smiling widely at him.
Cautiously, he walked towards me. I reached eagerly for his hand and placed it on my small swollen stomach. Watching his face, I waited.
After a few seconds, I felt it, a tiny kick, and I watched as Dimitri’s face lit up. He excitedly placed his other hand on my stomach as well and splayed his fingers.
We deserved this little moment of happiness after the two months of apprehensive doctor’s visits that basically left us living our lives on eggshells. Not to mention all of the new rules I had to follow. I couldn’t drink coffee anymore which was a real tragedy, but as I felt the tiny kicks, I decided it was all worth it.
With my stomach clearly showing, I could hear the whispers in the hallways. Not everyone exactly believed our story, but luckily for us, there was bigger news at Court.
The story of Lissa’s pregnancy had spread like wildfire. Court was buzzing with excitement for the Dragomir baby. There were already bets on what gender the baby would be and what Lissa and Christian would name their first child. Lately, the names Rhea and Eric had been floating around quite a bit.
Though Lissa would never let it show, I knew the extra attention added much more unneeded stress to her life, and bless his heart, Christian did his best to shield her from it.
Gingerly, Dimitri leaned his ear up against my stomach. He whispered something in Russian and smiled up at me. “You’re so beautiful.”
Rolling my eyes, I smirked back at him. “Yeah, yeah, help me up, will you?”
Getting out of bed was becoming a daily struggle. My center of gravity was completely off and my once perfect balance now failed me in the simplest of ways. I swear Dimitri caught me from falling over at least once a day. His eyes were always watching me, preparing for my next klutzy moment.
“Hot chocolate?” he offered.
I thought for a second. “Yeah, that’d be great.”
He nodded and went to work heating the water. While he did that, I searched the fridge. I grabbed the dill pickles from the door and put a few in a bowl, completely aware of Dimitri’s eyes on the back of my head.
“Pickles? And hot chocolate?” he asked, making a face like I was the most disgusting person he’d ever met.
Pointing at my stomach, I raised my eyebrows at him. “You did this, Comrade. Now you have to live with the consequences.” He chuckled and shook his head.
Sitting down on the breakfast bar, I rested the bowl on my stomach. Honestly, these were the best pickles I’d ever eaten. I wasn’t going to let him bring me down. Also, it wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d eaten in the last few months. He was on duty the night I decided to put potato chips in my ice cream. It really wasn’t a bad combination to be completely honest.
Slowly and almost reluctantly, he slid a mug of hot chocolate my way. “Double chocolate?”
“What else?” he said shrugging.
Taking a big sip, I smiled blissfully at him. “Dimka, will you grab the oreos while you’re up.”
Scrunching his eyebrows together, he complied. I enthusiastically shoved an oreo in my mouth before chasing it with a pickle and a sip of hot chocolate.
“Alright, I’m going to go before I throw up,” he said simply kissing the top of my head.
“Training again?”
He nodded. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” I said stuffing another oreo in my mouth.
Lately, he’d been training my temporary replacement. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea, but Lissa needed someone to help out over the next few months especially since Dimitri was spending less and less time guarding her as he was opting to spend more time with me.
I leaned back and rested my hands on my stomach. The twins were still kicking slightly. “Just five more months guys. Hang in there with me.” They stopped moving at the sound of my voice. “I love you two already.”
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Groaning, I pushed myself up and made my way to the door. Pushing up to my tiptoes, I glanced out the peephole before opening the door eagerly.
My dad stood there awkwardly holding a present. “Rosemarie.”
“Hey, Dad!” I hugged him…well sort of hugged him trying to maneuver around my belly. “What are you doing here? Where’s Mom?” Now that she’d transferred her guardianship to him, I rarely saw them apart.
“Right here, Sweetie,” she said peeking out from behind him. She kissed my cheek and handed me a bag of In-and-Out.
“Oh my God, Mom. You’re a saint.”
She laughed. “Now I wouldn’t go that far, but I know that I always craved In-and-Out when I was pregnant with you.”
Taking a fry from the bag, I invited them inside. We sat down on the couch, Abe and my mom sitting adorably close together. She laced her fingers with his and nodded to me.
“We got you a little something, dear,” she said as Abe handed me the gift.
Wiping my hands off, I took it. “You guys didn’t have to get me anything. Really the food was enough.”
“Call it making up for the first eighteen years of your life,” Abe said simply. He kissed my mother on the forehead and I had to smile. He’d changed a lot since they got back together. Zmey was gone forever, replaced with a soft, loving father who I could almost, almost see as a grandpa.
Slowly, I removed the tissue paper and glanced inside. Pregnancy products. There was some soothing skin lotion, a couple of bella bands, and some weird walkie-talkie looking thing.
“It’s a fetal doppler,” my mom explained. “Put the wand to your stomach and it’ll let you listen to the babies’ heartbeats.” She moved over towards me and helped me set it up. Within minutes, we were listening to two tiny heartbeats thump-thump-thumping against all odds.
Wiping a few stray tears away, I smiled at my mom. “Thank you so much. You have no idea…”
Hugging me tightly, she whispered, “It’s going to be okay, Rosemarie. I love you.” She wiped a tear away and glanced back at Abe. “Well, Sweetie, we should get going.”
He nodded and stood up. Kissing my cheek lightly, he said, “If you need anything, Rose, you call. Okay? Now that we’re back at Court, we’re never too far away. Alright?”
“Thanks, Dad. I will.”
Helping me up, he guided Mom and I to the door. Lifting my chin up, Mom kissed my nose. “You use that lotion, Rose. Trust me.”
“I will, Mom. Thank you guys. Really.”
“You’re very welcome,” Abe replied. Placing a hand around Mom’s waist, he closed the door behind them.
Eagerly, but carefully, I half-jogged back to the couch. I grabbed the doppler and laid back carefully finding the magic spot on my stomach. Relaxing for the first time in months, I allowed myself to drift off to the sound of their little heartbeats.