It was almost two hours before the first movie started. Everyone had questions for Louise that soon grew old. She tolerated them only because she knew that they were asked out of concern and excitement. Nathan finally ended the question and answer session by making an announcement.
"The children are getting bored. Perhaps we should start a movie."
"Thank you." Louise whispered.
"You're welcome." Nathan whispered back. He patted his empty lap and pulled Louise into it. "Comfy?" he asked when she had finally stopped moving around.
"Sorry..."
"Don't be." Nathan said. "It gives me an idea or two." he added telepathically smiling when Louise blushed.
Nathan could feel Gene watching him, but ignored it and divided his attention between Louise and the movie with most of the focus being on Louise.
"A baby." he mused and then smiled. He knew that for many males, his late grandfather and great-grandfather included, the hope was for a male child. To him, it didn't matter as long as Louise and the baby survived and were healthy. He comforted himself with the knowledge that the incidences of losing either or both were extremely rare.
Their child would be born healthy and strong simply because of his or her lineage. Mentally he began to make a list of things that he wanted to do before the baby came. At the top of the list was the nursery at each home. He decided to have the nursery adjoin their bedroom. A state of the art speaker system would be installed as well as an enhanced security system. He would install the security and speaker systems himself. He wasn't going to trust the safety of Louise and the baby to someone else.
The next thing on his list was the cooking school. He was sure that Louise wouldn't want to be away from her sisters' during the pregnancy. He made a mental note to see if the school had anyone that they could send to the states for private lessons.
"You're thinking too much." Louise whispered. "Enjoy the movie."
"I enjoy thinking about you and our baby." Nathan replied. "And I'm also enjoying the fact that I have a beautiful woman in my lap."
"You won't be saying that when I'm as big as a house." Louise teased.
"I will always say that because it's true." Nathan replied. "I also know that our child whether it be male or female will be beautiful as well."
"Will you be disappointed if it's a girl?" Louise asked.
"I meant what I said earlier." Nathan replied. I don't care what sex the baby is. I just want both of you safe and healthy."
Louise laid her head on Nathan's shoulder and went back to watching the movie while Nathan continued with his thoughts.
*******
Gene sat in the last row of the small theater not paying attention to the movie. He knew that Nathan was letting him stew in his juices. To some degree, he understood, but that didn't mean that he had to like it. He glanced over at Nathan and grimaced. He could only imagine how the man saw him. He was keenly aware of the fact that Nathan didn't like him.
He looked away from Nathan and looked at Patrick. Of the two, he decided that Patrick was the one most likely to invest with him, and the one that seemed to have the least problem with him. He said a silent prayer that one of the Sinclaires' would invest with him. He had visions of the other family members following suit. If all went well, he would be out of the hole financially, and he would soon be able to buy expensive clothes as Leon had done for the wedding. He envisioned the house in Pittsburgh completely repaired and a place to be proud of. It would put Leon's apartment to shame.
Thinking about Leon made him look in his direction. Leon was sitting with his arm around one of the hotel workers. While he found Nadine attractive, he couldn't understand how or why Leon would be interested in someone who did menial labor for a living. He agreed with Barb, Leon could do much better. It didn't occur to Gene that he had no one, and that he had no right to judge anyone. Nadine was working, a student, and she owned her own home whereas he was barely surviving.
Gene's gaze left Leon and Nadine, and went to Juliette and Hans. That was a match-up that he understood a little better. In his opinion, Juliette was getting the better end of the deal. Hans had a good job, was obviously interested in her and liked the kids. He found it amazing that a man would be interested in a woman with three young children. It was something that he wouldn't have considered for himself.
For the first time since Dana left, Gene wondered if there was someone for him. He wondered where the thought came from, and realized it was because of all of the couples. He wanted someone who would take him as he was, and who wouldn't expect him to change. That, he decided had been Dana's problem. She kept telling him that he was a better man than he thought he was, if only he would try.
"Gene, baby you can be so much better than this!" she told him after he had come home drunk one night. "Your family needs and loves you; I need and love you but ...."
"Shut up." he told her. He hadn't yelled it, but the tone of his voice had given her pause.
He closed his eyes when he recalled the look of pain and resignation on her face.
"I'm going to give you a choice." she said softly. "Either you get help or I'm leaving. I can't and won't live my life like this."
"Like what?" Gene demanded. "What in the hell do you want? You have a nice house, a nice car..."
"I want you!" she screamed at him.
"This is what and who I am." he replied. "Take it or leave it." he replied never dreaming that she would actually choose to leave.
When he woke up the next morning, Dana was gone. He found the Petition for Divorce on the coffee table sitting under an empty beer bottle. By the time the divorce was finalized, Dana had taken almost everything and moved to Florida.
The day that the divorce was finalized, Gene called off sick and drank himself into a stupor. He had been on a slow downward spiral ever since. Looking around at all of the loving couples in the room gave Gene pause, but only for a moment. After that moment passed, he was back to trying to figure out how to get a part of the Sinclaire money.
******
Barb drove to her apartment in a daze. She was convinced that if Louise and Kevyn rolled themselves in a vat of shit, they would still come up smelling like roses. Now Louise was pregnant which told her something. Louise wasn't the innocent that she had led everyone to believe she was. However, it really didn't matter. Louise and the baby would have the best care, and anything that money could buy while she would have to scramble to make ends meet.
As unhappy as Barb was, the thought of abortion never crossed her mind. Her thought was that there had to be a way to make the baby work for her. As she washed her face and changed into her pajamas, she began to add up the expenses associated with having a baby. It didn't take her long to realize that her money wouldn't go far, and that she would need help.
Her siblings were out of the question.
"There is no way in hell that I'm going to them with this." She muttered to herself. It wasn't that she thought that they wouldn't help her. It was the thought that they would look down on her. Of the five of them, Gene would have been the one she would have chosen to go to for help, but then, he would hold it over her head and he had his own issues.
She calculated when her due date was, and realized that it was a couple of weeks before Louise's. Barb cursed under her breath, and then felt a tear run down her face. This wasn't what she wanted out of life. She had spent most of her life dreaming and scheming to get into the lifestyle that she felt she was entitled to, and now it was gone because of Thorne Blackwell and his unborn brat.
"I hate you!" she said with as much vehemence as she could muster as she angrily wiped the tears away. The hate wasn't just at Thorne. It was directed at everyone whom she deemed as being better off than she was, and that included family. The baby was an innocent, but she was still angry at it for ruining her plans.
For the first time, she wondered about her mother. Had she been as angry and upset when she found out that she was pregnant? Wanda Yancy had been a talented vocalist and had dreams of going to one of the schools' of music. Had she hated Kevyn, and then each of them that came after her for ruining her life?
How could she not have? Each birth took her further away from her dream turning it into a fantasy. Barb tried to recall if her mother had ever said anything to indicate that she hated them. Wanda had gotten angry with them, but not once did she say anything that even remotely blamed them for her station in life.
For the first time in years, Barb wished that she could just pick up the phone and talk to her mother. She still believed that she had been abused, and that her parents hadn't done all that they could do for them. But her mother would understand an unplanned pregnancy and the impact that it would have on her life.
