Eisenstern 1.5

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The garden is doing better than I could’ve ever hoped for. Soon, I want to find a few wild plants and splice them together. I’ve never seen spliced plants before, so I’m honestly not sure if it’s even really possible. I have no reason to think otherwise.

Herbalists used to talk about the magical properties inherent in plants all the time. For the most part, I ignored this talk. It didn’t feel like anything I’d ever be interested in, but here I am, growing plants and wondering what all they do.

While I spent most of my morning weeding the garden, I stood up and moved to go back in, only to find Sergio standing on what passes as my front porch.

I’d asked him to come by. He had good timing.

“I don’t know how else to tell you,” I said. “So I’ll just come out and say it. I’m pregnant.”

For a long moment, Sergio stared at me quite blankly. “That’s… good?” he said, though he did sound uncertain.

“It’s yours,” I said, as if that wasn’t obvious.

“Oh no,” he said. “No, wait, it was just one time.”

“I know,” I said. “And one time is all it takes, you know how that goes-“

“Oh, do I?” he asked. He sounded angry suddenly, and like I always do when someone reacts in anger around me, I shut my emotions down. My eyes narrowed. “You didn’t even tell me you could get pregnant in the first place!”

“I wasn’t sure I could,” I said. I wasn’t supposed to be fertile, but apparently I am, very much so. I’d have to be careful who else I got touchy with and how far things went. I barely had enough money to support me, let alone a baby.

“You lied to me!” Sergio screeched.

My eyes narrowed further. “I think that’s pushing it.”

“Is it?” Sergio asked. “You’re trying to trap me, isn’t it-“

“Enough,” I said. “I don’t want anything from you. I just thought you deserved to know.”

Sergio didn’t say anything. Instead, he stared at me for a long moment, and then stood up, and left.

I’m on my own, I guess.

That night, someone bought one of my paintings. And then someone else bought a different one. I had enough money to expand the house a little, so I took the time to do so. I needed room for a baby, if I was going to keep the little one, and even if I don’t know how I’m going to take care of a baby, I can’t just walk away from that.

Aunt Tess was always talking about how we were given responsibilities sometimes, and there were always responsibilities we weren’t sure we could handle. But it didn’t make it less our responsibility. I figured this would count as one of those.

It’s weird to think about. I’m going to be a parent. I never expected to be able to have children in the first place, and now I’m having a whole baby. I think I’ll not tell Morgyn, just yet. If the idiot comes by and figures it out, that’ll be one thing, but I won’t purposely talk about it.

Morgyn’s already being a little insufferable.

I spent some time using the computers at the library the next day. Unfortunately, I don’t just need to brush up on my robotics knowledge, I also need to better my abilities with computer programming. I’m not entirely sure why, but my job isn’t to ask dumb questions like that, it’s to do what’s necessary to get into university.

More than ever, now, it’s important that I get a solid, stable job with a solid, stable income. I have to get into university, and I have to do well. This baby’s depending on me, and I don’t want to be a let down, or for my child to worry about finances too much. Kids shouldn’t be aware of finances unless we’re talking about their allowance.

While I was trying to figure out how to do something specific, I heard crying at the next room over. It sounded like a young person, so I closed out of the documents I was working on (after saving my work, of course), and followed the sound.

I found a young girl, clearly distraught because someone had destroyed the dollhouse in the children’s room. I’ve never been any good at a hammer, but something made me decide today I was going to pretend I was. I rolled up my sleeves, and got to work.

It took a few minutes, and I think the tower was a bit wobbly, but I managed to get it back in functioning order. As I admired my handiwork, the girl from before dove straight into playing with it.

Well, her being happy about it was thanks enough. It was late, and I was getting tired, so I went home. It won’t take much to go back tomorrow, I figured.

This time, it matters what I eat, so I made a fruit salad. I don’t intend to feed my kids junk. Come to think of it, I don’t know how to make a lot of things. Cooking might be a good skill to brush up on, too. I could feed my baby on salads, but there’s a reason we know how to cook a wide variety of things. We need a wide variety of things.

I still wonder what psycho figured out there’s an almond tree that doesn’t kill people, but I guess that’s for historians to know and me to wonder. Ah, maybe I’ll look it up eventually, just for fun.

While I was storing the rest of the fruit salad I’d made in the fridge, there was a knock on the door. And I sensed vampire, so I smiled wistfully to myself and went to get it.

Caleb gave me a once over, and immediately looked displeased.

“And who am I punching?” was the first thing he asked.

I tried not to laugh. The idea of Caleb Vatore of all people punching someone was absolutely and utterly ludicrous. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, though. “No one,” I said. “Everything’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” Caleb said. “You’re pregnant.”

“Really?” I answered. “I didn’t notice that.”

“You know what I meant, Ezio,” Caleb said, a slight sigh to his words.

Oh, I knew very well what he meant. I smiled. He was a good guy, someone I could see myself liking a lot. “It’s okay,” I said. “This tango took two of us.”

Caleb didn’t seem pleased with that answer, either. But though he frowned, and never quite started to smile the rest of the time he was over, he didn’t argue with me anymore.

Good. I really didn’t want him going and punching Sergio. Or sending his sister to go punch Sergio, Lilith probably has a real mean right hook.

I didn’t feel like throwing spells around, so while I was doing the renovation of the house, I spent a little on a cauldron. There were well-known potions and tonics that could help with just about anything, and if I’m going to have a garden, I may as well put it to use, right?

Ha, I’m sounding like a green witch. (I am not a green witch. I don’t think. Come to think of it, I’ve never thought about it.)

The neighbours mind their own business, at least. There’s that to be glad for, for sure. I could probably answer questions about it, but it’s a lot easier to just not need to. Much more peaceful, too. I like not having to answer questions.

This morning, I woke up inexplicably pissed off. I can’t even say why I was so angry. It’s weird, because I’ve never been truly angry in my entire life, and here I was screaming at nothing.

I got up, and had a shower. And then spent a few minutes talking to myself in the mirror. I still had to go out and take care of the garden. I’m not far enough along to have trouble getting around, at least. When I am, I’m not sure what I’ll do. Bother Morgyn, maybe, the idiot could use to move around some more anyway.

Heavens know Morgyn gets fat easily.

As I was heading out, pulling my jacket on, I noticed someone standing in the entryway. I must have left the door open last night. Well, in Mt. Komorebi, you generally don’t have to be too concerned about your neighbours invading your house. Generally.

I wasn’t terribly pleased to see him, but I swallowed the irritation and moved over to stand in front of him.

“Uh… hey,” he said.

That was something. “Hi,” I said.

“Look, I wanted to say that I’m sorry, for blowing up on you,” Sergio said. “It was pretty uncalled for, and my accusations weren’t fair either.”

I wasn’t expecting that. “Yeah, they weren’t,” I said. “But I let it go already.”

“You don’t hate me?” Sergio asked.

“No,” I said. “I don’t hate you. But I still want you to know if you’re not ready for a baby, that’s fine. I’m doing okay on my own.”

Sergio went quiet a moment. “I don’t think I am,” he said. “But I’d like to know them, at least.”

“Okay.”

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