212

Isabella

Donatella sat with her legs crossed in front of me. Beside her was a middle-aged friend of hers whose name she had told me, but I had somehow forgotten.

"I'm sure there are ways that you can cope, princess. But allow me to offer some advice in the process. Losing a child can be very difficult, especially when someone calls it not a miscarriage. If it was a miscarriage, you would be suffering that loss yourself, but murder…"

"I'm sure you will… I've heard this conversation many times already. I'm not quite interested in hearing more of it. I've reconciled with what happened and I only want to move forward," I said as I slowly got to my feet.

 "Donatella, I believe I will see you some other time," I said with a smile as I exited the small cafe.

***

"The last two months have been very healing for me," I told Andrew as I sat opposite him in the gazebo.

 "You do look better," he said as he patted my thigh.

 "Any word on your new girlfriend?" Andrew rolled his eyes and blinked rapidly at me afterwards.

"I don't know where you get these rumors. And I don't know where you get the rumors about me. But what am I hearing about how infertile I am? It's getting worse lately. People are beginning to send letters to the city hall demanding that I step down because of my sudden infertility.

 Some even go as far as to sympathize but tell me they cannot have someone who is incapable of having children… Just who would start these rumors?" I asked as I brought the supposed calming tea to my mouth.

 Suddenly, the smell of chamomile washed into my nose and I began to feel nauseous.

"Are you all right?"

"No!" I yelled in response. "I have been feeling angry, cranky, and most of all, nauseous over the past few months since that execution, and the last thing I need is these rumors ruining my healing process.

Do you know how long it took me to get over everything? The pain. Sometimes I still feel the skin pulling on itself and I still dream, but it's not as bad as before."

 I laid my head on his shoulder and began to punch him in the arm. Andrew had quickly become my friend over the past few months, to the point where we were just as close as Paula and I.

"Hey," I suddenly heard Paula's voice. I patted the seat next to me and watched my smiling friend walk over to me.

 "No time to sit. Remember you have that dinner thingy… come, we need to get ready."

 She directed and pulled my arm until I got up.

"Andrew, you're going to be there, right?" I asked my friend, who simply waved in response.

Paula began to pull on my hair after she blow-dried it, as she twisted and arranged my hair until it resembled something coherent and beautiful.

She placed pretty pearls inside and put more accessories on my ears and neck, matching the pearls and my updo. She guided me into my shoes, and I held my clutch. First, she picked up my winter coat as well as a scarf, and she led me to my husband.

Damon waited for me downstairs impatiently, checking his watch every couple of seconds. But I knew he was aware that I was coming down the stairs; after all, he could smell me. I saw the faint smile that stretched across his lips.

He turned around and faced me. Over the past two months, Damon had gotten bigger. Now, his biceps were slightly larger and straining against the overcoat he wore. His thighs pulled desperately at the fabric of the trousers he wore, and I knew that his chest was carrying almost the shirt underneath.

"You look unbelievably dashing, but at least let's get you a new wardrobe," I said as I rubbed his delicious biceps.

"I have," he said, "but I don't know what's going on." He smiled and kissed my neck, gently tugging on my arm as he led me outside.

The dinner, as so happily described by Paula, was, in fact, my official welcoming into the city. People I didn't know from families I had long since forgotten greeted me and talked about how much they missed me and how they had never forgotten me.

 I smiled at faces I didn't know and tried to memorize names that had long since left my memory as soon as I heard them.

The only consolation was seeing Julio, who had long since moved out of the mansion last month after finding a penthouse apartment by the ocean.

Andrew and Nicholas were there too. I also met another Nicholas who was very different from the American and was all smiles when he saw my husband through the mask.

One thing, however, struck me the most. I almost vomited at least five times. The pungent smell of some perfumes pierced my nose, causing bile to rise up from my belly. I found myself forcing it down so many times I lost count.

 At one point, I tried to drown it with champagne, but as soon as I took away the alcohol, I felt yet another wave of bile rise. I spent some time in the female restroom, vomiting and listening to small gossip.

"She is beautiful. Especially with that hair and that pale skin."

"One wonders if she's even from here. But she is."

"How do we know for sure?"

"I don't know about that. I've heard talk about a lot of things that happened in the city 8 years ago. I think she's legit."

I pulled on the tissue paper beside me and wiped my eyes clean of the water that had gathered as I vomited. Feeling suddenly close to panic, I pushed the door of the toilet open and came face to face with the woman. I smiled as I walked over to the sink and washed my hands.

 "Good evening, princess," one of them said with a smile.

"Good evening," I responded, returning it with a small one.

"Oh shit do you have tampons?" one of the girls asked her friend.

Suddenly, I froze as the water kept rushing over my fingers. I hadn't seen it yet. "Just when did I last see my period?" I whispered to myself.