Chapter 115: Dawson Women to the Rescue

Persephone was lying down in fetal position on the bed hugging a pillow tightly as she went through a mixture of emotions although she couldn't tell if any of them were good.

She blamed no one else for what happened except for herself.

She should have sought an OBGYN on her own, especially after finding out that Melissa's recommendation had a long wait list, she just stupidly didn't want to make Melissa think her opinion didn't matter. Hell, look at what happened in the end, it was not worth the wait. She played Russian roulette with her fertility and lost so close to the end.

She felt terrible for feeling the way she did, especially if it was true that fetuses could feel what the gestational carrier felt in terms of emotions. She didn't want the fetus to feel rejected but Persephone didn't know how else to feel.

She had barely opened the door to the possibility of having kids with Chris, she hadn't given it the thought such a life-altering decision warranted.

As it was, she felt her world come to a standstill. She didn't know what to do, she didn't want another second to pass because each second that passed was a second closer to the fetus becoming a reality and changing her life forever -- the life she had created for herself where she didn't have to answer to anyone other than herself, and to a much lesser degree, to Chris. This fetus was going to take over everything and who she was.

This fetus was going to be the ultimate boss.

She tried to look within hoping to find even a spark of joy for the life that she now knew was now growing inside of her, but the feeling of drowning was too pervasive to focus on anything else.

She had only just decided to become a land developer with all of the lottery winnings, and she figured she and Chris could join powers to help each other succeed, but now with this...

Trails of tears slid sideways and downward from her eyes with the trail coming to an abrupt stop somewhere on the mattress. She was grateful for Micaela's embrace earlier- but she had wished for her own mother. She wished she could pick up the phone and call her mother to tell her the news. Her mother would have been able to tell her what she needed to hear to calm these feelings of fear and doubt and doom over the baby.

The baby that would never know her mother.

The thought alone brought a fresh glob of tears to her eyes. Persephone buried her face in the pillow and let the tears flow out.

She heard a succession of soft knocks on the open bedroom door.

"May I come in?" she heard Lisa's voice fill the room with a gentle introduction.

Without moving much, hoping it would be perceptible to Lisa, Persephone nodded.

She heard Lisa's steps against the thick carpet coming to her side of the bed. The mattress dipped with her weight, and then she felt Lisa's head against her shoulder as the new mother big-spooned her and stroked the hand that was hugging the pillow closest to her. Lisa kissed her cheek and whispered, "I don't know what you're going to do," she spoke softly. "I don't think you can make cookies out of this baby."

The unexpected comment drew a chuckle out of her.

"Chris has a big mouth," the expectant mother said.

"Mm-hmmm," Lisa agreed against Persephone's shoulder. "Sorry I didn't come earlier, I had to finish feeding Danny and then I couldn't find the pacifier in the bag. I had to wait for Chris to find it, and he didn't want to come near me while I had my fun-bags out."

Persephone chuckled again suddenly remembering Lisa was in mourning. She should be the one comforting her, not the other way around.

Persephone shuffled her hand from under Lisa's and covered it with her own. "How was your grandmother's service?"

Lisa sighed wistfully. "Sad, but beautiful," she responded. "I just hold tight to the fact that she lived a long life surrounded by a loving family." She exhaled with a shrug. "But that's life, isn't it? we're young now but one day, if we're lucky, that will be us when we're old and gray. And at least in my case, I think it would be a beautiful thing if in the last hours with this body above ground, it's surrounded by as much love as my gran was today."

"Hey," Melissa walked inside slowly. "I hear congratulations are in order?" Micaela's daughter quickly looked at Lisa, "Oh, and condolences, I'm so sorry, Lisa."

Lisa sniffled and shook her head. "I was just telling Persephone that my gran had a beautiful life. If anything, she's reunited with my grandfather again, and with the child she lost when she was in her early twenties."

"Early twenties?" Melissa removed her shoes and sandwiched Persephone on the other side, using the woman in the middle as a leg rest. "I always think about how quickly time flies," she placed her arm awkwardly around Persephone's head while placing the free hand on Persephone's shoulder. "Like when Mom and Dad were young and Daniel was as young as Danny is right now, and in the blink of an eye suddenly they don't move as fast as they used to, I'm nearly forty, and now Daniel has a baby of his own." She sighed. "In that blink, suddenly a lifetime has passed."

Lisa nodded. "And now I feel have to prepare myself to say goodbye to my own parents because I really don't know how long I have with them."

Persephone's thoughts drifted to her own mother who died being much younger than Micaela was today.

Subconsciously, she rubbed her abdominal area as her thoughts drifted to the wonderful childhood memories her mother had left her with, realizing she had big shoes to fill.

Her thoughts were interrupted with Chris's voice yelling out, "Mom! Wait! Let me tell her you're here first!"

Maggie Ericson stormed through the bedroom door with a huge grin on her face, which only expanded further when her eyes landed on Persephone. Chris practically crashed into her as he halted abruptly behind his mother. He held on to the doorframe out of breath, staring at his mom. "I haven't seen you move that quickly in years, Maggie!"