Chapter 20-One Day at a Time

Each day I made myself get out of bed.  I hadn't yet told Bynni of the upcoming new arrival.
"Mommy, you're getting fat."  She said one morning I was preparing to fix breakfast.  You gotta love the honesty of children.
"Mommy's not fat honey, I'm pregnant."
She looked confused for a moment.  "What's pregnant?"
"That means I'm having a baby."
"Oh will it be like me and Aric?"
"What do you mean dear?"
"Will it have a daddy?"  I was grateful that she had finally quit asking about Jesse as the months passed but this was a whole new conversation I didn't really want to have.  She'd never questioned me about her father and neither Aric nor Mulo made any mention of their relationship.
"No dear" I replied sadly  I was bracing myself for the barrage of questions.
"Bynni let's go practice your chess skills" Aric had appeared out of no where as usual.
"Ok, I bet I'll beat you this time."  I heard her saying as they walked off. I was relieved.
Mulo had finally moved back to his penthouse but still came over nearly everyday.  He was trying to be sweet, he would bring me flowers or sent me for a massage.  If I wasn't painting, I enjoyed sitting out by the pool after the kids went to sleep looking out at the view.

Some nights he would join me and we would sit and talk.  It was nice although I was a bit more guarded around him now.  It had been months since I last spoke to Jesse and I know it was partially my fault for him leaving but I still blamed Mulo as well.  I could see he hoped I would have moved on but he didn't push.  It was hard to move forward honestly I was constantly reminded of Jesse everyday thanks to my ever expanding belly.  I was nervous as my due date approached would this baby take after me as Bynni and Aric had or will he/she be like Jesse.  I was hoping praying it would take after me because I was not sure if I could take looking into the face everyday and seeing him.

I painted and cleaned constantly trying to keep busy when the kids were in school.  I had told my parents about my break up and my mom was very disappointed but assured me my knight in shining armor was out there.  The days went on and things were starting to feel almost normal again.  I was working on another painting when Aric entered the room.
"Mom" he had been continuing to call me that instead of mother and it made me smile every time.
"Yes dear."
"I need to borrow the car Friday."
"For what?"
"I need to go get a suit for the prom."
I still hadn't met the girlfriend but I knew she called a lot and he would always excuse himself from the room when she did.  Mostly because his sister would always start making kissing noises.  I knew she had to be the reason he was even considering prom since he would rather be searching the stars with his telescope than being around a large crowd of people.
"Of course dear"  I couldn't help be smile and hope I would finally get to meet the mysterious Nina.  When prom day came I was a weeping eyed proud momma.  Aric looked so handsome all dressed up.

Mulo had rented them a limo but I still didn't get to meet Nina, the driver had picked Aric up first.  Mulo stayed after Aric had left because Bynni asked him to help her with her chess.  She really wanted to beat Aric.  I 'm glad he did because I went into labor.

He called the sitter for Bynni before driving me to the hospital.  He stayed by my side the whole time and after a several painful hours I had a healthy baby girl I named Ceula.