Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands

“Make sure you wait for Gabe and don’t even think about sneaking down on your own!” My mother scolded as she dropped off some food for me and then jetted out of my apartment to get the shower ready.

“She’s so crazy!” I laughed to myself and went to shower.

I was the only one that was not allowed to help out. I understand it’s my shower, but they were even letting Gabe help out. He was able to see everything before I was. It was a Jack and Jill shower, so that did not seem fair.

I showered and prepped. I was really uncomfortable all the time and lately have had some discomfort in my belly. The doctor said it was all normal, but I was getting close to my due date and every ache or pain was starting to worry me. I was becoming one of those paranoid pregnant ladies that worry about every sneeze or yawn, every small contraction. I was driving Gabe and myself crazy. I was thankful that Gabe never gave in to my antics and always tried to calm me. He’d read from a pregnancy book or just calm me down in general.

Gabe was going to come back to the apartment to get me around noon; the shower was at 1pm. It was close to noon and I was just finishing up my makeup and there was a knock. I smiled in excitement and went to get the door, but why would Gabe knock? I looked through the peephole first and it was Rob.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked opening the door wide for him to come through.

“Your mother has me doing anything and everything that keeps me away from Meghan,” He smiled and shook his head.

“Come on in. I’m assuming you’re going to be taking me to the shower?” I shut the door behind him.

“I am your chauffeur, Madame!”

“I’m sorry about my mother,” I said joining him at the kitchen bar. I sat on the stool next to him.

“Don’t worry, she’s cute. She apologized for not realizing and being more sensitive to the fact that Meg and I aren’t on the best terms, but I assured her we were fine,” He laughed.

“Things aren’t okay though…with you and Meghan,” I sighed, I was about to meddle. “What happened? The stories both of you have told me are completely transparent and I let you think I believed because it was none of my business and I just figured it was a matter of time before I got the real story,” I put my hand on his that was set on the counter.

“Sadler, it’s not…I mean...I…I don’t know,” Rob stuttered and I could feel he wanted to tell me, but he had made the promise to Meghan.

“You don’t have to tell me. I just…I want to avoid these situations,” I lied a bit. I did hate these awkward situations, but I wanted to be in the know too.

“You ever love someone so much that you’d sacrifice your being in their life for them to have their dream?” He finally said and he took me a bit off guard that he was actually telling me.

“Well, sure, but you also need this think called compromise,” I offered as politely as I could

“Of course, but I just didn’t see myself in her life, you know?” Rob asked as if I knew what he was going through. I sort of did, I left Gabe the first time for the same reasons.

“When did you become psychic?” I smiled at him to calm him down.

“I just felt it. I felt that if I said I wasn’t ready to move to Chicago she was going to anyway,” He sighed.

“Why are you me like a million years ago?” I laughed. “You know what I learned when I left Gabe because I thought I was holding him back? I learned that I was stupid and I can’t predict the future. I also realized that a relationship takes work and if it’s meant to be it’ll run its course the way it’s supposed to.”

“I just wasn’t ready to move my entire life out of the city and that’s probably an even bigger sign,” He was really uncomfortable all of a sudden.

“At least talk to each other? Tell her all of this. Because I am sure you just glossed over all those feelings with her. I know she feels like the bad guy and like you just didn’t want her anymore, so be honest and just talk with her,” I rubbed his hand and smirked at him.

“Did she tell you?”

“No, but trust me I can see it all over her.”

“You know she’s seeing someone, right?” Rob hesitated.

“What? No!” I slapped my fist against the counter. “Since when?” I was so mad at Meghan for keeping this from me.

“About two months. I only just found out too. You know she hasn’t returned a single phone call or e-mail from me? Not even once did she try to contact me after she left, well until the day before she came to town. She e-mailed me out of the blue just to tell me that she was dating someone and that she was going to be on her best behavior while she was here. And she was hoping I’d be the bigger person too,” Rob laughed at the ridiculousness of it all.

“What a bitch!” I laughed. “What the fuck? Why wouldn’t she tell anyone?”

“It’s Meghan, she didn’t tell you about us for months. She’s not all about telling everyone.”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“She should be dating. She deserves to be happy. I really dicked her over in the end,” Rob shook his head and adjusted himself on his stool.

“I don’t know what happened between you two, but you still love her and it couldn’t hurt to try and talk it out and put it behind you guys.”

“I’ll try, but for today it’s all about you!” He feigned a smile.

“Let’s be honest, I don’t love a lot of attention,” I laughed.

“You don’t fight it either and if we don’t leave right now, I’ll get shit for you arriving late to your own shower!”

“Fine!” I relented and scooted off the stool and got my jacket from the hall closet and grabbed my purse off the counter. Rob waited for me at the door.

We went to the garage and I got into Rob’s car and he took me to Angels and Kings. Gabe was waiting for me outside.

“The lady of the hour is finally here,” He smiled as he opened the car door.

“I’m here and I can’t wait to see this party!” I smiled and Rob joined us on the sidewalk.

Rob walked in front of Gabe and I and then opened the doors to the party. I was in awe of everything that they had done. I just gazed around, the space was amazing.

“Gabe, it’s beautiful!” I was crying.

“Meghan worked us into the ground to get this ready. She came up with the theme and the decorations,” He smiled and kissed the top of my head.

“Happy Shower Day!” Meghan exclaimed as she hugged me.

“Thank you so much!” I cried.

She had created a theme around “Le Petit Prince,” one of my favorite books. She made it into “La Petite Princess,” though and had enlarged characters and images from the book and placed them around the room. There were stars hanging from the ceiling and there was a mat over the floor that looked like the surface of a planet. They had a beautiful spread of food and a beautiful cake. The place was beautiful.

“You’re welcome!” She smiled and my mother and Emily greeted me as well.

“Hello, Rob,” Meg said awkwardly behind me.

“Hey, the place looks great!” Rob said enthusiastically. I was proud of them.

I continued making my way in saying “hello,” to all of my friends and family that had gathered to celebrate this with me. I was feeling very uncomfortable, my stomach was a bit unsettled and I had some growing pains in my belly. I tried to take deep breaths to calm down and relax my nerves.

“You okay?” Gabe asked as he sat down next to me.

“Yeah, yeah, just pregnant,” I breathed out. He put his hand on my belly and rubbed it.

“Do you want me to get you a plate?” I nodded and he went to put together some food for me.

“Rob, really this is not the time, okay?” Meg said curtly. Her and Rob were sort of alone behind me in the corner.

“Meghan, I just asked you how you were doing,” He laughed.

“The innuendo was clear and I’m not in the mood to talk about it and this is not the place either,” She walked away from him and started to grab some food. Rob just shook his head and came to sit down next to me.

“You’re trying. I’m sure she’s stressed with all of this,” I rubbed his arm and just then Meg gathered everyone around the circle.

“Hi everyone!” She smiled. “Thank you so much for being here today and celebrating a little baby Saporta! As some of you may know one of Sadler’s favorite books is “Le Petit Prince.” I decided because the themes were so great that I’d base the shower around it…but make it “La Petite Princess,” because our Gabe and Sadler are about to have a little girl,” Everyone was looking at us and smiling and happy for us. It felt good.

“Okay, so we have these huge characters that everyone helped me make. Thank you all so much for your dedication to my vision,” Meg mocked with a laugh.

“Each one that I chose represents something in this new part of your life, Gabe and Sadler. Let’s start from the beginning and go around,” She was such a good public speaker.

“We have the little princess. In the book the Little Prince is constantly perplexed by grown-ups and symbolizes hope, love and innocence and also has insight of childhood that lie dormant inside all of us. Your little princess will be all of this for you. She will constantly be learning and confused by what the grown-ups are doing, but she will always be a ray of hope, innocence and most of all love in your daily lives,” She smiled at Gabe and I and I was already crying. I was getting a little emotional today, probably from the realization that I was going to have a baby soon. Gabe kissed the side of my head.

“We then move on to the Narrator. No one really knows what the Narrator looks like in the book, but for our purposes the Narrator is Gabe and Sadler. The Narrator’s are adults, who are learning from the little princess. They’ve already been taught many lessons from her, but the lessons will keep coming. She’s taught you to learn from self exploration…I mean that’s how she was made,” Meg laughed and everyone else did too.

“The Narrator’s will be taught you can’t just learn from a book or from other’s teachings, but you’ll learn from each other and from the little princess. The Narrator’s have shortcomings, but that’s what makes them real. No one knows everything and there will be challenges where sometimes, you just don’t know the answer, but you’ll explore and you’ll flourish.”
Everyone was glued to Meg and what she was saying. She had really taken my favorite book and applied it to this transition in my life. I was amazed. My mother was next to me and she was crying too. I took her hand in mine and she smiled. I was her baby and I was finally having one. It was a big deal for her too.

“The Baobabs. These trees represent a danger. A danger if you let things fester or if you aren’t responsible or you become indifferent to the outside world. You must always be open and responsible not only with each other, but with the new baby. Take care of your little planet you live on and it’ll take care of you. Don’t let things get overgrown and completely take you over. It takes team work and any team with you two on it will surely do well,” She was so excited and into this too. She walked to the other side of the room to the other characters.

“The Lamplighter. The lamplighter is the only adult in the book that the Little Prince feels that he could be friends with. Your selfless devotion to your daughter and to your work and rules will earn you respect. I am sure there will be a rebellious time, but know that you are also her friend and she’ll eventually need to lean back on you and for you to light her back up.”

“Meghan really out did herself,” I said to Gabe as I wiped my face off.

“She really did. I couldn’t believe her vision, but I guess this is why she’s a mega-event-planner,” He winked.

“I’m almost done, I swear,” She laughed. “We have the fox. The fox’s character is not only the pupil, but also the instructor. The fox shows us that we have to let them teach us too, we are never done learning. You will learn the importance of rituals – or schedules. You will learn that tools you learn from each other are important outside of the adult world and this little princess will also show Gabe why his Rose is so important,” She sighed and went into the last description.

“The Rose is symbolic of universal love and the beloved. The rose is what teaches you that what is essential is invisible to the eye. She’s the one that supports you and shows you that distance really does make the heart grow fonder. And most importantly the rose shows to the Little Prince that love takes responsibility. And responsibility and communication will keep the rose, the little prince and the Narrator’s together in this new journey and throughout the rest of their life.”

“Bravo!” Gabe yelled standing up. Meghan just laughed.

The rest of the party seemed like a blur. I was handed present after present and plate of food after plate of food for two hours. When it was all said and done I was exhausted and uncomfortable. Meghan, Rob, Emily and my mother stayed to clean up and then we were all meeting up for dinner at our house later. Thank God for Take-Out!

I just wanted to get home and take a nap for a bit and then enjoy everyone’s company. Rob had begrudgingly agreed to come over to dinner while Meg was there. Wednesday she’d be gone and we would be able to go back to somewhat normal.

When we got home I jumped into the shower to decompress. I needed it. I was a big stress knot and my stomach was really uncomfortable.

“Gabe, I feel really weird…” I said as I came out of the shower with my robe on.

“What do you mean?”

“Like I haven’t felt her move all day…I have pain in my abdomen, like not contractions it’s just weird,” I said nervously swirling my hands over my stomach. I hadn’t really thought about it till I was in the shower and gazing at my belly.

“You’re just getting nervous because she’s due soon. I’m sure it’s like Braxton-Hicks contractions,” He smiled from the couch.

“Will you think I’m one of those crazy, oversensitive, neurotic pregnant women if I ask you to take me to the doctors, will you?” I was so nervous and anxious.

“Of course, but anything to make you feel better and relax,” Gabe shut off the TV and came over to me. He kissed my lips.

“Get dressed and I’ll go bring the car around,” He stroked my face.

“I just…I have a weird feeling and better safe than sorry,” I squeaked.

“You do feel a little warm; maybe it’ll make me feel better too. I’ll come back up and get you, okay?”

I nodded and went to get dressed as he went to get the car out of the garage. Gabe was probably right; all the anxiety about actually giving birth was probably catching up with me. I was in the home stretch and two weeks away from delivering. I hadn’t actually given myself time to be nervous or anxious. I wanted to keep busy and tell myself it was going to be great.

I got dressed and slipped on some sneakers and grabbed a jacket. It was pretty cold out for the beginning of April. Gabe was waiting for me at the door.

“I know I’m crazy,” I said as we walked out the door.

“I called Dr. Zink and he’s not in the hospital today, but he’s gonna have Jody meet us.”

“Thank you,” I smiled as I walked behind him.

“Whatever makes you feel better I’ll do. I love you and our little girl and will do anything,” He opened the car door and shut it after I got in.

“When they tell me I’m crazy and send me home can you not say ‘I told you so?’ and we’ll buy some salt and vinegar potato chips and watch some movies?” I asked nervously feeling pain in my stomach.

“You okay?” Gabe asked nervously.

“I just have these shooting pains in my stomach and I feel nauseous.”

“We’re almost there,” He grabbed my hand and held it tight.

I adjusted myself in my seat to try and find a comfortable position where I wasn’t in pain. Gabe drove fast, but carefully to the hospital. He pulled up to the door and came around to help me out. I took his hand and stood up. I had a lot of discomfort all of a sudden.

“Sadie, you’re bleeding,” Gabe said and he’d gone completely white. I looked down and I had light staining on my pants and there was a spot on the seat.

“I need a wheel chair! My wife is pregnant and bleeding!” He shouted inside the door. I stood holding the top of the car door to steady myself. I was completely numb.