Trembling With the Strings

By the time midnight came around, I was finally ready to wake up. Darius was nowhere to be seen, so I carefully pulled myself out of bed. The boys were all sleeping in their respective bedrooms, and Kai was actually asleep for once. He was sleeping with his head resting on Eleanor, who looked up at me as I closed the door but went back to sleep without making a sound. The sight was precious, and it almost made me forget the troubles that had eased into my life.

Almost, that is.

I tiptoed down the stairs, aware of every creak. I didn’t know why I hadn’t just stayed in bed, but I had been in there all day. I sat down in the living room and turned on the television, sighing at the remembrance of the times when Dray and I had watched TV together. I frowned at the realization that we were no longer on the best of terms. But what was I to do?

I glanced down to my stomach and placed a hand on it, biting my lip.

“A girl, huh?” I whispered, smiling regretfully. “How are we going to tell your Daddy? He doesn’t want another baby.”

The denial stage was over, but acceptance was far from reach. I rubbed my tummy carefully, flipping through channels without a thought. The light of the TV was the only thing illuminating the room, and the gloomy atmosphere fit my mood perfectly. I suddenly regretted having awoken.

“What are you doing up?” Darius asked me suspiciously, closing the front door behind him.

“What do you mean?” I asked quietly, my hands dropping to my lap.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping? I mean considering everything…”

“Considering what?” I asked, getting a little nervous. How did he find out? How?

“I think you know, Gracie. This little game is over, so stop playing dumb,” Darius demanded, wiping a drop of blood from his lips.

I smiled painfully. “You don’t know.”

His lips pressed into a grim line. “No, I don’t. But I’ll know eventually, Grace.”

“Where were you?”

“I was hungry. I thought you might be, too, because you’re so weak.” He stepped up to me, holding out his bleeding arm. “I’m tired, so can we get this done?”

The next week was filled with suspicion and snooping on my husband’s part. He was so determined to discover what I was hiding that he grew paranoid and somewhat insane. He insisted that I was cheating on him with Lyndell’s ghost; he swore the doctor and I had had a lesbian love affair; he told me that I was hiding a second family; he convinced himself that I had killed our children and buried them in the backyard, and he had then demanded to see the gravestones.

But he was apparently only so fanatical when he was around me. No one believed me that he had completely lost it, so there was no point in even speaking of it. Marcy had told me multiple times to tell Darius what the doctor had told me, and she had even told Robbie and Dante and Cameron, who were engaged as of two days ago. My immediate family, aside from Kai, was the only people who did not know.

“Are you going to admit it yet?” Darius asked me as we passed each other in the hallway. He caught my forearm firmly and pulled me to his chest.

“I have nothing to admit, Dray,” I told him, fighting the urge to yawn.

He frowned painfully, releasing me. “I’ll still love you, even if you do not love me.”

I shook my head sadly. “You’re the only one who has no faith.”

Darius scoffed at me and rushed down the stairs because there was a knock on the door. Darius smiled upon seeing Drakken, and he ushered him inside. I knocked on Kai’s bedroom door, needing desperately to talk to someone.

“Kai?” I called softly, smiling when I saw him simply sitting on his bed, waiting.

“Yes, Mom?” he asked, petting Eleanor gently.

I closed the door behind me and sat on the edge of his bed, reaching out and messing with his blond hair. “Can you tell Mommy something?” He shrugged. “How did you know about the baby girl?”

“I already told you: I know everything.” He leaned forward, smirking. “I can see everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen. I can tell what any person is thinking at any given point of time, at any given point of their life. If they thought it, I know it. That’s all there is to it.”

“Wow,” I breathed, grabbing his tiny hand. “Do you have any idea how blessed you are? Many would dream of having your abilities, sweetie.”

“I know that.”

“Of course.”

“She what?” Darius screamed from downstairs, and I sent a fleeting glance to my son.

“Dad just found out.”

I stumbled to find words but failed, and I darted out of the room and leaned over the railing of the stairs to see Darius staring shocked at his father. He turned to look at me, and I gulped as he appeared right behind me.

“Wait! Before you say anything—”

“Please just tell me!” he begged, desperation all over his face. “I need to hear this from you, not everyone else. Please!”

“Okay… We’re having a baby girl,” I whispered, catching his hand.

He stood silent for a moment before reaching out to touch my cheek. “A baby?”

I nodded, biting my lip.

His shoulders sagged and his posture crumbled as he collapsed to the floor. I let out a small shriek and cast a fleeting glance to Drakken, who was staring up at us with such confusion.

“Oh,” he muttered, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot.

I looked down to the man unconscious on the floor, and I lifted him up and dragged him to the bedroom with much difficulty. I didn’t know what I was going to say when he awoke, but it had better be good.