Chapter 16: Missing a Celebration

          “You’re seriously asking me for help with your homework?”

“Yeah. Brainiac’s been too busy with work to do it.”

“Pfft, so I’m just what, your second choice?”

“Nah, I asked Sasha, but she was busy too.”

          Eddie and Frankie were working so hard at her homework that Finley just couldn’t bring herself to disturb them. Labor be damned! She could handle bringing herself to the hospital all on her own.  She just needed to wait for the initial pain to fade.

          “Creator sure is taking his time,” Finley muttered to herself, gripping her lower abdomen. It’d been awhile since the last time she gave birth, but she was almost certain that she’d never felt a thing past the first contraction. In fact, she’d been cramping for most of the morning. Had that ever happened before? Finley reconsidered her resolve to not distract Frankie from her homework. By the time she actually began to waddle towards the door, her pain had been sucked up, leaving her in a slightly dreamy state.

          After a blissful afternoon with her creator—no words exchanged, simply the comforting endless love—Finley found herself at the end of her bed, bassinette loaded with a baby sitting in front of her. “Ana Harper,” whispered into her head. Looked like she had another daughter.

          Finley called Don to let him know that their child had been born. She hadn’t invited him over, but he lousily mumbled into the phone that he would be there soon. If it wasn’t so insulting towards Ana, Finley might have laughed when she saw him approaching. Shoulders down, arms dangling lifelessly, eyes cast towards his shoes. Pathetic. Almost pathetically funny.

          Quickly, she reminded herself about his position. While she personally didn’t approve of the lifestyle of being a player (especially when people were lied to), she knew that it wasn’t up to her to say how he should live. He’d found his happiness, and she’d helped a wrench to be thrown in it. Not that it was her fault or that Ana was in anyway negative.

          Though it took some forcing, Finley comforted Don. “It’s just a baby, no big deal.” He nodded his head as if he agreed with this ridiculous sentiment.

          His spirits declined even further upon meeting Ana. Finley couldn’t imagine how that could be the case, since her newest baby looked just as cute as any other. Admittedly, she hadn’t expected his mind to be changed, but had hoped for it a little.

          “Like I said, it’s perfectly okay if you don’t want to be a part of her life. I’m a mom; I’ll be fine raising her alone.”

“Are you sure? You’re not just saying that to trick me into not paying for it or something and then you come launch an attack on me in a few years?”

Finley scoffed. He was paranoid and, for the first time ever to her, not attractive. Well, okay, he was still pretty hot. “We’ll be fine.”

“So, can I still swing by sometimes?”

“If you don’t want to be involved in Ana’s life, then I don’t see how that’ll work.”

Don actually took a moment to ponder on this. “Good point.” He smiled and opened his arms for a hug. Finley accepted as a final sentiment.

          “Hey, did anyone else see Mom walk by with a baby?” Eddie asked his siblings, partially so that he could stretch out his turn even longer. He didn’t even know why he played chess with Quinn; he never came close to winning. And he had to endure those impatient glares his brother would aim at him every time he hopelessly searched for a move that wouldn’t screw him.

“Mmm, I think so,” Frankie shrugged, taking another bite of parfait.

A look of excitement came over Sasha’s face at the prospect of a new playmate—a younger one that she could help to mold, not a stupid older one that was already weird and set in their ways. She quickly wiped it away.

“I suppose, as responsible siblings and children, we ought to greet the newest arrival,” Quinn stated. Eddie began to rise from his seat. “After this game of course. Don is still in there, I believe.”

Frankie nearly spit out her food. “Geeze! I hope they’re not making another one!”

That made Eddie chuckle. As much of a horn dog as Lothario was, word on the street said that he was pretty paranoid about any of his ladies at home finding out about the baby. He doubted the dude would risk any more action with his mother.

          Sasha bolted into Finley’s bedroom once she saw her mom’s friend leave the house. He’d been sniffling a bit. The first thing she noticed about the baby was its yellow jumper with a pink flower. “So it’s a girl?” she asked her mother.

“Yes, her name is Ana.”

“Hi Ana,” Sasha waved. The baby closed its eyes partway. She thought that her infant sibling looked happy enough. “When’s she gonna be bigger? I want to show her how to draw people. Except for the hands.”

“We’ll have to see.” Finley yawned, the noise making Sasha stare at her. She looked tired. More tired than she’d ever seen her. The thought that she was finally an older sister came to her. It made the young girl smile, willingly leaving the room to let her mom sleep. She’d have plenty of time to show Ana the ropes.

          By the time Frankie got herself up to check out the baby, her mom was passed out on top of the covers. That was a bit of a relief. She wanted to pick the tiny girl up, but she’d never held an infant before, since she was just a kid when Sasha was born. For whatever reason, Frankie felt like it’d be embarrassing to ask her mother for help with this. She got Eddie to show her instead.

          Eddie returned to his game and then it was just Frankie, the baby awkwardly propped up against her body, and her lightly snoring mother. “Well, you’re sorta alright.” She had thought it’d be more fun to hold a baby. It was actually kinda boring. “Not really for me though.” Frankie moved to put her back in the bassinette, but paused, not knowing how to get her down. As if sensing her discomfort, the baby made a few discontent noises before beginning to loudly cry. Frankie clutched the baby tighter to her before darting out of the room for her brothers.

          Quinn ended up being the one to take care of the crying child, not wanting his mother to have to wake up from her nap to do so. At first, he assumed his sister wasn’t careful enough and had just scared the baby. After some coddling, she was still crying. He peaked into the diaper, which was fortunately clean, and then he tried a bottle. She drank it up greedily. “When was the last time you ate?” he quietly asked when she was finished. He burped her and then began to lower her back into the bassinette.

“I fed her before Don came over,” Finley groggily responded. “Way to make me sound like a horrible mother.”

Quinn opened his mouth to argue, but decided against saying anything. His question had come out rather pointedly. He, like many of the neighbors, wondered just what his mom’s future plans were. Did she want a certain number of children? A husband and family? Or did she just not care, willing to take whatever came her way?

          Finley got up once Quinn left the room. She sighed. “What was that, a ten minute nap?” Her body still felt tired, but her mind was awake. She decided to do some good, heading out to work on her garden.

          If the sky was correct, then it was getting late. Finley dreaded having to go inside to nag at Sasha to go to bed. She put it off awhile longer and continued to water. The front door opened and closed, disturbing the otherwise quiet evening. “Sup Mom?” Eddie asked, making it so she did not have to turn around to see who it was.

“Just doing some watering. You’re free to help, if you want.”

“I’m about to go.” He didn’t move though, just stood and watched her for a few plants. “You know you just had a baby, right?”

Finley chuckled at that. “Yes, I’m aware.”

“Shouldn’t you be more pumped or something? Isn’t have a baby a big deal to most people?”

“I am excited for Ana.”

“Really? This is how you’re celebrating? You didn’t even come to us and make an announcement or anything. That’s kinda messed up.”

“I figured you all knew the drill by now,” she shrugged. The thought of gathering everyone around hadn’t even crossed her.

Eddie scoffed, causing her to wonder what she did wrong. “I just don’t get you, Mom.” And with that, he started walking towards the modular home he and his father owned.

          Finley rocked Ana for some time before going to bed that night. She didn’t know a whole lot about how other people raised their families, so she supposed that, if she were compared to the mothers of their friends, her children might think she was odd. If they knew of her creator, of their wishes for her, then they’d understand better.

          It was too late in the night for her think about whether or not she should tell her children about her creator and their rules. She’d been debating this her entire life, though it’d been going through her head more frequently since learning of the oddities that her family inherited. Instead of worrying about that, Finley made a decision on another issue. She decided that she should have another baby as soon as possible, so that Ana could have a sibling to grow up with. She simply had to find a father.