SHIMMER'S POV
"What is the problem, Arianna?" I felt my heart bleeding as I watched my baby crying. Of course to me they would always be my babies. Arianna cried some more, much to the shock of all of us. Iris moved closer and held her by the shoulders. She rubbed her shoulders calmly and told her words of comfort. I felt a pang of jealous. It was one more incident proving to me that Iris was closer to my children than me. She had always been there; she had always taken care of them. It was Iris who had witnessed their first steps…their first words…and she seemed to understand them way better than me. I hated that fact!
I stepped into my place as the mother of the child, and gave Iris a tag. She immediately understood it and she stood aside to give me space.
"You can talk to me, my child," I said but Arianna did not say anything. I slowly took her hand, and she pulled off slightly. Oh how painful that felt! She pulled away from my touch!! And yet when Iris held her, she remained calm and cried her heart out in Iris' arms?
"Please excuse us; Roderick and I will talk to her alone!" I ordered.
Everyone was beginning to walk away when Arianna cried out, "Dylan! I want Dylan!" she cried like a little baby, and that made my heart break into tiny little pieces.
Dylan stretched his hands and took his sister in for a warm hug.
"It's ok, my sister. Don't cry. Whatever the problem is, it cannot stay like that forever. It shall soon be well," Dylan assured her.
Pete remained standing, and Anisha and Iris by that time were standing by the entrance of the room. They had not yet exited the room.
"Come here my princess," Roderick spoke, and Arianna moved closer to her father. Dylan sat very close to her, such that she was sandwiched in between her father and brother. Immediately I felt left out…that was how it was always like. The children usually had a way of making me feel left out, especially Dylan and Arianna. Ciera was way better; but now that she was married and not staying with us anymore, I really felt that my days would be unhappy.
I also crept closer and squeezed to sit next to Roderick. He moved aside to create space for me.
"Do you want to talk about it now?? Roderick asked Arianna.
Light footsteps were heard and we all looked up to see Iris coming in with a glass of water.
"Here, Miss Arianna," she held the glass very close to Arianna. Without handling it, Arianna took a very small sip and thanked Iris.
"Would you need anything else, Miss Arianna?"
"No thank you," Arianna sniffed. "I will go to my suite now."
"You wanted to talk to me, sister?" the brother asked.
"We will talk another time. I need to rest now," she stood up and walked away. We all followed her. In her room, Arianna asked to be left alone, and we all complied.
Dylan told us that he was going to wait downstairs with Anisha, and Iris excused herself. Pete went along with Dylan and Anisha. Left alone, Roderick and I went into a room nearby. He looked at me and said with finality, "she is pregnant."
My heart skipped a beat. Pregnant? How? As far as we all knew, Arianna never had a boyfriend! In fact she hardly had any friends. But come to think of it…I realised that I too must have seen some signs, and I chose to ignore them. She had become very picky, refusing to eat some foods which previously were her favorites. I also recalled that of late, she had become very particular about being seen naked; and she had started to insist that anyone who wanted to enter in her suite must knock. Iris had mentioned that before…yes she had. It just slipped off my mind….oh no!!
But...could it be? If someone simply wanted their privacy; it did not mean that they were pregnant; did it? How could she be pregnant? But then...it seemed like there were more signs. The pineapples. Those pineapples which Arianna had always loved since childhood…I thought I had seen her…or I heard her? I must have heard her. Yes; I heard her saying something about them smelling bad, and she wouldn't touch them. Or was she just joking? Ok; she might have been joking.
So why did Iris say Arianna had been sick of late? Iris must have been wrong. Arianna was fine. She had to be fine…
And if she was pregnant; then who was responsible for the pregnancy? Oh my goodness! My heart sank as I prayed to God that God; may I not have a repeat of the Anisha saga. While I was busy trying to open my son's eyes so that he could see his blunders; my daughter had fallen pregnant? By who? Could it be another Anisha case? Was it some boy from an unknown family? Oh no! I did not even want to imagine it. I was having enough trouble explaining to my friends Anisha's identity and relationship to Dylan; and…could Arianna have brought me another burden? Who was that boy? Was it some classmate from university? From which family? As far as I knew, Arianna had never spoken about a boyfriend…she had never shown an interest in anyone. Could it have been…..no! It could not be! Or could it? A….a one night stand? Oh no! When? Where? I felt a chill running through my whole body, and goose bumps immediately spread all over my skin.
Oh no! Who was the father of the child? She would have to abort…she just would have to abort!! In great anger I walked off, headed to her suite. Iris was in the bedroom, stroking Arianna's hair and smiling gently.
"Didn't she just ask to be left alone?" I seethed in great anger. I loved Iris a lot; she had always been loyal; but she irritated me the most when she tried to play the role of mother to my children.
"I...I'm sorry ma'am, I'm leaving now", Iris stood up and silently left Arianna's bedroom.
Abortion. Abortion. Abortion…the word kept flashing in my mind. But would Roderick ever agree to that? Concluding in my mind that if that was the case, I would have to keep it away from Roderick, I walked closer to Arianna's bed and sat down. But I knew I still had a huge job of convincing Arianna to abort the child; if she was carrying one. Or wait…could I do it without her knowledge? Could I find something and just put it in her drink….But of course I needed to know first…
"Arianna; who is the father?" I asked. She did not acknowledge my presence in any way.
"You can talk to me, Arianna," I tried using my softest, calmest voice.
"No mum, I won't say anything!" she sat up and cried.
Oh no! What did she mean? Had she just confirmed that she was indeed pregnant? Both sweat and tears formed, and while I could not do anything about the former; I struggled to keep in the latter.
"Arianna….I am your mother. You can tell me; I won't be mad. Are you pregnant, Arianna?"
She did not respond. She just wiped off her tears and continued to cry softly.
"Arianna?" I called out gently. "Please, I need to know…who is the father?"
"I'm sorry I can't speak to anyone!! I want to go to Dylan!! I want Dylan!!" she cried like a five year old child. While she cried, I thought I saw an image of the five year old Arianna; back then when she used to throw tantrums over nothing. And that image broke me into pieces.
She wanted Dylan. She preferred her brother over me, her mother.
Dylan came in and behind locked doors, the two of them spoke. Iris was keeping Anisha company. Pete sat alone in the lounge. I stood next to Roderick and could not manage to hide my pain, "she prefers to talk to Dylan, but I am her mother…"
"Don't worry Shimmer. We all know that Dylan and Arianna have always been very close since childhood," Roderick comforted me.