Page 62 of 5+Us Makes Seven

Pregnant. I was pregnant. And the only man I’d been with in the past few months-- hell, the past few years-- was Carter.

I was pregnant with Carter’s child.

I looked past Clark’s shoulder and out into the distance. Children were running around with smiles on their faces as they tossed a ball around. There was a fire going where women were making more meat jerky from the animals a few of them went out to hunt and the community was alive. Thriving. Children were talking in full sentences and classes were starting up to educate the women of this new tribe of misfits on how to take care of those around them.

I wanted to stay.

But a part of me wanted to go as well.

The school where I was working was the perfect job for me. I got to make a difference. Influence lives I wouldn’t otherwise touch. But I was also growing a child who needed my comfort. My care. Who needed me to be happy and stay healthy. I couldn't work a job like this the way I wanted to if I was going to succeed. I couldn't continue running the schedule I had set out for myself with my body constantly rebelling the way it was.

This was my out.

This was how I could approach Carter again.

This was how I could build the life I saw in my dreams.

“Clark?” I asked.

“Yep?”

“I quit,” I said.

And the smile that crossed his face was so big it shut his eyes.

“I’ll get you some prenatal vitamins and a basic internet hookup, so you can tell the board about your decision,” he said. “And Natasha?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s been an honor. I know they’ll never forget you.”

I smiled and embraced the man as children continued to laugh outside. I would miss this place. The women. The people. The culture. I would come back to see them. To see how they were doing and how they were flourishing in life.

But I had to go back.

I left the tent and started back for my hut. The kids came running up to me and tugging on my hand, but I told them I had to go get some rest. That I wasn’t feeling very well. The women of the tribe kept bringing me things to help me feel better. Teas they had mixed up and drinks they had steeped to help with my nausea. Mud they blessed and smoothed over my skin to help with the burns and their form of acupuncture that was oddly relaxing.

They were so giving, and so loving, and so beautiful.

Holy hell, I would miss them.

I slipped off into a slumber with my skin coated in mud and fragrant teas filling my hut. I opened my eyes to see Clark sitting at my side, a bottle of prenatal vitamins in his hand. I heard people bustling outside my tent and drums beating off in the distance.

“I told the tribe, and they want to bless you and your child on your journey together,” he said.

He helped me up from my cot and helped out of my hut. A woman threw some necklaces around my neck before someone else draped animal skins over my shoulders. They danced with me towards the fire and created a circle around me, then began chanting and singing in their native tongue. It brought tears to my eyes as they laid hands on me. Rejoicing in the life growing within my body. I allowed the tears to flow, taking the mud mask along with it as I rose my hands to the sky and danced alongside them.

I knew I would never forget about them. The joy they brought me and the life they filled me with. The happiness on their faces even with the lives they had led was inspirational. Everyone in the village took time out of their evening to celebrate with me. To depart on me their words of motherly wisdom before embracing me in their arms.

They had impacted me in a way I would carry for the rest of my life.

All I hoped now was that Carter and the kids hadn’t forgotten about me.

Because I really had no idea how they were going to react to any of this.

Twenty

Natasha

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