Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Our heroine is here

So pretty and fair

We’ll gaze with love

Into eyes as innocent as a dove’s

-PenaciousShewa

It is just 2:30 pm when Wanda rouses from her sleep. The pain she is feeling is excruciating. She holds on to her protruded belly and her back. She cannot even call for help. The pain is like menstrual cramps, but a million times more painful.

Is this what labor feels like? Oh, Lord have mercy.

She closes her eyes and lays still as her whole body is racked by the discomfort she is feeling. After what seems like hours, she is finally relieved. She waits for the contractions to come back but they don’t. She concludes that she just experienced false labor. She however feels the urge to pee, and she stands up and walks straight into the lavatory. She is still peeing when Petra bursts into the room, twirling with excitement.

“Luna? Where are you?” she asks, her high-pitched voice almost deafening Wanda.

“Petra, if you could just pipe down!” Wanda, coming out of the bathroom reprimands her friend.

“Oh, I am sorry, but I guarantee you that when you hear what I’ve got to say, you’ll be twice as elated as I am!” she replies, landing on Wanda’s bed with a loud thud, her clothes smelling of berries and cookies.

“Petra, you are always the harbinger of news, both good and bad,” Wanda rolls her eyes at the other lady, playfully of course, and continues, “Care to tell me what you have for me today and the category in which it falls?”

“Well, well, well, it is excellent news, and I am excited because Master Milos asked me to dress you up for your sketch shoot with him.” She reports, sitting up and smoothening her dress, obviously impressed with herself.

“Sketch shoot?” Wanda questions Petra, frowning slightly. Then it slowly dawns on her. Her eyes immediately light up with eagerness, and she claps her hands in anticipation, “Do you mean that I am going to be drawn by a sketch artist, alongside Milos?”

“Spot on, Luna. And you left out the part where your picture will be placed beside his, for generations to come”

Wanda blushes at the sound of this. She clearly likes what she hears.

Petra instantaneously leaps from the bed, startling Wanda, “Well, we only have one hour to get you ready okay? Master Milos will be here at exactly 4 pm to pick you. Let’s dress you up, Luna”. She moves towards the door and knocks. Immediately, three young maids file in with different dresses and shoes in their arms, with Mira of course, hot on their heels.

“Quickly, drop the clothes and go back to the Laundry House, there’s a lot to do. The trio does as Mira instructs and leaves in the same manner in which they came. Mira assists Petra in getting her to clad Wanda in the selected dress. It is an exquisitely beautiful mint green gown, embroidered with so many beautiful golden stones that one could say that the seamstress intended to “stone the dress to death”, and succeeded. It hugs Wanda’s body in a mouth-watering manner, and her baby bump can’t be more appealing than it is. The color of the dress strikes against her beautiful and rich dark skin.

Petra expertly applies makeup to Wanda’s face. Although it is light, it does not fail to accentuate her beauty. The green eye shadow contrasts with her brown eyes, and the mascara further reveals how huge her eyes are. Her cornrows are well moisturized with hair cream, and they extend to the back of her neck and beyond.

Her shoe is a cute gold-colored flat shoe. Mira selected a flat shoe because the Luna is heavily pregnant and cannot wear heels. The pack cannot afford a miscarriage or injury to the baby. High-heeled shoes can wait.

“Dayum, Luna, you look like a snack,” Mira comments, and Wanda smiles. Petra is about to speak when Milos knocks on the door.

“Come in,” Wanda replies. He comes in and Mira and Petra bow and leave. He walks up to Wanda who is still seated at her in front of her vanity mirror, and she smiles at his reflection in the mirror. He is wearing a foustanella of the same shade as her gown. His yeleko tightly hangs on to his chest and biceps. The green color of his gonatares rhymes perfectly with his beautiful blue eyes, and his tsarouhia are the same color as Wand’s shoes. Wanda looks at him and cannot stop. With his blonde hair sleekly parted and drawn to his nape, he looks like a Greek god.

One she really wants to make love to right now.

She clearly has the same effect on Milos, as he can’t take his eyes off her. When he finally finds his voice, he says, “Wanda, damn, I….I can’t even say anything. You’re so beautiful”

Wanda smiles and blushes lightly, “You are so handsome, Milos. I am glad that I’ve got my personal hot and sexy wolf.”

A light knock on the door informs them that the sketch artist is here. Milos takes his wife’s hand and leads her out of the room. Security guards follow them, firmly shielding them.

The studio is warm and soothing. There is a fireplace in the room, burning brightly. The windows are slightly open, and the evening light gently pours in. The sketch artist, a wolf in his early fifties is poised with experience on his leather chair. He is patiently waiting for the power couple to settle in.

Soon, the sketching begins. Wanda however does not feel comfortable and she shifts severally. The artist pauses, and Milos looks at her, worried. She assures him that she is fine and that she is only experiencing some cramping. They continue the session, assured that all is well.

How dead wrong they are.

Halfway through, Wanda screams in agony, and she grabs Milos’ arm in a vice-like grip. Almost immediately, water gushes out of her, dripping onto the tapered rug covering the majority of the studio. Before anyone else can react, she feels the baby between her legs, threatening to fall out.

“Milos. The baby. It’s coming. I can feel it,” she struggles to get the words out of her mouth. Her husband recovers from the initial shock of the situation and signals to the guards to get the pack clinicians ready for Wanda. He scoops her in his hands and races to the hospital. There, she is placed on a stretcher and taken up an elevator into the VIP ward.

Within minutes, Wanda is propped for delivery, with Milos right beside her. She only pushes once and the baby slips out of her, screaming its lungs out. She smiles as the doctor hands her child over to her for a few seconds before taking it to check the accuracy of the baby’s heartbeat and its vital organs, while doing this, he stops in his tracks. He looks up at Wanda, and his gaze moves to Milos. The doctor’s eyes are coated with fear and worry, and somewhere in between, the new parents can sight his bewilderment.

What could be wrong?

So much for a sketch shoot.

Our baby is here, but what is the problem? I am dying to find out, and I am sure you are, too.