When we enter the house, it looks like nobody is home.
"Thank you again for taking me home", I smile at Marble weakly.
"You are more than just welcome", he places my huge bag by the stairs. "Text me if there is anything I can do."
"Sure", I hug him goodbye.
When my brother in law is gone, I go to the kitchen to fix me a cup of tea. It's pretty cold in the house, apparently Gloss didn't see it as necessary to turn up the heat yet.
To my surprise, Gloss' phone is on the table.
No wonder, he didn't answer any of my calls. How could he if he didn't have his phone?
It's rather uncommon for Gloss though, he basically has his phone glued to his hand. Maybe he is home after all. While the water is boiling, I go to explore the house but there is no trace of him. When I reach the living room, I find the reason why it's so cold though. The backdoor is wide open and the wind has blown lots of leaves in.
I am about to close the door when I see a weird construction in the garden.
This is definitively new and rather huge. It looks like a metal cage with huge mirrors though.
As I get closer, I can also hear some music playing inside. My heart is beating like crazy when I find the door and hear a woman singing inside.
Of course, he forgot the baby and me when he's with his affair. I should have known it better than to think, he was actually interested in saving our marriage.
It doesn't help anyway so I just push open the door only to be greeted by a warm breeze.
My eyes widen as I look around. This place is amazing like back in district 4 there is a huge pool that looks even bigger by the mirrors on the wall and I am standing in some kind of sand. There are a few palms and it actually smells like the ocean.
In the middle of the room over the pool is a huge hammock.
As I enter the construction, the woman in the hammock sits up. "Cashmere!"
Much to my relief, it's not Gloss' affair but his sister who looks at me, beaming with happiness. Shine slides into the water and swims over to me.
She quickly pulls a light dress over her head. "You are not supposed to be in here", she hugs me but then tugs me back over to the house. "It's a surprise."
I am too much in shock to protest and so I settle on following her to the kitchen. She pours us two cups of tea as if nothing was wrong at all.
"Where is Gloss?", I ask her as I get over the first shock. "He didn't pick me up."
Shine frowns and looks over at the clock. "Oh", she mutters. "They are so stupid, I told them to take their phones." My sister in law just turns on the oven before sitting on one of the kitchen chairs. "Don't be too mad at Gloss. He didn't forget you but boys will be boys. He is out with Emerald to go buy sunloungers, I guess they forgot the time."
"How could I be mad?", I take a sip of my tea. "Gloss built a tiny district four in our backyard for the baby."
And it's true, my previous anger or rather my disappointment has vanished. If Gloss didn't want this marriage anymore, he wouldn't have done this.
I wonder how he knew I loved the beach so much, I mean we were in four for our honeymoon back than but I didn't think he cared.
"He didn't built it for the baby", Shine rolls her eyes, smiling. "Well not only. In the first place, he did it for you. I think he realized how badly he fucked up in the past years. Than again, mum ripped his head off like twice."
"Sounds horrible", I chuckle a bit. "When do you think, they'll return home?"
"No idea", my sister in law shrugs. "But the two of us will have dinner in an hour."
"Okay", I nods, smiling. "Can we go to the pool until then?"
"Nope", Shine shakes her head. "It was supposed to be a surprise. Gloss would be pretty disappointed if he knew you saw it already."
"Right", I nods, blushing and take a sip from the steaming mug.
We sit together in silence for a while before I can hear the front door open.
Nervously, I get up and go to meet Gloss.
"Hello", my voice almost breaks when I step in the hallway.
Both brothers turn to look at me and while my husband seems frozen in shock or maybe surprise, Emerald wraps me up in a hug.
"Wow you are huge!", he kisses my cheek. "What are you having giant babies?"
I can't help but laugh at my brother in laws words. "Maybe, I haven't seen a doctor in a while. For all I know it could be giants."
Before he can keep teasing me, Gloss drags him away from me. "Back off and let me greet my wife."
For once, it actually doesn't sound spiteful when Gloss calls me his wife but more apologetic.
"It's not a giant." The second the words leave my lips, I regret it. From all the things I could have said or done, it was the most stupid thing as if he had actually believed that.
Gloss just laughs and offers me a hug himself. "He's just jealous because the baby is taller than him already."
He reaches out to ruffle his brothers hair. Emerald scoffs and pushs Gloss hand away. "Don't act like you are that tall. I am only three inches shorter than you and that's only because I had to share mums womb."
"Oh so now, it's my fault?" Shine pushes him playfully but than drags him off into the kitchen.
I am actually grateful for it as it gives Gloss and me some room for this awkward situation.
"How are you feeling?" My husband pulls away from me to place his hand on my baby bump.
"Good, I think. Tired and a little cold but otherwise, I am good." I smile at him, feeling a blush crawl up my cheeks. "What about you?"
He offers me a cheeky grin. "I've been pretty busy, you know. I gave both nurserys some final touches, unpacked all our wedding gifts, survived my familys ranting and got you a `Sorry-I've-been-such-an-ass`-gift."
"Really?" I feign my surprise. "You didn't have to give me anything."
Gloss shakes his head and places a hand on the small of my back. "I had to. I've made you miserable that wasn't fair of me."
I bite down on my lip as I let him lead me into the kitchen. "No, it wasn't fair of me to have my father force you into this marriage." I pause for a moment before stopping him. "Actually, I've wanted to offer you a way out. I've talked with my birth-mother about it for a long, long time and she made me realize how egoistical it was."
"What do you mean? A way out?" Gloss frowns at me. He places his hand on my belly again, caressing it softly. "We are having a baby."
"I know but a baby is no reason to stay in an unhappy relationship." I feel like I'll choke on my own words but I have to do this. He needs to know that he has a choice. "I won't move back to the Capitol and I am not going to keep the baby away from you either way. Your family will be safe, no matter how you decide."