Don't tell her that

“So, if people have sex for fun, but sex makes babies, why aren’t there more women that are pregnant, or why aren’t women pregnant more often?” Mary asked and Bettina laughed. They didn’t even notice that Kopa had returned home.

“Well, there is a period after a woman gives birth when it’s unlikely that they will get pregnant again. It happens, but not that often. The body needs time to heal and prepare for the next pregnancy” Bettina started.

“Then there are ways that you can avoid becoming pregnant if you have sex” Bettina continued.

“Stop!”

Both Mary and Bettina turned around when they heard the shout. They both saw Kopa standing at he kitchen door, looking flushed and uncomfortable.

“She doesn’t need to know about se.., about that” he said, blushing furiously. Bettina chuckled.

“She does, how else will she know how to take precautions?” Bettina asked her husband, this seemed to upset him further.

“She will not be doing… things. Not until she is much older, and married, and I’m preferably dead” he said. Mary looked at him confused.

“Is it bad to have sex?” she asked. Bettina had made it sound like a normal thing.

“It’s not. If the persons involved are willing and know what can happen” Bettina said, giving Kopa a look telling him that he wouldn’t dare to contradict her.

“You should only have se.. do that with the person you love” Kopa added. Bettina rolled her eyes at him.

“We can talk about this tomorrow, Mary, I think Kopa will have a stoke if he needs to listen to it” Bettina said, winking at Mary. Mary nodded.

“We need to talk about what you will tell her” Kopa said to Bettina.

“Of course dear” Bettina answered in a tone that told Mary that she would hear Kopa out and then disregard everything he said. That made Mary smile.

Mary felt thankful for her new family. Kopa and Bettina were both kind and warm hearted, they had so much patience with her and answered her questions. But more than that, they had this warmth toward each other, and they let her be a part of that, she never felt excluded.

She set the table with a smile on her lips and when Kopa sat down she gave him a peck on the cheek. He smiled at her and despite her feeling so sad just a couple of hours earlier, she now felt happy and content.

As they were sitting down, enjoying their dinner after talking about Kopas day, Bettina gave Mary a look and Mary understood at once and nodded.

“Did my girls have a good day? Did you enjoy going with Bettina, Mary?” Kopa asked.

“I did, I learned a lot” Mary said.

“I was happy that Mary came along toady” Bettina started. “Kopa, something happened today and I’m going to tell you about it and I want you to stay calm, okay?” Kopa immediately looked at Bettina.

“Did someone hurt you?” he asked.

“No, nobody hurt me, or Marry, or tried to hurt any of us. Just listen will you” she said with a smile, putting her hand hon his arm. He nodded.

“We went on a consultant case with Dr Genict” Bettina started and Kopa huffed when she said the name. This time Mary agreed with him, huff indeed.

“Yes, so, Dr Genict were a bit overfriendly towards me. Mary noticed and was smart enough to divert his attention”

“Did he put his hands on you?” Kopa asked angerly.

“Nothing like that, he just flirted with her Kopa. Bettina needs your help to make sure Dr Genict understand the boundaries, so he doesn’t make her uneasy” Mary cut in, placing one of her hands on his other arm.

“He flirted? With my wife?” Kopa asked, looking between the two women. They nodded.

“I’m going to make him realise that you are my wife” he then said, beginning to stand.

“No Kopa, not like that” Bettina tried.

“Kopa, Bettina still need to work with him. We need to do this in a good way” Mary added.

“Why do you need to work with him, you don’t need to work” Kopa remained seated.

“I want to work, we have talked about this. I would kill you after two weeks if I didn’t have anything to do except keeping house. You know that is not me” Bettina said with a smile.

“And who would be my role model?” Mary added. Kopa chook his head in disbelief.

“How did I end up being outnumbered in my own house” he asked, sounded defeated.

“It’s your fault, your brought me home with you” Mary said cheerfully.

“And I don’t regret it for a second, even if it means that I will never win another argument again” he said, ruffling her hair.

After dinner there were a more productive discussion held on what to do. They decided, as a family, or rather Mary and Bettina decided, that it would be a good ide to invite the doctor for dinner. Hopefully seeing Bettina as a wife, and mother, would give him a better perspective.

Kopa was still contemplating just knocking some sense into the man. But he was downvoted, he seriously started to think about introducing another form of decision making other than voting. He had a feeling that his more direct approaches would get downvoted regularly.

Mary had gone to bed and lay watching the night sky through her window. It was one of her favourite times a day. She had time to reflect on the day that had gone by. As everyday held something new, she felt she needed some reflection.

She thought about what she had learnt about mending heartache. Both Bettina and Tariana had gotten over being heartbroken by focusing on learning new thing, on making a future for themselves.

Mary was convinced she could do the same. Bettina could teach her to be an herbalist. Mary had secretly hoped to become an aari, but it didn’t seem possible. But being an herbalist seemed just as interesting, even if it was much to learn.

Before falling asleep Mary was more resolute than ever to make a new life for herself. She gave herself a pat on the back for making progress already. She hadn’t been feeling that overhanging hopelessness for a long time. The dull aching sadness was still there. But not as bad as before.