Chapter 56

ANASTASIA MULBERRY

With only a few days until it was her due date, they were cutting it pretty close, not that it mattered all that much.

During the whole pregnancy, Justas and Raphael had gone back and forth on whether they wanted to find out the baby’s gender or not, and Anastasia had gone a great job in keeping that little piece of information to himself. For the past couple of weeks, they had come to the consensus that they would wait until the baby was born to find out but it appeared that as of recent days, Raphael just couldn’t wait anymore and that was why, the three of them were now hosting a last-minute baby shower.

Just to up the antics, they had decided to accompany it with a baby shower and with the party set to start in an hour, Anastasia had still yet to get ready.

While she knew that the parties were being held in honour of Justas, Raphael and the new addition to their perfect little family, she wanting to be a part of the joy and celebrate both of her friends, excited to give them the present she had brought for them.

A knock sounded on the door but she wasn’t sure what the purpose of it was as not even half a second later, Raphael let himself into the room, not yet dressed either.

“How are you not dressed yet?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” Anastasia snorted from where she was sat on her bed, trying to pick out what type of makeup would look best with the dress that she had picked out earlier.

Raphael chuckled as he moved into the centre of the bed, crossing his legs underneath him as he seated himself next to her, reaching out to pick up a palette of warm tone eye shadows, perfect for a neutral look.

“I just wanted to speak to you about something before we got busy with the party.”

She frowned lightly and turned her head to face him, surprised with the sudden serious tone.

“Is everything okay?”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Are you okay?”

“Are you asking about the baby because if you are, everything seems fine. The baby is putting more pressure on my bladder this past week, but the pack doctor said that’s completely exhausted, especially since I’m so close to the due date.”

“That’s great to hear, but I was actually asking about you.” Raphael spoke softly as he placed the palette down on the bed and reached out for her hand, lacing their fingers together as they had done many times before in the past. “How are you doing? Not the baby, but you.”

“I don’t understand your question.”

Raphael sighed and lifted his head to meet her eyes, his eyes glistening with tears, some having already started rolling down his face.

“I know that you’ve been struggling a lot lately, more than you’re willing to let on but I want you to know, whatever it is, regardless if it’s about the baby or not, you can always talk to me about it.”

“How do you know I’ve been struggling?” She asked quietly, surprised that he had managed to pick up on things which she hadn’t had the nerve to voice aloud, afraid of just how true they were.

“I know this pregnancy hasn’t been easy for you, but I just want you to know that Justas and I are forever going to be grateful for doing this for us. You’re giving us this happiness, this joy and bundle of love that’s going to fulfil us both for the rest of our lives, and we’re never going to be able to repay this massive favour of yours.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Raphael, and I don’t need you to repay me either. I just want to see you happy and if there’s something that I can do about it, then I will.” Anastasia murmured quietly, her voice choked and her words moved with emotion at the little speech that he had just made, having not expected it. “You’re my best friend and I love you, but you know that already.”

His bottom lip quivered as he stared down at his best friend. Including Justas and this new baby, Anastasia Mulberry was one of the most important people in his world.

Shuffling around on the bed, he moved behind Anastasia and wrapped his arms around her, or as close as he could due to her protruding belly which made that difficult.

“I love you, too, Ana. So much, baby girl.” He murmured, pressing a kiss to her cheek as he held her, leaning forward to rest his forehead on her shoulder. “I just need to make sure you’re fine.”

“I am fine.” She insisted but with the way he kept lingering on the matter, she knew that he had picked up on her slight change of mood lately.

“I know you’re such a beautiful person, both inside and out and that you chose to carry this baby for us. But I don’t know if you considered the fact that you’ll have to give up this baby. It’s something that neither Justas or I considered either, as we were too busy focusing on the fact that we were going to become parents.” Raphael explained through a sigh, pressing his hands into the side of the belly, chuckling quietly as the baby kicked. “I’m sorry for not considering how this would make you feel, and for not being there more for you.”

Anastasia twisted slightly in his arms and gazed at her friend with a small frown on her face.

“How can you say that?” She asked in a quiet voice, slightly offended that he was taking the blame for something that neither of them could control or had even anticipated. “Coming into this, I don’t think any of us thought about the fact that the end of all of this, the baby would be yours and Justas. Don’t get me wrong,” she paused, silently pleading with him with her eyes that he would understand. “I’m so happy for you and I wouldn’t change a thing about this and if I could go back and do it all over again, I would still choose to carry this baby for you. But it’s just going to be weird that at the end of all of this, I’m going to head home alone.”