Semua Bab My Brother, My Ruin: Bab 131 - Bab 140

Chapter 131: The Question in the Doorway Cassandra Alexander stood in the bathroom doorway staring at me. I was still on the floor, one arm wrapped around my middle, the taste of bile sharp in my mouth. The small guest bathroom felt even smaller with him filling the frame. “Cassandra.” His voice was quiet, careful. “How many times has this happened?” I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and tried to straighten up. My legs felt unsteady. “A few. It’s just stress. Or something I ate. I told you I’ve been off.” He stepped inside, closed the door halfway, and crouched in front of me. His eyes moved over my face like he was looking for something I hadn’t said out loud. “You’ve been throwing up for days. You’re exhausted no matter how much you sleep. Certain smells make you turn green. You’re barely eating breakfast. That’s not just stress.” “It can be.” I sounded defensive even to myself. “We’ve been through hell. Bodies crash. Mine is crashing.” Alexander didn’t argue. He simp

Chapter 133: Real Numbers Cassandra The clinic papers stayed on the dresser for two full days before either of us touched them again. The sample vitamins sat beside them. Every time I walked past I felt the fact of the pregnancy settle a little heavier and a little more real. Six to seven weeks. A due date that was still far enough away to feel abstract and close enough to force decisions. Alexander left early for a double loading shift he had begged for. I went to the grocery store and worked my register with a sleeve of crackers in my apron pocket. The nausea was manageable if I ate small amounts often and stayed away from the rotisserie chickens. By the end of the shift my lower back ached and my feet felt swollen in a way that was new. I clocked out, met Alexander outside, and we walked back to Aunt Linda’s without saying much. Inside the guest room he closed the door, took the clinic folder off the dresser, and sat on the bed with it. “We need a real plan,” he said. “Not jus

Chapter 135: A Door of Our Own Cassandra The last week at Aunt Linda’s passed in a blur of work and careful packing. We left nothing to the final morning. Bags by the door. Notebook and clinic papers in the top of mine. The prenatal vitamins in Alexander’s jacket pocket so we wouldn’t forget them. When Aunt Linda came downstairs she was already dressed, keys in hand. “Ready?” she asked. “Yes,” Alexander said. She drove us across town without small talk. The house with the room for rent looked the same as when we had first seen it— plain, slightly worn, with a side entrance that led down a short set of steps. The owner, a woman in her fifties named Carol, met us with the key and a short list of rules. Rent due on the first. No loud noise after ten. Shared laundry in the basement. She took the cash for the first month, handed Alexander the key, and left us to it. The room was exactly what we had paid for. One open space. A narrow window high on the wall. A double mattress on a sim

Chapter 137: First of the MonthCassandraThe envelope on the small table held the rent money in careful, counted bills. We had checked it three times the night before. Alexander had checked it once more before he left for the warehouse at dawn. When I woke up to the usual low nausea, the first thing I did after the crackers was look at the envelope again to make sure it hadn’t somehow shrunk overnight.It was still there. First of the month. Cash. On time.I got dressed slowly. My jeans were definitely tighter than they had been two weeks earlier. Not obvious yet, but enough that I noticed every time I sat down on the stool at the register. The baby was still a secret we carried between us and a handful of clinic papers. At eight weeks it felt both abstract and completely real depending on the hour.At the store Jess was already in the express lane, attacking a display of impulse-buy candy with the energy of someone personally offended by poor shelf organization. She spotted me and p

Chapter 139: Noise Travels Cassandra The text sat on the phone like a hand on the back of my neck. “Heard the pregnancy rumor reached the grocery store. Shame. Family’s talking more than you think. Some of them are less content to stay quiet than others. Watch your back.” Alexander and I read it twice in the dark. Then he turned the phone completely off and set it on the floor face-down. “We’re not answering,” he said. “We’re not chasing it. Same rule as the old threats. Silence first.” I nodded against his chest, but sleep did not come after that. Every creak of the house made me tense. The baby was only the size of a raspberry according to the last pamphlet, and yet the idea of it was already large enough to draw blood from people who had already decided we were a scandal. Morning arrived too early. The nausea was sharper than usual, probably from the stress. I ate crackers in bed while Alexander dressed for the warehouse. He kissed the top of my head and reminded me to keep