Chapter 10
Chelsea wished everything could have gone as smoothly as it did the day she came home from the hospital. Matthew massaged her feet. Got her food. Kept her company. Over the next two weeks however, things went downhill. At first it was little things, Chelsea noticed he wouldn’t sit with her or he’d take his time getting to the babies. She found herself angry all of the time. She spent most of her time in the nursery, away from him. In her mind, as soon as he went back to work he changed. Things didn’t get bad however, until the day he told her he’d have to leave for two weeks for work.
“Are you insane? We have two babies to look after! I can’t do it all by myself, Matthew.”
“That’s why I asked you to hire someone before you even went into labor. I can’t just stay here, skip out on work. Do you like living in this house? Do you like eating? Okay, then leave me alone.”
Matthew was packing his bag rapidly, throwing everything together. She knew he was pissed off, but she didn’t care. Chelsea closed the bag making him sigh in exasperation.
“I really can’t do this right now?”
“What is that even supposed to mean? You had these babies with me, now you need to help take care of them.”
Matthew gripped her shoulders. “That’s what I’m trying to do. Look, these properties aren’t going to stick around forever. I need this. My family needs this.”
Chelsea moved away from him, sitting on the bed. “You just don’t want to be around me,” she said quietly, pulling her robe together tightly.
“That’s not true. You know that.”
“Whatever,” she said as she pushed herself up and walked down the hall.
Chelsea didn’t know what it was, but she heard something crash to the floor. The famous Rawlins temper. The noise prompted crying from the nursery, the sound echoing down the hall.
“Are you happy, now?” She yelled at him from across the hell.
She picked them both up, sat down in the chair with their pillows and began to feed them. They quieted down right away. Matthew poked his head in the door.
“I have to leave now to catch this flight.”
She ignored him.
He walked into the room. For a moment she could feel him looking at her. She could feel the puppy dog eyes on his face without even looking at them. His feet were muffled against the carpet as he walked over. He kissed both of the twins softly. As he went to place a kiss on her cheek, she moved her head away.
“Fine.”
He walked out of the room quickly. She heard the door downstairs slam shut, making her jumped. Both babies started to cry. She shushed them softly before she resumed feeding them. Tears ran down her face, clouding her vision. She wanted things to go back to how they used to be.
The next morning as Sangi walked through the door, she knew something was wrong. Chelsea was lying in bed, her hair a mess of tangles. Her eyes were red from crying. Sangi stroked her back as she lay in bed, staring at the wall.
“What’s wrong Charlie?”
Chelsea shrugged. How could she put it into words? She felt sad, so sad that she didn’t want to get out of bed. No, she couldn’t get out of bed. She hadn’t even eaten since the day before. As if in agreement, her belly rumbled loudly. Sangi sighed.
“I think I know what’s wrong?”
“Matthew’s an asshole,” she said wiping at her eyes.
Sangi shook her head. “You have the baby blues. It’s normal after having a child, even more when you have two. You have to get out of this bed and take care of yourself.”
“I don’t want to move.”
“Well, too damn bad. I’m going to turn on the shower, which you will enjoy. When you get out, I’ll have fresh clothes set out for you. You’re going to get dressed, do your hair, hell even put on some makeup because you are stronger than this.”
“What if the babies need me?”
“They have their auntie Sangi to look after them. I’ll heat some of the milk and feed them myself. I’m going to order some food while you’re in the shower and then we’ll eat together, watch tv and talk about you and Matthew.”
Chelsea didn’t want to do any of that. She wanted to stay in the bed. She wanted to cry. There was no point to getting up, fixing herself up pretty when she felt like crap. However, she knew Sangi. If she stayed in bed, her friend would just pester her until she got up and got herself together.
“Okay,” she mumbled quietly.
Chelsea did as she was told. She slipped into the shower. To her surprise, it helped a lot more than she thought it would. The sleepiness, the aching of her body washed away as she took her time enjoying the warmth of the water. When she stepped out, she dried off with one of the plush, black towels on the counter. She slipped into the black jogging pants and blue tank top Sangi had picked out, feeling better bit by bit.
She wiped the steam from the mirror as she looked at her hair. It was wet, clinging to her. The first thing she did was blow dry it before she combed it up and flipped it into a ponytail. As Sangi suggested, she even put on a bit of makeup, just a swipe of pink lip gloss, but it made her feel better. She heard the babies crying and left the bathroom quickly.