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“Are you sure you want me to do this? Carving the pumpkins was always your favorite part of the holiday,” Carol said, looking at the humongous pumpkin Maria had somehow managed to sneak into the house while Carol wasn’t looking. If Carol had known Maria was going to be lifting something that heavy while she was almost due with the baby she definitely would have stopped her, but Maria had always had a mind of her own. Monica was due to be born any day now, and yet here her mother was, still decorating as though she’d be handing out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.
Maybe that was why Carol loved her so damn much.
They were secretive about things between them, but after the asshole had knocked Maria up and then taken off in the dead of night when Maria had told the sperm donor she was pregnant, it made perfect sense for Carol to move in and help set things up for the baby. They didn’t have to slink around this way, and really, Carol was just as excited for Monica’s birth as Maria was.
They had both known they liked guys and girls from a young age, and when they had met at the United States Air Force Academy they had been fast friends, and eventually it had evolved from there. They had never been exclusive, and when Maria had started dating the guy who would eventually get her pregnant, she hadn’t liked him from the get-go but had stayed quiet because Maria liked him. After he left, Maria was bound and determined to raise the baby on her own and Carol had been just as bound and determined to help. They’d talked about what kind of relationship they wanted to have, how serious they were about each other, and they figured living together would be enough, though given the attitudes of the time they would have separate rooms while they were raising Monica together.
She would have given everything up for Maria, though. Maria just had to ask.
But for now, Maria was concentrating on the pumpkin, her lips pursed and her hand on the small of her back. “I’m big as a house, Carol. I don’t think I can maneuver myself to cut it without bumping my big old belly into it, much less stand up long enough to actually carve it.”
“You could always sit, you know,” Carol teased, taking the serrated pumpkin carver from the kit Monica had bought when she’d gotten the pumpkin.
“Maybe I just want to watch, did you ever consider that?” Maria teased right back with a smile on her face.
“Fine, fine,” Carol said, shaking her head as she moved in front of the pumpkin and Maria went to get them each a glass of sweet tea, checking on the gumbo as she did. The gumbo made from Maria’s grandmother’s recipe had been on the stove, cooking most of the day, and Carol looked forward to a rewarding bowl as soon as she was done tackling the project of carving the pumpkin. “So are we going for silly or scary this year?”
“Silly, I think,” Maria said as she set Carol’s glass next to the pumpkin and then half walked, half waddled to a seat at the table. “I would have gotten a pack of templates from the Piggly Wiggly but they wanted five bucks for them. It’s ridiculous! We only got one pumpkin this year.”
Carol chuckled at that. One of the thing Carol admired most about the Maria was just how far she could make a dollar go. Maria was easily one of the queens of penny-pinching, but she wasn’t cheap where it counted. “And I think you should have let me bring it in.”
“Well, you looked peaceful sleeping, and I managed. Now--” Maria’s eyes went wide.
“What is it?” Carol asked with a frown as she registered the wet spot between Maria’s legs on the maternity pants she wore. “Don’t tell me your water broke.”
“I won’t tell you my water broke but my water broke!” Maria said.
Carol dropped the serrated cutter and went to turn the heat off the gumbo before going to Maria, helping her up out of the chair. “The pumpkin can wait. I’ll grab the go bag, we’ll get you to the hospital. Don’t worry...I’ve got you.”
---
By the time they arrived home two days with Monica after a short and swift delivery, the pumpkin sat all but forgotten on the table. Carol glanced at it as she began to deal with the now stone cold gumbo away, hoping it was still good after having been out for two days. Probably not, but as she began putting it in the trash she figured she could do something with the pumpkin while Monica was asleep and Maria was recovering from delivery.
When Maria came out to the kitchen again to get something to eat, Carol was sitting at the table with Monica, an elaborate heart carved into the pumpkin with a votive candle inside, and staring at it in wonder along with the baby. She looked up and saw Maria smiling at them and smiled back. The pumpkin would stay on the table this year, and they would admire it together in between round of trick-or-treaters this evening, and all was good in their little world together.