Chapter 2.3 Evelyn - Bad days and good days

Evelyn was having a very, very bad day. When she woke up this morning, she felt awful. Her stomach kept turning at every smell, making her want to vomit. She headed to the now not-so-secret-workshop to hammer out some frustration in the hopes of feeling better, when she caught herself on fire. Again. Her dad rushed in and immediately put the fire out before it burned her entire shop down.

The smell of burnt hair made her finally throw up. She knelt in front of that toilet for what felt like hours and hours. When she finally felt like she had puked up everything she'd ever eaten and everything she would ever eat, she went back upstairs.

She looked out and took everything all in. The sun was setting, casting a golden hue over the island. She should see Wyatt's house, could see he was outside gardening while his two children played nearby, his wife sitting on a bench, reading and occasionally saying something to one of her toddlers. Could Evelyn really leave this place? It's all she had ever known.

Evelyn got a strange feeling just then, the air getting cold despite the warm day. She heard a shout from downstairs,
"Lily!"

Lily's time had come. She was ready. It had been a long time since her Nathan left this world. Lily had done everything she had wanted to do in her lifetime. She was at peace.

She wanted to tell her family not to cry, that this is what she had been waiting for for years, but they could not hear her anymore.

Evelyn felt sick. She just watched her grandmother die and all she wanted to do was throw up.

She ran to the nearest toilet and started to vomit again. She heard a commotion in the other room but couldn't stop throwing up long enough to see what was going on now.

Death had not come for Lily after all. Her cat, Mr. Cat, had scared death away. She always knew he was a feisty one, but didn't know that he could scare even Death!

Evelyn rushed back into the room as soon as she could, and right then and there announced that she was pregnant. Lily and Anthony were so caught up in everything that had just happened in the past 5 minutes, that they didn't notice what was going on behind them. 

Silas was angry. He had a few things to say to Mr. Grim.

"You! YOU stole my wife! And you just tried to take my mother, too!"

The Grim Reaper actually seemed hurt at this.
"Silas Rivers, I'm just the messenger. I take those souls who are ready. Marilyn's time came sooner than most, but she knew that you would take care of your children. Lily was not ready yet. Her cats are..."

Behind Silas, Anthony embraced his pregnant wife, he was so happy that Lily would be okay, and that he even had a baby on the way, that he couldn't contain himself. He needed his wife right now.

However, Silas wasn't finished with Death just yet.

Lily stood back, taking a very, very long sip of her drink, making sure to stay away from what she knew was about to happen.

"You are EVIL! My wife was beautiful, innocent! And you TOOK her from me! You're the reason I'm so angry all the time!"

Lily poured herself another drink.

Silas attacked Death. Clearly he wasn't afraid of Death, and even laughed in his face.

Then punched that face.

In true Silas fashion, he attacked the Grim Reaper.

And Silas won.

"I never want to see you come here ever again!" Silas ranted, triumphant over Death.
Few people could say they faced death and won. Silas was one of those people.
"You've got issues, Silas, I don't know what's wrong with you and I'm not sticking around to find out."

And with that, the Grim Reaper disappeared.

Silas strutted around for weeks after that, the knowing smile never left his face.

To celebrate Lily's miraculous recovery, Evelyn's pregnancy, and Silas's triumph over Death, Evelyn threw a party. With Lily's brush with death, Evelyn wanted now more than ever for her family to be together, and what better way than to offer some of Silas's nectar, for free?

As soon as Susannah saw Evelyn large baby bump, she congratulated her. Susannah was a family person, after all.
"You're going to be a great mother, Evie." Susannah said as she rubbed Evelyn's belly (a sensation Evelyn was only just now starting to get comfortable with. Why did everyone feel the need to touch her?)
"I really hope so. Anthony is SO excited! He said as soon as this one is born, he wants to try for another one so they grow up around the same age. I told him if he's going to be the one to carry the second baby, then he is very welcome to do so." Being pregnant was HARD. She was constantly tired, always hungry, always cranky, her feet hurt which was the only reason she knew she even still had feet at all, and to top it all off, her back hurt every second of every day. She could NOT wait for this baby to come out, and she certainly did not want to repeat this experience.

Trying to get her mind off her sore back and feet, Evelyn joined everyone else in dancing.

They all danced, laughed, and had a great time that night. Evelyn thought that this might be the last party she'd have for awhile, since her baby was due any minute now.

In truth, she was ready for baby to be born so she could get back to work. Now that she knew her time machine actually functioned, she was ready to find out just what was on the other side.

She heard a very angry Eva behind her. Evelyn perked her ears up to listen to whatever was going on.

"I am NOT old enough to be a grandmother! I JUST had a baby!" Eva complained to Wyatt, of all people.
"Weren't you just pestering Anthony to start having kids just last year?" He pointed out.
"That was BEFORE I got pregnant! Clearly I'm not old enough to be a grandma!" Wyatt nervously chuckled before slowly backing away. He so did not want to be part of whatever Eva was going through.

It wasn't long before everyone tired themselves out, had one last round of nectar, and headed home for the night. Anthony went straight to bed, since he had to get up for work early in the morning. However, Evelyn felt restless. She headed downstairs to work on her little project some more, hoping to calm her nerves enough to sleep. She felt a weird, her baby was still but her body still felt...off. She hammered and melded away for a few hours before she couldn't stand this feeling anymore.

Angry, she headed upstairs, maybe some warm milk would settle her stomach down. 

Her baby had other ideas. Evelyn felt a strong pain and she knew it was time.

"ANTHONY!" she called out for him. 

Anthony sprang out of bed and ran over to his wife, "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm in labor. Take me to Wyatt."

A few hours later, Ryan Rivers was born.

Evelyn was in love. She had never loved anything as much as she loved this little squirming bundle of poop. She had thought that it would be weird having her brother deliver her baby, but she was in so much pain that she barely registered Wyatt in the room. If he had felt weird about it at all, he certainly didn't show it. He was beaming when he lifted Ryan up and placed him in Evelyn's eager arms.

That wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

Silas was also in love. He doted on Ryan hand and foot, rarely ever leaving the little guy's side. Although he hated the process of how Ryan had entered this world, he had never been more proud. Since Wyatt had moved out with his (now ex) wife, Silas hadn't really be part of his oldest grandchild's life, so it hadn't really hit him that he was a grandfather until the day Ryan came home.

Every single time Ryan wailed, Silas was there before his parents could even drag themselves out of bed. Silas merely chuckled at them, remembering feeling the same way, not that long ago, at least in his mind. 

It felt like just yesterday, he was swaddling and cooing at his own children, and now here he was, swaddling and cooing at his grandson. 

Silas felt happy.

Chapter 2.4