Chapter 13 ~*~ Gawking and Watching A Pregnant Woman Eat ~*~

Dom stepped into the Bloom’s new house in Kensington, and found it rather odd on that late November afternoon, though it was still as clean and very large as he last entered, it had a clearly different smell. “Dom! I thought you’d never show!” Orlando grinned, his hair still unnaturally long.

“I knew you’d need some backup on this…baby shower thing.” Dom grinned uneasily. “And what on earth is that smell?”

“Baby powder.” Orlando replied, nodding his head to the baby’s room, which was upstairs, directly above them. “Keeps things fresh, you know.”

“And wait, wait, how far along is Raya now?” Dom asked. “She’s been looking…erm, much larger.” He said, putting his hands in his pockets as Orlando lead him into their kitchen where there were ‘manly’ snacks and a deck of playing cards. “Beers in the fridge?”

“You know it.” Orlando grinned. “Raya won’t let us smoke cigars, but she will let us play some Bowie.”

“What she wouldn’t let you listen to Bowie?” Dom asked incredulously. “That’s insane! Completely unheard of! That’s controlling it is!”

“We’ve been listening to Mozart to develop the baby’s brain, Dominic.” Raya said, coming in dressed quite elegantly in a dress of her own design. She peeked over at the snack table and daintily picked up a slice of salami. “And I don’t want high stakes gambling in here. This is not a whore house.”

Billy, who’d been silent all this time, busying himself by taking the plastic wrap off of the CD, cocked his ear and heard the sharp sound of heels on a hardwood floor. “Now it is.”

“Raya! It’s Anaka!” She said in a falsely cheery voice. Dominic paled and Orlando managed to push him out into the backyard as Anaka made her way into the kitchen. “I put all of my things I bought for the little one out on the coffee table. Who else will be here?”

“I’ve invited that lovely Liv Tyler. And Elizabeth. Unfortunately the wonderful Liberty couldn’t make it today.” Raya said, not looking at Anaka as she reached for another piece of salami.

“Don’t even think about that piece of meat, Raya.” Orlando said, with his back to her. “And don’t ask how I knew.”

The small shower went on while Billy, Dom and Orlando played several rounds of poker, Dom winning, miraculously as he had a terrible poker face. “Royal flush.” Dom grinned, putting his hand down.

“Bastard!” Orlando said, tossing his cards down. He took another swig of his beer and sighed. “I’m down to my last twenty pounds in cash.”

“Well, with that said, I guess I’ll just go out and buy us some more beers, seeing that we’ve gone through the six pack.” Dom grinned, brandishing the pounds in front of Orlando. “I’ll be back.” Dom walked out, peeking into the living room, Anaka seeming to have left. He made his way casually to the front door, which was ajar, Raya’s large silhouette standing in the doorway.

“Thank you, sir.” She said, trying to juggle the package, ending with it balancing on her belly. Seeing this problem, Dom rushed to take the parcel off of her, well, bump. “Why thank you Dominic, I don’t know how long that would have lasted.”

Dom shrugged at the thanks. “Anywhere you want me to put it?” She pointed into the living room coffee table, Liv and Elizabeth were going through Raya’s albums of when she was younger. “Well, I’m out to get more Heinie.” He took a quick glance at the sender, Liberty Crane. He’d talked to her the day before, though briefly. Swallowing he nodded to Raya and exited to the nearest corner store.

Raya eagerly opened Liberty’s gift. “Oh look, a letter! It says…erm…’Dear Raya, sorry I couldn’t make it… I’ll be there on December 4^th.’ Orlando!” She called. Orlando came rushing in.

“What? Are you alright? Are you having premature labor?” Orlando asked, breathlessly. Raya only looked at him with amusement.

“No, silly. Write this in on the calendar. ‘Liberty at Heathrow’ on December 4.” Raya replied. “And can you get me more fruit?”

Orlando looked irritated at this, but nodded. “Don’t call me like that again, I was about to pass out!”

Billy’s higher Scottish voice pierced the air, “I would have taken a picture so that I could preserve the face he made forever!”

Raya continued on in the letter, which stated that the enclosed gift was supposed to be a hat, but that she didn’t know how to make it look like one. She pulled out a beautiful knitted yellow blanket, with the name Bloom on the bottom in very loopy letters. “My, this is very good. I don’t think I could ever accomplish this.”

“She’s got in some baby booties, they match.” Liv replied, peering into the box. “I don’t think she made these though.”

“Oh they’re lovely!” Raya said, clapping excitedly. Orlando and Billy, bored with waiting for Dom, went into the ‘shower room.’ “Orlando! Do look at what we’ve gotten. I’ve gotten about a million little onesies from Anaka, this beautiful crib set from Liv, well sets, and very high quality I might add. And Lizzy gave a certificate to a week long stay at a spa in Edinburgh! Mum started up a fund just for the baby, and Daddy’s buying us a big house in L.A.”

“Are you sure that stay at the spa is for the baby?” Orlando mused, sitting next to his wife.

*

Raya lay on their large sofa in the living room, perusing a book of baby names Orlando lying on the side of her stomach, his ear pressed against it, half listening, half hoping the baby would kick in his direction. Mozart was playing softly in the background, though only turned off to watch a stray episode of Spongebob Squarepants. “I like the name Turner for a boy.”

Orlando looked up from his silent musings. “But we have to name him William, because of Billy, if the baby is a boy.” He answered, now placing his hands on either side of her stomach.

“William Turner and some other names that I still haven’t found yet, Bloom.” Raya replied. “William Turner… why does that sound so familiar, and why do I like it so much?”

Orlando gave a laugh. “Love, my last character was called William Turner.” Raya stared blankly. “The swashbuckling pirate?”

“Ohh.” Raya said, grinning. “Must have forgotten, pregnancy hormones or something I read somewhere.” She turned back to her book. “What about if we have a girl?”

“I think her name should be Indian, like yours.” Orlando replied. “At least something exotic.”

“Like Papaya?” Billy asked, strolling casually in. “Your butler eventually gave me a key I come here so often.”

“Papaya?” Raya asked. “Billy, what on earth are you smoking?”

“Well other than Elijah’s crack, nothing.” He replied nonchalantly. He took some cashews from the bowl on the coffee table and sat comfortably into the couch. “Dom’s been better now that you’ve knocked Liberty back into the picture and taken Anaka out completely with that stunning information.”

“Yeah, who knew Anaka wouldn’t pull through with her, erm, cravings.” Raya said, turning the pages to her book. “Priya!”

“I like that name.” Orlando replied. “Don’t we know someone called Priya?” He sat up, his hand still resting on Raya’s stomach.

“Our tour guide was called Priya.” Raya said, rolling her eyes. “She was a lovely lady, nonetheless.”

“I was quite preoccupied in feeding you fruit to remember what she looked like.” Orlando mused. Raya didn’t verbally respond, but by the sound of the uncharacteristic snort, she didn’t believe him. “Billy, where is Dom?”

“Cleaning his place.” Billy answered. “It’s apparently been a wreck since The Incident. Underwear and empty bottles all over the place.”

“Disgusting, you’re going to make me puke. And I haven’t puked since my first trimester.” Raya said, looking quite appalled. “Someone dial his number, I have to talk with him.”

“You WANT to TALK with DOMINIC?” Billy asked, surprised. There was something awfully Elijah-esque about him.

“You’ve been hanging with Elijah too long.” Orlando grinned, shaking his head, He dialed in some numbers and gave the phone to Raya.

“Hello Dominic. No, I don’t plan to kill you in the middle of the night. I was actually hoping, that since Liberty comes in tomorrow, that I have to take you to buy a nice outfit so that you can make a good impression. Yes I know you’ve already made one. No I don’t care to think what you look like now. This impression could…agh, just show up here tomorrow at ten o’clock in the morning. And make sure you’ve got comfortable shoes on, Orlando and I are taking you to the high street.” Raya hung up and sighed exasperatedly.

“Give you a hard time?” Billy asked, now peeling an orange. Raya nodded without looking at him. “Yeah, Dom does that.”

*

Dom was over the next day in a pair of old jeans and a white t-shirt. Raya opened the door, graciously, though, semi-disgusted at the state of his hair. “We’ve already got the driver waiting. Orlando won’t be with us, as he’s packing my hospital bag today. I can’t do anything except point at things now, so bear with me, Dominic.”

Dom sat in the backseat, constantly shifting. “Erm, so what are you planning to do to me?”

“Why do you make it sound like I want to kill you?” Raya asked absently. “Oh, George, will you drop us in front of the Ralph Lauren store?”

Raya picked piles of clothing, and yet, none seemed to acquiesce to her tastes. “Raya, this is the fourth blue shirt I’ve worn from this store all day.”

“No, it’s not blue, it’s cerulean. That,” she pointed, “is blue.” She threw her hands up in resignation. “Come now, let’s go to the Calvin Klein store across the street.” She did make several purchases for Orlando’s wardrobe, however. No visit to a store would be left without using some form of buying power.

After another hour at Calvin Klein, they settled on a black sweater with white polo dress shirt, and some lovely, as Raya labeled them, faded jeans with brand new sneakers, CK socks, and CK underwear. “Raya, I can’t thank you enough. Do you dress Orly up too?” Dom asked, while looking at himself admirably in the mirror.

“No, I do not, as you can tell by some of his clothing choices he’s made at premieres.” Raya said, a hint of annoyance in her voice at this. “But we’re not done yet, we’re going to get your hair to a salon so that we can have it tousled, and de-greased.”

“A salon for that?” Dom asked incredulously, walking out with Raya, and carrying his bag full of his old clothes. “I can do that at my house.”

“No you can’t.” Raya replied. “And besides, you’re not paying for this treatment, I am.” They sat in the car and were driven to an upscale salon nearer to the Blooms’ Kensington home.

Dom sat very comfortably in the chair as his head was massaged as it was being styled. “Raya, why are you doing this exactly?”

“What, getting my nails done?” Raya asked, behind him. “Oh, treating you fairly. Because you are a very faithful man, and I’d like you to look good for my mate, and yours for that matter, when she comes in.”

Dom looked at himself in the mirror when his styling was done, Raya behind him nodding approvingly, like some big sister (though Raya was younger than him) dressing her brother up for his first date. “I think I could get used to this.” Dom grinned.

Raya smiled to herself. “Well, you could, but the next time you’re here will be out of your pocket. I’m going to have a baby to care for, and not a Dominic.”