Marlena 3.
I chuckle, mostly to myself, when Mars puts another plate in front of me. The rest of the Golem Guerillas are just as hungry, but my brother doesn’t care about them. He’s only concerned with me and my appetite, which he is grossly overestimating. If he isn’t careful, Mars is going to give it away that I’m pregnant. I’m only 4 weeks along and we discussed waiting until the end of my first trimester before telling everyone.
Not that Etta is much better. Mars may ply me with food, but Etta is trying to drown me. I can only stomach so much water a day and I certainly don’t need a gallon jug with me to carry around at all times. At this point, I can only shrug and accept what they give me while trying not to laugh outright in their faces. They are adorable, not that I would ever say that to my brother.
“Brother.” Jupiter calls out to Mars. “The rest of us would like to eat sometime today.”
Mars grunts, surveys the full table in the clubhouse dining room and lifts a shoulder. “You know where the food is.” Jupiter cocks his head to the side as he examines my brother, so I redirect the perceptive president.
“Here, Jupiter, I can’t finish all this.” I start to slide the third and fourth plates of food toward his end of the table, but Mars places his big meaty paw on the table and stops me.
“No.” A sigh escapes me. I peek around Mars’ thick arm and offer Jupiter an apologetic smile.
“I appreciate it, Marlena, but apparently we’ll get our own food.”
“Mars, there’s plenty more for everyone.” Etta enters with a platter. She sets it down in the middle of the table, but before anyone can even see it, Drusilla reaches across, grabs the side and tugs it until it’s in front of her.
“Then they can have that, this is mine.” Dru claims, snarling at Jupiter when he tries to steal a piece of roast and potato.
“Nessy.” Jupiter lifts his head from his feral wife to find Nessy at the table. “Get your women fed, the rest of us will pick over the scraps they’ve left behind.”
Mouthful of roast, Dru points her fork at Jupiter. “You wouldn’t last a fucking day pregnant. Watch your mouth, or you’ll be sleeping on scraps too.”
Jupiter huffs, stands abruptly, and picks his wife up out of her chair. “Wait!” She yells and he stops. “Pluto. Hand me the platter.” Most of us laugh as Jupiter carts her out of the dining room while she’s holding a platter of roast, still eating.
“I gotta say, I’m worried.” I glance over at Terminus as he shakes his head, his brows pinched. “If she’s this bad pregnant, what the hell is her spawn going to be like?”
“Growing up,” Addy begins conversationally, accepting another platter of food from Coozie, “aunts, uncles, her parents, they would carry small spray bottles filled with water. Whenever she’d act a fool, they’d spray her like a recalcitrant pet. At some point, Uncle Kitch went to one of the Catholic churches and brought back gallons of holy water. They were willing to try anything to subdue her.”
“Did it work?” Neptune asks, laughing.
Sybil, or P-Daisy as everyone has taken to calling her now, speaks up, “Sadly, no. She grew too strong, and just as we develop a tolerance to antibiotics and they become ineffective, no tool of the Lord is strong enough now to defeat her.”
“Well, that’s uplifting.” Mercury laments. “Marlena?” I look up at the club’s tech guy extraordinaire. “Are you still going to Squirrel Hill tomorrow?"
I nod, happy to spend some time at the original clubhouse and Maimonides Mitzvot shelter. I spend more time here in Morgantown than Pittsburgh, but I try to go back every other week. I haven’t been there in almost a month because of the pregnancy. “I am. Did you need something?”
“Literally everything my mom bakes.” P-Daisy pleads. Her mom, Revkah, is an exceptional baker.
“I’m sure she’ll send you and Vesta back a care package like usual.”
Vesta glares at me, “It better be three times the normal amount, since you haven’t been up there in weeks.” These pregnant women, geesh. I’m joining their ranks, but I hope I can keep myself in check. I certainly don’t have an ol’ man to see to my needs, and Mars and Etta can only do so much.
“Was there something you needed, Mercury?”
Merc smiles at me, his ol’ partner and our newest prospect Brooks cuddling at his side. “Czar is flying into Pittsburgh tomorrow night. We were thinking he could hitch a ride with you when you come back to Morgantown, if you don’t mind?”
My breath hitches at the thought of Elazar Freidman. I’ve seen him in person only twice since he offered his family to help me several years ago, but I’ve heard his deep voice, seen countless pictures and waved a couple of times passing by video calls. I refused to linger, to dwell, aside from the fact that my last…relationship soured me on anything romantic, he’s in the Army. It was bad enough having my brother so far away and helpless to do anything about him and his well-being, but to be romantically involved with an active service member…I’m not built that strong.
Also, the boy is F.I.N.E. and too handsome for me.
And now, I’m going to be in a car with him for an hour and a half, smelling him, listening to him, feeling the heat of his body…Damn, pregnancy hormones hit HARD. I glance up at Sibyl and Vesta, offering Sibyl an embarrassed shrug. She winks at me and continues eating. She grew up with Czar and the others, she knows the men of the Golem Guerillas MC are hotter than brisket, even if she prefers fish tacos with her meat now. I gasp in shock at my thoughts, blushing furiously when every eye at the table is now on me.
“Marlena—”
“Sorry, I was thinking of something else, Mercury. Sorry. I can ride him home...l mean…he can ride me…shoot…here I will get him.” Mother truckers.
“Yoda!” Cassie giggles. “Aunt Yena, I love Yoda too!” She sits back in her chair, her face solemn, her voice deeper, “Do or do not, there is no try.”
Mercury and Brooks sniffle dramatically in unison, each wiping imaginary tears from under their eyes, “Mars, I’ve never been prouder to call you my brother than this moment right now.” Merc says, his hand clutching his chest over his heart.
“Fuck off, you will.” Mars replies with a sneer, before bending over Cassie from the back of her chair and tickling her tummy. My heart nearly explodes watching my big stoic brother with his daughter. I fight the urge to rub my own tummy, knowing how good he’s going to be with this one too. He is just as adept at ripping someone’s spinal column out through their ear as he is showing Cassie more love than she has ever known.
I fiddle with my food as conversation picks up again. From under my lashes, I meet Mercury’s gaze. “How long is…uh…Czar staying in Morgantown?”
Merc opens his mouth, no doubt to tease me, but Brooks smacks him in the shoulder to stop him. With a fond shake of his head at his partner, Merc looks at me with a smile, “This time about a week or so.”
“This time?” I croak out.
Rufio answers me from several seats down the large table, “He put in his papers for discharge. Less than 6 months and he’ll be an honorable citizen of Morgantown, West Virginia.”
Oh. Oh. Czar is leaving the Army? And moving here? “Why wouldn’t he stay in Squirrel Hill?”
Terminus slaps his hands on the table and crows, “Because we’ve got the bitches!”
“Matthew Olsen!”
Term ducks his head, “Sorry, Etta.”
“Less than 6 months,” Nessy begins, “unless Gundy interferes.” The entire table growls like feral animals and the civilians look around in surprise. Oh, no wait, that’s lust.
I know the drill, 3…2…1… “Marlena, watch the kids for a bit, would ya?”
Anything to take my mind off Elazar’s impending visit, plus I’m always happy to watch the kiddos while their parents engage in debauchery. It would be nice to occasionally have the opportunity to be a little debauched myself, but that’s not happening anytime soon. I place both of my hands on my belly, then stand up with a grin. Perhaps a little lesson for the parents is in order.
“Who wants to eat their weight in candy?”