The door slowly opened, and Quinn tilted his head at me slightly. He had a plate and a mug in his hand. He walked over to me.
“I’ll get up and come eat,” I said.
“No, you’ll lie here and rest. I got warm food and ginger tea,” he said.
I sat up and took both of them from him.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, before heading out of the room.
Within a minute, he came back with a blue fabric thing in his hand. “It’s a rice bag, for the cramps.”
“How’d you know?” I asked.
He tapped his nose. “I thought you might have been fertile two weeks ago,” he said.
“You can smell that?” My eyes widened.
“Yes, sort of. When you’re around someone for a while, you learn their scents. Then last night, you had a different scent. Lina also warned me it would probably happen really soon,” he said.
“How do you know all this stuff about women?”
“Mymom believed men should understand women and their health. Lina, too,” he said.
“Oh…” I said.
“The first period after giving birth can be hard for anyone, but especially for you. So, I’ll be here for you,” he said.
“Normally, periods don’t really bother me, but my stomach is super crampy this morning,” I said.
“Do you need anything… specific?” he asked.
“Umm… well… I’d prefer….” I stammered.
“I’ll go get you some tampons,” he said, not forcing me to say it.
I nodded. He kissed my forehead and left the room. A few minutes later, I heard his car start up and leave. I finished the food and carried my empty bowls back to the kitchen. Lucy was sleeping, so I scooped her into my arms and brought her to bed with me. I drifted back into sleep.
Two voices woke me up, my eyes quickly opening. I looked around, and no one was in the room. The voices were coming from outside. One of them was Quinn. I let out a sigh of relief. Normally, I could hear them a lot better, but they must have been a little further from the house. They were talking back and forth for a little bit.
Then a vehicle started and went down the driveway. Quinn came back inside and stood in my doorway. Our eyes met.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“That was a friend of mine from back home,” he said.
“What’s he doing here?”
“Well, he came to talk with me; he’s part of the plan to go back.”
Quinn came into the room and sat down on the bed, near my feet.
“We will be going home on the eighteenth,” he said.
“Of this month?” I asked.
“Yes, thirteen days away,” he said.
“What’s the plan exactly?” I asked.