"Mmm, it's so delicious!" The former man of the cloth emphasized the adjective delicious by pronging with the fork the baked potatoes with garlic by putting them in his mouth as its lukewarm silverware eating tool barely brushed his berry-coloured, damp lips as they were salivating to savor its mouth-watering dish. "We did a great job doing this." He resumed his utterance by sipping his scotch glass of cognac as its sinful, enticing fragrance of the alcoholic beverage reached the middle-aged lady's sensitive nose.

"We did it! I couldn't be more proud of ya, sweetheart!" The blonde retaliated in encougaring manner by sipping her glass of lukewarm water by resurrecting her dry throat after a few hours of not consuming liquid. "I hope Odette has a great time with this gentleman."

"Who doesn't hope? Of course, I believe she will have a spectacular time with him since she likes him a lot and she has talked about him a several times."

"Let's not forget, the person who talks about Kit, therefore she blushes every time we bring the topic about him and she giggles like a typical schoolgirl." The former sister of the church didn't miss the chance to say it in a jeering manner as the both adults couldn't repress sniggers, tickling the corners of their mouths. 

"She's in love with him which is particularly true! Don't you remember you were like that when we fell in love with each other?" Girlish, demure giggle zinged from her damp rosy-coloured lips.

"I do! It was just unexplainable for me how it did happen to me since I've always had bad luck with guys. Probably God gifted me for my perseverance in return for my patience." She pronged a couple of baked potatoes with carrots and onions by masticating them within seconds afterwards. 

"God always answers our prayers, Judy! It's just rarely the answer we're looking for." The younger man cautioned softly as his bottom lip curled, quoting his wife's mother words which imprinted in his mind like a scar of wisdom. 

"Yeah! That's what my mothah said about the prayers and the answers. God knows always what we want but he graces us with it, due to our patience or persistence." Wry grin bloomed on her lips by sipping her glass of cool, fresh water again. "And we both know very well Odette has always wished she could have a gentleman, who'd respect her and her needs, no matter what she has been through and she used to be years ago."

"That's the goal of every mature or misunderstood lady! She's lucky she isn't dating some boys at her age."

"Well, there are some decent boys around her age, however, they're so rare." In the meantime, Jude heaved a jaded sigh from the top of her frail lungs by nibbling on her bottom, plumpish lip as she darted her eyes to the scrumptious dish by fearing of muddling the kitchen table's blanket. All of a sudden, another baby kick hit her as her solely free hand lowered to the pregnant belly, her fingers kneading its fabric which covered the swollen and unconditionally sensitive body area for a woman in almost final trimester. "Oh shit! This little sweet ray of sunshine doesn't like the baked potatoes with vanilla and garlic."

"Who knows? He may prefer something else which his Mommy eats."

The middle-aged mother set free a husky, light chuckle. "For example coq-au-vin?"

"It has been a week since we ate it and the baby kicked all over again like crazy as he didn't like it at all."

"He might like it better than the baked potatoes with vanilla and garlic." The former holy woman said in teasing way as irony lingered, waxed each word of hers which she has uttered. "He's prone to be secretly a vampire since it's apparent he has dislike for garlic." Another baby kick at the mention of the key word garlic twice caused her double violent kicks as she gasped in pain, leaving the silver fork in her plate by clinking raucously as it contacted the flimsy plate. "Aww, my sweet ray of sunshine! Everything is fine. Mommy's just having a dinner with yar wonderful Daddy and we just got in a discussion, mentoning your name." She added by mumbling mellowly to the unborn child which grew inside her. In the interim, Timothy's smile rapidly grew as he watched his wife talking to their unborn child even caressing its 5th month pregnant belly, nurturing him with maternal love, attention and baby talk which every unborn baby even an infant hankers for.

--- *** ---

After Elsa's tonight show ended earlier, due to the fact, an accident befell one of the dancers and lead vocalists, who collaborated in the show ensemble, consequently the German emigrant was eagerly looking forward to go back at home and see her family.

At the moment, the blonde was seating beside the dressing table by removing her extraordinarily glamorous make-up such as the glimmering golden eyeshadows which layered her eyelids, followed by her bright pink lipstick which painted her plump lips. 

Leah was taking part in her tonight shows in the local nightclubs even on their tours in other states by entertaining the audience. The Irish girl was more than content for Odette's disappearance over the past weeks even months since she was no longer in Briarcliff, nor in Florida.

Once the middle-aged lady checked herself in the round, mildly dirty mirror's glass which reflected her double, unrealistic her, all of a sudden the redhead snuck up in the lifeless hushed hallway of the club, in order to speak in person with her elder tutor, pursing her lips until her petite hand met the doorknob by pressing it as its door creaked, catching Elsa off guard by transifixing her glare on the doorway without averting her glare at another direction. 

Grotesque, disquiet frown cracked upon her complexion, embodying her remorseless ire and resentment towards her protégé, who has just disrespected her by opening the locker's room without bothering to tap on the door once at least. The older woman's heart raced, whereas her envenomed blood frequently boiled in her veins. 

"I didn't mean to intrude, Elsa, but I wanted to see ya." Her Irish accent accentuated on her exclaimation as her lips popped up as dynamites.

"To see me? Ah! Ha! But ya didn't bother to knock on the door once at least." Elsa giggled sarcastically as a temporal, vile grin danced across her lips until her grin briskly wiped off her face. "Tell me what you want!"

"I want a baby."

"W-What, baby, Leah? Find the perfect man whom you trust and like more than anything by having butterflies in your belly and months later, here you go. The baby is inside you." 

"Bingo! I don't need a soulmate with whom to have this baby. I just count on the circumstances of having it anyway." The redhead stepped inside the dressing room by shutting the door with her entire strength, scowling how Elsa isn't being trapped in her daredevil game for testing her patience how much is going to survive, due to the rejoins. "And I already who has the baby!"

"Leah, you haven't got the right to steal somebody else's baby! Don't be a sociopathic kidnapper or just a plain psycho!" In this moment, the German lady got from the dressing table by retorting, opting to protect Odette and the unborn baby inside her bump since the Irish lady acknowledged her foe's recent condition.

"Odette and her slutty mother have got the baby I've always wanted, don't you understand, Elsa? I don't need the fucking perfect man with whom to bear my own kids and raise them on our own."

"Language, young lady! You aren't a holy Saint and do not overestimate yarself over these both wonderful women! They have fought more than anything to have these children and now you spit on them like if they were dead." What Elsa loathed more than anything was her protégé's borderless pomposity and coarse, harassing mentally her tutor in unspeakable way. "You're a wonderful singer, Leah! But once you spit on them like piss, consequently, I'm more than determined to tear you off to edges."

"W-What do you mean with this? What are you capable of, ma'am?" The younger woman enquired in sneering manner without supressing an apathetic snicker. "To fire me and hire some musically disabled on my place?" 

"Do not make me to do it, because you will be fired in no time. Am I clear, Leah?"

--- *** ---

"Oh wow! Is that yar house, where do you eventually live?" Odette posed the question as shortly after Kit parked the car by getting out of it and opening the door for his crush. 

"Yeah, it's not such a big deal! It matters to feel like home." The young singer was beyond flabbergasted by his kindness as they walked up towards the front door of the one story house until Kit took off the rusty keys to unlock the front door, hence, holding it by stepping aside and allowing her to enter inside his property. "Welcome, Odette!"

"T-Thank you a lot, Kit!" In the meantime, the both young adults were finally inside the corridor as Odette was propping on the wall with one hand, in order to kick off her sandals as she considered as mannerlessly when was a guest in somebody else's home without taking off her shoes. It was her second nature as well. A coy, modest smile blossomed on her lips. "Do I need to take off my shoes?"

"It's better to be shoeless. So yeah!" Meanwhile he kicked off his shoes as seconds later they marched up to the kitchen in bare foot. The young man guided her, whereas the brunette's hazelish-brown eyes which glinted warmness, affection and sheer innocence surveyed her surroundings and the kitchen within seconds. 

The dining table was embellished with plaid baby blue cover as empty glasses were adding to their first date dinner's platonically romantic atmosphere, followed by plates of green salad, baked chicken meat and baked vegetables adorning their plates with their scrumptious dishes as its mouth-watering aroma quickly reached the brunette's nostrils, taunting them promptly to savor the dinner meal without an ado. Feeling its sweetness, palate dawdling on her tongue, unable to resist its esurience.  At last but not least, a bottle of white wine sat in the middle of the table along with a porcelain floral vase with a single red rose. 

"And that's my kitchen and where we're about to have dinner together." Kit broke the ice by escorting his crush as his hands were into his slacks' pockets, feeling somewhat prejudices and uneasiness consuming him, factly, it was his first real date with Odette and he didn't want to disappoint her at all. Suddenly her attention which was utterly focused on scrutinizing her surroundings in her crush's cosy and dazzling house as if she was on cloud nine. "Odette? Odette Beatrix? Is everything fine? You seem quite nervous."

"Everything is fine. I'm just hypnotized by the way yar house looks, Kit." The juvenile lady confessed as her both hands shifted down to her bump, kneading it by contacting her dress's fabric. Elation consumed her entire being by shifting her gaze to him as their eyes met, locking up his gaze. "Your house looks marvelous!"

"Why thank you, Odette! You may take a seat." He helped her to take a seat on the kitchen table by dragging faintly the chair, thereafter pushing it. Meantime, Kit sat against her, whereas removing the tap of the medium-sized Italian white wine in a swift motion with his dexterous fingers by pouring himself a glass of white wine. "Would you like some white wine? It's an Italian one." She ushered with a finger, rejecting his amicable offer of her glass being filled with some liquor, in fact, she was pregnant and it might affect her unborn child viciously especially his physical condition once it emerges in this world.

"No, no, thank you, Kit! It's so kind of ya, but ya already know me. I'm pregnant!"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I'm truly sorry for  having a memory of fish but," The young man got from the dining table by heading towards the counterplot by gathering an ordinary empty glass from the kitchen cabinet. "What might I offer you to drink, Odette? Natural cherry juice or water?"

"I would like some natural cherry juice only. Anyway it's fine to forget quickly some stuff."

"Here you are!" In the interval, he poured cherry juice in the empty glass after researching the refrigerator until he left the cherry juice bottle, sitting motionlessly on the counterplot by handing the glass to the singer. "Bon appeti!"

"Thank you!" She sipped of the natural juice, subsequently licking greedily her lips by leaving the glass aside by equipping along with the silverware eating tools. "You too!" They smiled at one another as they commenced masticating in temporal silence and sipping their beverages, drowning themselves in logical and on deeper level discussions.

"Do you prefer it better in Florida or Vermont?"

"I'd rather be in Vermont since my family is here and it's colder, besides the nature is unarguably gorgeous. I'm not a huge fan of the sweltering weather at all."

"Oh! Vermont is a better place for living since it's colder and the nature is so aesthetic, giving you serene vibes. I can't disagree with ya!" In the meantime, he lit up the compact candles with his lighter, rendering the ambience even more romantic for the both fools in love. 

"And that's one of the reasons why you're no longer living in Boston?"

"Not only this reason, besides some of the strangers will claim I'm the real Bloody Face and psycho who murdered women, numbering Alma and skinning them to bones. Boston is distressing me!"

"Who isn't distressed of Boston especially if you used to be locked up in Briarcliff?" A rhetorical question escaped her lips by munching a bite of chicken meat. 

"And that's why you are here with your parents, and you're luckily living a better life."

To be continued...

Author's Note: I'd like to apologize for some sloppy and bland scenes and the chapter, itself, but here we are with something new.