October 5
I thought about what Aunt Calla told me about Roland last month. And I kept thinking about it every night before I went to sleep. I finally decided to tell mom and Uncle Theo today. After my prenatal check up I called mom and Uncle Theo. I asked them if they could visit me at the Glass House.
I told them that it was very important. I was so glad that they were both free. I was kind of expecting mom to say excuses but she did not. It was Wednesday and Bram went to work and I told him that I invited mom and Uncle Theo over. Though he was against it he did not protest and just let me make the call earlier.
Bram was also not wasting time. He really wanted to get back on the race track. During weekends, he did a lot of time attacks, he was trying to beat some of his previous time records. And I was so proud of his determination. I waited patiently for mom and my uncle in our living area on the ground floor.
I was not able to see the footage but just a confirmation from Bram that Roland did something unusual scared me to the core. I checked the time again and it was four in the afternoon. When they arrived I immediately brought them to Bram’s home office so we could speak in private. I told Maria to lock the door and not bother us for an hour. Maria nodded and locked the door after she left us refreshments.
Mom and Uncle Theo stared at me. Curiosity visible on their faces, “Mom do you remember the weekend where Roland and Alicia visited the Rivera ancestral house?”
Mom frowned at me, “Yes, why?”
I glanced at Uncle Theo and he was frowning too, “Roland was caught in the CCTV camera to a place where he shouldn’t be.”
Mom and Uncle Theo’s jaws dropped. They stared at each other and mom spoke first, “Have you seen the footage, Emma?” mom asked me.
“Not yet,” I answered and bit my lip.
“You have to see it first, dear,” mom told me, “What if they were just making it up to frame your brother?” I was taken aback by mom’s question so I shook my head.
“Where exactly was he when the camera caught him?” Uncle Theo asked.
“I was told that he went upstairs,” I told them as I switched glances to see their reactions, “Where visitors aren’t allowed.”
Uncle Theo sighed, “Well, there is no way of knowing if it was really him until we see the video, Emma.”
“Will Credence allow us to see it?” Mom asked, she was looking at me with wide eyes.
“I don’t know,” I shook my head, “My only concern is what if they decided to turn it over to the authorities for review?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” mom reasoned, “Unless Roland took something from them?”
Now that mom mentioned it. I realized that I forgot to ask if Roland took anything from the ancestral house or if something was missing. This was the result of not listening to my husband. Bram already warned me many times that I should let his mom handle this. I took a deep breath. Maybe it was better this way, at least now my mom and my Uncle were aware about what happened.
“Emma, update me on this,” mom told me as she entered the car, “I want to know everything, so we can prepare.”
“I will,” I nodded at mom. Then I watched her car go out of our electronic gate.
I slowly walked inside the house with Maria on my side, “Maria, I need to go upstairs and lie down.”
“Certainly, madam,” Maria responded to me.
She walked ahead of me and pressed the elevator buttons. It was getting very difficult for me to move because I was in the eighth month of my pregnancy. When we reached the master bedroom, I asked Maria if she could put an herbal pain reliever on my lower back. Because my waist felt strained.
I also asked her to put my pregnancy pillow on the bed. She assisted me as I lay on my left side, it was recommended by my OB-GYN. But most of the time I woke up and I was lying on my right side. Maria asked me if I needed anything else, and I told her no. She left me and let me sleep.
I woke up and I pulled the blanket and comforter up to my chin. The room temperature had changed and it was so cold.
“Are you cold?” I heard Bram say, but I was too lazy to look for him.
“Yeah,” I responded.
“Changing the temperature now,” I heard him say again. I was so comfortable that I was about to fall back to sleep again, “It’s dinner time, Emma?”
“Two more minutes,” I told Bram sleepily.
“I’m starving Emma,” he said as he sat down on the bed beside me.
I sighed and Bram helped me get off the bed. He hugged me from the back, then he rested his hands under my breasts, “We should probably research why husband’s are more attracted to their wife when they are pregnant?”
I put on my slipper, fixed all my hair to the left side, then leaned on to Bram, smiling, “Probably because of abstinence from sex? The husband got this sort of longing feeling for something that they can’t have temporarily?”
Bram kissed the right side of my head, “You’re probably right. Come on, let’s go down.”
After dinner, I wanted to go up to the second floor and get ready for bed but Bram refused. He said he wanted us to spend some time in his office since it was just eight o’clock in the evening. I was so surprised when he showed me a pregnancy chair. He made me sit on it.
“It only comes in black and yellow and I noticed that you don’t wear a lot of black so I chose mustard yellow.” Bram explained as I touched the velvety smooth texture of the sofa.
I hugged him by the waist, “Thank you.” Then I sat on it. It even had a pillow for my lower back.
“Now that you’re on it, I could do some extra work,” Bram said as he walked to his swivel chair at the back of his office table.
My eyebrows met in the middle, “Wait, you bought this so I could watch you while you work?”
“Actually, it’s the other way around. The chair would benefit us both. I could watch you and you could motivate me,” Bram said smirking.
I rolled my eyes at him, “Are we allowed to gossip here? Mister CEO?” I told Bram with a giggle.
“I hope not about other people’s lives. We could, however, talk about cars and related topics.” Then he laughed as I wrinkled my nose in disagreement.
“My love, I know you love the sport but we could also talk about the name of our son?” I told Bram with raised eyebrows.
“That’s an easy one,” Bram leaned back to his chair and rested his head to the left side, “We’ll name him Bram Junior.” Then he laughed again when I scowled at him.
“I should probably ask your mom about this?” I picked up my phone from the lamp table and turned my phone on.
“My name came from Abraham, you know. We should probably get his name from the bible too? What do you think?” Bram sat up and picked up the pen on his table. Then he started to read the papers on his table.
I stared at him for a second then I tapped my browser and searched for the meaning of his name. One source said that Bram’s name came from Hebrew and Dutch origin. And that it could be a short form of Abraham. I glanced back at Bram and bit my lower lip. Then I searched for a list of boy’s names in Dutch and a lot of results popped up. I had my eyes on three particular names: Hendrick, Milan and Willem.
These names sounded old but I found them unique and uncommon. Then I removed the word Dutch from my search and more results popped out. Then I saw the name Roland. Top results said that its meaning can be identified as “from the renowned land”. I smiled as I remembered my brother. I looked at Bram’s direction again, “Did Roland take anything from the ancestral house?” I asked Bram.
Bram looked up to me and shrugged his shoulders, “I didn’t ask.”