"Dee?"
"In here!" I hear from the small walk-in closet I surprised her with for our last wedding anniversary. I come to a sudden stop, sending Crosby running into my legs and almost losing my knees in the process.
"Is it the baby? Is it time?" I ask, panic starting to set in. It doesn't matter if this is our second child, I'm still nervous. Dee of course is the most zen, laid back expectant mother I've ever met. Even Star says my wife wasbornto be pregnant and be a Mom. She's the one all the wives go to for advice and she’s the first to offer to babysit any of our nieces and nephews to give the others date nights.
I take in the sight in front of me. My gorgeous wife, all round and resplendent with a pregnancy glow she should bottle and sell, sitting on the floor, her legs spread in front of her, arms braced behind, and she's shooting me an amused yet somewhat guilty look. An expression I’ve seen more than once during this particular pregnancy alone…
“So funny story…” she says, batting her lashes at me.
“Mama!” Crosby barrels past me and goes to dive into Dee’s lap.
“Careful, buddy. Your brother or sister is in her tummy, remember,” I say gently, smiling when he comes to a stop and slowly slides onto Dee’s leg.
“Hey, Mama.”
“Hey, buddy. How’s the land today?”
“Good,” he replies. “Lots of cows. And the naughty bull was butting the gate,” he explains.
Dee snorts. “Is that Bushwhacker?”
Crosby nods. “Yeah. Bushfacker.”
I bite my lip to hold back my laugh before meeting Dee’s eyes again. “So,Mama. What trouble did you get into exactly?” Nothing is beyond the realms of possibility when it comes to my wife. She seems to think she’s superwoman when she’s pregnant. Something that has been proven a little wrong a few times now.
“I got down here OK, and thought I’d be fine. But–”
“But you had another ‘bathtub’ incident, didn’t you?” I say, thinking back to two weeks ago when Dee couldn’t sleep and thought a late-night bath would help. It did… but getting stuck in the tub and having to wake me up to get out again, didnot.
She blushes, shooting me a grin. “Maaaybe.-."
"How long have you been waitin’ for us to get home?”
Dee looks down at her watch and winces. “Thirty minutes…”
I growl and shake my head. “Ever heard of a phone, Skippy?”
“Well, about that…” she says, pointing into our bedroom. I look over my shoulder to see her phone sitting right where she left it this morning–on the nightstand.
“Dee…”
"In my defense, I really didn't think I'd getstuckin here.” She nuzzles Crosby’s cheek and blows a raspberry, making him giggle. “It’s quite roomy when you sit down, but then I kind of forgot that my balance isn’t exactlynormalright now.”
I sigh but one look at her puppy dog eyes has me chuckling and moving to help her up.
“Crosby, how ‘bout you grab one of Mama’s hands and I’ll grab the other, and we can use all our big muscles to pull her up.”
“OK, Daddy,” he says, making my heart melt at the same time it swells with pride.Kids, man. They’ll turn any rancher to mush.
“Should we count down?” I ask him, earning an enthusiastic nod.
“You too, Mama. Count! Count!”
“OK, baby. You ready?” she asks, spinning around and placing one hand in his and the other in mine while she stretches out her legs in front of her to give her belly space but also so she can help push herself up too.
“Are you?” I ask, arching a brow.
“I am. But if you tell anyone about this, I might just have to let Duck Norris, Nelly,andMiss Piggy loose the next time you’re showerin’.”
