“You’re going to bounce right back after you have this baby.”
“I hope so.”
“I can’t wait till the baby shower.Your family must be so excited.”
Ava and I look at each other.“Yeah!I can’t describe how they feel.”They don’t know this isn’t the first pregnancy for Nick.I didn’t tell them about Kate or the baby she lost.The fewer people that know the better.I won’t have to get that look of pity and oh God, how could you do that to your sister.I know the look, I see it often enough when I look in the mirror.I’ll tell them, but not now.I have an idea what they would say and think of Nick, especially Chloe.As much shit as Ava gave Nick when she found out about the baby, if Chloe says the wrong thing about him, they’re going to go at each other MMA style.
Nick’s not home yet, soI take a shower, put my robe on, and go over homework and my lesson plan for the upcoming week, and try to forget about the little surprise I found in one of the drawers earlier.
When he comes home, I’m standing in front of the wall-to-wall window in the living room, looking out at the city lit up with lights and people going about their business.There are promises of fresh new beginnings, with flowers blooming in the moonlight.A slight crisp breeze is blowing through the air on this beautiful spring night.Before I see him, I feel him and hear him, and it brings a smile to my face.This is home.This is the feeling I want to have, waiting for him to come home to me every night.
He comes up behind me and wraps his arms around me, over my baby bump.I breathe in his clean fresh scent mixed with his cologne.He gives me a light, open-mouthed kiss on the side of my neck.I close my eyes a second at the feel of his lips on me, reveling in the way he feels against me.
“How was lunch with the girls?”
“It was good, but you know Ava.”I put my hands over his and lean my weight back.
“Was she giving you shit?”
“You don’t want to know what she said.”
“It must have been funny, you’re laughing.”
“You would not have thought so.But now that I think about it, it was funny.”
“As long as it makes you smile, it doesn’t matter.”
He kisses my hair, and I run my fingers along the side of his face against the rough texture.He needs to shave.“How did it go with your parents?”
“Like I thought it would.”
“Care to elaborate?Am I the slutty sister that slept with her sister’s fiancé and got knocked up?”
“Hey, watch your mouth.I told you about talking shit like that about my girl already.”
“That’s what people are going to say.”
“What people?”
“People.”
“Fuck those people.They don’t know us.If I hear anyone, including my parents, talking like that, there’s going to be trouble.Someone is going to get ripped a new one.”
“Nick, come on, you’re joking.Your parents?”
“Does it look like I’m joking?”He bends his head down to mine and looks me in the eyes.
Crystal clear and unflinching.“I guess not.Don’t leave me in suspense, what did they say?”
“They can’t wait to see you.”
“That’s it?”
“Basically.”
“I’m sure they had a lot more to say.”
“I’m sure they did too.The whole point is they know.If they’re happy for us, that’s great.If they’re not, I don’t give a damn, and they know to keep their mouths shut.”
