“You’re a dork,” I said, looking down to find my hand on my stomach as he sang “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel. The only reason I knew the song was because of the movie Dirty Dancing.
“Well, it seemed appropriate,” he sang in the middle of the lyrics. I just shook my head at him. He finished the song and then plucked random strings and chords.
“You know, we can turn the spare room into a nursery,” he said, completely out of the blue.
“Yeah?” I’d just assumed that he’d want to move out of the city and get a house. That was what we’d talked about before this all happened.
“Yeah. I mean, this is fine for three of us for now. I mean, my three brothers and I shared a room and we all turned out fine. I don’t think kids need massive-sized rooms and playrooms and all that. So we can stay here, if you want.” It was like he was reading my mind.
“I don’t want to go from this apartment to a house in a development in the suburbs. That’s just too harsh a transition right now. I mean, he or she won’t be starting school for five years so we could stay here for that. Five years might be enough time for me to wrap my head around the fact that I’m a mother and a wife.” Both of those things seemed so insane, but they were both happening. Pretty much at the same time.
“We don’t have to go that far. There are nice townhouses we could look at,” he said. I knew that wasn’t ultimately what he wanted, but maybe it could be a stepping stone. A compromise.
“Sounds good.” My phone rang and I reached to retrieve it from the coffee table. Mom.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Rory. I was just looking online and I was wondering if you had thought about what kind of crib you want yet.” My brain exploded.
“Have I what?” She repeated herself and then launched into detailed descriptions of every crib ever made and I got totally lost.
“Mom, I haven’t gotten that far. Besides, we have a long time until we have to deal with that. We don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl,” I said, giving Lucah a look and mouthing my mom at him.
“Well, I know, but furniture is gender neutral. You just add little touches for a boy or a girl later. Sheets and so forth. Speaking of sheets, be careful what kind you get. Make sure they’re good and not cheap.” I was sure that she was going to buy me the best baby sheets ever. Made from angel wings and unicorn tail hairs or something.
“Mom? Why don’t you just send me the links of everything and I’ll look it over and get back to you.” At least that would focus her energy away from me and toward my inbox.
“Oh, that’s a good idea. I’ll do that. How are you feeling?” I told her that I was just as good as yesterday. I couldn’t help but be amused by her intense concern over my welfare. It was adorable. She and Dad were so excited. I loved it. Something positive after all the bad that had happened in the past year.
“I’m good. Eating a lot of folic acid.” I gave Lucah a look and he pretended to glare at me.
“Excellent. That’s so important.” I was treated to another lecture on the wonders of folic acid, but I let her do it. She was a mom and that was what she was going to do so I might as well let her do it and keep a smile on my face. She did it out of love. Just love.
We chatted a bit more about the wedding and the baby and then she said that she had to go start making dinner for Dad.
Sloane arrived not ten minutes later with several glass containers all stacked up.
“What’s all this?” I asked as Ryder came in behind her with more and shut the door.
“Well, it’s dinner for tonight and then I made you some extra meals in case I can’t cook for you next week and also for you to bring to work. You never know what’s in food when you go out, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.” This wasn’t going to continue for the entire pregnancy. There was just no way. It wasn’t going to happen. Life would get in the way and they’d go back to normal. Hopefully.
“This is too much,” I said as she filled the fridge even more full than it already was. “This is way too much.”
“Psh, don’t even worry about it. I’m going to make sure that baby comes out as healthy as it can be. And then when it’s out, it’s going to be the best-dressed child this world has ever seen.” She bustled around and got dinner ready for all of us.
“She’s really excited,” Ryder said in my ear.
“Be careful or you’re next,” I said. “Baby fever can be catching.” His eyes went wide and then he made the sign of the cross. I burst out laughing.
“What?” Lucah and Sloane said at the same time.
“Nothing,” Ryder and I chimed.
~*~*~
“Can you believe you’re getting married on Saturday?” Sloane said and my nerves immediately rose to the surface. Between the baby and the wedding, I was probably under more stress this week than I would ever be in the rest of my life. Except maybe for the day I had the baby. That was definitely going to be stressful to say the least. Eh, I had plenty of time to prepare myself for that.
“No. Thanks for reminding me about it,” I said as I fished through more kale and chased a carrot onto my fork.