“But look at how much has changed since then,” I pointed out.
“I know,” Lexi said, smiling again. “It's great to have you here with me, helping me out this time.”
“Not that you really need my help,” I said. I didn't mean it in a peevish way, though. I actually really admired how well Lexi had handled her pregnancy. She'd been nervous, telling me about it, even though we'd been talking about potentially having another kid at some point. Once she realized how excited I was, though, she had calmed down exponentially.
“I still wish we knew if it was a boy or a girl,” I said as we watched Emma run off to chat with some friends from her daycare whom she hadn't seen all summer. It looked like she was going to be settling in nicely. We got her all signed in and then headed back down to the car.
“I know you do,” Lexi said, returning to my earlier comment. “But I want it to be a surprise. I didn't know whether Emma was going to be a boy or a girl either, and when she arrived, it made that moment all the more special. Plus, I don't know, there's something fun about trying to guess, don't you think?”
“But I don't know what kinds of clothes to buy,” I complained. “Or how to decorate the nursery or what kinds of toys I should buy or anything.”
Lexi laughed. “Andrew, you're a billionaire,” she reminded me. “You could probably hire a tailor the night the baby was born and have them knit up a whole custom-made wardrobe for the kid by the following morning. Or if it really bothers you that much, just buy a bunch of outfits for boys and a bunch of outfits for girls. We'll get rid of whatever we don't use. I'm sure we could donate them to someone in need. Or we'll save them for if we—” She broke off, flushing bright red.
“Were you about to say that we could save them for if we had another kid?” I asked in surprise.
She shrugged, looking embarrassed. “Let's just get through this one first,” she mumbled, but I could tell that that was exactly what she was thinking.
I slung an arm around her shoulders. “You want a big family, don't you?”
“I was an only child,” she reminded me. “I always dreamed of having a big family, back when I was growing up.”
“Let's see how exhausted we are with two of them,” I suggested. “But I'm not ruling out the possibility.”
Lexi smiled. “Soon enough, Emma's going to be old enough that she'll be able to babysit for them,” she said.
“Isn't that a scary thought,” I said dryly.
Emma was proving to be incredibly smart, but she also had a wicked trickster streak in her that led to quite a few pranks around the house. They were all harmless, of course, but sometimes I wondered where she came up with the stuff. I could only imagine what things were going to be like once she had a little brother or two around. I wondered whether they would help her with her pranks, or if she would use them against the poor kid instead.
“Do you have to go to the office today?” Lexi asked as we climbed into the car.
I looked over at her in surprise. It wasn't often that she suggested I play hooky. “Are you feeling okay?” I asked.
“I'm just a little weepy still,” she admitted. “I don't mean to make you stay home just because I'm upset.”
“Don't worry about it,” I said, reaching over to squeeze her hand. “But let's do something better than staying home. It's our first day without Emma for the school year; we should have some fun with it. What do you want to do?”
“We could go shopping for baby supplies,” Lexi suggested. “We still need a good stroller.”
“That we do,” I agreed. “Let's go. Then, we can have an early lunch someplace downtown, and when we're done with that, maybe we can go home and have a nice cuddle on the couch and watch a movie before it's time to pick Emma up from school.”
“We don't need to pick her up today; Carly's mother will get her, and then we'll get the kids tomorrow,” Lexi reminded me.
“Of course,” I said, nodding. “All the more reason to have a nice cuddle session on the couch. We'll have nothing to worry about for the rest of the day.”
“That does sound nice,” Lexi agreed.
“I'll even give you a nice foot massage,” I promised.
“How did I get so lucky?” Lexi sighed, grinning over at me. She stared out the window as we drove along, and I knew she was looking at every little baby out there, wondering if maybe that kid was going to grow up to be friends with our new baby. I was thinking the same thing.
“Which do you want it to be?” I finally asked. “A boy or a girl?”
Lexi frowned. “I'll be happy with either, of course,” she said.
“Of course,” I agreed.
“I kind of hope that it's a girl. Having two little girls would be so cute. Emma would be great with a little sister. They could share clothes and do each other's hair and nails. I mean, there might be too big of an age gap between them at this point.”