“Hands off.”
I snatch my hand back and sit on my heels and look back at Isaac guiltily. “I didn’t touch anything.”
“You were about to.”
“Where did these come from?” I ask and gaze back at the pretty boxes.
“Uh, Santa?” I glare back at him.
“It’s not Christmas morning, smart ass.”
“Calling Santa a smart ass is not being a nice girl. Keep being naughty, and you’ll get coal.”
“I’ll show you naughty…”
Sophie’s whimpers come through the baby monitor, and I know I only have twenty minutes, tops, to shower before she’ll insist that it’s time to get out of her crib for the day.
“I’ll take a rain check,” Isaac murmurs and pulls me against him as I climb to my feet. “Later tonight?” he asks just before his lips brush over mine.
“It’s a date.” I grin and kiss his lightly stubbled chin, enjoying the way it feels against my lips.
“What are you up to today?” he asks.
“I’m taking Sophie to my mom’s this morning. She asked if she could keep her for a few hours, so I thought I’d take advantage of it and go to the grocery store and maybe get a pedicure. Your coffee’s on the kitchen counter.”
“Thanks, baby. Enjoy your quiet time.” He grins and kisses me on his way out the door to work.
“Don’t work too hard.”
***
“But, I don’t understand,” I reply to nurse Kimberly. “Why do I need to come back in? I was just in yesterday.”
“The blood work we ran yesterday has come back from the lab, Stacy, and the doctor would like to go over some things.”
What things?
“He said that everything was okay, and you’d be calling to let me know that the labs were normal. You can just give me the results now.”
I’m on my way from the grocery store to the nail salon to get that pedicure I so desperately need. Another unnecessary trip to the doctor seems ridiculous and a waste of time.
“I’m not at liberty to discuss the results of the tests over the phone. Dr. Wilson needs to see you. He has an opening in an hour. Can we expect you then?”
Well, hell, there goes the pedicure.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.” I hang up the phone with a scowl. More doctor appointments. Isaac talked me into going yesterday because I’ve still been having headaches. They’re not debilitating, but they are frequent. The doctor suspected that they were due to stress, but ran labs just to make sure everything was on track.
Everything had better be on track and this is just routine or I’m gonna punch somebody in the throat. I’m done with doctors for a while.
My phone rings again, and I smile when I see it’s Brynna.
“Hey.”
“Hey, I’m leaving your mom’s. She has Sophie and offered to keep the girls for me too. Where are you?”
“I was going to get a pedicure…” before I can finish the sentence, Brynna gasps.
“Without me? What the fuck?”
“It’s a good thing the girls aren’t with you,” I reply dryly.
“I know. I try to get all the swear words out when they’re not around.”
“As I was saying, I was going to get a pedi, but my doctor just called and they want me to go in for a follow up instead.”
“You’re still having follow-up visits at almost five months post-partum?” she asks.
“No, I went in because I’ve been having headaches. I guess there’s some blood work they want to talk about.”
“Oh. Well, since I don’t have the girls, want company? We can do lunch after.”
“Sure, thanks. I’ll meet you there.” I rattle off the address to her and end the call. I pull into the office parking lot and wait for Brynna in my car. It doesn’t take her long to join me.
“Hi, Fran,” I greet the receptionist. “Dr. Wilson wanted to see me again today.”
“He’s expecting you. Thanks for coming on such short notice. No Sophie today?” she asks with a smile.
“No, I had a babysitter today.”
Nurse Kimberly comes around the corner and smiles at me. “Oh great, you’re here. I’ll take you back.”
“It’s not terribly busy today.” I’m trying to make small talk to calm my nerves. I hate the doctor office. You’d think with all the dozens, if not hundreds, of hours I’ve spent in them over the past three years it wouldn’t bother me.
It does.
“This time of year is usually slow. Especially this week, the week of Christmas.” Kimberly offers a friendly smile at Brynna.
“Oh, I’m sorry. This is my cousin, Brynna.”
“Nice to meet you. Okay, have a seat, the doctor will be right with you.”
“This place gives me the heebs,” Brynna remarks after the nurse leaves. She shivers and looks at a plastic vagina. “What the fuck do they put these things out here for, anyway? I don’t want to see a plastic model of the jay-jay.”
“It’s to scare us into not having sex anymore.”
“It’s working.”
There’s a brief knock on the door, startling Brynna and then the door swings open, and my handsome doctor, Dr. Delicious Wilson briskly walks in the room.
“Thanks for coming in, Stacy.”
“Sure. This is my cousin Brynna.”
“Brynna.” He automatically shakes her hand, not looking up from the chart in his hand. Bryn catches my eye, her own big brown eyes wide and mouths, Holy shit!
I know! I respond.
“So, Stacy, I know we discussed yesterday that the headaches are most likely due to stress, and not related to the minor gestational diabetes that you had in the latter part of your pregnancy.”
“Right,” I nod.
“And that may still very well be the case because your labs are perfectly normal in regards to your blood sugars.”
“Good.” I smile and drape my handbag over my shoulder, expecting to leave with the results of my test.
“However,” he continues and I halt my movements. “You’re pregnant.”
“The fuck?” Brynna mutters and then breaks out into hysterical giggles.
Chapter Nine
I stare at Delicious for a few seconds, my mouth gaping, my eyes wide, and then Brynna’s giggles break through the fog surrounding my brain.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“You’re pregnant.”
And just like that, just as the giggles were under control, Brynna lets loose again.
“Has she been drinking?” the doctor asks.
“No. This is just crazy. You might want to double check those lab results, doc. I’m not pregnant.”
“Uh, yeah, you are.”
I’m stunned. I blink at him.
“Only you, Stacy.” Brynna takes a deep breath and wipes a tear from her eye. “Only you would struggle through infertility treatments for three years, finally have a baby, and then get pregnant again right away without even trying.”
“I’ve seen it before,” Doc responds. “Sometimes a woman’s system sort of ‘resets’ itself after a pregnancy, and she’s able to get pregnant right way.”
Huh.
“When was your last menstrual cycle?” he asks.
“I don’t remember. Probably before I got pregnant with Sophie. I just thought my hormones hadn’t leveled out from the pregnancy yet.”
“So you probably got pregnant a couple months ago.”
“Tahiti?” Brynna mutters.
Tahiti.
“Shit, I’ve had alcohol! I wasn’t breast feeding Soph, so I’ve had drinks here and there since Tahiti.”
“More than a few on a daily basis?” he asks.
“No, more like a few a month.”
“You’re fine,” he smiles reassuringly. “You know the drill. Call your OB and set up an ultrasound and consult.”
“So, everything else is okay?” I ask.
“Yep, you’re great. Best of luck to you.”<
br />
I stare at Brynna for a minute, my mouth opening and shutting like a fish out of water.
“Lunch,” she says and takes my hand, pulling me out of the office. What is it with everyone pulling me all over the place lately?
“I have to take my groceries home and get Sophie.”
“We’ll take your groceries home, put away the perishables, and then go to lunch. Your mom is enjoying Sophie.”
“Okay.”
“Can you drive?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Because you’re trying to unlock your car with your lip gloss rather than your key fob.”
I look down at the lip gloss in my hand. “Shit.”
“I’ll drive, we’ll leave my car here, and I’ll have my dad come get it later.”
“Okay.”
“How do you feel?” she asks as we pull in the driveway. I’m still staring numbly ahead in shock.
“Not pregnant.”
“Come on, let’s do this so we can go.”
We quickly unload the bags of groceries from the car to the kitchen and stow all the food that belongs in the freezer or fridge away, and before I know it, we’re back in the car and pulling into a nearby Mexican restaurant.
“We’re getting margaritas.” She grins over at me. “We’ll make yours a virgin.”
“Fuck, no alcohol for another year.”
We’re seated and I greedily dig into the warm basket of tortilla chips and salsa.
“Nothing wrong with your appetite,” Brynna states dryly.
“Shut up.” I eat two more chips and take a sip of my virgin margarita. “This is no margarita.”
“So…” Brynna lifts an eyebrow expectantly.
“So what?”
“Don’t be stubborn. Talk.” She takes a bite of a chip and a long sip of her slutty margarita and smiles smugly.
“I hate you right now.”
“No you don’t.” She waves me off with a flick of the wrist. “How do you feel about the baby?”
“Oh, Sophie’s great. She’s so funny, she just giggles all the time. Here, I’ve got a video on my phone I want to show you…” I look up into Brynna’s wide brown eyes. “What?”
“Stace, are you having a seizure? Do I have to take you back to Dr. Delectable?”
“He’s Dr. Delicious.”
“Whatever, I’ll take you back to Dr. Sex-on-a-stick if I need to. You do remember that tid-bit about you being preggers, right?”
“Oh.” I sit back in the seat, a chip hanging limply between my fingers. “Yeah.”
“Right.”
“I’m pregnant.” I say the words again in my brain, letting them sit there and percolate. “Without meds, or shots in the hip, or being told, month after month, that it didn’t work.”
Holy shit.
“What do you think Isaac will say?” she asks.
I flinch. “Well, coincidentally, we talked about this a few weeks ago. We were gonna wait to have more, but I’m quite sure he’ll be happy once the shock wears off.” I shrug. Yes, Isaac will be great. We’d planned to have a whole houseful of children when we first got married.
“Oh, God.” I swallow another chip and take a sip of water.
“What?” Brynna asks.
“I’m going to have two babies under eighteen months old. Two babies in diapers. Two babies…”
Her eyebrows are raised and she’s grinning. “I wouldn’t know what that’s like at all.”
“Damn, I was not expecting this.” I laugh and take a deep breath. “Sophie’s gonna be a big sister.”
“How are you going to tell him?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It should be something fun.” I clap my hands excitedly.
“I know! Christmas is just a few days away.”
“I like where you’re going with this.” I sip my margarita impostor and lean forward, listening intently.
“Okay, I saw this on that pinning board online. Have you seen that site?”
“I’m addicted to that site.” I waste many, many hours on that site.
“Here’s what you’re going to do: call Natalie first. Then…”
***
“How was your day?” Isaac asks and pulls me in for a kiss. He’s just come in from work, and brought Italian with him, God love him.
“It was a good day,” I smile to myself and jump up and down in my head. “Pretty standard.”
“Anything new happen?”
You have no fucking idea, babe.
“Not really.” I shrug and kiss him chastely and then start pulling Styrofoam boxes of delicious food out of a brown paper bag. Isaac walks into the kitchen for plates and silverware and pulls down two wine goblets and a bottle of Merlot.
Shit.
“No wine for me, Eyes,” I say as nonchalantly as possible.
“You sure? I know you love this with the chicken parmesan.” He frowns and tilts his head. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m fine,” I wave him off and dish up our plates, smiling over at Sophie who is sitting in her bouncy seat on the table, blowing raspberries and playing with her feet.
“No more headaches?” he asks and returns the wine and goblets to the kitchen, bringing us each a bottle of water instead.
“No, not in a couple days.” I grin at him. “Definitely no headache tonight.” I wiggle my eyebrows, making him chuckle and doing my best to distract him from talking too much about my day.
“Did the doctor call with the results of yesterday’s tests?” he asks and takes a bite of salad.
So much for that.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.” I can’t look him in the eye now. I hate lying to him, even if it’s to surprise him. And this is a big deal, and I’m so excited! Maybe I should tell him…
“So, the headaches were probably from stress then?” he asks, looking thoughtful while he chews.
“That’s what the doctor thinks.” I take a sip of water and dig back into my saucy pasta. God, it’s good.
“I know you’ve had a lot on your plate, Stace. Maybe you should take a break from the blog for a while.”
Huh?
“Why would I do that?” I ask with a frown.
“Because you obviously have a lot going on, with Sophie and Brynna being home and everything.” He shrugs like this makes perfect sense to him.
“I love my blog. I love to read. The authors depend on me to help them promote their books, and write reviews, and I don’t want to take a break from it.”
“I’m not saying you should give it up altogether. Maybe just slow down. It takes up a lot of your time.”
“Are you saying that you don’t want me to keep doing the blog, Isaac?” I put my silverware down and stare at him. He’s never voiced this to me before. He’s always seemed to be so proud of me.
What the hell?
“No,” he frowns at me. “Jesus, I’m not an asshole. If you love it, keep doing it. The doctor said your headaches are caused by stress, and I’m just trying to think of ways to reduce your stress.”
And I’m deliberately trying to start a fight. Great way to reduce stress. I take another drink of water and pull in a deep breath.
“Well, I don’t think the blog is stressing me out,” I reply calmly.
“Okay.” He finishes his pasta and pushes his plate away, watching me closely. “Is anything else going on?”
I shake my head and purse my lips. “No.”
He tilts his head, those ice-blue eyes watching me closely. “If you say so.”
“Did your mom call you today?” I ask, changing the subject as I rise and clear the table.
“No, what’s up?” He stands to help me and we make quick work of tossing the take-out boxes and loading the dishwasher.
“We’re having Christmas Eve dinner at Luke and Nat’s this year, since they have a bigger living space for all of us.” I turn around and lean against the kitchen counter, and smile as Isaac lifts Sophie from her bouncy seat and kisses her little cheek, whispering in
her ear, making her giggle.
He is such a good dad. I have to grip the countertops at either side of my hips so I don’t unconsciously rub my hand over my stomach.
The Montgomery’s usually all gather together for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but we exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, and I’m so damn glad because I don’t think I could wait another twelve hours this year.
Not to mention, this way the three of us can have our own private Christmas morning here in our home together.
“Oh, okay. That works. Are you and I exchanging presents there or are we going to wait until Christmas morning here?” He nibbles on Sophie’s fingers, making her laugh some more. “Should we make mommy wait for her Christmas presents, peach?”
“I’d like to give you one gift there, and we can do the rest here the next morning,” I murmur and his eyes find mine, his head tilting again in thought at the tone of my voice.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, don’t be a nag, dear,” I reply sarcastically.
“See, there’s that mouth again. Santa can still return all those prettily wrapped presents under the tree, babe.”
I grin sweetly. “I love you.” I bat my eyelashes playfully and Isaac laughs, causing Sophie to laugh too.
“Mommy pretends to be a good girl, but she’s naughty, Soph. Don’t let her fool you.” He kisses her cheek again and smiles over at me. “Come here.”
“What?”
“Just come here.”
I walk over to my two favorite people and he drapes an arm around me, plants his hand at the small of my back and pulls me in for a kiss.
“This is the best Christmas present, right here,” he whispers against my mouth. “Just being with my girls.”
Oh, I think that what I have for you comes close. I grin up at him and kiss Sophie’s soft cheek.
“It’s going to be a great Christmas,” I murmur.
Epilogue
I squeeze Stacy’s small, smooth hand in mine and kiss her fingers before I leave her with Sophie and join Caleb by the Christmas tree. I nudge my brother’s shoulder and offer him a beer and follow his gaze up the tall evergreen parked in Luke and Nat’s living room.
“Dude, who decorated this tree?” Caleb asks Luke, looking up at the tallest Christmas tree any of us have ever seen in a private home. Luke and Nat went all out on the décor; the huge tree climbs all the way to the cathedral ceiling, and is brightly lit with multi-colored lights and draped in bulbs and garland and tinsel. It’s massive. Lights are hung outside as well, and garland with white lights is draped around the entire living space.