Something Precious

by M. Clarke

  I could always count on Becky and Jenna for their motherly advice, as well as my mom. The three of them told me to stop complaining about my lack of comfort and lack of sleep, and enjoy this peace and quiet. When the baby came, there would be even longer periods of sleepless nights and worries. Of course, one never really knew unless one had experienced it, but I was prepared, I hoped.

  “Do you like what the artist painted so far?” Jax asked.

  With Jax standing between Jace and me, the three of us stared at the scenery on the wall. It felt like I was actually standing at our special place in Kauai. I could smell the fresh air, taste the salty ocean water, and feel the warmth of the sand between my toes. To the right on the wall was a family of turtles, two big ones and two little ones.

  “It’s perfect, Jax,”I said, snuggling closer to him.

  Jace’s grin beamed like the sun at the top corner.“I love the turtles. Look.”He pointed to the big ones.“That’s you and Rachel.”Then he pointed to the little ones.“That’s me and the baby. We’re a turtle family.”Jace’s laugh was contagious.

  “We sure are,”Jax agreed, gazing into my eyes. He didn’t need to say a word. I knew what he was thinking. His stare was one I recognized, full of love and admiration. Jax rubbed my overgrown belly.“One more month, baby. I can’t wait to hold you in my arms.”

  “Am I going to have a brother or a sister?”Jace asked, gently circling his hand on my stomach. Suddenly, he jerked.“The baby kicked.”His eyes grew with excitement.

  Though Jace had felt the baby kick plenty of times before, he always got the same expression on his face; every time felt like the first time. I understood that reaction. It was a surreal feeling, knowing a life was growing inside me. Although we knew the sex of the baby, we chose to keep it a secret. It was driving everyone crazy.

  “Nope, not yet,”Jax replied, looking at me with a smirk.

  Jace crossed his arms with a frown. “When will we know?”

  “I’ve already answered this question like a hundred times. When the baby is born.”

  “That’s a long time. Doesn’t the doctor know? He’s not a good doctor then.”

  “Really?” Jax asked. “When did you become an expert?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged, giggling.

  Jax ruffled Jace’s hair. “Come on. Let’s grab some dinner. Italian okay with you?”

  Jace did a funny kick and a hop, like the way one of the Ninja Turtles did. “Yup. I love spaghetti.” He rubbed his tummy while his tongue licked his bottom lip.

  Jax held out two hands, palms facing up. “What are you waiting for? Out you go.”

  Before Jax had a chance to close the door, I looked over my shoulder. The crib was made of real oak and next to it was a dresser, in the same color and texture. Off to the left was the changing table and a rocking chair. What stood out was the mural on the wall, giving me a feeling of serenity. Caressing my stomach as if I could touch my baby I thought, very soon...just one more month. I couldn’t wait until we could travel back to Kauai as a family. We would definitely always have Kauai.

  Two weeks later

  My feet felt like they were twice their normal size, and so did my hands. I never really believed when Becky told me her feet grew like half an inch, but now—I believed her. All my shoes were too small. That wasn’t the only thing that bothered me. The ache in my back intensified the longer I walked. I felt like a walking puffed-marshmallow woman, or sometimes like a pregnant duck, the way I waddled instead of walking.

  My appetite was better than ever before, but I was unable to eat a full meal, so I had to eat smaller meals instead. Getting up countless times in the middle of the night to use the bathroom was something I hadn’t accounted for. Jax and I learned about pregnancy symptoms in the Lamaze class we had attended during my second trimester, but they had downplayed it, making it sound not as bad as it was. Even the Braxton Hicks contractions, though not as bad as other symptoms, gave me false hope that the baby would come soon. With all those annoying pregnancy symptoms, knowing any day I would be holding my baby in my arms, I was able to bare it.

  By law I was able to take a month off before my due date, but Matthew had offered me more. I worked as long as I could and took a leave of absence two weeks before the baby was due. The employees at Knight Fashion had been very generous and supportive. Judy had already coordinated a wedding shower with Becky and Jenna, but on my last day at work, she had thrown us a baby shower. Today Becky and Jenna were throwing us another one.

  “Babe, you ready to go?”Jax called from downstairs.

  “Coming. Is Jace with you?”

  “He’s already in the car. He’s too excited. I think he’s more excited than us.”I heard Jax chuckle.“I’ll be in the car, waiting for you.”

  “Okay,”I said. I folded up the last of the onesies from the office baby shower and pushed in the drawers. Since Jax and I had been tight-lipped about the gender of our baby, the baby’s clothes consisted of mostly yellow and beige colors. Most of our gifts were items we had registered for, such as bottles, baby’s bathtub, bottle sterilizer, pacifiers, bouncer, bibs, and many more. Just before leaving the room, I rubbed my belly.“Just two more weeks to go.”

  Becky told me to arrive at her house by five. It seemed like we were the last ones there. Hendrix and Stacey had flown in a couple of days before. They wanted to be there for the baby shower and when the baby was born. Hendrix couldn’t wait to be an uncle again.

  Hendrix and Stacey had recently bought a house in Los Angeles. If and when they were ready to start a family, they wanted to be close to us. What better way than to move to LA permanently? Of course, Hendrix would have to fly once in a while to Kauai or other islands where he’d opened his restaurants, but at least they would be near us. One of the things we sometimes took for granted was our family. I had to admit, life wouldn’t have been the same without their love and support.

  The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the decorations. Yellow, pink, and blue balloons and ribbons were hovering over the entrance. I guessed since we hadn’t told them the sex of the baby, they made sure to cover all colors. On the back of the wall was a huge sign that read“Congratulations.”Looking to the dining area, I could see a cake designed to look like a baby’s bib, and an arrangement of orchids, roses, and tulips of various colors brightened up the room.

  Although the baby shower embellishments took over the room, I could see how they had tried to cover up the Christmas decorations. Becky had wasted no time in getting them up. A tall Christmas tree, almost touching their high ceiling, was set in the corner, marginally hidden away. I didn’t blame her. We had our Christmas tree up too. Days went by so fast that Christmas would come right around the corner. At least this way, we could enjoy the pine scent that filled up our houses a little longer.

  Besides the smell of what it would be like to be in the middle of a garden, the aroma of the buffet filled my stomach. I couldn’t wait to dig in to the baked salmon, various seafood, assorted vegetables, rice pilaf, and mashed potatoes. Becky and Jenna had gone all out. I was pretty sure Stacey had helped as well, but she had been in Kauai until recently. My eyes welled with tears, my heart filled with gratitude, and in this moment I felt everyone’s love around me, and I was sure my baby did too. They said that the baby felt what the mother felt. And if it were true, then the baby felt like the most important being in the world.

  After the hugs and kisses, we filled our plates and went outside to the backyard. One large rectangular table was set up to accommodate everyone at the party, including the children. In the middle were several arrangements of flowers. They were designed smaller and lower so that they wouldn’t block anyone’s view of each other from across the table.

  Becky’s backyard was a little bigger than mine. Since I’d hired her landscaper and architect, our backyard looked very similar with the design of the swimming pool and built-in barbeque, and the way the grass and the flagstone had been laid out.

&
nbsp; “The food is delicious,”Stacey gushed.

  Hendrix twitched his lips, wanting to say something. It looked like he was at war with himself. Then he finally spoke up,“It’s not as good as my restaurant.”

  Stacey looked at him from the corner of her eye with an amused smile.“Of course, it isn’t. Nothing tastes as good as you.”She paused for a second, looking like she was thinking about something.“I meant—not that Hendrix tastes good. I meant the food.”

  Laugher filled the night air.

  Matthew wiped his mouth with a napkin.“I really don’t want to know what Hendrix tastes like, but I know what you mean. I have to agree with Hendrix though, Beach Front in Kauai makes the best tri-tip.”

  “Thank you for not wanting to taste me, Matthew. But I’m a little hurt.”Hendrix’s lips perked, trying not to bust up.

  Connor, Jenna’s son, dropped his jaw.“You want to eat Uncle Hendrix?”Then he started to laugh.

  Jace pretended to bite Hendrix’s arm, sitting next to him.“Yum, yum, yum.”

  Christopher, Jenna’s younger son, being only three years old, laughed when his brother laughed.

  My mother-in-law looked at the children in awe, especially at Jace, and then she shifted her attention to me. “I can’t wait until the baby is born. It’s too bad that we live so far away.”

  Jax spooned in a bite full of rice and draped his arm behind me and said,“You can come visit any time. You don’t have to stay at a hotel. I offered you our home every time, but you refuse. I know that you say you don’t want to burden us, but staying at a hotel that long is a lot of money. You have some real estate in Los Angeles; why don’t you take one of those houses and make it your home? As you already know, Hendrix has bought a place near us. We can finally be in one city.”

  My father-in-law nodded and swallowed his drink, waiting to clear his throat to speak. “We’ll be retiring soon. Actually, retiring means slowing down for us, so that sounds like a plan. We recently bought a home nearby. We were going to refurbish it and sell it. We might as well make that our summer home. Sometimes our brains don’t work like they used to when we were younger. I hadn’t thought of that idea.”

  My mother-in-law leaned into him, a way of thanking him.“Really? That would be wonderful. We rarely got to see Jace when he was a baby. I can’t believe he’s already five. Where did the time go? I don’t want to do the same with our second grandbaby.”

  “And the future grandbabies,”Hendrix added, furrowing his brows, as if saying how dare they not think of him.

  All eyes flashed to Stacey. She held up her hands in surrender.“Don’t look at me. I’m not pregnant. Maybe he is though.”Stacey let out a snort, pointing to Hendrix.

  Hendrix shook his head and leaned back.“No. We’re not, but we did set our wedding date.”

  “Don’t keep us guessing, Hendrix,”Max said.

  Hendrix gave him a once over.“What are you talking about? I already told you.”

  “Who else knows?”my father-in-law asked.“Don’t tell me we’re the last ones to know. Why are the parents always the last ones to know?”

  “Tell me about it,”my dad threw in.

  My mom shrugged her shoulders, trying to sound scolding, but her sweet voice could never play it off that way.“We only gave birth, paid for everything, raised you the best we could, and this is what happens.”

  “We will always love you more than you love us,”my mother-in-law added.“You will always love your kids more than they will love you. It’s just the way it is. It’s the way it should be.”

  Then there was silence. The truth was, my mother-in-law was so right and everyone at the table knew it. We didn’t want to admit we loved them less than they loved us, but it was true. What could we say? I already felt it with Jace, and now with my unborn child. We would protect them with our lives, mold them to be the best that they could be, and we would do anything for them. And that was exactly what our parents had done.

  We were fortunate to have wonderful parents. I’d heard about so many neglectful parents that didn’t give a damn about their children. Many had dropped out of school. Some had gotten into drugs, maybe because of their situation at home, and having no one that cared enough to guide and help them. Glancing around our table, I knew that these children would be loved, protected, and guided in the right direction.

  Jenna pulled back her brunette hair and lightly cleared her throat. She didn’t want to be rude when the silence took over, but at the same time I knew she had something important to say.“Max and I...we’re going to have another baby. I just found out I’m pregnant.”

  We burst into cheers and hugs, and then we settled back down to the table.

  “We’re hoping for a daughter this time, but as long as he or she is healthy, that’s all that matters,”Max shared, giving Jenna a light squeeze.

  As I observed Max’s action, Jax did the same. He moved his hand to my belly. We stared at each other, and I knew we were thinking the same thoughts as Max. There had been no indication from the doctor that the baby wasn’t healthy, but one could never be sure. I prayed for a safe delivery and that was all I could do.

  “Well, we have some good news too,”Matthew gloated, wrapping his arm around Becky’s shoulder.“We’ve been approved to adopt a baby boy. Now it’s just the waiting.”

  “We’ll be flying to Beijing, China soon. Maybe we could all take a vacation there?”

  “That sounds like a plan,”Max agreed.

  Another round of congrats and cheers spread about the table with joy and smiles.

  “Let’s toast,”Jax raised his glass.“To our children, to our parents, to our health, and to a bright future.”

  “Here, here,”everyone said. The tink-tink of the glasses tapping made a beautiful sound.

  After we had dinner, we opened presents. Both sets of our parents had set up generous trust funds for our baby. Max and Jenna gifted us a year’s supply of diapers. Hendrix and Stacey bought out all the items we had checked off on a wish list at a small boutique baby store in Pasadena, including the bedding and mobile with motorized stars that would dangle over the baby’s crib. It also played“Somewhere Over the Rainbow,”which was my favorite part, as it slowly spun around. It was a wonderful day filled with great news. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

  Chapter 32

  Rachel

  Two weeks later

  I went through the list I was holding in my hand. Baby’s room was all set—check. My bag was packed for the hospital—check. Deliver baby—not checked. I sighed, feeling like a watermelon ready to explode. A warm hand coming around my bump from behind, brought me out of my frown.

  “You don’t expect the baby to come exactly on the due date, do you?”Jax asked, turning me toward him.“Maybe this will help you to forget for a second.”Cupping my face, he gave me the most delicious kiss. We’d stopped having sex for the past month. Jax was worried that he might hurt the baby and me, even though the doctor had reassured us that as long as I was comfortable, it would be fine. It wasn’t helping when he kissed me like that. With my hormones out of whack, I was overly sensitive everywhere, especially my nipples and my sex.

  My eyelids fluttered and time stopped for longer than a few seconds when Jax pulled away. He had made me forget where I was, who I was, and what I was doing. Until my stomach churned and growled.

  “I think I’m hungry again.”I wrung his shirt in frustration. I had just eaten some eggs and fruit. Feeling the Braxton Hicks contraction come full force, I continued to hold on to Jax. It wasn’t painful, but I needed a few more seconds when my stomach tightened like that. Each time, it gave me false hope that I was having real contractions. It was happening a lot more frequently in the past few days.

  Jax held both of my hands and kissed my knuckles.“Again?”He sounded surprised. Looking baffled, he said,“Let’s get you something to eat. Jace is downstairs.”

  I nodded in defeat. The truth was I didn’t want to go anywhere but the hospital t
o deliver the baby; however, at the same time, Thanksgiving was tomorrow. Dinner was going to be at Becky’s house. Jax held my hand and together we walked down, one step at time, to the living area where Jace was watching his television show.

  Jace’s head snapped away from the television with wide eyes.“Is it time to go?”

  Jace knew today was the due date. Wanting this to be a family event, we had crossed off each day passing, starting from two weeks ago, like a countdown. We had explained to him earlier that most babies were not born on the due date, just like Jace. He had been a week late.

  “Not yet.”I smiled, trying to be cheerful about it. Looking at the four stockings hung on the fireplace mantel, I couldn’t wait for Christmas too.

  Feeling bloated and uncomfortable every which way I moved had turned me into a big grump. I was just about to head to the kitchen when I felt a wet sensation. For a moment, I thought it was my imagination until Jace spoke,“Rachel, there’s water around you.” He pointed.

  I dipped my head down, feeling liquid continuing to trickle down my legs.“Jax?”I said softly, unsure of what to do. My brain told me something was wrong, and my muscles told me I shouldn’t move. My body was confused. We had learned about water breaking in Lamaze class; regardless, it was way different when you heard about it versus going through it.

  Jax stood there looking at me, most likely calculating what to do. He blinked as if to come back to reality. With a worried expression on his face and sounding concerned, he said,“Rachel, your water broke.”

  Then there was chaos.

  Words spurt out of my mouth with a bunch of directions as I stood frozen,“Jax, call my sister. Call my parents. Call your brother. Call the doctor. Get my bag. I’m having contractions. Get Jace in the car.”