by Magan Vernon
Chapter 13
After finally ordering, addressing, and mailing all of our wedding invitations it was time to get on with the next step of pre-weddingness: registering.
We still hadn't found a place, so I had no idea where we'd even put the stuff, but we planned on going on another house hunt after we were done hitting the department stores in the city.
"What the hell is this?" Blaine asked, holding up some sort of a silver utensil.
I stared at the list that the lady at the registration desk gave us. I didn't see anything on there that I wasn't sure of what it was and I was pretty sure the silver thing wasn't on the "must have bridal registry" list. "I don't know and if we don't know what it is, then we don't need it."
"What we need is a new gaming system. How am I supposed to teach our baby all about medieval gaming and sports if we don't have a new system?"
I rubbed my stomach, which was now definitely pooching out. It didn't look like I was full-on pregnant, but that I had at least smuggled a small loaf of bread under my shirt. "We don't even know if it's a he or she yet, so how do you know if our baby girl will like video games?"
Blaine smiled and kneeled down in front of my stomach and tickled it. "Two more weeks and we'll find out if we have the big P or the little P."
I squirmed and giggled. "Stop it! We're in public."
"What? Everybody's got a P."
"Do you really need to call it that?" I asked.
He shrugged. "What would you prefer that I call it?"
I swatted his arm and started walking down the aisle. "I don't know, but not that."
Blaine followed me down the aisle toward the bed linens. "Do we really need all of these things? Isn't my comforter good enough?"
I wrinkled my nose. "Your comforter always smells like sweat and grass."
"Yeah, it's called 'Eau de Blaine' and you love it."
I laughed. "I'm not sure about that."
"Are you going to spray all your girly shit over our bedding and make me get something pink?"
I frowned. "Did you seriously just say that to me?"
"What? It's an honest question."
I glared at him. "No, I won't be getting a pink comforter but if you don't want anything that smells like me, maybe we don't need to be sleeping or living together."
Okay, it was a stupid reason to get all pissy, but it still bothered me. I'd been working so long just to get him to agree to move in together, and before that he'd had so many more commitment issues. Now that things were finally going smoothly, every time there was a little bump it always threw me off and upset me.
Blaine put his hands on my shoulder. "Hey, baby, don't be like that."
"Well, you don't need to say those things."
He pulled me in for a hug. "I'm sorry. I won't make fun of your girly shit anymore when you're all crazy hormonal."
I swatted his chest. "No, you won't make fun of it ever if you want to keep me and Libby junior around."
He kissed my forehead before pulling back and grabbing the registry scanner from me. "It's Blaine junior and this camouflage bedroom set is calling to him. He told me, telepathically, from your stomach."
I leaned and kissed Blaine on the lips before taking the registry gun back and heading in the opposite direction of camouflage. I also made a mental note to check the registry and probably take off half of what he scanned when he thought I wasn't looking.
After registering my feet ached, but Blaine really wanted to check out one more place.
"I think this could be the one, baby. It's a little farther out than we wanted to be, but it's real nice."
I thought we'd be heading back toward Elsbury, but Blaine got off at four exits before we normally would.
"Where are we going?" I asked, peering out the window.
"This place is actually still in New Orleans."
I raised an eyebrow. "Won't that be far for you since your work is usually in a different parish?"
He shook his head. "Naw, it won't be too far of a commute for me and it'll be a lot closer for you to go to school."
"Um, I don't know if you noticed but this isn't anywhere near St. Joseph."
He smiled and glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "I'm not talking about community college, I'm talking about after. When you're ready to finish your degree."
I blinked. We'd talked about me finishing my degree before, but I really thought it would be a ways off. I did plan on finishing my associates at some point after the baby was born, but I wasn't in a hurry. "Really?"
He put his hand on my knee and squeezed it. "Yes, really. You moved back here for me and I convinced you to go to school here, so I have to keep to my promise and you have to finish school. If you need to take night classes or we need to work with my mama on taking some time off to watch him while you have classes, then we'll do it."
I wiped a fallen tear from my cheek and leaned over, placing a quick kiss on Blaine's cheek. "Thank you," I whispered.
"You don't need to thank me, baby. For you, I'd do anything."
***
We turned down a street that was lined with boutique shops and small cafes. There were people walking down the cobblestone paths, looking in windows, and genuinely looking happy.
I expected us to turn down another street into some residential area, but instead Blaine slowed down and pulled into a spot in front of a mint green building.
"Is the neighborhood around the corner from here or something? Is that why we're parking here? I don't know if I'm going to like having to lug groceries and a baby a few blocks." I looked out the window, trying to see any hint of a subdivision.
Blaine shook his head and pointed out the front window. "No, baby, we're here."
I looked out at the mint green building with the two bright yellow doors and red shutters. This couldn't be it. It looked more like an artist haven than someplace I could see us living.
"That place?" I asked.
He nodded and opened the door, coming around to my side and helping me out. "Yeah, Don told me about it. One of his friends lives here now but is graduating in May so we'd be able to have it when he moves out, right after the wedding. It's a shotgun style duplex, so we'd have one side wall neighbor, but that ain't too bad. It's better than living with my parents."
"That's very true." I smiled and let him lead me to the front porch.
It didn't look like my dream place. I always used to think that I wanted to live in the city, in a condo like my parents. But the more time I spent at Aunt Dee's or Blaine's the more I realized that I liked the quiet and openness of the country.
Blaine knocked on the front door and nothing happened. He knocked again. Still nothing. He then pounded his fist on the door and finally we heard some shuffling. Then a guy with short black dreads, wearing nothing but a pair of blue basketball shorts answered.
"Hi, I'm Blaine, Don sent me over to look at the place."
The guy smiled widely. "Oh, yeah! Sorry I forgot about y'all coming. Come on in, look around," he said and took a step back.
We walked into a small living room with light wood laminate floors and pale yellow walls. The room may have looked even smaller because the narrow space was crammed with a big, plaid couch and a fifty inch TV as well as various clothes and pizza boxes piled up.
"Sorry about the mess, man. It's finals week," the guy said, picking up some clothes and setting them on the couch.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it," Blaine said.
The living room led to a kitchen with a white island being the only thing that separated it from the living room. A few steps later and we were in a small hallway with a white subway tiled bathroom on one side and a bedroom that was crammed with furniture on the other. The hallway ended with a decent sized bedroom that had French doors on the opposite side that were open, letting in the spring breeze from a small courtyard.
"Oh, man, this is nice. We could sit out here and watch the sunset, maybe have the baby in a little swing. I can just pic
ture us here now. I can even see that other room being the baby's and getting a crib and changing table in there. We could even put a desk in so if you need to stay up late and do homework and if the baby's fussing for you to hold him, you can do both," Blaine said.
I couldn't see any of that in my head, especially not doing homework while holding a baby. But the way Blaine's eyes lit up, it was the first time that I'd seen him so excited about anything baby or wedding related.
So I smiled. "Yeah. I think this may be the one."
"Really?" He raised his eyebrows.
I nodded. "I think this could work out for us."
I was lying through my teeth, but if he could put himself through everything for me, then I knew I could do the same for him. And maybe the place wouldn't be as bad as I thought it was. I learned to love living in Louisiana when I thought I'd hate it, so this place wouldn't be any different. And hopefully it would be temporary. Hopefully.
The guy grinned. "All right, that's dope, y'all. Let me just call the landlord and give him y'alls information."
"Sound great," Blaine said as the guy pulled out his phone.
Blaine leaned in, pressing his forehead to mine. "You sure you're okay with this place? I know it isn't ideal, but..."
I stopped his words and placed a small kiss on his lips. "It's perfect. This is going to be our new home."
He held my hands and squeezed them. "Yeah. It is."
Chapter 14
I had never waited so long for something as I did for my next ultrasound.
I guess it did help that I was also studying for finals, mailing out wedding invitations, and packing.
I was still refusing to buy maternity clothes, not that there was anything wrong with them, there was just something about still being able to fit into my normal clothes that made me feel better. Even though I happened to be wearing cropped yoga pants and an oversized LSU t-shirt that was actually Britt's.
Since the weather was getting hotter, Blaine started work really early in the morning and was able to get off in the afternoon. I was trying to do the same thing on days I worked, even though it was getting harder and harder to stay awake all day and I found myself napping by three every day.
But not that day.
Blaine rolled up to Aunt Dee's house at two and picked me up to drive to the doctor's office and find out the gender of our baby. This time I didn't have to go and hunt him down.
"Is that your shirt?" Blaine asked as I got into the car.
I shook my head. "No, it's Britt's, but does it matter?"
He shrugged as he pulled out of the driveway. "No, just hadn't seen that on you before. I thought you'd already be on Magazine Street looking for some maternity boutiques and dressing better than any pregnant woman in town."
I smirked. "If I felt like wasting my money on clothes that I was only going to wear another five months."
Blaine stared at me then back at the road then looked at me again. "Who are you and what have you done with my Libby?"
"What? I really don't see the point in buying new things when I'm only going to wear them a few months."
That, and I really did have a problem with buying such a bigger size. I didn't want to think about what size my maternity clothes would be or how my body was going to change after having a baby. My counselor said to try and see the positive side, but when I kept looking at my rounded belly, I wasn't seeing a life being created, I was just seeing the bacon pizza I'd wolfed down the night before because I was craving it.
He smiled. "Well, if you really feel that way, it's fine, but you can still go and buy new clothes. It's not like we're poor."
I leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I appreciate your concern, but I'd much rather find a new Pottery Barn bed than buy myself a new wardrobe."
He grinned. "Now there's the girl I know."
***
This time Blaine didn't try to find magazines to read and instead played a game on his phone while we waited for my name to be called back.
The same ultrasound woman we had before came to the door and called my name. I thought I'd be a little less nervous this time, but I constantly felt flutters in my stomach. I'd started to feel them a lot lately. It was as if there were little butterflies in my stomach, all the time.
We got into the ultrasound room and I hopped up on the chair while Blaine sat in the stool next to me.
"Are we getting a lot of movement from baby?" the woman asked as she pulled up a seat to the work station.
"Um..." I bit my bottom lip. Should I have been? Was it a bad sign?
"Any kicks? Rolls?"
I shook my head. "No..."
The woman's face fell but then she quickly turned her lips up again. "What about anything like flutters? Like there are butterflies flying around in your stomach?"
Did the woman read my mind? "Uh, yeah, I've had a lot of that, but I think it's just nerves."
She smiled. "That sounds more like your little baby is very active if you're having a lot of that."
I let out a deep breath that I didn't realize I was holding in and leaned back as I lifted up my shirt.
"Now just like last time, I'm going to tuck this paper towel into your pants here and put some warm gel on your stomach. Now do you two want to know what you're having or want it to be a surprise?"
"We want to know," Blaine said before I could even open my mouth.
The woman laughed. "Someone is anxious. Hoping for a little sports watching buddy?"
"I don't want to jinx it, but yes ma'am, I am."
She laughed again and pressed the wand to my stomach. As soon as she pressed it down, my stomach turned and it felt like I had a giant rolling pin that was making the rounds of my stomach.
"Wow, for someone who says they haven't felt many kicks, this baby sure is moving," the woman said.
She turned the screen toward us and I couldn't take my eyes off of it. Last time it just looked like a little bean, but this time the baby had transformed. It now looked like an actual human. Well, a very tiny one.
I could make out the head and tiny arms and legs that would not stop kicking. The woman kept moving the wand and with each movement, I'd watch as the little baby rolled on the screen.
"Wow, we may have a swimmer. Better call Coach Cal now and see if we can already get em' on the swim team, " Blaine said.
The woman moved the wand down closer to my pelvis. "And it looks like we'll have the new all parish swimmer for the boy's team. Congrats you two, it's a boy!"
Blaine stared at the screen wide eyed and then pointed at it. "Is that his?"
I looked where Blaine was pointing and sure enough, there was a pretty sizeable member between his legs. There was no denying his gender.
The woman laughed. "Yes. That would be his penis."
"Man, he really is my boy!"
I smacked Blaine's stomach and that just made him laugh.
"I'm just kidding, baby." He kissed my forehead.
I looked at the screen, then up at Blaine. "He's ours isn't he? This is real. We're really going to have a little boy, aren't we?"
He grinned and kissed me again. "Yeah, baby, we sure are."
Chapter 15
Finals were only a week away and then right after my mom was coming in to go dress shopping.
I wasn't looking forward to either.
"Okay, time is up for politics, now onto math," Sawyer said, closing his book. We decided to do a system of spending a half an hour on each subject before moving to the next.
"Math, my favorite."
I grabbed my math book from the counter. We decided to spend the day studying at Aunt Dee's since Britt had a softball game so her and Aunt Dee were gone all day.
"Are you sure you can handle all of this right now, darlin'?" Sawyer raised an eyebrow.
I let out a deep breath, my stomach falling over my yoga pants. The farther along I got, the bigger and harder my stomach got. And ever since the ultrasound, our little boy decided he was going to let me know h
e was there and move as much as he could. "I have to be, don't I? Summer classes start a week after finals, then the wedding, then moving, and another set of finals before the baby comes. Maybe I'll get a break sometime in August."
"Honey, you are going to wear yourself thin and that's not good for you or the baby. You need to try and slow it down."
"Seriously, Sawyer, there is no time. I just have to make sure I prioritize things and get it done."
He sighed. "Okay, just let me know if you need anything. You know I'm always here to help."
"Can you go dress shopping with my mom?"
He laughed. "I mean, I probably would look good in white, but I think your mom might notice."
I groaned. "Yeah, she'll notice you aren't pregnant."
"Or a girl."
"That too."
Sawyer shook his head. "Just take it one day at a time. One hour. One minute. One second. Focus on one thing and then move to the next."
"Easier said than done," I muttered.
"Well, then we'd better put it into action. Let's start with algebra, then we can talk dresses."
***
Five finals. Three on the same day. I thought I was going to collapse from exhaustion by the time my last final ended on Thursday.
I'd already had my caffeine intake for the day, but I was seriously thinking about grabbing an espresso or Diet Coke before I headed back home.
But as I headed for my car, there was a beautiful blond man leaning against it. My beautiful blond man.
"Hey, Libby," Blaine's eyes lit up and he pushed off the car as I approached.
"What are you doing here? I thought you had work?"
He smiled and gave me a big hug. "I did. The job was down the road from here and we finished up early. You've been running on empty for a while, so I thought we could do something to celebrate the end of your finals."
I raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious right now? You know my mom is coming in tomorrow, I have work, and still a ton more stuff to do."