Building the Nursery

by Amy DeMeritt

  I bend down to kiss her, but as soon as our tongues start to tumble together, the voice registers, and I pull back to look up. I pull Awenasa up and laugh hard.

  “Giz Anderson, what the hell are you doing on my vacation? Are you here to make me work?” We walk over and I pull Giz into a tight hug. “Kind of. I’m opening for the concert tonight. Surprise.” I laugh hard and push her backwards. “Brat. Sara, did you know about this?”

  “Yeah, the whole squad knew. Surprise.”

  I scoff in mock offense and cross my arms over my chest, turning my nose up, slightly looking away from them.

  “I pay for all of you to go on vacation in paradise and do so much awesome stuff and this is the thanks I get? Unbelievable.” Sara laughs and shoves me backwards. “We have work to do. Are you done running around like a maniac?”

  “Work? I don’t think so. We’re having a baby! We have to celebrate!”

  I grab Awenasa and spin her around again, making her laugh and kiss my lips. I pull my phone and wallet out of my pockets, shoving them in Sara’s hands, then pick Awenasa up. She quickly tosses her phone to Sam as I start running to the water with her in my arms.

  We clumsily fall into the crashing waves and tumble under the water for a moment, before leaping out of the water laughing. She tackles me back under the water, and we swim out beyond the breaking point of the waves. My beautiful glowing wife wraps her arms and legs around me, while I kick my feet to keep us afloat.

  “You are pulsing with energy, my love. Your happiness is making me feel like I’ve been drinking. Its wonderfully intoxicating.” I laugh and firmly kiss her lips. “I wish I could feel energy at the same intensity as you. What does it feel like when you pull all of us into you?”

  “Like heaven. When you do it while we’re making love, its indescribable. There’s nothing better.”

  “I love you. Is it safe for our baby if I do that? Can I hold my hand on your stomach and reach inside to caress her or him like they’re in my hands?” Awenasa’s eyes mist up and she nods once. “Yes, puppy.”

  “Good, because I’m not going to be able to wait nine months to hold our baby.” She laughs a little and lays her head in my neck. “I love you so much, Kayla.”

  The sound of arguing drifts over the sound of the gently crashing waves. Awenasa and I lift our heads and look towards the beach. Shannon and our wives and their parents are facing off with Shannon’s mom, Debbie. Her grandmother, Yvette, is standing next to them, trying to play peace keeper. I stare hard at Debbie, and she must sense my anger because her eyes suddenly dart to her side and lock with mine. Everyone on the beach turns to look at me, but I don’t drop my gaze from Debbie. The color in her face drains some.

  Awenasa releases me and I dip below the water and swim back to shore, only surfacing when I can stand fully upright, with the water to my waist. I snap my head back, throwing my wet hair behind me and walk up the beach, towards the family. I slide between Shannon and Debbie, firmly planting myself within inches of her.

  “Take a walk with me.” Debbie steps back and scoffs. “Why, so you can drop me off a cliff? I don’t think so.”

  “Don’t insult me. I defend and protect. I have never assaulted anyone. We need to talk.”

  “Why can’t we talk right here?”

  “Because, even though you don’t respect me or your daughter, I respect you enough not to have an argument with you right in front of the entire family.”

  “More like you want less witnesses so you’re not embarrassed.” I take a deep breath to try to compose my anger. “You think that you actually just got a jab in and won a point or something with that statement, don’t you? By ignoring my statement of lack of respect you have for your daughter, you only embarrassed yourself. Are you sure you want to continue a verbal match with me with witnesses?”

  “I do respect my daughter, but I’m not moving.”

  “Fine. What could you possibly be harassing my wife about now?”

  “Shannon should…”

  “I’m going to stop you right there. Your daughter is a grown woman. She will decide what she wants and what she does with her life. Not you.”

  “I’m her mother. I have a say…”

  “No, you don’t. You had a say till she became an adult. Now, your job is to love and support her, and provide an opinion when and if she asks for it. It’s not your role anymore to tell her how to live or tell her how she should feel about how she’s living. Your daughter is happy. Stop trying to make her miserable.”

  “But she should…” I hold my hand up. “Stop. You really need to take a look internally and deal with these insecurities you have, because its toxic. By hiding from your own issues, you’re slowly destroying your relationships with your family. Stop trying to pass off your own fears and insecurities as concerns for your daughter. It’s pathetic. Grow a damn spine and face yourself.”

  “How dare you?”

  “Really? I warned you when we first got here not to pull this shit while we’re on vacation. You instigate a senseless argument and you think I’ll stand down from the challenge? You really haven’t been paying attention. I don’t stand down. How dare you taint one of the happiest moments of our lives? Why do you have such an inclination to take happy moments away from your daughter? Every time something good happens for her and our family, you have to try to tear it down.”

  “Did you tell my daughter she can’t have children yet?”

  “Where the hell have you been for the past two years? Everyone knows how much I love and want children. If Shannon wants to get pregnant now, then we’ll make it happen. If she wants to wait or decides she doesn’t want to bear any at all, that’s her choice. Listen very carefully – I do not tell my wives what they can and can’t do. You really need to accept that I am not the domineering asshole that you think I am. Every single decision I make, unless it’s a surprise for my wives, goes through them for their approval. I don’t do anything without them signing off on it. Shannon is married to four women, yet I’m the only one you have an issue with. What is your problem with me?”

  “My daughter used to value my opinion, before she met you. She used to listen to me if I told her something she should do. Now, she just does whatever.”

  “You have issues. Your complaint is that I helped make your daughter be more confident and trust in her own judgements more? That’s very selfish of you. Shannon was already independent and confident when I met her. As I recall, you wanted her to go back to Michigan after college and work in the hospital there, but she decided to forge her own path and set roots where she wanted to. You better get over it because I’m always going to hold Shannon on a pedestal like the queen she is. You won’t reduce her worth by trying to keep her under your thumb. If it makes it easier for you to understand, put her on the same level as God – she answers to no one.”

  A hand grabs my shoulder and quickly spins me around. Shannon grabs the sides of my face and pulls me into a kiss as she presses her body against mine. She gives me such a powerful kiss that it takes my breath away and makes my knees weaken. As she pulls back, I inhale deeply and it takes a moment to open my eyes. I smile and kiss the tip of her nose.

  “I love you, Kayla. Let’s go have our picnic now.”

  I smile really big and kiss her forehead. I turn back to her mom as I slip my hand in Shannon’s.

  “Look, you did your job well. Shannon is an incredible woman. You should be proud of her. Trust in the job you did as her mother by trusting her judgements more. Shannon loves you and she does value what you have to say, but what she needs to hear has changed. We’re on vacation in one of the most beautiful places on the planet – please try to relax and enjoy it.”

  Chapter Six

  The room has been empty since we moved in, but we’re finally getting to work on the nursery. After we came home from Hawaii, we started working on plans for the room. We looked at hundreds of paint swatches and even painted several small squares on the walls to try to decide
on what to get. We’ve looked at countless pieces of baby furniture in catalogs and on the internet. We’ve even used a few really cool “room designer” apps online to help us get an idea of what everything will look like once it’s in here.

  We’ve finally settled on what we want, so now it’s time to paint. We just finished covering the floor with plastic drop cloths and taping the windows and moldings. I carry in the last couple buckets of paint and my wives look up from the task of putting fuzzy rolls on the paint rollers.

  “Your smile is huge, puppy. Are you excited?” I laugh a little and bend down to kiss Awenasa’s lips. “Very. What should I do?”

  “Can you open the silver fox paint and stir it up really good?” I squat down around the paint buckets and get to work. “I really like this color.”

  We’re painting the walls a very bright light gray with bright white molding and ceiling. After the paint dries, we’re painting white trees on the wall that will have the crib in front of it. They’ll be mostly bare, with swirly heart shaped leaves. There’s a bench seat trunk built into the wall under the windows that we’re going to paint white and then have Jade paint a cute wilderness scene on it with our totem animals and similar trees to what we’re doing on the wall. Jade is a pretty talented artist, so we’re excited to see what it looks like when she’s done. She made a sketch to show us her plan, and it looks really cool.

  “Ok, puppy, I think you’re going to make whipped cream if you keep stirring that up. You can pour it into the trays now.”

  I carefully pour the paint into two trays and then loosely fit the lid back over the bucket and set it out of the way. Madison hands me a roller and each of us dip and roll the fuzzy rollers in the paint to get them covered. We step up to the same wall as each other, and smile at each other.

  Just as we’re about to touch the wall, I say, “Wait!” They freeze and slightly jump. “Shit, you scared me, baby. What’s wrong?” I laugh and shake my head as I run for the door. “We need a picture of this moment.” I run out the door and holler down the stairs. “Hey! Can someone come up here? Please!”

  I hear my wives laugh in the nursery, and I laugh a little at myself as well. I’m just so excited.

  “What do you want, weirdo?”

  “Can you come take a picture of us painting?” Sara smiles and comes up the stairs. “Give me your phone.”

  I quickly grab my phone off of the bench, where its sitting and playing music for us.

  “Damn, you have a lot of nudes. Looking good, ladies.” I laugh and shove her shoulder. “Shut up. Those are locked.” Sara laughs hard and shoves me away. “Grab your roller, you damn freak.”

  My wives giggle with their cheeks lightly blushing. I grab my roller and get back in line with my wives. Sara gets in position and takes several pictures of us rolling the first lines of bright silvery gray paint onto the white walls. After she finishes, she turns my music back on and puts the phone on the bench.

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Do you need anything else before we go out?”

  “I don’t think so. Where are you going? Are all of you leaving?” Sara leans against the doorframe and watches us while we continue to paint. “Yeah, we’re all leaving. We’re going to do some Christmas shopping. When I come back, we need to talk about work.”

  “What work? We’re on hiatus.”

  “We need to pick our first choreography camp location so we can squeeze one of them in between the TV show dance camps and the movie you’re doing. We’ll talk more later. You have painting to do.”

  “Ok, see you later.”

  The dance squad has been staying with us for the past few weeks since we got back from Hawaii so we can work on the squad’s business together. We’ve been working on choreography and plans for how we’ll do the big convention camps. We’re going to have to hire a bunch of people to help with the events, but if everything pans out the way we think it will, we’ll make a ton of money from each event.

  Based off the response we’ve received on the website, and the numbers we’ve worked up based off of past events, we’ll probably bring home close to or over half a million dollars per event. After we’ve paid the staff and other expenses, Sara will get her ten percent cut off the top before its split, then the rest will be split evenly between the seven of us.

  “Hey, babies, where do you want to go for the first big event? Do you want to try to make a vacation around it before I have to get to work on the movie?”

  “That would be nice. Maybe we can plan it for spring break so Sam and I don’t miss school.”

  I wrap my arm around Madison from behind and kiss and blow raspberries on her neck, making her laugh and squirm.

  “I like your butt in these pants. I think you should get on the ladder and do the cutting in around the ceiling and in the corners so your wives can ogle your booty.” Madison laughs hard and kisses my cheek. “Thank you. Bring it over here for me.”

  I smile really big and practically run across the room, almost landing a foot in a paint tray, making my wives laugh. I get the ladder set up and Madison grins as she slowly takes a couple steps up the ladder, arching her rear out at us more and slowly switching her hips side to side. I firmly spank her cheek, making her laugh and she quickly climbs the last few rungs to the top. She looks at me with a cute seductive grin and slowly leans in towards the wall, putting her beautiful ass on display for us. All of us wolf whistle at her, making her giggle.

  I’m completely in love with this moment. All of my wives are laughing and smiling, and look like they’re as happy as they can be. While we paint, we talk, laugh, and dance around a little bit. After we’ve finished painting the walls, we stand in each other’s arms in the center of the room and admire the job we did.

  “You did awesome, babies.”

  “You did good too, puppy. We should clean up now and make some lunch.”

  “Can we make a fire in the fireplace, turn the Christmas tree lights on, and listen to Christmas music?”

  “Ok, puppy. You can make the fire while we fix lunch.”

  I bend down to start cleaning up. I pull the paint tray liners out and load each of the rollers into a careful pile with the trays.

  “Hey, sweetie, you have something right there.”

  Shannon grins and touches the tip of my nose with wet paint. I laugh as I dip my fingers in the paint and wiggle them with a big grin. She laughs and leaps up, running out of the room. I chase her down the hall and before she can open our bedroom door to hide inside, I reach around and streak her cheeks like war paint stripes. She spins around, grabs my sides, and makes me fall to my knees laughing hard. I grab her hands, getting paint all over her hands and my tee shirt. She stops and bends down to kiss me. She gives me a soft sweet kiss, grabs the side of my head and then presses her cheeks to mine, pressing matching paint streaks onto my cheeks.

  “You should let me paint your body.” Shannon laughs and kisses my lips, before helping me stand up. “That could be fun. We’ll need to buy body paints though. I don’t want this kind of paint all over me. It’s too hard to get off.”

  Our wives walk out of the nursery with the paint tray liners and rollers in their hands and giggle when they see us.

  “Go wash up, loves. We’ll bring these downstairs and start washing the rollers.”

  If Awenasa wasn’t holding all of that paint, I’d tackle her right now, but I don’t want to ruin the hallway. Awenasa smiles and shakes her head in amusement, as if she knows exactly what I’m thinking.

  “Naughty puppy.” I laugh a little and kiss her cheek. “I’ll be down soon to help.”

  Shannon and I go to our bathroom and help each other wash up and I change my tee shirt. When we come into the kitchen, I slide up behind Awenasa, wrapping my arms around her and lay my head on her shoulder. She looks over her shoulder with a beautiful smile and kisses my lips.

  “I’m almost done here. What do you want for lunch?” I smile and nibble her earlobe. “Can I have
you?”

  “You already have me.” I smile really big and squeeze her tightly. “Do we have stuff to make stew and buttered crusty bread?” Shannon opens the fridge and starts pulling food out. “Yes, we have the ingredients for stew and we have a good loaf of French bread I bought yesterday. Why don’t you go make the fire, and we’ll come join you soon?”

  “Ok, baby. Thank you.”

  I pull the wire mesh guards off of the fireplace, pull some logs off of the round log rack, and build a little log cabin in the large fireplace. I fill the center with kindling and small chunks of wood, then use a small blowtorch to light the center. The wood is very dry, so it takes to fire immediately. I replace the mesh guards, and then get the Christmas lights plugged in and turn the music on. I pull a soft futon mattress out of the closet and lay it out in front of the fire. As I’m grabbing some of the couch pillows, my wives come in smiling.

  “This looks nice.”

  I smile really big and pull all of my wives down to snuggle on the mattress.

  “The furniture for the nursery won’t be here till I have to leave town with the squad. Will you wait for me to assemble it and put the room together? I really want to be here for the whole process.”

  “Of course, puppy. We won’t do anything in the nursery without you.”

  “Thank you. How’s the search for the midwife going?”

  “The one who delivered me won’t be available. Mom is talking to August, another midwife on the reservation, to see if she’ll be available. She’s very good, but she has two boys she’d have to make arrangements for while she’s here. She likes to be available to the mother for the last month of the pregnancy, so she needs to make sure her husband and family will be able to take care of the boys for that long. If August can’t come out here, we’ll have to go outside of the reservation. Mom said there are several on the Navajo reservation in Arizona that she can talk to for us.”

  “Let me know if there’s anything we can do to help August so she’d be able to come out here. Even if we have to pay for childcare or something, I’m ok with that.”