Chapter 42: Finally !

POV: Zac

Word Count: 3178

September 9, 2009

I’d been able to put off really settling with this pink theme for as long as possible. I’d fixed up a few things around the house Monday, surveyed the grass cutting and flower planting Tuesday. When I woke up this morning and found a rattle beside the bed I knew she was done with my playing around. We were doing baby things today and that was final. I showered and heated up breakfast while she was sitting at the table paying bills.

“Do I even need to ask what we’re doing today?”

“Nope. We are getting her room setup and getting this stuff together. No ifs, no ands, no buts and I don’t care who calls. If they’re not dying or dead they don’t need you.”

I raised an eyebrow, hopefully no dead people called me today. I finished and cleaned up my mess and then joined her at the table.

“Bills are paid, I sent a payment to the IRS for the taxes I owe also.”

“Did she sell all of those you did?”

“All but four, she’s been holding them. While we’re out today I need to get canvases.”

“Out?”

“Even if it’s not today, sometime this week.”

“So…what’s first?”

“Setting up the bedroom, can’t have stuff just in the middle of the room.”

When she finished we headed up-stairs and began to figure placement. We didn’t want the crib in front of the window or so far from the door, we ended up going with in front of the door, direct access for us. The dresser went in the left hand corner across from that and the changing table beside that. It would put the changing table near the clothes and stuff anyway.

“What are we putting on the walls?”

“I don’t know. Something girly but not like over the top.”

I looked around the empty walls. “You’re theme lends well to anything, so what if we did a few things like ballerina shoes?”

“That could work, I think Sierra is going to do shopping soon, so what I can do is go with her. See if she has any ideas. I do feel bad that she hasn’t gotten to do much. She didn’t really do much with the baby shower.”

I frowned some. “Let her chose the décor, just nothing super huge or grand. We can go kind of…simple.”

“That’s the plan.”

“Okay, let’s sort so we can get this room done!”

We went back down where I sat down in the middle of the boxes, first assessing what I would need to put this stuff together. Once I had the items I needed I started opening boxes. The stroller was a complete breeze, pull out pop up! Hardly any sense needed. I did leave the sitting up seat wrapped in the box, because we wouldn’t need that until he…she was older.

“I really like this covered aspect, it’ll do great around town.”

“You’re mom liked it for that aspect too.”

I set it aside and started with the bouncers. You would think that they would be easy to put together, bullshit! They fought tooth and nail to cooperate with me. I was about ready to strangle inanimate objects and Gabby simply looked amused.

“Leave the gym thing in the carrier, no need for it right now. I think I’ll set it in the closet until she’s a bit older.”

Little comfort to me who had another bouncer to put together, but least Chloe’s wasn’t a thorn in my side. The highchair was a whole other hell, she’d gone to wash the crib set and I was fighting with it, trying to get it to just work!

“Why are you putting that together? Baby, she can’t use it for six months.”

“It will be put together. If I have to beat it into submission.”

She laughed and sat down, began to take items out and take tags off, remove labels, or open packages so she could wash it all. She was also reading instructions.

The highchair looked good once it was together but I wanted to take a hammer to it. I rolled it into the space beside the door for the front room, perfect spot. I then moved on to the pack and play, which wasn’t bad. The swing Taylor had gotten was another item from hell, seriously, how do parents deal with this stuff?! My wife was getting way too much joy out of this too.

But once it was up it looked awesome! The seat cover was removable so it got striped to be washed. The same went for the two bouncers. The last big item was the portable crib.

“Do you want to set it up here or at the studio?”

“Well, for at least six weeks she’ll be here. But, we’ll have the swings laying seat, us, plus the pack and play. Where we will need it is the bedroom, because I’m not sure she needs to sleep with us but that young she needs to be in the room.”

“I’ll take it up then, assemble it there. It’s heavy.”

First, I carried all of the clothes, padding sets, bedding and all that up-stairs so she could start washing the rest. She sat with me to assemble it and it was a good size, perfect for the room. Washing the items didn’t take long, neither did drying them. But as she set up the crib and made the bed, I was stuck folding up the stuff or hanging it. At the moment, most was folded.

My mom had gotten some super cute summer dresses for next year, so those I hung up and covered.

“Do you want anything six months and above here in the drawer?”

“No. They should go to the very bottom. Blankets are stacked in the closet.”

By the time we got all of that done it was just after 2.

“Well, aside from just adding the covers for the items you washed and décor, it’s done.”

“I’ll have to wash and add whatever Sierra gets and now I know we need more powder and stuff too, set up-stairs, one down. We have a few boxes of diapers, but your mom said to try them first before committing to a brand in case of allergies. I guess we can head out, grab lunch and find a car seat.”

“We can do that tomorrow, spread the love out here.”

“I guess we could.”

I went back down and for the first time got to kind of relax.

“There is something we haven’t even really touched on.”

“There is?”

“Yes.”

“What’s that?”

“We can’t call her baby or the baby or anything like that. She needs a name too.”

Well, that certainly was a topic that that we didn’t discuss yet. Not that I had any idea.

“Would you want to use Elizabeth?”

“No. I did consider that but I’d rather not name her after anyone, living or not.”

“Okay, any names you specifically hate?”

“Tera, not naming her that. I’m not really sure, I mean there are a billion names available.”

She pulled up a website and started to search through baby girl names. Names like Sophia, Emma, Ava, Isabella, Lily, Lillian, Lucille, Kaylee, Arianna, Skyler and Alyssa came up but then you also got names like Albany, Ambrosia, Henrietta, and Hester?! And that was a small selection of the thousands of names.

“I really don’t know Gabby. I don’t like any of these.”

“Hester is for sure, hell no.”

“Ambrosia, isn’t that like a food dish?”

“Yeah, southern thing actually.”

“What if we made lists? We can take the month to make a list and I mean I’ll have tons of time on the bus to talk about it.”

“We could, I mean we’re bound to like different names.”

“I like your middle name.” I said.

“Skye?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know, I’m not crazy about my middle name. Not sure I want to be calling my daughter that for the next upteen years.”

“True. Okay, we will both make lists of names we like. Then we can narrow it down from there. Let’s cut out friends and family right off the top.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She said.

“I’d like for you to do maternity pictures.”

I have no idea where that came from, out of the clear blue sky I guess. But, it was something I wanted to do.

“Why the hell would you want those? I’ll be like a beached whale or something.”

“You will not be a beached whale! My god Gabby. If anything you’ll look more beautiful than you are now or when I first saw you. I’d never see you as that. Even if you gained a hundred pounds.”

“Don’t jinx me like that.”

“I want that memory, that moment. It doesn’t have to be like at the weddings, I don’t mean like a hundred different poses. Just simple things, something for us and if we feel like share.”

“I’ll think about it. Best I can give you.”

“I can take that. Has anyone made plans about staying?”

She signed. “It’s being a super complicated clusterfuck. Abby has stable hours but sometimes it can run late, so she said not to put her down before four Monday through Friday.”

“She’s teaching and sometimes it’s late when they get out, have a cousin or something that teaches.”

“Basically right now it’s Jack and Heather that will be here the most. Andrew and Abby will do weekends and rotate with Sierra and Heather because while Jack works at the gym during the week, he does the wrestling thing on the weekends and sometimes has to travel.”

“But they’re coordinating, you won’t ever be alone?”

“Yeah, they are coordinating who is going to babysit me every day you’re gone.”

“It’s not babysitting Gabs.”

“Yes it is Zac. The only difference is there not being paid for staying here.”

“Then it’s not babysitting, they get paid.”

“Same principal.”

When my phone rang I answered, finding it was Isaac.

“Isaac wants to know if we mind if he and some guys come over for a little while, they were playing cards and stuff but Nicole is home and she has a splitting headache, they’re too loud to be there.”

“Who all is there?” She asked.

I asked and then put it on speakerphone so we could both hear it.

“It’s me, Eric, Gabe, Lucas, Andrew and Jack, Marcus, Samuel, and Gene, Sarah’s husband.”

She looked at me, I was sure her thoughts were the same as mine, everyone of them at been at the wedding. But she nodded anyway.

“Sure Ike, were you doing dinner plans too?” I asked.

“Snack items, I bought wings and stuff. Way more than needed. I can bring them with me.”

“Sure, we’ll clean the table off.” I said.

“Okay. Give us like thirty?”

“That’s fine.”

I hung-up. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“Yeah. But I do need to go change. While the low cut tops are fine around you and these shorts are fine, there not around others. So, if you’ll clean the table off, I’ll change.”

I pulled her to me slightly. “Why don’t you put on one of my shirts.”

“Yours?” She asked.

I kissed her neck. “Yeah, because if it is one of them. Seeing you in my shirt may cause him to act out or act differently.”

“You are so mean, but I like it. I’ll go change.”

She got up and I couldn’t resist a slight pop to her ass before she headed up. I really didn’t want to believe that anyone at the wedding was this person, and truthfully he could have broken in and just saw her. But, if it was one of those then seeing her in my shirt would be hard for him to deal with. I’d make sure of that. I cleared the table, putting her laptop back in the art area, putting her personal one there too. I also covered what she had done and then removed the bills, letters, and especially the wedding lists. All of those I put in the computer room too. We really needed an office area….

I then checked the fridge, we had lots of drinks because I stocked up last time and she wasn’t really drinking any of them. Perfect time to get rid of them! Andrew arrived first and when he looked around I wondered, could it be my best friend?

“Where is Gabriella?”

“She went to change, she might be dealing with baby clothes.”

“Baby clothes?”

“We washed about everything earlier.”

It was then he realized that everything was set up and unboxed. “Damn…you have been busy today.”

He had the wings and stuff and I put them up, he also had beer and that was put in the fridge. Gabby came back down when Jack, Eric and Gabe arrived, I assumed they rode together. I thought I was evil? Fuck, she’d found a pair of my sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt. The air was on inside so she shouldn’t get too warm, it fit perfectly.

“See, this is more I expected.” Gabe said.

“What? Sweatpants?” She asked.

“Yes, pregnant women I know don’t do dresses.”

“I’ve worn quite a few actually, especially before I found clothes that fit. But, I much prefer his clothes now.”

“Understandable.”

She went to the kitchen and before long everyone was here and setting up for poker, Isaac had his whole set. We didn’t play for money though, just for fun. Gabby started the oven and got the wings set up, none of which she’d eat because they were all spicy buffalo. But, she was putting a piece of chicken into tin foil.

“What are you doing Gabs?” Isaac asked.

“I can’t eat the wings Ike, too hot. I’d have heartburn for days if I did.”

“Oh god, I should have brought one of the original’s too.”

“It’s okay, going to bake this while they cook.”

“Doesn’t heartburn mean the baby will have hair?” Lucas asked.

“It’s what I heard, but I’d rather not suffer.”

I joined the game with them and she kind of stayed away from the table, watched dinner and listened to us. When the wings were done she brought them to the table, but she ate at the counter in the kitchen, chicken and steamed vegetables. But I noticed she did sneak one of the boneless wings. When she’d cleaned up some she came to the table, choosing my lap and basically taking over my hand.

“Not fair.” Lucas said.

“You going to argue with me?” She asked.

To that no one argued, just let her play and I was shocked, she whipped their asses. As Isaac dealt her in again I laid my head on her shoulder some, put my hands on her thighs. No one seemed to react to that. I watched her play, she was far better at this game than I was. I was sure the little moments when she turned and pressed her lips to my cheek weren’t all out of sweetness. Although I did stop her when she moved her hips side to side, there were too many men here for me to have issues. But I did let my hands slide to her inner thigh, she’d said this stripper guy had so let’s see if anyone reacted.

The only one that did was Isaac, who gave me a questioning look, I wasn’t usually so open with touching her like this around our friends or family. If the person sending her weird notes, stupid ceramic owls and shit was sitting here I was going to either make them blow up right now or piss them the fuck off. Yet, everyone was smiling, goofing off, drinking and having a good time. No one was drinking more than I’d expect.

Did that mean I could clear the men sitting here tonight? Was it someone else at the wedding? Was I totally wrong about it even being someone at the wedding?! I slipped my hand under my shirt and could feel the baby move a bit.

“Do you really have to do that? I know she’s your wife but some on Zac, you can wait until we’re gone to flaunt it.” Lucas said.

“I’m touching her belly Lucas, not like I’m undressing her.”

He laid the cards down and looked at me. “You’ve been touching more than that. We get it man, you landed a hot wife. Stop flaunting it.”

“His house man, besides he’s right. So what? He’s touching her. It’s his wife. I couldn’t care a less as long as his hands stay outside the pants of which I’m sure they will or she’ll do something.” Eric said.

“Yeah, they’re staying outside the pants. Least while you guys are here. Last game for me though, I need to get the last load of clothes from the dryer, as I am sure I need clean clothes for the rest of the week.”

“Don’t you leave for tour soon?” Gabe asked.

“Seventeenth, first show is the next day.” Ike said.

“You’re going to tour with a pregnant woman? You insane bro?” Gabe asked.

“I’m not going. I don’t think that being in those confined quarters will bode well for me or anyone else. But, because he’s paranoid something will happen with me or the baby, he’s making others babysit me. Sorry Jack. Sorry Andrew.”

Andrew smiled. “You think I’d mind? I’ll be here with you and Abby both, I won’t mind at all.”

“Me either, I’d rather you be able to concentrate on shows and not worry she went into labor and no one remembered to call you.”

“This little one better wait, October is too soon.”

“I told him it was irrational.” She said.

“It’s better to be safe though, things happen so it is good that you won’t be here alone all the time. My sister went into pre-term labor early, quick trip to the hospital stopped it and let her carry to term.” Marcus said.

“And that’s why I want someone here, make sure if something does happen with the baby someone can help her. I wish I could just hire Nicole to stay for the whole time.”

Isaac laughed. “She assured me, she’d be spending her fair share of time here.”

We laughed but at this end of this game she called it quits, getting a snack and then getting her nook. Leaving us to talk, laugh, and play. They headed out about eleven and by then she was asleep on the couch and had been for over an hour. I got the bed straight, put the clothes up from the dryer and then went down and got her.

“Bedtime baby, come on.”

She came with me and just stripped out of those clothes before we went to bed. No one had stuck out to me..I felt bad that I’d even question any of them but I had to. I had to question anyone that could know.