Chapter 60: Snowed In

POV: Zac

Word Count: 1340

December 31, 2009

Marisol woke me up moving beside me, during the time after her last feeding she’d managed to scoot over next to me. How was beyond me.

“Morning sunshine.”

Her little lips curled into a smile which just made my heart melt all over again. She may have my lips, but she had Gabriella’s smile. I glanced over and she was still asleep, but it wasn’t quite time for her to be hungry again.

“Did you just want to wake me up? So rude.”

Her hands moved and I nearly got hit, but I did get up and change the wet diaper she had on, also a clean suit. It was going for 8, so I sat down on the bed, drew my legs up and laid her there, perfect reclined sitting position for her. She was two and a half months old, she was full of personality. She had wrapped Uncle Taylor around her fingers by letting him hold her most of Christmas Eve. She hadn’t screamed when he got her, hadn’t cried at all. Poor Andrew was just stuck.

Christmas had gone very well. Gabby and I reserved the morning just for us, good thing too because we got a real white Christmas this year. Four inches of snow fell between Christmas Eve and the next morning, it warmed briefly and now the temperatures had plummeted down. The ground was covered in seven inches of clean, pristine snow. We’d gotten a white wedding and this year we were getting a blizzard.

Guess mother nature knew we couldn’t party tonight anyway. Marisol cooed and smiled at me as I talked to her. Telling her all about how the day should go. When she got fussy I didn’t have to get her mother up, she was up already.

“So, we’re pretty much snowed in. What do you want to do?” I asked.

She giggled and smiled. “Make another baby?”

I raised an eyebrow at her, just months ago she said no to more. Now she was suggesting making another baby before our first was even three full months?

“You have to be joking there.”

“Am I? You know I am cleared. He said after Christmas and it’s after.”

I kissed her cheek. “I wouldn’t mind the practice at all, but I think we should wait until princess is at least two.”

“Why two?” She asked.

“So you aren’t feeding two at once?”

“We could aim for March.”

I rolled my eyes. “You said no sex period in March.”

“Changed my mind.”

I laid my head on her shoulder, perfect view here of both her and Marisol, who was oblivious to the topic here.

“I think we should wait a bit.”

“Fine, if you insist. I do like the idea of practice though.”

I wondered how that was achievable, but turns out two hours was plenty of time in the shower, Marisol peacefully slept in her crib. Well, this is how couples had children and made more in the process. Although, I really was hoping that we could put space between her and the second. Shawn was expecting and I am sure sometime in the next 12 months my brothers would add.

After that she fed her and I fixed breakfast for us, we then sat in the living room, big windows let us see the snow outside.

“I think I can get use to these types of New Years, low key.” She said.

“I know I can.”

Marisol was laying in her swing, gently swaying. The tree was still up and the lights on, it gave me another reason to love Christmas. Everyone had come here this year because of her being so little, her Christmas outfit had been a white onesie trimmed in red that had a reindeer and My First Christmas on it, white tights with a red skirt that was poofy to me, it had a white bow in the center and she wore the patent leather shoes that Sierra got her. She still hated the headband bows, she’d whine until one of us took it off. The drawings that Gabby did for them had gone over really well, Shawn actually cried when he opened his. No one questioned why his was in color, everyone knew why.

“Would you really want children that close?”

“Well, it is a nice idea but I think you may be right, a few years is a good thing. Was Lucas coming over today?”

“He was, but not now. The snow is too deep.”

Lucas had come over before and after Christmas and she had drilled him on everything he did with Marcus. His only act of guilt was him telling her about the keycards. Police had cleared him and eventually she did too. He still had a long way to go before we trusted him fully.

“The lawyer called yesterday.” I said.

“And?”

“They filed with the court, grandparents rights. He said they called for an emergency injunction and that pissed the judge off, but he actually laughed at them.”

“Laughed?” She asked.

“He reviewed their original case and basically laughed because they filed. He told them they were unfit parents and that you and I had every right to protect our daughter from them. He denied their petition and basically told them no judge in their right mind would ever grant them legal rights to see her.”

“Good. I can’t believe they were stupid enough to even file. I mean, they didn’t raise us. Maybe they’ll just vanish like they did then.”

“I’m sure they will.”

Her biological parents had filed for rights to see Marisol and they also reported us to the Department of Family and child services, claiming we didn’t feed her or keep the house clean. Legally, under normal circumstances they might have had a slim chance, but given their own history the judge had denied them laughing.

Lucas had warned us about the department of child services, so we were able to put all the safety items in the plugs, gate off the art room thanks to Shawn and even child proof the cabinets. Mom had walked through also. The lady had asked for bottles, when we told her we didn’t have any she got all huffy and Gabby quickly pointed out that breastfeeding didn’t require bottles. If her parents had any hope before, they didn’t now. She’d distributed pictures of them and basically told everyone if they allowed them to ever see her, then she’d ban them to. Not a single person would risk that.

“So…what do we do?”

I looked around. “We could take some stuff down.”

“Yeah, what else? I would love to take her outside in the snow but I’m afraid it’ll be too cold.”

“It’s not super bad, I think if you want to just take her out for a few minutes she’ll be fine. Lots of blankets.”

She considered it and after her 3 pm feeding we bundled us all up, we set a limit of no more than 10 minutes, but probably more like three. The wind wasn’t blowing right now so that helped. Marisol seemed oblivious but I did nab a few pictures before we headed back inside.

It was lazy days like today that made me feel like we were exactly where we should be. Through the trials, tribulations, and even the stalkers and doubters. We’d fought for our marriage for two years. We’d proved my family, friends, and fans wrong. We’ve proven it to ourselves.

We were meant to be together and meant to be right here.

We spent the remainder of the day just spending time with Marisol and each other. We had a low-key dinner, watched a few movies, and just before midnight after Marisol was laid down we stepped onto the back porch for the countdown. She got the midnight kiss picture again, or at least the one right after and that was tweeted.

I was content to spend every New Year’s right here and I was sure Gabriella was too.

Her Christmas outfit.