Chapter 26 - Old Country Lullaby

Friday, April 7th, 2006.

Ellie groaned as she felt the dull ache of a headache coming on. She twisted open a bottle of paracetamol, wincing as she washed down the capsule with a swig of ginger ale.

"Ellie, honey..." Craig bounced up to the opening of her cubicle.

She turned to him with an almost demonic furrow in her brow.

"Woah, if looks could kill."

She huffed. "What?"

"I was wondering if you had the notes for Cherish's article on the new Fendi line?"

"What's the point? They've been doing the same shit for the last eight years."

Craig leaned in closer to her. "Um...are you ok? Are you completely sure you should be back at work yet? If you need a little longer off, we completely understand."

"I'm fine," Ellie hissed.

"Are you sure? You're a little more...how do I say this...abrasive than usual."

"Excuse me? Abrasive?" she snapped. "Look, I feel like complete shit, and I'm really sorry y'all are finding me a little abrasive, but you try waking up every morning at five for the last month to be violently ill, then you can fucking tell me whether or not I have the right to feel like shit."

Craig stood up. "Do you want the afternoon off to see a doctor?"

"NO! I've seen a doctor. I know what's fucking wrong. But some things can't be cured with a B12 shot and some lemon fucking tea." She stood up, started to collect together her things, and violently shoved them into her purse, pressing the power button on her computer to force it to shut down.

"I'm sorry I'm not acting like the quiet little petal I usually am, but right now, I'm fucking pissed off that I have to deal with all of you stupid fucks every goddamn day. Fuck this, and fuck you!" She started to storm out of the office, stopping only to throw Maurice's door open. "Also, if you want fucking notes from me, ask me your-fucking-self; don't send your fucking secretary to do it!”

"Ugh!" Ellie stormed into the living room and flung herself onto the couch, pulling her sweater up until her head was hidden.

JC paused for a moment before returning to the peanut butter sandwich he was making. "You OK?"

"I fucked up."

"What happened?"

"I got angry at Craig and Maurice, they were only trying to do their jobs, and I got all shitty with them."

"OK." He briefly changed the subject. "Are you hungry?"

"No. I feel too sick."

"When did you last eat?"

She buried her head deeper into her sweater. "Breakfast or something..."

"Ellie! It's nearly 2 o'clock!"

"I know! What's the point of eating if I'm just going to throw it back up anyway?"

He sighed in frustration. "Do you want something to eat?"

"Fine." She huffed as she sat up, seeing the package on the coffee table. "When did we get that?"

"This morning. Carlos brought it over with the mail. Good news is that Alex likes what he's heard of the record; bad news is that whatever's in that box is going to be an example of the most Southern wedding present on this earth."

Ellie scooted forward on the couch. "Who is it from?"

"A D. Matherson."

"I was wondering how long it was going to take for Diana to finish the quilt." She tore open the box, giving out a sigh of disgust.

She shifted through a set of monogrammed linens: towels, sheets, and pillow cases. Finally, with a grimace on her face, she unfolded a large, square cushion cover in the same white with their initials embroidered in robin’s egg blue.

"I would be OK with it if it was 'JEC,' but I can't really see myself being comfortable with 'JCE.'"

"...Jaycee?"

"Or Jaycee-E." She placed the cushion cover by her side. "This why we didn't get married in the South."

"We got married up here, and that didn't stop us from receiving it." He reached over and pulled out the quilt on the bottom of the box.

The design was eight rows of six squares, each with an alternating print of either red roses on white, orange poppies on light blue, white magnolias on baby pink, or yellow daisies with a black centre on a striking deep violet background. Each square was bordered by a thick panel of cream coloured cotton.

"I recognise the roses, but I don't know what the other flowers are," he stated.

She peered over, pointing out each flower. "That's obviously a magnolia, that's some kind of daisy...and I'm guessing that's a kind of poppy." She looked back into the box. "Did she send a card?"

She found and ripped open an envelope. "'Dearest Elizabeth and Joshua, I hope this package finds you well. It was such a pleasure for me to sew this quilt for you. It feels like only yesterday that you and Claire were little girls playing dress up in the basement, throwing fantasy weddings to teddy bears and now you're both grown up and having your own weddings.

“‘Enclosed, I have also put Claire's present as your matron of honour, the traditional monogrammed linen set.' —I swear, if Claire wasn't pregnant right now— 'Getting back to the quilt, the fabrics I chose are each of the state flowers of Louisiana, the magnolia for where Ellie was born, Maryland, the black eyed Susan for where Joshua was born, a California poppy for where you met, and a red rose for New York, where you fell in love.’" Ellie looked up from the letter. "I mean, it works."

"I guess it does. Anything else?"

"They've decided to push up the baby shower until April the 12th, so it doesn't clash with Easter...I have to be in Baton Rouge by next Tuesday." She slid down the couch. "I'm going to have to push my 12 week scan back. Fucking shit."

Wednesday, April 12th, 2006.

Ellie carefully walked through the hallway of the hospital, lightly tapping on the door of Claire’s room. “Hey…” she whispered before exclaiming, “Holy shit!”

“What?” The once tall and lean Claire laid upright in a hospital bed, now swollen with pregnancy and hypertension.

“You just look so stunning.”

“Bullshit, I look like a twisted water balloon.” Claire outstretched her arms. “Come here.”

Ellie hugged Claire. “How are you?”

“Swollen. Good thing I’m on bed rest now, ‘cause I can barely move.”

Anna stood up. “I’ll leave you two alone. Do you want a coffee or something?”

“Just a water will be fine. I’m off all stimulants now and I want to die,” Ellie joked as she sat down on the bed, placing a reasonably sized pink gift bag on the table.

"You will not believe how disappointed Mama is that she can't throw me a baby shower."

"There'll always be the next one. Anyway, maybe she'll find another way to welcome her first granddaughter into the world."

"Yeah, maybe." Claire started digging through the gift bag. "What did you get me?"

"I thought that I should maybe get you a few preemie onesies, also a possible going-home outfit."

"Thanks." Claire shifted through the array of baby clothes, including a tiny white dress and pink cardigan. "They're really beautiful."

"I got them from Barney's."

"Again, thank you..." Claire trailed off.

"Any news?"

"The same old. Bed rest until I can deliver. They don't want to deliver before 36 weeks. They gave me something to try and bring my blood pressure down, but if anything goes wrong, they say that they can have her out within an hour."

"Are you OK?" Ellie pursed her lips as tears came to Claire's eyes.

"I'm scared. I'm scared I won't get to meet her. I'm scared I won't be able to take her home with me. I'm scared that I won't be there for her. What happens if Derek has to take her home alone? What happens if I lose her? She's got her own little room with all of this stuff in it and what do I do with all of it? Do I just sell it? Lock the door until I need it again?"

They sat in silence for a moment. "My daddy burnt all of the baby stuff, after Mom...you know..."

Claire picked at the hospital band on her wrist, changing the subject. "Is Jace back at the farm?"

"No, a friend passed away earlier this week. He's in Nashville for the memorial service," Ellie explained.

"Are they OK with you being here?"

Ellie shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. He's explained the situation and I think people get it. Joey himself said I should be here if anything goes wrong."

“Can I ask you a favour?”

“Sure.”

"If something happens, you know, I was wondering if you would be here, at the hospital. I know I can't have you in the O.R with me, but can you come to the hospital if you're still in town?"

"Sure, why wouldn't I?"

Claire reached over and took Ellie's hand, placing it on her belly. "You feel that?"

Ellie nodded. "Yeah."

"You know, every time I feel her move, I get a little less afraid that she's not OK in there."

Ellie slid onto her favourite seat at her grandmother's diner, the seventh seat overall along the horseshoe-shaped counter, third from the right corner.

"What can I get you, baby?" Jean took her notepad out of the apron pocket, flipping it open and poising her pen.

"Just a brisket on rye sandwich, little bit of mustard." Ellie checked her phone for messages or calls

"Anything else?"

"A side of potato salad and cherry Coke."

"You know, your daddy made the salad today."

"I don't mind."

Jean looked over her. "...funny," she muttered to herself as she returned to the kitchen.

After a while, John emerged with a plate, pouring her soda from the fountain. "What you reading there, hon?"

"Just some parenting magazine. I guess I subconsciously picked it up from the hospital." She started to pick at the salad with the fork.

"How's everything going round there?"

"Yeah, they're just watching her, seeing if the medication takes."

John watched as she tried to secure a piece of boiled egg onto her fork. "I thought you didn't like my potato salad?"

"I don't. I don't like potato salad in general. It's just been so long since I've had it that I kind of felt like it."

"Is there something you need to tell us?"

"No." Ellie didn't look up at her father, knowing he would be able to tell if she was lying.

John collected some plates left by other customers, placing them into the sink after he had returned to the kitchen.

"I swear, she's pregnant," Jean whispered.

"I don't know. She don't look it."

"Johnny, I've had four babies myself. My sisters all had a total of thirteen babies themselves. I have fourteen grandbabies, and six great-grandbabies. I know when a woman's keeping that kind of secret and right now I would bet my right boot Ellie's keeping that kind of secret right now."

John shook for his jacket before hanging it by the door. “Where’s Ellie?” he asked Emily as she sat on the couch, darning a pair of socks.

“She’s in the kitchen making dinner, some pasta thing.”

John paused, letting out a long sigh. “Mama thinks Ellie’s pregnant.”

“Your mama thinks half the town’s female population under thirty-five is either pregnant or sleeping around on their husbands.” She stretched out her needle and the thread of wool attached. “Implying they’re married.”

“She ate my potato salad today. She never eats my potato salad; she hasn’t willingly eaten it since she was three.” He sat down on a living room chair across from her.

"There's lots of foods she didn't like as a child that she likes now. Remember when she didn't like green beans? Maybe she's coming around to your salad."

"Then why has she been up before dawn the last few days being sick and not drunk a drop of coffee since she got here?"

"Maybe she's on one of those diets..." Her thread slowed down as she came to a realisation. "She has put on a little weight. Her face is a little fuller."

As soon as she heard what her father had told her mother, Ellie quickly took the phone off the hook and tapped in JC's cell number. She sat down on the floor of the pantry and slid her fingers underneath the door to close it from the inside, patiently waiting for him to pick up the phone.

He picked up on the seventh ring. "Hey, what's up?"

"Mom and Dad are talking about whether or not I could be pregnant."

"Wait...what?"

"Granny Jean told Daddy that she thinks I'm pregnant, and Daddy just told Mama what Granny told him."

He made a small grunt and sniffed. "Do you want to tell them?"

"I'm still in my first trimester." She twirled the phone cord around her fingers. "I thought we agreed that we would wait until I was in my second trimester to tell anyone, you know, just in case."

"We talked about it, but we never came to an agreement. Anyway, I thought that was more for business purposes."

"Wait...what?"

"We spoke about it, but we never came to a decision. I thought the we would wait at least twelve weeks before we made an announcement."

Ellie made a frustrated grunt. "Why are you talking to me like I'm a business associate?"

"Because I'm not in a situation where I can really talk about it in detail." JC stated curtly, "I'm having a drink with the guys...Lance says hi."

"Fuck Lance—" Ellie was cut off by her parents opening the pantry door just as JC's phone was hung up. "Shit."

"Ellie, what's wrong?" Emily asked as Ellie climbed to her feet and placed the phone back on the hook.

"I needed to make a private call, that's all. I'm not getting good reception now that the storm's rolling in." She took a tea towel off the counter and removed a baking dish from the oven, placing it on the table.

"Is there anything you need to tell us?"

"No." Ellie passed by them, trying not to make eye contact. She stopped at the foot of the stairs as Emily raised her voice.

"ELIZABETH ROSEMARY ARGYLE--"

Ellie snapped to face her parents. "OK, FIRSTLY, IT'S FUCKING CHASEZ NOW, SECONDLY, I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING TALK ABOUT IT!" She immediately ran upstairs, slamming her bedroom door.

John leaned against the table. "It's like she's fucking fifteen again."

Ellie dug through the belongings on her desk, finding the old key she needed to lock her bedroom door. She turned the key until she heard a click, pulling to check if it could be opened. She went over to the window, kicking aside her suitcase then lying on the floor. She looked out the window, staring up at the rain beating down on the pane. She turned onto her side, resting her head onto her left arm. She lifted up her t-shirt and unbuttoned her jeans, softly placing her fingertips on her pelvis where she believed her baby to be.

"What the fuck do I do now?" she whispered. "Your grandparents are hounding my ass for answers and your daddy won't speak straight with me." She paused in thought. "I don't know what to do..." She trailed off just as her cellphone rang.

She got up and shifted through the clothes on her bed. "Hey."

"I'm sorry," JC explained. "I was having a drink down in the hotel bar with the other guys and I couldn't really say anything direct, especially if you don't want anyone to know yet."

"OK..."

"Is there anything wrong?"

She paused for a moment in thought. "I don't know how long I can stay in the same house with them and not tell them."

"Do you want to tell them?"

"I don't know." She sighed, making a meek groan. "I think I do."

"You can tell them if you want to."

"You don't want to be here to tell them with me?"

"Maybe it will be better if I keep my distance. Gives your father less chance of hunting my milky white ass down." JC chuckled.

"He wouldn't do that," she reassured him. "At least not if he knew you were going to take care of your business, so to speak. If you fuck off, though, that's when you become free game as far as I'm concerned," she joked.

They sat for a moment in silence, just listening to each other breathing.

"I miss you, you know." She sighed.

"Yeah, I miss you, too."

"When do you think we'll see each other again?"

"I'm not making any promises, but I'll see how everything goes tomorrow."

She lowered her voice. "I don't want to start anything, but I had a dream about us last night."

"What happened?"

"I woke up next to you, and then we started kissing and touching each other's bits, and then I climbed on top of you and..." She cleared her throat.

"Then what happened?"

She lowered her voice to a whisper. "We had sex."

"Did we now?"

She nodded and squeaked in confirmation. "Yeah."

"How did it feel?"

"It was one of the dreams where you kinda feel like you're coming but you're not really, you know?"

"Don't play coy."

"I'm not playing coy!" she exclaimed.

"You do this whole thing about not wanting to do anything, but then you tell me that you had a sex dream last night."

"You're going to be home in the next few days, and I want to wait for you to get back. It will be so much more amazing if we wait. I'm not stopping you from taking care of yourself, though."

He made a small moan. "I'm not really in the mood right now."

"OK, then."

"OK."

"I think I want to tell them," she whispered.

"Do you want to wait for me?"

"I'd like to do it now, if you don't mind."

"OK. I'm OK with that if that's what you want." He took a deep breath through his nose. "I wish I could be there."

"Me too."

Ellie quietly made her way downstairs, listening to her parents talk over some business papers.

"Hey." She leaned on the doorway of the dining room converted into a makeshift office, fluffing up the oversized t-shirt she was wearing over sweatpants. "I'm sorry about before. I've had a lot of stress recently and I've been having little outbursts here and there."

Emily flipped through the invoices before her, quickly peering over the rim of her glasses. "It's fine," she said in a stiff tone.

"I need to talk to you guys for a little."

"Ellie, can't you see we're busy?"

"I'm pregnant."

John instantly put down the feed order forms he was going over and made a loud gasp, his eyes as big as saucers.

Ellie sat across from her mother. “I’m having a baby.”

Emily placed her glasses on the table and quickly went up stairs. “I can’t deal with this right now.”

Ellie and John sat for a moment in silence.

She repositioned herself, sitting with her legs crossed. “I know this is too soon—“

“Bullshit, it’s a baby, not a dentist appointment. These things are never too soon or too late; they always happen when they’re supposed to.”

“Is Mom going to be OK with it?”

John rose up from his chair. “She’ll be fine. You know foal season’s coming up and we’re just trying to get all of the business in order for that. She also didn’t take too well to your disagreement earlier. She’ll come around.” He kneeled down by Ellie's seat, wrapping his arms around her, smiling as she clung to the material of his blue-worn-to-grey t-shirt. "If I knew I was getting the best news of my life, I would've wore a better shirt."

Ellie lightly tapped on the large wooden door leading into her parents bedroom. "Mama?" She carefully twisted the old door knob and pushed the door open. She glanced around the room that had changed very little in the last twenty-eight years. She checked the giant oak bed for her mother, instead finding her bent over the vanity table by the window. "Are you ok?"

"It's too soon," Emily mumbled.

"I know, but it's not like I planned this. It just happened."

"You don't even know if he'd be a reliable boyfriend, let alone a reliable husband and father."

Ellie sat on the edge of the bed. "I think he'll be a wonderful father. You know how incredibly sweet and caring he is."

"He could turn."

"He cancelled two weeks of studio time, so he could take care of me when my morning sickness was at its worst. He's even arranging to push back the album to make sure I have the length of maternity leave I want."

"You don't think he'll get resentful at all the sacrifices he's going to have to make for you and the baby?"

"I don't know.” Ellie fidgeted with the hem of her t-shirt. “Is there something you’re trying to warn me about?” She waited for an answer that never came. “Mama, is there anything you’re feeling…I don’t know, negative about right now that you want to talk about?”

“No,” Emily said, never having moved from the position Ellie found her in.

Ellie quietly tiptoed out of the room. “I’ll leave you be, then.”

Thursday, April 13th, 2006.

Justin poked around at his plate of breakfast as he watched JC shovel down a full plate of scrambled eggs.

“You should slow down there,” Joey advised from over his cup of coffee.

“JC, why did you change the cord on your Leo pendant?” Justin asked.

JC stopped to swallow. “What?”

Chris pointed at the necklace and round pendant peeking through JC collar. “Your new chain, what’s the story there?”

“The night before our wedding was kind of…rough—“

“I hope in a good way,” Lance interjected.

JC turned his head towards Lance. “…anyway, the cord snapped and Ellie replaced it with a chain when she went to pick my wedding ring up.”

“Then what happened?” asked Lance. “You never told us the story of how you got married.”

JC picked at his plate. “I don’t know. We woke up around nine, took a bath together, she went off to get the ring and some hair spray, she came home, she did her hair, then we hung out for awhile, then we got dressed and went to the clerk’s office. We waited for around two hours, then we had a little civil ceremony that lasted around six minutes. Then we went to Central Park to take some photos and then we went to her editor’s apartment to wait for the photos to be developed, then we had a little dinner and we went home.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to see the bride before the wedding?” Justin wondered as he flicked the corner of his napkin.

“Everything happened so fast that we didn’t really have a lot of time to try and conform to any traditions. I mean, I was with her when she bought her dress.”

Lance quickly placed down his coffee. “Isn’t that super bad luck?”

r32;JC shrugged. “We just stopped by this vintage store the night before and she just picked out a dress she liked. We never really thought of anything else; we just wanted to get everything over and done with.”

Chris ripped apart a piece of bacon. “Do we need to ask why?”

“It just felt right. We tried to do the whole ‘traditional Southern wedding’ thing, but we just ended up saying ‘fuck it’ and got married when it felt right.” He smiled as he started to load his fork up again. “She had the most incredible smile during the ceremony.”

The four of them watched as JC returned to his breakfast.

“Is he eating faster today?” Joey muttered. “I have never seen anyone so excited about a plate of scrambled eggs in my whole life.”

“It’s just been awhile since I had them,” JC said as he picked the last fragments of egg off his plate.

“Is Ellie allergic or something?” Joey asked.

“No. Ellie can’t really stomach them or their smell right now.”

“Right now?” Joey repeated.

JC nodded.

“Is she pregnant or something?” Joey inquired as he took another sip of coffee.

JC instantly froze, the others following suit, the only sound from the table was Lance dropping a butter knife.

“Eighteen years, man. Eighteen years,” Justin drawled in exclamation. “Look, I know you’re in love, but you really need to think about what you’re getting yourself into.”

JC stood up, throwing his used napkin onto the table. “I’m not here for this shit.”

Joey found JC kicking stones around the decorative cactus garden outside the hotel’s restaurant. “Did I reveal something I wasn’t supposed to?”

“I’m fucking getting sick of this. I’m getting sick of running every time someone has a goddamn issue with Ellie and me. I’m getting sick and tired of being the one who has to feel bad because some cunt can’t accept that I’m in love.”

“I know, man.”

“You know what, fuck them. Fuck everyone. I’m in love with the most incredible woman ever and we’re married and now we’re having a baby.” JC paused, taken back. “Whoa, it’s kind of weird to finally say it out loud to someone.”

Joey sat down on a stone bench. “Come here.” He waited for JC to sit next to him, drawing him in for a hug. “I’m happy for you. This is one of the best things you’re ever gonna experience. But, I must warn you, it is going to go by way too fast; if you’re not careful, you’re gonna miss a lot of moments you can never get back. Another thing, you are never ever going to be truly ready for this. You can think you are, but you won’t, and once you’ve gotten the hang of one thing, everything’s gonna change all over again.”

“You know, I really could’ve used that advice fourteen months ago.”

Ellie got the call just before six. She spent nearly all day in the ward with Claire as the doctors and nurse ran a variety of tests that had now become part of Claire’s daily routine. Ellie was just leaving as a nurse wrapped two thick nylon straps around Claire’s belly, monitoring the baby’s heartbeat and movements.

“Remind me to never, never ever ever, drive through Baton Rouge in peak hour during a storm.” Ellie ruffled her wet hair as the phone rang.

She reached out for it as her father quickly took the phone first. “Evening…”

His temperament changed immediately. “They’ve taken Claire down to the O.R. to do a Caesarean. Anna says that Claire wants you there.”

“Um…OK.” Ellie pursed her lips. “I guess we’ve got to get back to the hospital, then.”

“I’ll drive you.” John walked out in front of her, grabbing the keys from the side table before she could retrieve them first. He quickly went over to Emily and kissed her, the two of them whispering between them. “Bye bye, love. Be good.”

Ellie and John sat in the cab of the truck as they waited for traffic to start moving again, a heavy silence falling between them.

“Is this the right thing to do?” Ellie whispered.

“What do you mean? With Claire and all that?”

“I mean me?”

“Does it feel right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it’s the right thing to do.”

“What about Josh?”

“He’ll be fine. I know for a fact that he’s still very much in love with you and he can’t wait to see you again. He wouldn’t feel that way if he wasn’t sure he wanted to stay with you.”

“Did he call whilst I was out?”

“Yes’m.”

“So he knows you know.”

“Yep.”

“And he knows you’re happy about it?”

“I wouldn’t tell him I was feeling any other way if I wasn’t feeling that way.”

“Why are you so happy about it?”

“‘Cause I’m ready to be a pappy. Also, don’t worry about your mama. She’s just been through some hard stuff and she doesn’t want you to go through it, too.”

Ellie checked her cellphone. “Speaking of Mama, she just texted me to tell me to tell you that the stallion’s over at the float.”

“Okie dokie. I’ll just drop you off and go fix that, then I’ll come get you when you’re ready to come home.” John wrangled the truck into park. “See you in a few.”

It had been around two hours since she arrived at the hospital. She spent most of that time in the waiting room talking quietly with Claire’s parents, Anna, and Derek’s parents, his mother Beth and his father David. David had spent most of this time sorting through an old shortbread tin full of stamps and inserting them into a collector's folder, Anna and Lewis growing slowly irritated at every time he showed them a stamp with a bird on it.

“Here’s a…let me see…an oriole finch one from Malawi. You know, my ancestors were from Malawi,” David commented as he showed Anna the stamp. “What beautiful yellow plumage she has. I do love the ones with the birds on them.”

Derek emerged from down the hall. “Hey, she’s OK. They’re both OK. Annabelle Marie Rolands: seventeen inches and five pounds on the dot. You guys can come in two at time.”

Anna went back to the copy of Femme Fatale magazine. “I think maybe Mama and Beth should go in first; I’m OK waiting.”

“I should probably call Daddy to ask him to pick me up.” Ellie checked her watch as she dug through the change compartment of her wallet. “It’ll be nine soon.”

Ellie slipped a quarter into the payphone at the end of the hall. She waited for the coin to drop and dialled the number.

“Hey, everything’s fine, Mama…yeah…five pounds, Annabelle Marie. OK, tell Daddy I’m ready to be picked up. OK, bye.” She hung up the phone and walked back into the waiting room.

“Get this,” Anna said as she skimmed through an article about Eva Bitchface. “She actually says this: ‘Mexican women are like Mexican food; hot and spicy. In my experience, some men can handle the heat, some run from the kitchen.’ Is she being serious?”

“I don’t think it’s a direct reference to either JC or me,” Ellie commented as she sat down.

“Really, ‘cause you can make a gumbo that will make you shit acid.” Anna continued to flip through the photo spread. “I don’t get this; she’s with this ballplayer, but she keeps dropping little pass aggressive remarks about you and Jace.”

“We started dating right after he dumped her. I think she tried to call him on our first date.”

“What happened?”

“She was two-timing him with the ballplayer, but he cut her off before she could choose between the two. She supposedly really wanted him back after he won the Grammys.”

“Are you OK with that?”

Ellie snickered. “Too late now.”

Ellie watched through the window as Lewis and David went into the ward. She smiled as she watched her father’s truck find a parking spot.

“I think Mama might be picking me up tonight.”

“How do you know?” Anna asked as she defaced the cover of the magazine.

“She’s always driven the truck more gently than Daddy. You know, Mama sent me this weird text message before Daddy dropped me off. Something about the stallion being by the float. Which is weird ‘cause Mama owns four stallions and the horse float’s locked in the barn…Do you think it’s code for something?”

Anna shrugged.

“What are they chances Josh flew in to surprise me?”

“I don’t know, fifty percent. He either did or he didn’t.”

“I think you girls can go in now,” Lewis said as he and David came back out of the ward.

Anna nearly ran into the room, Ellie carefully following her.

“Hey,” Ellie whispered as she leaned down next to the bed, smoothing her skirt down. “She’s adorable.”

“She’s got my nose and Derek’s eyes,” Claire whispered as she carefully revealed her daughter’s face from the pink, white, and blue striped blanket she was bundled in.

“She’s also got my hair,” Derek interjected.

“It’s probably the painkillers, but she’s the most incredible thing that ever happened to me.”

“I think that’s the oxytocin talking; your body starts to release it after you’ve giving birth to aid in bonding.”

“Elizabeth—“

“Chasez,” Ellie interjected.

“Chasez, always the smartest person in the room.” They watched as Annabelle stretched out her hand, Claire tenderly kissing her palm. “I swear, you need to have one of your own. You will never know happiness or love like this.”

“November…” Ellie quietly whispered. “I’m due on November 6th.”

“Do you mean?”

“I got strep throat in early February. My doctor put me on antibiotics, which apparently affects the pill or something. I had a very, very, very erotic dream the night before Valentine’s, a…and long story short, we found out we were pregnant on March the 6th. I didn’t want to tell you if something went wrong.”

Claire turned her head to Derek. “I told you her first pregnancy would involve a contraceptive fuckup. You owe me a coke.”

Ellie lightly tapped the hood of the truck, waving at the driver through the rain covered windshield. She opened the door and slid into the front passenger seat.

"Hey. That was intense," she commented as she placed her bag by her feet, feeling the seat change shape.

She closed her eyes as she waited for her mother to kiss her cheeks, taking a moment to be startled when instead of feeling her mother's smooth skin, she felt the brush of whiskers.

"For some reason, I thought Mama—HOLY FUCKING SHIT." She jumped back when she turned to see JC sitting in the driver's seat. She lightly hit his chest with the palm of her hand. "Oh my fucking God. You scared the shit out of me."

JC smiled, crinkling his nose. "Surprise."

“Butthead.” She gently pulled at his shirt, wrapping her arm around his neck as they kissed.

He grunted as she pulled away, licking his lips and smiling. “I guess we better get you home.”