"This is my superhero uniform. I need to be ready in case you go into labor, Mom."
Colt and I started laughing. Noah gave us a dirty look as Colt patted his head. "Buddy, you need to put on some pants for now, but when we get to Grandma"s you can wear your uniform in the house."
He went running up the steps toward his room and I could hear his drawers opening to his dresser.
I looked to Colt who was still laughing. "I can"t believe you told him he could take his pants off at your mother"s. What has gotten into him anyway?"
"He is excited about the baby, that"s all. I"m excited too."
Obviously...
"Well I do hope you don"t start taking your pants off at the dinner table too."
"Darlin", I will be taking them off as soon as we get back, because there ain"t nothin" s.e.xier than seein" you in those old sweats."
Smooth talker!
I grabbed his cheek and pulled him down to me for a kiss. "Good come back."
"Are ya"ll ready to go or what?" Noah came whipping down the stairs and started opening the front door.
Since it was an icy mess outside, Colt held my hand and slowly helped me walk down the porch stairs and then to the truck. He lifted my fat b.u.t.t up into it with no strain on himself. It was really nice to have such a strong man. He patted my backside as I slid in.
He winked at me. "You liked that didn"t you."
I leaned back out to whisper in his ear. "I will take care of this friskiness later on."
"You promise?"
I nodded as I watched him walk around the truck and help Noah to get in. I"d been so exhausted recently to worry about my appearance, but just moments before pulling up to the house I realized I hadn"t even checked my hair. Colt was laughing at me as I tried to flip my hair up in some kind of neat ponytail with just my fingers as a brush.
Colt opened Noah"s door and he went running into his grandma"s house. Lucy would holler at him for getting the floor all messed up. Colt came around to my side and helped me get down. "You okay, Darlin"?"
"Yeah, it"s just hard getting around. This little person inside of me has run out of room."
"I bet. Come on, let"s get you inside the warm house."
Colt held my hand and led me into the house. He sat me down on a chair and started pulling off my boots. After he removed my jacket, we headed into the living room. The house was super quiet. I should have expected they were up to something.
I loud ensemble of "SURPRISE" was being yelled from the h.o.a.rd of people in the room. I jumped from being startled and got b.u.t.terflies from the excitement. Noah came rushing to my side. "It"s a party for my new brother, Mom."
"Maybe sister," I whispered in his ear.
I was greeted by everyone, including Miranda and my mother. I was so glad to see them that I almost didn"t notice Bella sitting on Ty"s lap in the corner. He nodded his head and gave me a wink, before turning back to talk to my dad and Colt.
Colt glanced over and mouthed the words "I love you".
I mouthed, "you too", before directing my attention to all of the lovely people in the room.
My mother"s arms wrapped around me. "Are you surprised? Did Colt tell you about it?"
I looked back over toward where Colt sat and saw him smiling. "No, he didn"t tell me. Do you think I would have worn this," I pointed to my clothes. "if I knew this was happening."
"You look fine, Sweetie. My G.o.d, Noah has gotten so big. I can"t get over it. Your father and I told him he could come spend a couple weeks this summer at our house. Of course, Tyler heard us and insisted he stay a week with them too."
I started laughing. "He and Bella just love each other so much. It would be nice for them to have all that time together. Although, with Miranda and Ty being pregnant, I don"t know how they will handle a newborn and our two rug rats."
"Honey, if you are worried they will steal some horses, you have to know they wouldn"t try that again." She sounded confident, but I knew my son, and the things he did to impress his cousin.
My mother and Colt"s mother led me over to a corner chair and started handing me gifts. I was surprised that Miranda was around four months pregnant and she already had a little baby b.u.mp. It was her second pregnancy so I guess that was why.
She sat down next to me after giving me a big kiss, and started writing who my gifts were from.
"I can"t believe you"re here."
She reached for my hand. "Van, Ty and I would never miss this. We love you, Cuz."
"I love you too, so much. I hope you both know that."
She looked over at Ty and he gave her a big smile. "We do. So, did you pick out any names yet?"
"Aside from SpongeBob Square pants and Ninja Joe?" Like that was ever going to happen.
We both started laughing. "Have you and Colt picked out any names?"
"It"s a surprise."
"Of course it is," she teased.
After opening the room full of presents, Colt and I had enough diapers to probably supply Ty and Miranda"s baby as well as ours for the first two years. I have four sets of crib sheets, over twenty bottles, seven soft blankets, and a wardrobe of clothes sized from birth to two years. We got all kinds of seats and gadgets as well as a couple baskets of baby necessities. Ty and Miranda got me the breast pump that she swore by. Of course he had to add something smart in the card about watching me try it out. I just laughed. At this point in our lives I knew that Ty joked about everything. I"d learned to appreciate him for his sense of humor and his love for his family, because at the end of the day that was all that mattered.
After the hour of present opening, the party headed into the kitchen. It was the biggest spread I had ever seen. There were so many cool foods shaped like baby things, some being b.u.t.ts and rattles. Ty came over and showed me a plate with two cupcakes that he had purposely put two favors on top to look like nipples. "Van, look at what I"m eating for dinner."
"You would think with a daughter and a baby on the way, you could at least act right in public," I teased.
He smacked my a.s.s and shoved one of the fake b.o.o.bs into his mouth. "Never!" With a mouth full of cake he bent down and gave his daughter the other cupcake. I couldn"t help but burst into laughter. Bella took her cupcake and licked it. When she didn"t like the icing, she gave it to Ty, who ate the spot she had licked. She thought it was funny as I started to gag. "Aunt Van thinks Daddy is gross."
"My Daddy is the funniest person in the whole world." Bella leaned over and kissed Ty.
"I think you might be right kiddo."
Ty walked over toward the guys while Bella pulled me toward the large cake on the dining room table. "Look Aunt Van."
Wow!
The cake was a giant copy of our last 3-D sonogram photo. It was quite a difference seeing it so much larger than the smaller picture I was used to looking at. "It"s so cool." Noah came up behind me and stood with Bella, looking at the cake.
"It"s pretty amazing isn"t it?"
"Is that how big the baby is now?" Bella asked.
I started giggling. "No. The baby will be small and we can hold it in our arms when it gets here."
"Well, I hope my mom"s baby won"t be that big. Then it would be an ogre like Shrek." Leave it to my kid to a.s.sume ogres were real. Really? Ogres?
Since the kids had found the dessert table, their attention went from the size of the baby, to how many desserts they could both eat before they threw up. I watched them for a couple moments before my mother caught my attention. She and Colt were sitting up at the breakfast bar, already involved in a conversation. I made my way through the crowd of family and friends and sat down next to them. "Were you really surprised, Sweetie?"
"I had no idea. Colt did good keeping this secret from me." I moved forward so I could get a good look at my sneaky husband"s face.
"Colt was telling me that they want to induce you if you haven"t gone into labor in the next two weeks. When you both find out a date you need to let me know. It"s going to be hard for me to get a flight in little notice. If you make it to the induction date it will give me ample time to plan. You know your father and I don"t want to miss it."
"I know. I was just kind of hoping I would deliver before that. This baby is just too stuffed in my body. I think it"s time it blessed us with its presence."
"Oh Sweetie, it will be here when it"s ready. You can"t rush perfection. I"m sure you can make it a couple more weeks." My mother seemed confident. I didn"t!
Aunt Karen got everyone"s attention to play some yarn game. Apparently, you were supposed to take the string and guess how big my belly was. The closest person to guess how gigantic I was around, won the prize. I watched as the room full of men and women started taking spools of yarn and cutting out large strands, measuring them up to their own bellies.
It was quite comical until everyone was standing there with yarn that appeared to be over five feet long. I looked down at my big belly and rubbed it. Was I really that gigantic? Good G.o.d!
Colt came up behind me and shoved his yarn in his pocket. One by one the yarn was measured against my real body. I was so relieved when most of them were way bigger than I was. The people who were close lined up against the wall and waited to see who was the absolute closest. When everyone was finished, Colt pulled out his strand and reached it around my tummy. His strand was off by only one inch. n.o.body else was that close, I was sure of it.
The room filled with laughter. "You cheater! Colt! You weren"t allowed to play." Aunt Karen came up and grabbed the string out of his hand.
Everyone continued to laugh.
"So what do I win?"
She rolled her eyes and handed him a wrapped package. He opened it to reveal a small bottle of scented lotion. Colt got a huge grin on his face. He looked up at everyone in the room. "I bet this will make my a.s.s smooth like a baby."
Even I began to laugh, but when I did something happened. I felt something warm and feared that I had just peed myself in front of our entire family. I closed my legs as tight as they could go, but continued to feel the gushing of warm liquid.
Colt stopped laughing and looked at my face. I slowly opened my legs to reveal the wet spot all over his sweat pants. "I think my water just broke," I whispered.
Colt stood up. "OH MY G.o.d HER WATER JUST BROKE!"
Chapter 27.
Colt The room filled with chaos as Savanna stood there in total shock. In the midst of all of our family, she was going into labor. Her mother and Miranda came rushing over to her side. I wouldn"t say she was freaking out, but she definitely wasn"t able to focus on anything.
She hadn"t been complaining of having any labor pains, yet as soon as we got her standing and suggested she get cleaned up, she hunched over and grabbed the underside of her belly. We guided her back to the couch.
"Colt you need to head to the house to get her overnight bag. I will call the doctor and get her cleaned up. Grab her a clean pair of pants so that her legs don"t get too cold going out in the cold air." My mother took charge of things, giving me orders on what I needed to do, but I just stood there.
Ty was standing over in the corner with Conner, but had walked over and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me out of the house. "Get in the game, Dude. You might have a baby by the end of the night."
I don"t know whether it was his pep talk or the cold air hitting me in the face, but we both hopped into the truck and headed back to my place to get the bag that Savanna had gotten together for her hospital stay. Ty came into the house and waited for me at the door. I ran back down the stairs with her bag in my hand. "Did you get her clean pants?"
"s.h.i.t!" I ran back up the stairs to our bedroom.
As I came back down the stairs, I heard Ty laughing at me. "Dude, you have got to calm down. It is your responsibility to get her through this and remain calm. Right now you seem like you need to be b.i.t.c.h slapped."
I gave a little chuckle. "Sorry, I"m so nervous. I don"t think I have ever been so scared."
"Dude, if I can get through it, you can. Just remember if it gets too scary stare at her thigh instead of her p.u.s.s.y. Don"t take any mental pictures. It will haunt you forever."
We climbed back into the truck. "You give the worst d.a.m.n advice."
"It"s the truth. Seriously, you will be fine as long as you keep her calm. She can"t see you freaking out. You have to be her rock."
Speaking of b.i.t.c.h slapping.....
"You sound like one of those f.u.c.kin" books Savanna keeps in our bedroom."
Ty responded immediately, "I watched my daughter being born and read the books when I"m on the s.h.i.tter. Miranda knows it"s the only time I will consider picking up a book. She got rid of all my Sports Ill.u.s.trated and replaced them with baby mags."
Miranda is one smart girl.
We pulled back up at the main house to a crowd full of people. Ty ran the pants inside and when I finally got inside Savanna was already in the bathroom changing. When she came out she was walking slow, like she was in pain. I rushed to her side. "Darlin", what can I do?"
"The doctor said that since my water broke and I"m having contractions we need to get to the hospital. Lucy is going to keep the kids."
I was a little confused. "What do you mean Lucy is going to keep the kids? Where is everyone else goin"?" There was a whole house full of people to keep the kids.
"I want our families to be there and I already asked Miranda to be in the room with me. Her and Ty are the G.o.d parents and I think they should be there." She still wasn"t making very much sense.
"Why the h.e.l.l would you want Ty in the room?"
She rolled her eyes at me. "Because he has been through this before and I can tell from the look on your face that you are already freaking out. He isn"t there to watch and I guarantee he won"t get anywhere near my nether regions, but you will need him, Colt. Besides, I hardly think I"m going to care when this baby starts coming out." She continued to walk toward the door. I held her hand and helped her get her coat on.
"We are going to follow you." My mother announced. Behind her stood Savanna"s parents and my Aunt Karen.
Ty came running up in front of us. "Give me your keys. You sit in the back with your wife. I will drive." I got ready to warn him of his driving. "No worries. I will drive carefully and get us all there in one piece. Don"t forget my pregnant wife is sitting in this truck too."
It actually did make me feel better knowing that Ty would do anything to protect Miranda. The weather was bad and the roads weren"t much better. It was going to take us double the amount of time to get her where we needed to go.
Once we hit the main roads, they were worse than we suspected. Ty did a good job going slow, but even in four wheel drive we were sliding all over the road. The snow was really coming down again and visibility was almost non-existent. We were finally having to drive so slow that we ended up getting stuck. Luckily, I had just bought a brand new pair of chains for my tires. While Ty and I went out into the freezing weather to get them hooked to the tires, Miranda went ahead and called my mother to let her know that Conner would have to come get them and drive them in another truck capable of having chains. I knew they were somewhere behind us, but my main concern was making it to the hospital before Savanna delivered another Mitch.e.l.l baby in the back of a vehicle.
It took us a good thirty minutes to get the chains out, untangle them, and get them on all four tires. When we climbed back into the truck, Savanna was really having a tough contraction. The winter storm made everything so quiet outside of the truck, but it was sure a different story as we climbed back in.
Miranda was hanging over the front seat, trying to soothe Savanna through her contraction. We hopped in the truck and started moving slowly again. The hospital was a good fifteen minutes during normal weather and being that it was so hard to see, I wasn"t really sure how close we actually were.
Savanna laid down on my lap. I stroked her hair and watched her suffering through the pain.