Party of Four

Mother’s Day - Cole

On Mother’s Day, I woke up with an anxious excitement growing in the pit of my stomach. It had only been a week and a half since the anatomy scan and us finding out we were having a little girl. Mom didn’t know that we knew yet. We knew she was going to be disappointed that she wouldn’t get to plan a gender reveal, but Nica had something even better in mind to let her focus on.

I had been stunned when Nica suggested it. It wasn’t something I had ever thought she’d really consider. Not for a while at least. She had taken the time to really think it all out too, including how she wanted to present it to my mom as part of a Mother’s Day gift. She’d been able to find what she needed to do that at Jasper & Jade, the bookstore she used to work at.

I carefully extracted myself from the tangle of limbs that was her and Riley and made my way downstairs to smoke a cigarette on the back porch. Now that Riley and I had actually started moving, it was kind of surreal walking through the house and seeing half of our stuff missing. We were down to the bare minimum of what we needed. I tried to convince myself that we were just slower at moving because of our work schedule, but the reality was that mom and dad worked just as much, and they were already fully settled in the guest house at Stonehaven.

At least Riley didn’t seem to be in a rush either. And Nica would be moving too. Not yet, but it wouldn’t be long either. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to finish her lease, but I was excited to finally share a home with her. To have it be our home and not her just visiting.

I stood on the porch, looking out at our yard as I lit my cigarette, realizing this was going to be one of the last times I did this. In a couple of weeks, I would no longer come out here to find deers or other wildlife roaming the edge of the tree line. In a couple of weeks, I wouldn’t be out here smoking at two in the morning while I walked around the yard. Sure, we’d still have a decent sized yard, plus a pool, but it wouldn’t be the same.

Venus meowed at me from the steps, breaking me out of my thoughts. “What is it? You hungry?” I asked as I moved to the side of the porch where her bowls were. I sat my cigarette on the edge of the banister while I refilled her food and water, then resumed my morning contemplation. I followed up my cigarette with a joint.

Back inside, I started making breakfast. We weren’t meeting with my parents until later this afternoon, and so Riley and I wanted to do something special for Nica in the mean time.

He came down the stairs first, already dressed, keys in his hand. “She’s still asleep,” he told me. “I’m gonna go pick up the flowers.”

I nodded as I continued working on the breakfast casserole. We’d ordered a bouquet for her, but had wanted them to be a surprise for her.

The bouquet was made of pale pink peonies, white roses, and eucalyptus. The florist had helped us design the bouquet for her, and I had chosen the peonies because at least I knew she liked those enough to tattoo them to her thigh.

While the casserole baked, I retrieved the gift bag and Mother’s Day card from the closet and set it neatly on the corner of the counter.

Somehow, we got lucky enough that he got back just as she was coming down the stairs. I heard the latch on the door unlock, then his voice, warm and gentle greeting her. They entered the kitchen together, her holding the bouquet. I’d already prepared a vase for her. “Good morning,” I smiled, coming around the island counter so I could pull her into a kiss. “Happy Mother’s Day.”

“Thank you,” Nica smiled, her cheeks pink. “What is this?” she asked, eyeing the gift bag and card.

“It’s not much,” I admitted, “We just wanted to do something special for you.”

“Yeah,” Riley confirmed, smiling as he offered to take the flowers.

He arranged the bouquet in the vase as she pulled tissue paper out of the bag. Inside was a scrapbook we started with “Our Family” printed across the pink cover in sprawling silver script. So far, the only things we had in it were letters he and I had each written, telling her how much we love her, and one of the baby’s ultrasound pictures with their due date.

“This is so sweet.” Nica was tearing up as her eyes skimmed the pages. “I love you, both of you.” She gave us each a kiss.

As she opened her Mother’s Day card to read it, I went back to the oven to pull the casserole out. Inside her card was a certificate for a pre-natal massage.

After breakfast, Nica wasn’t up for doing much. So instead, we spent the day cozy on the couch until it was time to go meet my parents for dinner.

When we arrived at The Stockyard, my parents were already there. They’d gotten there early so they could get us on the waitlist and were still in the lobby when we walked in.

“It shouldn’t be too much longer of a wait,” dad told us as we each gave mom a hug. “We got here about twenty minutes ago, and they said twenty to thirty minutes.”

Nica sat down next to my mom who immediately started asking how her morning went. “Did the boys treat you right this morning?”

“They did,” Nica smiled, nodding.

We had barely settled in the lobby when the host called us and led us to a table. Once we were sat and our drinks were ordered, I handed mom the gift bag Nica had put together.

“I know you wanted to plan a gender reveal for us,” Nica started, “but I couldn’t wait to know.”

The bag sat in front of my mom, untouched as she stared at Nica, eyes wide and lips parted. “We’re having a girl.”

Whatever disappointment mom felt was secondary to the excitement of knowing she was having a granddaughter. A broad grin broke across her face and her eyes lit up. “Oh, honey, that’s wonderful news!”

A soft pink blush colored Nica’s cheeks as she smiled, just as thrilled that mom wasn’t upset. She nudged the bag forward, “We put something else together for you since you won’t get to plan a gender reveal.”

Nica was interrupted by the server bringing our drinks, a small loaf of bread, and some saucers. We went ahead and ordered. Everyone got some cut of steak except Nica, who ordered the lemon-herb grilled chicken. She liked steak, but she only ate it medium, and the thought of it just hasn’t settled well throughout the pregnancy, so she’d avoided it.

“Anyways, it’s not much,” Nica continued, nudging the bag again while my dad cut the loaf of bread. “But we hope you’ll like it.”

Dad was focused on buttering and passing out bread while the three of us watched mom in eager anticipation. She pulled the tissue paper out, sitting it in the booth between her and dad. Then she pulled the book out. It was really more of a binder. Hard and sturdy, with rings on the inner spine so that pages could be removed or added as needed. The cover was a soft baby blue with white scrolling cursive across it.

“I’ve already filled out some of our non-negotiables,” Nica explained as my mom scanned the cover, processing what the gift meant. “Everything else is up to you.”

“A wedding?” she finally spoke, another grin replaced her shock as she looked at us. “I get to plan your wedding?”

Nica nodded, “Not a traditional one, obviously. There won’t be anything legal involved. No marriage certificates or anything like that. More of a…commitment ceremony.”

“We’ll be married in our hearts, but not legally,” Riley added. “We just…we figured, if we were going to become a family, and Nica’s gonna move in with us, we could make it as close to as official as possible.”

While we waited for our food, mom flipped through some of the pages in the binder. The date, color scheme, and a few flowers had already been decided. Nica would choose her dress, and Riley and I would choose what we wore. Other than that, everything was up to my mom, including additional accent flowers.

As the night wore on and mom immediately began discussing themes based on our chosen October date and the flowers Nica wanted, I wondered if we might have given her the gift too early. It was nice seeing her so excited about it. Our main request was that we keep it small and she didn’t go overboard planning some elaborate event.

“I only get to do this once, so we’re going to do it right,” she argued. “I thought I’d have at least two weddings to plan,” mom’s gaze shot between Riley and me, and I felt my cheeks warm, “so you’re not going to take away my joy.”

“So which one of us did you expect to get divorced?” Riley asked, picking up on the fact she’d said at least two.

“Probably you,” I grinned.

Riley reached around behind Nica to flick my ear.

“Probably both of you with the way you two act,” my dad cut in. He nodded towards Nica, “She’s an angel for tolerating either of you, let alone both of you.”

Riley and I both scowled while Nica blushed again. My dad winked at her, smiling.

“You wanna come sit on our side of the table so you don’t have to be in the middle of their bullshit?” he offered.

“It’s okay, they’d probably get us kicked out if there wasn’t someone separating them,” she grinned back, causing him to chuckle.