Party of Four

First Flutters - Nica

May didn’t seem real. It felt like I was watching a movie. All of these incredible things were happening, but I had yet to convince myself they were actually happening to me. Between finding out I would have a daughter, then agreeing to move in with Cole and Riley, and finally bringing up the idea of a commitment ceremony and letting Gwen plan it, I felt like I was living another life.

I told Willow right away and asked her to be my maid of honor. Of course, she’d immediately said yes. I wasn’t sure yet if I’d have more bridesmaids. I expected Cole and Riley to ask Jay to be their best man, but I didn’t know how big of a bridal party we actually wanted to have. These were details I was mostly leaving up to Gwen.

I tried not to think too much about all of it. Instead, I focused on slicing and battering eggplant in the back of the kitchen at Stella Cucina’s. Once I had gotten through the first trimester of the pregnancy, my morning sickness had calmed down tremendously. I was grateful I could continue working as if nothing was different. I planned to continue working too, for as long as Eli would let me or my body would allow. If I was lucky, I wouldn’t need to take my maternity leave until I went into labor.

“Oh,” I stopped, placing the knife on the cutting board I was using. I straightened as I felt it again and my brow furrowed.

“Everything okay?” Emily asked, looking over at me from where she cooked pasta in bulk.

I walked over to her, reaching for her hand, which she immediately held out. I gently wrapped my fingers around her wrist and placed her palm on my stomach, just under my ribs on the left side.

She stayed quiet, staring at me.

“Did you feel that?” I asked when the flutter happened again.

She shook her head slightly, and I moved her hand lower when I felt it again. A grin broke across her face. “That’s the baby!”

A grin of my own formed as we continued to chase the flutters across my stomach.

We both giggled, feeling the movements progress. They had started slow, then picked up, moving rapidly up and down my side.

“Cole!” Emily yelled.

“Yeah?” His voice came back from the line.

“Come here!”

He came around the corner, his own brow knit together as he took in the sight of us. “Come here,” I echoed, letting go of Emily’s wrist and reaching for him. I placed his hand over where I’d felt the last flutter and waited, grinning.

His eyes widened, lips parted in shock. “That’s…?”

“Uh huh,” I nodded.

“Oh my God,” he breathed, a grin breaking across his face.

“Where’s Riley?” I asked.

“I think he carried out a to-go order. He’s either outside or at the host stand,” he answered.

My eggplant was left abandoned as I peeled my plastic gloves off, tossing them in the trash on my way out of the kitchen. I got to the lobby as he was walking back in. My grin was still plastered to my face. “What is it?” he asked the moment his eyes landed on me.

“Let me see your hand,” I told him as I reached for him.

He complied with no questions, and I placed his hand on my stomach. The corners of his mouth were already turning upwards in eager anticipation. Layla watched from the host stand with a smile on her face too, eyebrows arched in excitement.

“Hold on,” I told him, as I moved his hand to where the flutter was now. “She’s moving around, making me chase her.”

He gasped when he finally felt her, his smile widening. “That’s our baby?”

I nodded. “Do you wanna feel her?” I asked Layla, excited as I held my free hand out to her.

“Okay.” She stepped closer, placing her hand in mine.

I put her hand in the spot just above Riley’s, right as my baby moved again.

“That’s amazing!” Layla grinned wider, and I nodded. “Awww.”

I knew I needed to get back to the eggplant, but I couldn’t contain my excitement. Some part of me knew that at some point I would feel the baby moving, but I hadn’t anticipated it now. Somehow in the whirlwind that had become my life, I didn’t realize I was far enough along for this.

Riley walked with me back to the kitchen, just as ecstatic. “Has Cole felt her yet?”

I nodded, “She started moving while I was cutting eggplant.”

His fingers brushed along my side, unknowingly antagonizing her into another round of little kicks.

I finished my shift still riding the high of excitement that feeling my baby moving for the first time had caused. The boys were both doubles, and it was Friday anyways, which meant continuing mine and Willow’s tradition of eating at Vinny’s. She had to be at work at five, so we wouldn’t have as much time to just hang out and chat, but that was okay. It was just after four when we got sat, and Odie knew our orders by heart at this point. So he’d already put our food in the moment we walked in the door.

“How’s my favorite girl today?” he asked, looking at me as he brought water and a Dr. Pepper to the table.

“I’m good,” I answered, still not used to the fact he no longer teased Willow and I about being burdens that forced him to do his job.

“I meant my granddaughter,” he teased, causing me to blush. He shook his head as he looked at Willow. “She gets pregnant and suddenly she’s got an ego, can you believe her?”

“We’re theater kids, and she’s a leo. So she’s always had an ego,” Willow answered, grinning.

Odie chuckled, “Your food’s in already. Angry Orchard today?”

Willow shook her head, “I still have to work.”

“Who’s gonna know?”

“Not today,” she shook her head again.

He sighed heavily, “Am I a server or a bartender?”

“Both,” Willow and I answered in unison, grinning.

“Odie, come here,” I scooted over in the booth so he could sit next to me. “I felt the baby today. Maybe she’ll move for you too.”

His face lit up with excitement as he sat down, giving me his hand. I placed it where I’d last felt her move and we waited to see if she would again. Willow perked up too, excited to see what would happen.

Odie gasped, a smile breaking out across his bearded face when she finally started moving again. “She’s really in there,” he breathed, and I realized just how real this was becoming for all of us. I nodded, smiling happily.

He eventually got up, jokingly complaining about having a job to go do. Willow and I both tried to eat quickly when the food came since she had a time restraint, but I caught her up on the day as best as I could. After I ate, the baby became even more active. I wasn’t sure if she was happy I’d ate or pissed about the buffalo wings. I’d already loved spicy food before, but I’d been craving it more since the morning sickness had pretty much stopped. So it was her fault if she wasn’t happy.

Before she left, I was able to let Willow feel her move to. Both of her hands were placed flat on the front of my stomach, feeling all the little kicks and flutters as the baby moved around.

~*~

Rush hour traffic on a Friday meant getting home later than I would’ve liked, but that was okay. I still had time to shower and relax before Cole and Riley wrapped up their double. I put on a pair of shorts and a sports bra, and couldn’t help examining myself in the mirror.

The changes that had taken place in my body still astounded me every time I looked at myself. I couldn’t help running my hand over my growing baby bump as I turned to the side, looking at myself. A year ago I would’ve never imagined that this would be my life now.

I had been on birth control since before I’d even met Alan. I never seemed to have much luck when it came to relationships, and I had been positive that I didn’t want to even consider kids until I was married because of it. Then I got married, and stayed on birth control.

Alan’s entire personality seemed to change once we’d filed the marriage license with the court house. Instead of the doting, loving boyfriend who insisted on doing things for me, even when I told him I could handle it myself, I ended up with a controlling and cruel husband who consistently put me down. He worked two jobs, therefore making more money than I had at Jasper & Jade at the time, and I would often need his help to buy things for the house. Normal, household items. I was put on antidepressants and anxiety medication because of him, and was grateful I never came off my birth control while I was with him. I had stood in the middle of Walmart, crying while I held my prescriptions with a suicide prevention pamphlet hanging out of my bag because, to him, it was more important that he sent money to his siblings in the Philippines than it was to buy us toilet paper.

I came off the birth control a couple of months after I left him. It was a financial decision more than it was anything else, and then my romance with Cole and Riley had escalated so quickly since my housewarming last September. Next thing I knew, I was going to be a mom.

I still had just over a month on my lease left, but I didn’t want to waste my time with packing and moving. So while I waited for my partners, I went ahead and put a box together to start filling it. I started by taking things off the walls and neatly arranging them on the box. I wasn’t sure how Cole and Riley planned on decorating the house, but at the very least, my wall hangings and posters would go in my room. Then I started wrapping my little statuettes of different goddesses in tissue paper, tucking them into the box on top.

I was so absorbed in my task, I almost didn’t hear the chime on my phone from Cole and Riley trying to get in the gate. I pushed the button to let them in, and moved the box to the corner of the living room, out of the way.

I opened the door from them and received a kiss from each as they stepped inside. “Woah,” Riley’s eyes went wide when he saw my newly blank walls.

“You’re already packing?” Cole asked, just as stunned.

I nodded. “I figure I might as well go ahead and start. With the way work, and doctor’s appointments, and everything, I don’t want to waste any time. Especially with Gwen planning both the baby shower and the ceremony. We’re going to have a lot going on when I’m trying to move.”

“About the ceremony,” Riley started, taking my hand as he walked to the couch to sit.

My eyes went wide, concern filling me. “You’re not changing your mind, are you?” I glanced between him and Cole.

Cole shook his head, looking just as confused as I was.

“Not at all,” Riley reassured me, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “I just want to make sure you’ve thought through this October. I know you already wrote it in the book, but are you sure that’s not too soon?” I opened my mouth, but he continued, quickly adding. “I don’t mean too soon for us. I mean after the baby. Are you sure that’ll be enough time to recover?”

I shut my mouth for a moment, considering the question. “Probably. If she’s on time, that gives us a month-“

“She could be late though,” Cole pointed out as he sat on my other side. He placed a loving hand on my leg. “We want you to be able to actually enjoy the wedding and be present for all of it. Plus…if we wait until next October…she’ll be a year old. She could be a flower girl.”

I looked between them, my lips pressed together.

“Plus, next year means mom will have plenty of time to really put effort into it. Like…she could pull it off this October. But next October would mean she’s not splitting her attention between this, the baby shower, and becoming a grandma.”

I had to admit they made good points. Especially the part about the baby potentially being born after her due date. I wasn’t sure how often that actually happened, but it did happen. What if she was so late that I didn’t really have time to recover? Plus…as much as I didn’t want to think about it, there was always a possibility that it could be a rough labor and delivery…I might need more time to recover.

“Okay,” I relented softly. “The same date, but next year.”