Party of Four

The First Peek - Riley

The first week after mom had placed the offer on the house was filled with anticipation. Every time she texted or called I was half-expecting disappointment. Expecting to be told the offer was declined. I anticipated some other wealthy couple swooping in and offering a higher number.

I tried not to think about all of the ways I was already planning to make it ours. After that first day, and the initial excitement, I had to ground myself in reality. We needed to move. We needed a bigger house, regardless of whether or not Nica moved in too. Stonehaven Estates was probably just a little bit out of our reach though, if I was being honest with myself.

A better idea would be to call Ronnie and ask him about where he lived, maybe he could keep an eye out for rentals in his neighborhood. He had four kids and his mother-in-law lived with him, but he also rented. Somehow, he had been able to afford that on a line cook’s salary before he took his new job. Sure his wife worked too, and she had been a manager for a while. They do this on two incomes though, I cut off my thoughts, stopping them from going down the pessimistic rabbit hole they were trying to fall in to. We would have four, maybe five incomes.

Halfway through the second week, I was sitting on the back porch with my mom when the realtor called. I couldn’t really tell much from her side of the conversation. Her tone and expression gave nothing away. I didn’t even realize it was the realtor until she ended the call and a huge grin broke out across her face. “We’re getting the house!”

“What?” I could hardly believe it.

“The current owners were on vacation, so they didn’t see the offer until yesterday. They accepted it though!”

My mouth fell open, jaw working, but my brain wasn’t processing any thoughts. No words came out.

“Isn’t this exciting?” My mom continued on, calling my dad to tell him the news and completely ignoring the fact I was dumbstruck.

I couldn’t believe we were going to move to Stonehaven Estates. I couldn’t believe we were moving. That we were buying a new house. Somehow, this was more unbelievable than when Nica had broken the news about her pregnancy. Once my brain started working again, I immediately texted her and Cole.

The next couple of weeks were filled with appointments and meetings. Mom handled most of them, but every now and then, I had to go with her. We worked with two different realtors, Erica, and an associate of hers, Philip Nichols, to list both of our houses, as well as drawing up the contract for our purchase.

Mom met with a couple of banks to get financing on a loan. She didn’t want to have to wait to sell either of our houses before she could actually buy this one.

Time seemed to go by in a blur. Just a constant state of work, real estate, and pregnancy. Even Nica had a doctor’s appointment during all of this. She’d gotten lucky, managing to schedule this one when we’d all three be off work, so Cole and I were able to accompany her. Usually it was only one of us…if either of us.

Her doctor was a kind woman, probably around my mom’s age with gray streaked hair that she dyed dark red. Her brown eyes were big and warm. She had a light accent when she spoke, and she was always welcoming and friendly. She never questioned the fact that Cole and I would switch out who was going to the appointments with Nica. Whether she realized we were both dating Nica, or just didn’t care enough to question it, I wasn’t sure. She probably dealt with plenty of other, much stranger, family situations.

My breath caught as I listened to the heart beat. The sound filled the room, thumping faster and faster. “Sounds like you have an active little bebita,” Dr. Martinez commented, chasing the sound across Nica’s stomach.

It was mid-March, and Nica wasn’t quite showing yet, but there was a slightly more noticeable bulge in her lower abdomen that hadn’t been there a month ago.

The sound stopped abruptly as she pulled the doppler away. She stood as she dragged the compact ultrasound unit over to the exam table. It whirred to life as she turned it on. “Let’s see if we can get a little peek at bebita,” she smiled as she applied more gel to Nica’s belly.

Nica stared at the screen in quiet anticipation, waiting for the moment we’d see our baby for the first time. She reached a hand out, and Cole and I both reached for her in return. I caught one side of her hand, her fingers wrapping around mine, as Cole closed his hand over both of ours.

It took a while before anything really discernible came up on the screen. It was all grainy black and gray images.

Then it became clear, and we could see the distinctive shape of a head. “There we go,” Dr. Martinez cooed while she clicked a few buttons on the keyboard that was attached to the monitor. She adjusted the ultrasound wand, trying to get a better angle. For the briefest second, we caught the tip of a nose. Then the image rolled away.

I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face, watching as the images changed, chasing the baby. Then a foot very clearly made an appearance. She clicked a few more buttons, just as the foot disappeared.

She spent a few more minutes chasing and clicking, making jokes about how our “bebita must not like the paparazzi.”

She put the wand away and printed some of the snapshots she’d managed to get during the ultrasound. Cole and I stared at them in awe while Nica cleaned the gel off her belly. Sure, we both knew Nica was pregnant, we both knew we’d have a baby and be dads. Until this moment though, there had been a surreal quality to the knowledge. Even hearing the heart beat at the previous appointment hadn’t quite brought this to reality the way the ultrasound did. Something about actually seeing the baby, the shape of their head, the tip of their nose, being able to count all five toes on a foot really crystallized everything. We were going to have a baby.