You Just Don't Know What the Future Holds

Erin’s POV

Summer flew by almost too quickly. For the first few weeks, Devon liked to sleep and didn’t cry too often which made things easier for Joe and I. A day after he turned a month old, we got a call from Nick telling us that Staci was going to have the twins, Emma and Aiden. The three babies were growing fast and became a popular topic on the entertainment news shows, especially when a picture of them laying next to each other surfaced. Towards the end of summer, Devon was awake for a greater portion of the day and started to show a little personality. And just like Dani said, Devon did bring Joe and I a lot closer. When September rolled around things weren’t as crazy anymore; we didn’t have as many visitors to scared me about sicknesses, there was a little less paparazzi swarming us at doctor appointments, and a daily routine was basically established. Overall, things were going great.

“Hey baby, whatcha watching?” I asked, walking out of our bathroom after showering.

Joe was sitting up in our bed, feeding Devon a bottle, “Nothing right now; just channel surfing.”

“Oh, cool.” I said and walked over to our closet to find a sweatshirt to wear. While I was digging, I peeked over at Joe and saw him place the bottle on the bed stand and quickly burp Devon. After that he carefully got up and placed him in the bassinet.

I finally found an old, baggy sweatshirt and put it on while watching Joe stand over the bassinet. I walked over to him and placed my head on his chest, almost immediately feeling his arm wrap around me.

We stood there for a few more minutes, just watching our son sleep soundly. Devon looked peaceful and so beyond adorable that I was tempted to hold him, but I knew, from too many experiences, that it would be better if I didn’t.

So, instead, we crawled into bed and slept fine for a little while.

I was awoken by Devon whimpering from his crib and tried to get out of Joe’s grasp without waking him. I picked up my son and took him to his room to change him before heading downstairs to feed him. I turned the TV on quietly and tried to find something to watch in the early morning hours, but all I could find were old reruns.

Joe’s POV

I woke up wondering why it was so bright in the room and I hadn’t been disturbed at all last night. I sat up quietly and noticed that neither Erin nor Devon were in the room and headed downstairs.

I found Erin asleep on the couch, with Devon just waking up in her arms. I walked over and tried to pick him up so she could sleep, but she shook her head and blinked at me a few times.

I chuckled, “Good morning.”

“Morning.” She smiled groggily, and kissed both me and Devon on the cheek.

My expression hardened for a second, I hated when she let me get out of the nightly duties and caused herself to be even more tired, “How did you sleep?”

“Pretty well, he only woke up twice.” She yawned.

“How about you go upstairs and take a little nap and I’ll watch him for a little while?” I suggested.

She stood up to stretch, “I can’t, I’m meeting Staci at the gym today.”

“I’m sure she won’t mind going tomorrow.” I said, shifting Devon in my arms.

“One of the classes doesn’t meet tomorrow.” She argued, walking to the kitchen.

“Just go upstairs and rest and I’ll wake you up before you have to go. Its only nine and you don’t have to leave until one.” I continued even though she opened her mouth to speak, “You need to sleep. Besides, I need some time with Devon.”

She hesitated for a moment before yawning again, “Wake me up before noon.”

“We’ll see.”

“I need time to get ready.”

“Just go sleep.” I kissed her forehead and watched her go upstairs.

Erin’s POV

“Was it just me, or does that spin lady keep getting crazier at each class?” I asked, walking out of the gym with Staci.

“Its just you.” She said.

“She was nuts today.” I shook my head, “Anyways, like I was saying on the ride here, if you want to take Nick out for his birthday, we can watch the twins for you guys. Well, we talked about it with Kevin and Danielle and they said they would help, if that’ll make you feel better. You guys deserve a little break.”

“Well, thanks. I’m not sure what we’re doing, yet, though.” She shrugged.

“Just think about it, okay? Or throw a little party where you just focus on him and let everyone else keep the twins occupied, like I did for Joe.” I stated.

“I’m surprised you got him to go. He’s been dreading this birthday for his whole life.” She laughed.

I laughed with her, “I made sure to put thirty candles on our cake at home; he was so pissed.”

“Oh my god, I bet.” We climbed in the car and started to head back home. “So, have you told him yet?”

“Nah, I’m going to do it tonight, though.” I shook my head.

“I know he’s going to be okay with it, so I don’t see why you’re worried.” She shrugged, turning into my neighborhood.

“I just feel weird about it, but I don’t think he’ll argue.” I sighed, “At least, I hope not. He’s always supportive of everything.”

“He’s so cute when it comes to you, I really didn’t think he could be this way until you two started dating.” She said.

I laughed slightly, shaking my head, “I am pretty lucky to have him.”

“Yeah.” She pulled into my driveway, “See you again on Thursday?”

“If I can move by then, yeah.” I nodded, “See ya later, and thanks for the talk.”

“It’s no big deal.” She shrugged and pulled back out. I waved to the fleeting car and headed inside.

I walked in, seeing Joe on the couch with Devon, smiling and talking to him. Seeing them together always made my heart skip a few beats. I took my sneakers off and walked into the living room.

“Hi there, I don’t mean to interrupt man time…” I giggled to myself, walking over to them.

Joe smiled wider, looking up at me, “You’re not interrupting, babe. How was the gym?”

“It was alright. How are you guys?”

“We’re good, right, Dev?”

“Aw, too cute. I’ll be right back, though. I need a shower.” I kissed both of them real quick and ran upstairs for a quick shower.

When I came back down Joe and I watched a quick movie after I put Devon for a nap. Once he woke up, Joe started cooking dinner while I sat and fed Devon. After he was done, I carefully put him in the swing we had downstairs and walked into the kitchen to help Joe. Dinner went slower than usually because all I could think of was what would happen when I told Joe what I’d been thinking about lately.
“Hey, Joey?” I asked.

“Yeah?” He put his toothbrush back and flicked the bathroom light off.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t want you to get the wrong impression, but…”

“Babe, what is it?”

“Ikindofwanttogoacktoschool.” I said in a hurried whisper.

He raised an eyebrow, “Huh?”

“Never mind.” I stated and quickly crawled into bed.

He sat down next to me and rested a hand on my knee, “No, I heard you, but I meant ‘why?’”

“Well, you’re going to start getting back into doing things soon, and I feel pretty lazy just sitting here all the time.”

“You don’t just sit arou-”

“I know, I know. I mean, I always saw myself doing something. Making some sort of difference, somehow.”

“So, what’s the plan, then?”

“I think I want to be a kindergarten teacher. I remember telling you this when I was, like, a sophomore in high school, but I feel like they have such a huge impact on children. They set them up with a good amount of the lessons and things they need for the rest of their lives and school years.”

“Babe, you can do that with Devon.”

“I know I can, but I want to do it with more than just him, and all the time. There’s only so much time that I can teach him that sort of stuff.”

“We could always have more kids.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to say.”

“No, I get it. Are you absolutely sure, though?”

“Yes. When I gave up my job, I was thinking about doing this. I always saw myself as either an author or a teacher, and so far, the whole writing a book thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this back then?”

“I wanted to be sure that it was something that I wanted.”

“You could have already made some headway, though. If you want to do this, I’m behind you one hundred and ten percent, I’m just afraid that it might be too hectic for you. Whether you’ll admit it or not, you’re already way behind on sleep and you know how much work Devon is. I just want you happy and healthy.”

“Thank you for the support and the concern, but for now I’ll be taking online courses so I can do the work when I have the time. In two or three years, I’ll have to actually go to a university to receive some classes and be a student teacher.”

“You have this all planned out already, don’t you?” He grinned softly.

“I do.” I nodded.

“Then do it; I know you can.” He placed a soft kiss on my lips.

“Thank you, Joey.” I beamed, “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

I shook my head and kissed him again, “Goodnight.”

He crawled over to his side of the bed and turned off his bed side light, “Goodnight.”