Remember Us

Stacey walks in for the millionth time that day to check up on me. She says I’m sick while I just brush it off as tired. Even if a wedding is going smoothly, it still takes up a lot of time to plan and organize. “Julie, go home. There’s no arguing this time. You look like you’re going to faint.”

It was true, I did feel light-headed. Actually, that had been happening a lot later. Along with nausea and just plain drowsiness. “At least let me finish this cake Stacey. Then I’ll let you win and I’ll go home.”

She mumbles something in reply but I don’t catch it. When I finish the chocolate cake and set it out front I leave for the apartment. Saturdays were never my favorite day to work. Especially times like these when Stacey would send me home because Adam would be there and know something was up.

Sure enough, when I opened the door to the apartment he was there watching a movie with Katie. Finn and Dakota were also over, probably to just hang out.

“Hey you guys!” I say, hanging up my jacket and turning back to the small crowd. I stand to the side of the crowd so I can find the best spot to sit. But before I even have the chance to do that, Dakota lets out a small squeal. One equivalent to when she found out Adam proposed to me.

“What was that for?” Adam asks her while we all stare at her confused.

She just grins foolishly, “I don’t know really, just something caught my eye.”

Finn rolls his eyes and looks back at me, “how was work this morning?”

“great. Stacey keeps sending me home though and I don’t understand why.” I grumble. “she says I seem tired.”

Adam gives me a one-over and nods in agreement. “I must agree Liana, you look-” He stops mid-sentence. His eyes blink a few times as if he’s trying to catch onto something. “I’m assuming you’re not doing it this time to scare off Dakota and Finn, are you?”

I look at him confused. What in the world is he talking about scaring off people? “oh thank god I wasn’t just imagining something,” Dakota sighs a breath of relief.

It was Finns turn to join the conversation, one I was still left out of. “I’m assuming Greece, right?”

“Greecewhat? Guys! What the hell is going on here?!”

The room fell silent and they stared at me, shocked. “You mean, that wasn’t on purpose?”

“what’s not on purpose?” I ask.

Adam pulls his phone out and takes a picture of me before standing up and showing it to me. There I was standing in the middle of my room, one of my hands was rubbing my tummy in a protective way while the other seemed to hold it up sort of. The media was definitely right about me gaining weight like crazy.

“no! not now! Please not a week before the wedding!”

In no time a pair of arms wrapped around me, “ssh, calm down Liana. You’re daughter looks kind of scared at the moment.”

I snap back to reality at the comment. I totally forgot Katie was sitting in the living room too, watching the movie. Now though, she was staring at me a mixture of confusion and fear on her face. “what’s wrong mom?” she asks.

I take a deep breath, “nothing’s wrong sweetie.” I answer, both trying to convince myself and her.

“then why are you crying?” I hadn’t thought I was crying yet, so her question made me check if my tears were wet. In that moment she shouts, “just kidding!” I laugh and shake my head. Of course Katie would be able to cheer me up. Even Adam chuckles a little.

“Hey Katie, you remember what we told you about Dakota?” I ask, bending down to her level.

“yeah! That a baby-doll was growing inside of her!” she was excited to have someone else to play with, though that’s a joke when the kid will be an infant.

Dakota shoots me a glare and I just shrug. How else was I supposed to explain it? “yes, it’s an actually baby though, not fake. And that’s what’s happening to me. You’re going to have a baby sister or brother.”

“wait, you mean I have to share my toys?”

This made us all laugh again, “no dear, you don’t have to share your toys, room, or anything else with the baby.”

“oh, okay. Then I don’t care.” She got up and left the room at that time. The rest of us were staring after her, shock written on our faces. Had she really just done that?

Adam and I stared at each other, both thinking the same thing, we seriously raised a brat. A sweet, cute brat, but a brat nonetheless

Finn claps his hands together, “well, on that note, we’re going to head off.” He then turns directly to me, “and Juliana, I beg you to have a son. I don’t know how many girls I can stand to be around let alone raise.” Dakota slaps him on the arm and his laugh echoes through the apartment as the door closes.

Thoughts about the wedding start going through my head again. I can’t believe I have to be pregnant for all of it.

“Liana, you’re not going to look anymore fat in a week than you do now. The dress will fit just fine and the whole night will be great.” I smile nervously at him and give him a kiss on the cheek.

“what should we do for the rest of the day?” I ask. The apartment was messy and the only thing I could think to do was clean. Though, with our schedules as crazy as they have been lately, I knew that Adam would want to spend time with me.

He looks down at his watch and then back up at me, “actually, I have some place for us to be in about half an hour. So, should we grab the child and head out?”

I look at Adam curiously, “where exactly are you planning?”

“hmm? Just a small surprise for my amazing family.”

“right…”

After convince Katie that we weren’t going to take her to get another shot, Adam drove us out to the country area. It took about twenty minutes to get there, so it was definitely out of town. He pulled into a long-ish drive way that led to a fairly big-sized, brown house. My eyes widen and I look down at my attire. It definitely wasn’t nice enough to be doing anything here. Adam helps Katie out of the car and then grabs my hand, leading me to the house.

“come on Adam, why didn’t you tell me we were going to a party or something here?” Thing was, I knew it wasn’t a party. Or if it was, no one else was showing up. The parking lot area was all but filled.

A chuckle escapes Adam’s mouth as he takes out a key and unlocks the door. Wait, how’d he get a key?

The door swings open and my mouth falls open to how amazing it looks. Adam lets Katie down and she instantly runs up one of the two staircases. “like it?” Adam whispers in my ear from behind.

“of course! How could anyone hate it?”

“well, I don’t know about hate. But I didn’t always enjoy this house. Those stairs I must’ve fallen down at least once a week.”

My smile spreads, “this was your guys’ house?” I ask excitedly. I can’t believe Adam used to live here in this gorgeous house.

“yeah. It was.” There was a small pause while Adam reaches into his pocket. He sets the item in my hand and I feel the small metal grooves against my skin, “but now, it’s our house.”

I scream slightly and run up the stairs, following Katie’s footsteps. I find her in one of the bedrooms that looked out to the backyard, a pond.

“hey mom,” she says, sitting on the window seat, “isn’t this just so pretty?”

I nod, and take a seat next to her. “yeah, it is sweetie. How would you like to live here?”

“like? I would love to live here! Is this our new home?!” The instant I nod she tackles me to the ground in a big hug. Didn’t know a kid could be so happy about moving. Adam walks into the room and laughs at the sight in front of him. When Katie notices him, she gets off me and jumps into his arms.

“You know,” he starts, poking her little nose, “this was once my room.” I look around then, keeping that in mind. Indeed, it reflected Adam well. The plain Blue walls, and simple furniture was much to his current sense of style for a room. Katie was already going off on how she’d change the colors while I just took a look around. Adam was right when choosing this house, it was definitely perfect to raise two children in.