And Baby Makes Two?

Lying on your back on the couch when you’re pregnant isn’t always the greatest idea, yet here I was, sprawled out as comfortably as possible (which was actually fairly comfy), with my four and a half month pregnant belly sticking straight up in the air. The TV was on, and I was watching my favourite TV show (Red Dwarf) on DVD, and generally not overexerting myself. In the episode that I was watching, the main character had found out that he (yes, a he) was pregnant with twins, which made me laugh, because I knew exactly how that felt.

Rap rap rap.

I paused the DVD and got up to answer the door, wondering who it could be. I opened the door to see Ryan there, smiling at me. “Hey.” He said.

“Hey. What’s up?” I asked.

“What are you doing for the rest of the evening?” He asked me.

“Uh, well I was watching TV, but other than that, not too much, why were you…” I didn’t get to finish my sentence, because Ryan had pulled me outside, closing the door behind me and leading me to his car. I was confused. “What’s going on?” I enquired, but he just shut the door and went over to his side. We started driving, and I asked him again. “What’s going on?”

“You’ll see. I can’t tell you quite yet.” He said, smirking at me. I stuck my tongue out at him childishly whilst crossing my arms. We drove along the road, and I had a slight idea of where we were going after a few minutes.

“Are we going to Laura’s house?” I asked, confusion on my face once again. He said nothing, still smiling, still driving on. It annoyed me to no end that he wouldn’t spill anything. Finally, we pulled up in front of Laura’s apartment, and I got out. Ryan helped me get up off my seat, and closed the door behind me once again. We made our way to the door, and up the stairs to her place. “Ryan, isn’t there something you can tell me?” I asked, hoping that he would say something, but he didn’t. All he said was, “Soon enough, you’ll know. That’s all I can say. Now just shut up and wait, we’re almost there!” He joked, and I went to lightly punch him on the shoulder, but with my added weight, I wasn’t fast enough to get him.

We stopped in front of Laura’s door, and he grabbed hold of it, opening it slowly. It was pitch black inside. Weird. I walked in a few steps, and suddenly all the lights went on.

“Surprise!”

Laura, Sam, and Jess were standing around the apartment – with Sam was her boyfriend, Kolton, who was standing very close to her – along with Bry and Sarah, all of whom had party hats on. There was a banner hanging from the roof that said “Happy 20th birthday!”, and I mentally smacked myself in the head. Of course that’s what this was all about! It was October 18th, three days before my birthday. I felt silly for not having realized that before.

Also in company were my parents – though they had divorced when I was seven, they were still on pretty good terms, and they obviously didn’t mind being in the same room for my birthday party – and a selection of my coworkers (and friends) from Chapters. I put a hand on my cheek, beaming at everyone in the room. “Guys,” I choked out, “You didn’t have to do this!” I laughed, and went to hug everyone in the room, making my way through everyone, finally reaching my parents and the rest of the gang. I hugged my mother, and smiled, wiping my eyes. Damn hormones made me emotional over the littlest things – the other day I had been watching Toy Story, and it had taken me a full twenty minutes after the show ended to calm down and be able to see.

“Oh, Callie, you’re getting so big!” She said, gesturing at my stomach. “I can’t believe that soon my baby will be having her own baby!” She hugged me again, and I went on to hug my dad.

“Well, twerp – how’s it going?” He asked me.

“Not too shabby!” I replied, but was suddenly bombarded by Laura and the rest of them, all group-hugging me at once. I felt slightly claustrophobic, but I was fine. They dragged me over to a big chair in the front of the room, in the midst of a huge stack of gifts – some large, some small, some very oddly shaped. Everyone filled in the seats around me, and Laura began to speak to me.

“So, Callie – we had first planned on eating and having cake first, but… well, we couldn’t wait for you to open your presents. Most of us got you two gifts – one for yourself, and one baby-related. Just a little preview of what your shower will be like.” She smiled, and sat down, gesturing for me to begin opening. I grabbed the one nearest me, a smaller box labeled “To Callie, From Bry” I looked at Bry, who smiled at me, and I opened it. Inside was a pair of earrings, dangly little hoops with jewels on them. I thanked her, and went on. Eventually, I got through everything – everything consisting of a diamond necklace and a baby blanket from my mother, some perfume and a couple sleepers from my father, a baby monitor and a pair of cute fuzzy slippers from Sarah, a few bottles and a bracelet from Sam and Kolton, a pack of baby booties and a huge bag from Jess, an actual diaper bag (filled with diapers and the works) and an expensive looking (and feeling) housecoat from Laura, and much more. We ate cake and other foods for a while, then sat and talked – about me, about the babies, whether I wanted to know the gender or not, etc.

Soon it got late, and the group began shrinking. Soon only my parents and the gang were left. I felt slightly tired, so I decided to pack it in for the night. Laura insisted that she could keep all my gifts at her house for the time being so I could come and pick them up later. I thanked her (and everyone else left) for the wonderful party, and followed Ryan out of the apartment. Once I got into his car, he held out his hand. In his palm was a card and a little velvet box. I looked at him, my cheeks going slightly red. It had just occurred to me that, during my present opening, I hadn’t encountered one from Ryan. He obviously wanted to wait until now for me to receive it. I took it tenderly and opened the card. Inside, there was a note scrawled in his messy script;

Callie, for your ‘baby present’, as my sister calls it, I’ve decided that I’ll pay for all the other baby essentials that you’ll need – just tell me when and we can go. Happy 20th.

Ryan

I looked back up at Ryan. “Oh, Ryan, I can’t let you pay for all of that stuff! That’s an insane amount of money for you to have to pay!” He shushed me, and smiled.

“Don’t worry. I can afford it, and plus, you can’t do it on your own either. Now, go on,” he said, gesturing towards me. “Open the box.”

I untied the ribbon that was tied around the little box, and opened it, to find a beautiful, pale gold ring with jewels in little clusters everywhere on it. I took it out of the case and tried it on – it fit perfectly, and it glinted spectacularly in the light. I was speechless. It was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen.

“What do you think?” He asked, but since I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, I just nodded, wiped my eyes, and hugged him tightly. He hugged me back, and we were like that for a while, then we broke apart. “Well,” He said, starting the engine. “Let’s get you home.”

We drove along the busy streets of downtown, having to stop at almost every red light. I was staring at the ring on my right hand absently, when I heard a screech coming from up ahead. I looked up just in time to see an oncoming vehicle, with huge force, smash headfirst into ours.