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Chapter Thirty Two – March 7

It was a bright, sunny Tampa afternoon. My mom and Angel had commandeered our house for the entire morning while Nick took me out to breakfast and for a stroll in the park. My baby shower was scheduled to begin at one.

“You better not have a stripper,” Nick said as he shoveled in a large mouth full of scrambled eggs.

“Nick it’s a baby shower, not a bachelorette party,” I said with a laugh.

“I know how rowdy you girls can get,” he said, trying to hide a smile.

“Well, what are you going to do this afternoon?” I asked. His eyes sparkled.

“You’re talking to a guy that’s going to be hanging out with Howie, AJ, and Brian. What do you think we’ll do?”

I laughed. “Play golf?”

“Damn straight.”

“My baby shower’s only going to be a few hours!”

“I tend to lose really quickly,” Nick said. “Damn AJ. He thinks he’s Arnold Palmer or something…”

I couldn’t help it; I leaned across the table and kissed him softly. When I sat back down he gave one of his contagious laughs.

“What?” I said with a laugh.

“Your belly's now covered in syrup.”

I made a face. “Ugh!” I dunked my napkin in my water glass and began to scrub.

“We’re going to have to ditch the park,” I said. “I need to find something to wear to the shower.”

Nick rolled his eyes but smiled good naturedly. “Of course.”

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Two hours later Nick pulled up to the house. Cars lined the entire drive. The guest of honor was going to make a grand entrance. Nick came over and helped me out of the car.

“Have fun,” he said. I smiled and kissed the tip of his nose.

“I will. Love you. Have a good game. Be careful.”

“I will handle my balls with care,” he said with a straight face. I burst out laughing. He kissed me softly and slid back into the car.

There was a permanent smile on my face as I walked in for a fun afternoon with my friends and family. Angel wrapped me in a huge hug and bounced happily into the living room. Pink streamers hung from the ceiling and a huge diaper cake sat in the middle of the present table.

“You look so cute!” Angel said. I laughed. I had found a cute pink dress with a white sash that sat more under my boobs than across my belly.

“Liv!”

I let out a little laugh as Leighanne threw her arms around me. It was the battle of the bumps.

“Look at your belly!” I said happily. She smiled, turned in profile, and pulled her shirt tight across her abdomen.

“Do you know what you’re having?” I asked. The last time I had talked to her she had mentioned going for her ultrasound.

She nodded enthusiastically.

“Brian and I found out a few days ago. It’s a girl!”

I grinned. “Thank goodness! My poor little girl needs a friend amongst all these boys.”

Leighanne laughed.

“Brian about passed out. He was certain it was another boy. I told him he’s going to have to get used to bows and tea parties.”

I smiled. I could mentally see Brian crouched down by a table drinking fake tea and wearing a feather boa.

“Liv, you look amazing.”

I turned around. Leigh and Rochelle were standing behind me.

“Long time no see,” I said as I hugged them both.

“I know. Nick keeps you locked in the dungeon,” Rochelle said with a laugh.

“Oh yeah. With all those whips and chains,” I teased. We grinned.

Leslie and BJ arrived a few minutes later, loaded down with presents. My mom was fixing up a fruit tray in the kitchen.

The only person missing was Jane.

Angel tried to stall, but by 1:30 we had to get underway. We played word scrambles, baby bingo, and pass the dirty diaper. The librarian in me had no problem with the word scrambles. Baby bingo was fun; someone had customized the cards with pictures of Nick and I in the spots that said “mommy” and “daddy.” There’s nothing like having Nick Carter smiling up at you the whole time you play a game.

Then came pass the dirty diaper. I had been to a lot of baby showers, but I had honestly never played the game before. It was similar to musical chairs. When the music stopped, whoever was holding the dirty diaper was out. I could smell hot fudge radiating through it as we passed it from person to person. Rochelle was extremely happy when she was the last one left sitting.

“Your days of dirty diapers will come,” Leigh teased. Rochelle laughed.

“No, I'm putting AJ on diaper duty.”

“Well now that we’ve played that appetizing game, who’s ready for cake?” Angel said. Leighanne and I eagerly raised our hands.

Red velvet cake with white and pink swirl frosting was served. The buttercream melted in my mouth. Leighanne looked like she had died and gone to heaven.

“There’s got to be something about having a girl and wanting sweets,” she said. “I never ate this much junk carrying Baylee.”

I filed that tidbit of information in the ‘for future use’ category of my mind.

After cake, Angel sat down beside me with pen and paper at the ready. It was time to open presents.

“Who did the diaper cake?” I asked. On closer inspection, someone had dangled pink music note pacifiers from the ribbons that bound the diapers together in perfect tiers.

“Your mom and I did it,” Angel said. “Do you know how hard it was to find little baby rock star pacifiers?”

I laughed. “I can imagine. It’s adorable. You could market them to all the stars.”

Angel grinned. “No, that’s a Carter original.”

I laughed and began to wade through the presents. Even though I had laughed when Nick said we had no room for more baby stuff, as the pile grew, I began to doubt we’d ever be able to use it all. We’d have to change the baby about eighteen times a day to get through all of the adorable newborn outfits.

Besides the standard clothes, receiving blankets, bottles, and bibs, I received a diaper bag from Leighanne (courtesy of Wylee), a pair of baby leather boots and matching rocker outfit from Rochelle, and a beautiful framed prayer from Leigh.

As I set aside the last bow and ribbon, I looked around at everyone that had come. They had all been virtual strangers or faces in magazines less than a year ago. Now I couldn’t imagine life without them.

“Thank you all so much for coming,” I said. “It means a lot to me that all of you could be here today.”

Leighanne, Leigh, and Rochelle stayed after everyone else left. Rochelle came and sat next to me on the couch grinning ear to ear.

“What?”

“The guys sent you a shower message.”

She handed me the phone; my eyes widened. Three very white asses on a very green golf course faced the camera. In what I hoped wasn’t permanent marker, were the words “It’s – A – Girl.”

“AJ’s is—“ Rochelle started to say, but I shook my head with a laugh.

“Let me guess. Brian is the “It’s”, AJ’s skinny ass is the “A”, and Nick’s is the “Girl.”

At the sound of Brian’s name, Leighanne squeezed herself onto the couch.

“That’s Brian all right,” Leighanne said shaking her head.

“I don’t know what’s worse,” Leigh said. “The guys mooning the camera or the guy who offered to take the picture. I’d bet money that my husband's the photographer.”

I started laughing. They all looked at me like I had lost my mind.

“No,” I said between giggles. “What’s even better is the thought that they had to write on each other’s asses.”

Leighanne, Rochelle, and Leigh let that thought sink in. We all burst into another gale of laughter.

I was very glad I was having a little girl.