We had finally been allowed to bring Lanie home. It was already December 15th, only ten days away from Christmas. We had done a bit of traveling – not too far, though – over to Kevin and Kristin’s home in LA. They came in to visit a little more now that Lanie was really getting sick. We celebrated the holidays with them, Howie and his new wife, Leigh. Then we traveled back home and were going to stay put for the holidays.
“Nick, I have Lanie all dressed and ready to go get the tree. Are you about ready to go?” Shelby asked from the doorway. Still, Shelby hadn’t gotten too big yet, but there was a little ‘baby pooch’, as she liked to call it. Or, should we say, babies. We definitely were both coming more and more comfortable with the fact we were having twins.
“Yeah, I’m just about ready,” I smiled down at the project I was working on. I wanted to do something special for Lanie and Shelby this Christmas since it was, technically, the first one we’d all spent together. Since I wasn’t really artistic or great with anything like that, I had decided to write a song and perform it for them. Not just anywhere, either.
“Daddy, we’re gonna go get a Christmas tree,” Lanie beamed from the entrance of my studio. I smirked and turned my computer chair around as she climbed into my lap. “And mommy said I can help decorate too! Grandma Alicia brought all of my ormanents.” I chuckled at her mis-pronunciation. It was too cute for words.
“That sounds fun, baby,” I kissed her cheek. “Let me go get my shoes on and then we’ll head out, okay? How are you feeling today?” I asked her as I carried her back out to the kitchen where I found my shoes by the garage door.
“I’m okay,” she shrugged. She hadn’t had too many rough spells like the one a few weeks ago. Thankfully, the doctor was hoping that meant the chemo was continuing to do what it was supposed to do – heal her. He still wasn’t sure at this point how successful everything would be.
“Baby, you wanna watch a movie on the way to the Christmas tree patch?” Shelby called in from the living room. “How about I bring the Santa Clause movies, k?” She smiled at us as she entered the kitchen. She looked absolutely beautiful, I hadn’t even thought to notice before.
Her wavy brown hair was pulled back in a pony tail with a few strands falling around her face. She was wearing a gray cardigan sweater that buttoned up the front with jeans and boots. She definitely had that pregnant glow to her everyone always talked about when they saw a pregnant lady. I kissed Lanie’s cheek and passed her off to Shelby as she walked by.
“Okay,” Lanie giggled as Shelby tickled her with kisses. “Mommy, can we get a big tree?” She asked and cocked her head to the side. Shelby laughed and looked back at me.
“That one’s up to daddy. He’s the one that’s gonna have to carry it inside,” Shelby winked at me and I laughed, rolling my eyes.
“Oh, really? No help from my little ladies?” I joked playfully as we went into the garage to load up in the Escalade.
“Who you callin’ little?” Shelby folded her arms over her chest jokingly with a grin.
“Yeah,” Lanie piped up from the ground, trying to mimic Shelby. I busted out into laughter, followed by Shelby laughing as well. “You are too cute.” She shook her head at the four-year-old that was mighty confused by our feet. I lifted Lanie up into her car seat and fastened her in.
“Oh please let one of these babies be a boy,” I muttered playfully without really thinking. “I’m not sure I can put up with another female Carter running around here.” I winked.
“Babies?” Lanie frowned and cocked her head.
I heard Shelby snicker from the front seat. “Way to go, Mr. Surprise Blower,” she joked and turned around in her seat. “Lanie, honey, daddy and I were gonna tell you later. But I’m gonna have two babies!” She smiled excitedly.
“Really?!” Lanie’s eyes got really big. She yawned with a smile. “I wanna have a baby sister and a baby brother.” She beamed and grabbed her baby doll laying next to her on the seat. I walked around and got into the car, starting the engine as she continued to ramble on. “I wanna name the girl…Chloe. And the boy…Conner.” She grinned.
Shelby laughed and grinned over at me. “Honey, we don’t even know what the babies are gonna be yet.” She tried to explain. “But I promise that when we do know, we’ll tell you and we’ll let you help pick out names, okay?” She tried to rationalize.
I couldn’t get over how content Lanie looked. She seemed so happy to be having siblings coming along. “Okay.” She smiled peacefully from the backseat. I swallowed the lump of fear in my throat. Everything was going smoothly. It was bound something bad happen right about now. We never went a day with something perfect happening where something not-so-perfect decided to come along.
“What’cha thinking about?” Shelby asked me over the sound of Lanie’s Christmas movie playing in the backseat.
“How nice today has been,” I answered truthfully as I glanced over. I tried to give her a small grin, but my lips didn’t seem to want to cooperate.
“You look awfully bummed to be thinking about something nice,” she put her hand on top of mine that was rested comfortably on the gear seated between us.
“It’s just…” I sighed and glanced in the rearview mirror to make sure Lanie was still okay. “It seems like every time I get excited about something good finally coming our way, something bad decides to happen.” I said softly. Shelby nodded and glanced back to check on Lanie, as well.
“I know what you mean,” she sighed. “But I really think we should listen to my mom on this one. Take one day at a time and continue to live our lives, as well as allow Lanie to live her life.” She ran her thumb over my hand soothingly. “It’s okay to feel sad some days, Nick. I’m one to say I have my emotional moments.” She chuckled. “You and I both know that. But we need to keep trying to stay positive for her. We need to take the bad with the good.”
“You’re right,” I nodded and let out a deep sigh. “Thanks, baby.” I grinned and picked up her hand, kissing it softly.
“Hey!” I heard from the backseat. I glanced in the rearview mirror, praying she wasn’t about to get sick or something bad happen. “Daddy, I thought I was your baby.” Shelby laughed at Lanie’s random outburst.
“Excuse me, little Miss, but I think I was daddy’s baby first,” Shelby stuck her tongue out and I chuckled.
“I’ll settle this,” I joked playfully, making sure to keep my eyes on the road as well as focus on Lanie. “Lanie, your mommy was my baby first. How about you’ll always be my baby girl and your mommy will always be my baby, okay?” I smiled.
“Okay,” Lanie giggled quietly as she quickly became refocused with her movie.
“You mean it? Always, Nick?” Shelby asked me, the mood suddenly turning from goofy and fun to completely serious. We had a lot of those drastic mood-swings lately.
“Yeah, I do, Shell,” I nodded my head. “Always. When will you start believing me?” I asked. Shelby had asked me that question time and time again. She never believed me when I said I’d always love her.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged and glanced out the window. “Someday.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Happy Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for all my readers! You guys truly are amazing. I can't thank you enough for sticking by me in this story. I'm proud to hit my 40th chapter!! I'm pretty sure this is as far as I've ever gotten =]
Happy Thanksgiving! I'll update again soon =]
Happy Thanksgiving! I'll update again soon =]
