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I hop out of the truck and head into the diner, spotting my wife and daughter immediately. She’s beaming at me, and I suspect she has something to tell me.
“How are two of my favorite girls?” I ask, leaning down to take her lips in a quick kiss before I lightly swipe my hand across Sascha’s cheek since she’s sleeping.
“We’re doing well. Her ears are clear, but Dr. Potts is going to keep an eye on things just in case it becomes a problem.”
“He’s a good doctor, gonna hate when he retires,” I reply, sitting across from her. I see she’s already ordered my sweet tea, so I take a drink.
“How was court?”
“A shitshow, but we suspected it was going to be,” I tell her. “He had to know he was on his third strike and Judge Drake doesn’t play when that happens.”
“Oh well, at least the check cleared.”
I burst out laughing as the waitress comes over. “I know I’m not that funny, y’all,” she says. “Your usual?”
“That sounds good to me. Jared?” Cassidy asks, sliding a gift bag in my direction.
“Yes, thanks, Nellie. Sweetheart, what’s this?”
“Open it.”
After pulling out the tissue paper, I see what looks like a onesie and glance at Cassidy, who is smiling like the Cheshire cat. “Cass?”
“Keep going,” she advises, before sipping on her Coke.
I can feel something inside the onesie, so I carefully open it up and start chuckling when I see the positive pregnancy test. But what has me bursting into laughter is the onesie which says, “Don’t Drop Me, My Daddy’s a Lawyer”.
“We’re having another baby?” I ask, even though the evidence is sitting right in front of me. “But I thought that wasn’t possible since you’re still breastfeeding.”
“Funny you should mention that,” she teases. “Seems that’s one of those old wives tales and as long as you’re not using any kind of protection, it can happen.”
I can’t stop the smile that has my face feeling like it’s going to split in two. “Looks like my paralegal is going to be working remotely, huh?”
“Yeah, boss, seeing as I spend the first two hours of my day with morning sickness which is challenging with this one,” she replies, smiling back at me. “Mom had no clue what she was in for when she agreed to move into her place, did she?”
“She loves it, and you know it.”
“Yeah, she does, but not as much as I love you, Jared Knox. You’ve made all my dreams come true, even the ones I didn’t know I had.”
I have to swallow past the lump in my throat. “Well, your anniversary gift definitely trumps mine, sweetheart,” I say, pulling a small box out of the inside of my suit coat and sliding it toward her. “You’ve done the same, Cass. Thank you for being willing to do life with me.”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily, husband. We’re doing eternity together, remember?”
“Better get more billable hours going, if we’re going to keep having babies,” I tease. “Now open your gift.”
“Can we maybe take a break between these two? Just a tiny one,” she asks, opening the package. When she sees the necklace that has an infinity symbol, with our birthstones as well as Sasha’s. “Jared, it’s beautiful.”
“We can definitely discuss it,” I promise as Nellie brings over our food. “And the jeweler said we’ll be able to add birthstones if we have more kids, which means we’ll be adding one as soon as this one arrives.”
* * *
“You really want all our kids close together?” she asks later that night.
We’re both sated, Sascha is down for the night, and as is our habit, we’re going over our day. Since the conversation we needed to have earlier wasn’t appropriate in the middle of the diner with all those listening ears, we elected to wait until later, which is now.
“I have good memories growing up with Cade and Lach,” I reply. “I know we might have a little boy this time, but the thing is, they’ll be close in age and have a built-in best friend.”
“Okay, as long as you understand this baby weight may never come off,” she grumbles. “I was within five pounds, too!”
