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“What do you have in mind?” I ask, Prue jumping up and down in front of me, trying to get my attention.
“Pink, duh.” She rolls her eyes, and I chuckle. I should’ve known.
Thea loves pink the way some people love coffee—like it’s necessary to her existence.
While she daydreams about cribs and who knows what else, I head outside with Prue.
I jog down the deck steps and into the yard, with her bouncing at my heels. I find her ball and start throwing it back and forth so she can run and burn off some energy.
I haven’t been playing with her enough, and I feel bad about that. I’ve been tired after practice—Coach is playing us hard. He’s determined to get a Super Bowl win this year since we didn’t make it last year. I get it, we all want it, but the work to get there is tiresome. And soon, I’ll have to travel for games and I’ll be gone even more. I love what I do, but for the first time in my life, I have a reason to want to stay more. Not that Thea wasn’t enough of a reason before, but it was different. She wasn’t alone then. Now she is, and pregnant. It worries me, which isn’t good. I need to focus on the game, and that’s going to be difficult.
After about thirty minutes of playing, Prue is tired. We head inside, and she jumps straight up on the couch, curling up beside Thea. Thea reaches over and absentmindedly rubs her head. I smile to myself, because that’s two of my three girls. I’m surrounded by girls now, and I couldn’t be happier.
I grab a bottle of water and sit down beside Thea.
“I’ve already ordered ten outfits,” she tells me.
I raise a brow. “Seriously? That many?”
“I can’t help myself, everything is so cute.” She shrugs. “Plus, I got a onesie that says Tutus and Touchdowns for her to wear to your games so she can support her daddy, so I was totally thinking of you while I was shopping,” she reasons.
I clear my throat, a little hung up on the word daddy. Hearing it come out of Thea’s mouth is strange, but I love it.
I’m a dad now. It’s pretty crazy to think about. For years, I only had to think of myself, then Thea, and now this little girl is going to be dependent on us to take care of her.
“Look how cute this is.” She points to a crib on the screen. “I love everything. I don’t know how we’ll ever decide.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually.” No way in hell am I picking out that stuff. She’ll tell me I got the wrong thing. This is all her.
“There’s so much we have to get. It’s insane,” she rambles. “We need a crib, and a changing table, a rocker, stroller, car seat, and oh, my God, the diapers. We’re going to need so many diapers.”
I lean over and kiss the side of her head, closing her laptop as I do.
“One step at a time, just breathe for now.”
She smiles up at me gratefully and leans her head on my shoulder.
“We’re really having a baby,” she whispers. “This is happening.”
“Yeah, it is.” I move my hand to her stomach and I feel a little jolt like a tiny heartbeat.
“Did you feel that?” she asks.
“Yeah.” I nod, my eyes meeting hers.
She grins up at me, tears in her eyes. “That was the baby. She’s kicking.”
My mouth parts in shock. “Are you serious?”
She nods again. I roll off the couch and drop to my knees, cupping her stomach in both hands.
I feel the little bump again and I grin up at Thea. “That’s amazing. Wow.”
Nothing, no experience, compares to this one. This right here is what life’s all about.
“Hi, baby.” I lean forward and press a kiss to Thea’s stomach and look up at her. “Are we going to tell them the name?”
She shakes her head. “No way. They’ll hate it, and then we’ll doubt it, so we’re not telling them until the ink on the birth certificate is dry.”
