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She went back to work trying to finish up what she could for the weekend. Her list of things to do and keep an eye on for the next few weeks was long but nothing that had to be done today.
Both Jolene and Travis had come in to talk to her earlier this week about not taking Ella’s calls for a solid week after the birth. She’d laughed and said she answers to Ella.
They’d promptly put her in her place and said not to worry. Ella needs a good week to recover before she puts her work mode on.
Ella had told her already that she’d only be checking in. That if there were any questions to let her know but knew she’d be good on her own.
She loved how they had that confidence in her.
A confidence she didn’t always have in herself and knew that her growth here at Fierce was in more than her career.
Three hours later, she was walking through Ivan’s front door. She had clothes with her for the night. She’d checked in on her mother who pushed her out the door and said to enjoy her night and then encouraged her to stay on Saturday too. She wasn’t so sure she was ready to stay two nights away from her mother but brought the clothes with her just in case. She’d play it out in her mind and with Ivan.
Though she wanted to stay the two nights, there was part of her that wasn’t sure Ivan wanted her there.
They were moving slowly and she liked the pace they had. She didn’t want to be the one to push it faster.
“What did you pick up at the store?” Ivan asked when she walked into the kitchen.
“I was trying to figure out what to do for dinner and nothing jumped up at me. I bought one of those premade roaster chickens and a bunch of veggies. I thought I could stir fry them and then pull the chicken off of this and toss it in with a teriyaki sauce to put over rice.”
“That sounds great to me,” he said. “I’ll help you cut up the veggies. I’m sure you know Ella is in labor.”
“I do,” she said. “Cade came in to tell me before I left for the day. He said a text would go out for everyone on the staff at some point, but knew that I’d find out prior from you.”
“Yeah. My aunt will be calling my mother and Aunt Lynn first, and she’ll text us. You’ll know within an hour of the birth if not sooner.”
“Will your aunt be in the delivery room with Ella?” she asked.
“I don’t think so. She was with Madison because she wanted to be there, but Ella only wanted Travis. My guess is now that this is the second baby, it will only be Travis. My cousin doesn’t like anyone to see her weak.”
“There is nothing weak about childbirth,” she said. “Ella is one of the strongest women I know.”
“She is. And I agree with you. I don’t know what goes through a woman’s mind.”
She was laying out the peppers, mushrooms and carrots, the two of them getting to work on their dinner.
“I think you know what goes through my mind pretty well,” she said.
“Really?” he asked, turning to lean on the counter and look at her.
“Yep.”
“Are you going to ask me to tell you what I think or something?” he asked. “That could be setting us both up for a failure of sorts.”
“I doubt it,” she said, giggling.
“Okay,” he said, grabbing a knife and getting to work on dinner. “I’ll give it a try. I was going to ask you if you wanted kids. I sat here wondering if you’d feel pressured if I did, but then realized, it’s the conversation we are having and it seems appropriate.”
She smiled. “See. I was thinking the same thing. Is this a time to talk about if we want kids or not? And then wondered if I was pushing too fast.”
“I think it’s safe to say neither of us is pushing much at all. We talk about things that come up and it goes from there. If you were uncomfortable with a topic, I’d be able to tell.”
Which was what she loved about him. He could tell and he would change the subject. She’d done it a few times too.
“You can. It doesn’t happen often. As for kids, yes, I’d like to have kids. Not a lot. Two seems like a good number.”
“What was it like being an only child?” he asked.
