Libby giggled and leaned over to kiss me. Her lips were soft and sweet as always. Upstairs we could hear Toby jumping up and down on his bed. I was tempted to tell him to stop, but then again it wasn’t his bed. So, he might as well get some mileage out of it.
“I’d better go see what he is tearing up,” Libby said.
She walked her sexy legs up the stairs and down the hallway. A few minutes later I heard her talking with Toby, who was giggling and having a blast with his new mother. The two of them were practically inseparable. Toby was so lucky to have Libby as his mother. And I knew that he felt the same way. One day, he would truly know how lucky he was.
A few minutes later Libby came back down the hallway and then walked down the steps.
“How’s he doing?” I asked.
“Oh, he is being his usual charming self,” she smiled. “Do you want a drink?” Libby asked as she trotted over to the kitchen.
“Sure,” I said. “I feel like I could definitely use one.”
She poured me a glass of wine and then handed it to me, sitting down slowly beside me, her sexy, voluptuous body turned towards mine.
“You aren’t having any,” I asked after taking a sip.
“No,” Libby replied. “I probably shouldn’t in my condition.”
“What condition? What do you mean?”
“I guess you didn’t pick up on the subtle hint at the wedding.”
“What?” My mind was too tired to think that far ahead.
“I’m pregnant,” Libby said with a huge smile.
“You’re… you’re pregnant?” I asked. She’d really said that? She was expecting a child?
“Yep,” she said.
“When did you find out?” I asked.
“A few weeks ago,” she said. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“How far along?”
“Six weeks,” she said.
“Wow.” I sat the wine down on the coffee table and scooped Libby in my arms holding her closely to me. I could practically feel the difference in her, just knowing that she was now carrying our child.
“Baby,” I said. “I’m so happy.”
“Me, too,” she said. “And I’m hoping that you can help me with what exactly to expect, since you’ve been through the pregnancy thing before.”
I sighed. “Well, I was there, but I didn’t exactly go through it.”
Libby looked at me shocked. I laughed to show her that I was kind of kidding, but I knew that eventually she would find out exactly what it was like.
And she’d want to kill me every single second of the day for putting her in that condition. It was a matter of time, but soon she would fully understand it all.
“I take it you haven’t told Toby?” I asked.
“No, I thought we’d do all of that together. He is going to be so excited to have a brand new baby brother or sister. I think he will be an excellent big brother, don’t you?”
I smiled. “Yes. I think so, too.”
I stood up and grabbed Libby’s hand. Together we climbed the stairs and made the long walk down the hallway to Toby’s room.
As we told him about the baby that was coming and watched the glee growing on his face, our happy little family became even happier. I couldn’t have ever imagined a happiness as great as what we had together. I’d longed for it, I’d dreamt of it, but I never thought it would come true, at least not that way.
I often think about how funny life really is. You think things are going to happen a certain way. You plan for it, you take the necessary steps to reach your goals, and then somewhere along the way the world throws a huge wrench in your plans and things go seemingly off the rails. And it always happens in clusters. Bad things never come just one at a time. I’ve often wondered why that is and if there is any way to intervene, but when one starts to take short cuts to try to avoid these patterns, the universe often comes at you with a vengeance.
And then it’s too late. Worse things begin to happen.
The best thing to do is to get out of the way and let whatever may be come your way, and then you can deal with it from that vantage point. But you can’t beat it at its own game.
And it is a game. I was taught very early on that life is very much a game. And like any other game you have to master the fundamentals. Otherwise you will always spend your time trying to catch up and trying to make excuses for why things aren’t turning out the way you wish they would.
“What if the baby is a girl?” Libby asked me.
“What if it is?”
“Well, how would you feel about having a daughter?”
“I would feel just fine about it,” I said.