Marriage Material

“You really have.” I give Charlotte a wink as she takes a giant bite of her pancake. “Careful, baby, or you’ll get it on your dress,” I remind her as syrup drips from her fork.

No way do I want her to get something on her dress. It took her almost an hour to pick that one out last night after she tried on all the dresses in her closet. She told me last night that a girl’s gotta look her best on her first day of school. In the moment I knew that she might be hanging out with my ma too much.

I lean up as Anderson comes over to me and gives me a morning kiss. I smile against his mouth when he gives my ass a small squeeze. His other hand comes to my round baby bump. My husband has managed to keep me knocked up on a regular basis since we tied the knot. I want a handful of little ones and I wanted my babies to have siblings, so it’s a good thing we’re both on the same page.

“How are you feeling?” he asks.

I’ve been prone to spontaneous bursts of tears as one of the two side effects I’ve had with pregnancy. I’ve been one of those lucky people who enjoys pregnancy, but I think a part of that is because my only other side effect is being really horny. I don’t think either is really a problem, but Anderson doesn’t agree. My tears always send him into panic mode. It’s both sweet and kind of funny, which often helps me stop the crying.

“I’m good,” I sigh, not wanting to get him upset.

“Liar.” He smiles against my mouth, giving my ass another squeeze. He always does this when I let myself think too much about our babies getting older.

“Mommy, I’ll be fine,” Charlotte chimes in. “I’m a big girl now,” she adds, thinking that will help but it doesn’t. I want to freeze time and keep her as my little baby girl forever, but I know I can’t. So I put on a smile and remind myself that while I might be sad she’s growing up, today is another day that will forever be special for us.

“I know you are, baby girl,” I tell her, relaxing into Anderson as he wraps an arm around me.

“Charlie Bean!” is yelled from the front door, and my brother Kent walks in.

All my brothers call her Charlie because they tell her she’s one of the boys. Our girl might love her dresses and the color pink, but she climbs trees and yells at the television while they all watch football together.

“Uncle Kent!” Charlotte jumps down from the stool and runs out of the kitchen. We follow after her, watching her throw herself at Kent, who picks her up and tosses her into the air. “You came to see me on my first day of school!”

“Of course I did,” he tells her, kissing her cheek. He’s going to watch the boys while Anderson and I drop Charlotte off for her first day. It always warms me to see my brothers with her. It’s made me look back on their overprotectiveness in a whole new way now that I have a little girl of my own. “Don’t think I’m the only one,” he adds, and I watch the rest of my family pour into the house.

With such a rough start with my brothers, who would have known how close they would get with Anderson. He’s one of them now.

“Put me down, Uncle Kent. I need to show everyone my dress.”

“Fine,” he grumbles, but does as she asks.

She does a spin, getting a chorus of oohs and aahs. Ma melts all over her, giving her kisses all over her face, making Charlotte giggle.

“Come on in. I’ll make more pancakes,” I tell everyone, glad we woke up extra early today.

“I’ll grab the boys,” Anderson says before giving me a quick kiss as he goes to wake them up. Ma and I get to cooking and in no time we have enough for everyone.

“I’ll be right back,” I tell everyone as I slip from the room. I hurry and grab the gift I got for Charlotte. When I come back I go over to her and give her the present.

“For me?” she asks as her eyes light up. She lifts the lid on the small box, revealing a gold necklace with a heart-shaped locket. “It’s so pretty,” she says as she holds it up. I show her how to open the locket and inside is a picture of her mother. She looks up at me and smiles.

“I think she’d want to be with you on your first day. Don’t you?” I tell her as I take the necklace from her and help her put it on. Both Anderson and I try to talk about her mother from time to time. I want Charlotte to know who she was, so we tell her the things we know. It’s not much, and I only have what Anderson’s told me about her, and he only knew her for a short time. But we do what we can because I’ll forever cherish Charlotte’s mother. She not only gave me Charlotte, but she gave me Anderson, too.