Page 76 of The Omega's Surprise Baby
“The cat is sitting on me!” Conner called out. Well, that explained why he couldn't come to the door. We joined him in the living room, and indeed, the cat was lounging on top of his legs, looking very pleased with himself as he took us in.
“Hi Sauron,” I said.
He didn't acknowledge my presence, choosing instead to lick his butt in front of everyone.
“Yeah, I missed you too.”
Seriously, though, it was good to be back. Now Shane and I only had to get the difficult part out of the way.
* * *
We satthe kids down at the kitchen table with about two hours to go before dinner at Dean's. We figured if anyone was going to have a meltdown, that was giving them some time to recover.
“Kade and I have something to tell you,” Shane started, putting cookies on the table as if to bribe his children into being good. Conner eyed them suspiciously.
“It's a bad thing, isn't it?”
“What makes you think so?” his dad asked.
“Cookies before dinner.”
“I like cookies,” Mary said, showing none of the reservations her brother harbored while grabbing three at once and stuffing her mouth until crumbs spilled out. I could barely keep myself from laughing, watching her enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Conner glanced at his sister with something like exasperation on his ten-year-old face, which was just as funny in its own way.
It struck me then, that I really liked these two. I only hoped they would accept me and their new sibling into the family.
“It's not bad news,” Shane insisted. “Actually, it's good news. Our family is going to get bigger in a little while.”
“Bigger?” Mary asked through the cookies in her mouth. Then she had to put her hands to her lips to prevent everything from falling out. At the same time, Conner's eyes darted to me.
“Are you two getting married?” he asked.
Not the kind of question we'd expected. Although to be honest, we really should have.
“That's not what I meant,” Shane said smoothly. We hadn't talked about marriage yet. I could see it in our future, sure, but our relationship was still too new to talk about marriage, especially considering that what had brought us together was our mutual dislike for wedding ceremonies.
“Oh, no,” Conner said, as if suddenly realizing what was up. “This is like the time you told me about Mary.”
Yup, he got it. And he didn't look too happy about it.
“Me?” Mary asked, looking at her brother with wide eyes.
“When you were a baby in daddy's belly,” Conner clarified for his little sister before looking back at us. “There's going to be another baby, isn't there?”
“Yup,” Shane confirmed. “You're going to be a big brother again. And Mary will be a big sister.”
“Yes!” Mary said, reaching for another cookie. “I'm big!”
Even though I still felt nervous, I couldn't help but smile at her.
“Babies can be pretty loud,” Conner said, as though trying to dampen his sister's enthusiasm.
“I like babies,” Mary insisted, and then she jumped off her chair and ran out of the kitchen. Before we could even rush after her, she was back, carrying two baby dolls. “Look, my babies!”
“That's different,” Conner tried, then gave up, returning his attention to us instead. “When?” he asked.
“May,” I said, speaking up for the first time since we'd entered the kitchen. My nerves felt weaker than they did before a stage show, but I couldn't let the kids and their reactions frighten me if I wanted to be part of this family. “This'll be a spring baby.” I rubbed my belly before I even knew what I was doing. Over the past few weeks, I'd actually developed a little bump. Not noticeable under the right clothes, but definitely visible without.
Conner's expression turned pensive. “I guess that's okay then,” he said eventually, letting me exhale. “But I'm not sharing my room.”
