Come Back When You Can

Chapter 47: Artemis and Sticks

Chapter 47: Artemis and Sticks

They moved houses a week after they got back. The week after that, they both went back to work. Everything was going well for the newly-wed couple. The house they chose was only twenty blocks away from Miles also known as the house Kathryn used to live in. Miles did a great job at looking after the new house, supervising all the workers and arranging the furniture the way the couple wanted it whilst they were away. In return, Miles' breakfast is delivered by the couple before they head to work. They haven't had a welcoming party for themselves as they are both really busy. Neither Kathryn nor Daniel is very keen on throwing a party anyway.

They bought a dog. It was a Labrador - Golden Retriever named Artemis. She is a ball of sunshine who likes sitting on the couch and tugging on your pants.  It was a perfect. The whole husband and wife thing is perfect. They were having the life they never dreamed of having.

"I should learn how to play the violin." DJ said as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

Kathryn only shrugged. Having two sisters and living with his mom his whole life, he knew about periods and mood swings and it didn't bother him as much. He thought that was probably it. But it was also seven in the morning on a Saturday and Artemis decided to wake them up with kisses that early. Kathryn was annoyed and she wanted sleep.

"I really want to be like Andrew Bird."

"Go, if it makes you happy."

DJ pushes his cup of coffee towards his wife. She places the cup in front of her mouth and blows the hot liquid before drinking it. She places it back to the table and pushes it back to DJ. The rest of the morning was spent sharing coffee and DJ talking about wanting to learn how to play the violin. Then, they did the laundry. Kathryn putting the clothes in the washing machine and DJ waiting for it to finish to put in the dryer. It was a normal Saturday morning and they enjoyed it.

DJ ran to the shop to get more detergent and hangers. He loved household shopping and Kathryn gladly lets him do it. He took longer than he should because he bumped into their neighbor and they talked about planting roses in their front yard. He was being such a husband, it was beautiful. He walked past a bunch of flowers and decided to get some to for Kathryn before deciding to go home. He was gone for more than three hours. The gardening talk took so long, he lost track of time.

When he got home, Artemis was running around in an anxious pace. When she saw DJ walk in the door, she aggressively tugged his pants leading him to somewhere.

"Artemis! Artemis, baby! What's up?" DJ asked, kneeling down and petting her head. Usually, it would calm the dog down but she was having none of it today. She growled and bit DJ's hand. She tugged him again to somewhere. "Honey, I'm home!" He shouted, standing up and struggling to walk. Artemis is a big dog and he was so sure by the way she tugs his pants that it would be ripping open in a few minutes.

"One second." Kathryn shouted back in what seem like a washroom.

DJ ran upstairs, knowing exactly where to find his wife. Artemis stopped tugging his pants and ran behind him. He stopped once he reached the top of the stairs but Artemis only ran past him, walking to the masters' bed room. DJ followed closely behind their dog. By the time he was in the bedroom, which wasn't a long time (it was only a matter of seconds okay); Artemis was sat outside the bathroom; looking at him with a worried expression.

"Bub, are you okay?" He asked, walking to the washroom.

Kathryn was sat on the sink, with hands covering her face. She looked like she was going to cry but for some reason she was smiling.

"Artemis was really worried about you, hon." DJ said, wrapping his arms around Kathryn.

"She must've heard me vomiting."

He scrunched his eyebrows. "You were vomiting? Are you okay?" Feeling his wife's forehead with the back of his hand. Kathryn chuckled, pecking his lips twice.

"I'm fine. You were gone for so long."

"I bumped into Mark."

"Mark?"

"Mark, our neighbor. We're planning to plant some roses soon."

Kathryn laughed. She was still sat on the sink and DJ was still stood in front of her with his arms wrapped around her.

"Well, you go plant those roses."

"Are you still feeling sick? I should've gotten you medicine instead of flowers then."

"I drove myself to get medicine because you were gone for so long and you know, wait what—you got me flowers?"

DJ nodded, tickling his nose with hers.

"I did."

"You win best husband of the year."

"I would hope." He smiled. "But, are you feeling better?—and what are you hiding?" He realized that Kathryn's hands were behind her the whole time. He thought she was only playing but it's been so long and she still hasn't wrapped her arms around him.

"A surprise."

DJ rolled his eyes. "Now, I would tickle you but you would fall down and I'm still too young to be a widower."

"Hey!" She laughed, pouting and pretending to be hurt.

"I'm joking, honey. But what's that?"

"I'm going to tell you but you're gonna have to step away from me."

DJ was confused but he did as told, walking backwards until his back hit the wall. Kathryn was now grinning from ear to ear.

"So, you know how I drove myself to the shop to get medicine because I was feeling a bit sick?"

"Yeeeeees." He dragged his words, unsure of where the conversation was going.

"I also managed to get some of these." She was holding three sticks. DJ raised an eyebrow.

"You bought sticks?"

"You are an idiot, DJ." She laughed. "Here, come get it. Be careful though." She handed him three sticks and DJ was still unsure. Sometimes, Kathryn had her ways of annoying him and he was pretty sure this was one of those ways. He carefully observed the sticks before turning it upside down. There were three little screens with a cross sign. Everything was making sense now. He looked at the writings on the side of the stick: CROSS-POSITIVE; LINE-NEGATIVE. All three sticks had a cross on the little screen. Everything added up now; Kathryn being emotional when Artemis learned new tricks, her grumpiness in the morning and so on and so forth.

DJ looked up to his wife. "You're pregnant?"

She stood up from the sink and nodded. The sweet moment was ruined by Kathryn's laughter.

"Are you crying?!" She asked, holding her husband's hand and giving it a comforting squeeze.

"NO! There's a twig in my eye." He wiped away his tears, pulling Kathryn in a hug. "We're going to be parents and God, oh, God. You're pregnant."

"I am. I can't wait."

"Holy shit, you're pregnant." He repeated, not quite believing it himself.

"I cried when I found out but you're worse!"

They pulled away, walking out of the bathroom. Artemis had fallen asleep just outside the bathroom, probably because she was tired of waiting. They plopped down on the bed, wrapping their heads at the thought of becoming parents. Kathryn was silent and smiling. She's going to bring another human in the world and that's just amazing. She's going to be a mom. DJ was thinking of all the fun stuff that he could teach their child once they're at the right age and just being a dad. He can feel it was going to be amazing.

DJ looked at Kathryn with loving eyes and she knew her husband always had a way of melting her heart (always at the right time).

He gave her smile and said, "My boys can swim!"

They laughed. It was going to be one hell of a ride.