We're Having Our Baby

Forty

"You don't have-"

"Harry," she gives me that look, so I obey and wander off to find my daughter.

***

"Knock, knock," I use my left hand to open the door to Em's office while my right holds Charlie against my side.

"Hi," Em smiles and looks up to me over the "sexy librarian glasses" perched on her nose.

"Your mum made dinner," I tell her and take a seat on the cushioned chair in the corner of the room.

"I thought I smelled her salmon recipe," she continues to type away on her computer. "How was the studio?"

"Good, really good. I missed you two a lot though."

"We missed you too," she looks to me for a spilt second.

"I'll leave you alone for a bit but don't be too long. I don't want your mum to yell us for making the food cold," I chuckle at her concentrated state.

"Wait," she lifts a finger, "I'm almost finished," she says so I linger around the room.

I spot the boxes lined against the wall behind her desk and before I can ask what's inside, Em has shut down her computer and is now standing by my side identifying them.

"These two are the only ones I've gone through so far," she points out the boxes on the left, "One is full of pictures and the other has some stuff from my childhood. I'm not sure what's in the rest, but if you'd like you can help me sort through them after dinner."

"I would love to," I turn away from the boxes and close the gap between Em and I. A soft smile plays on her lips as I go in to kiss her.

I then follow Em downstairs to the dining room where I see Jillian has made a full dinner set up for us.

"Mom, you didn't have to do all this. It looks and smells amazing, but-"

"What is up with you and your husband trying to stop me from pampering you guys?" Jillian scolds us as she sets the last glass of water on the table.

"Thank you, it looks lovely," I say to her and place Charlie in her swing near my seat at the table.

The food not only looks lovely, but it tastes amazing as well. I joke that Jillian should revoke her offer on the house and move in with us instead, but Em doesn't agree with that idea.

A little bit after dinner, Jillian offers to put Charlie to bed so we give our goodnight kisses earlier than usual and then Em and I head into her office to see what all was in her mom's basement.

"You said this box has pictures, right?" I sit on the floor and pull the left-most box closer to me to peer inside.

"Yeah, there are a few shoe boxes inside marked with different dates and stuff," she tells me and takes two out.

"A and E, 2005 to 2010," I read aloud, "Oh, this is going to be adorable."

I open the box to see at least a hundred photos of Em and Annie when they were kids.

"Em, there are so many!" I start filing through the pictures, laughing at most and asking questions about some.

I could spend all night listening to Em's stories about each one, but I'm curious to know what else we can find in here.

"Alright, what's in this one?" I look over to the next shoe box that has scribbled handwriting on the top. "What's that say?"

"It says Bubba," Em says quietly.

"That's cute," I smile, "Are there pictures of you and Jared in there?" I ask.

"Yeah," she swallows.