Third Time's The Charm

Chapter 8

It had been a couple of weeks since our first visit with Ezra. Sister Linda, Maya and I had worked everything out in a way that would allow us to have at least one visit with him per week, eventually working our way up to spending an entire weekend together. It was decided that this week we would give the whole sleepover thing a try and the day had finally come.

It was Saturday morning and Maya and I were set to pick up Ezra this afternoon at 2pm and have him back before church tomorrow morning. The only conditions for our weekend sleepovers were that Ezra not have too much sugar and that he attend church with the group every Sunday. Sister Linda was very adamant on the last one so we had to make sure we stuck to it.

A social worker had visited our home the week prior to ensure that it was safe for Ezra to come visit and spend time here. She commended us on how clean we kept our home and the only recommendation that she had was that we child proof our stairs, along with our medicine and liquor cabinets which Maya had just finished doing.

"Okay babe. The medicine cabinet is done and so is the liquor cabinet. We have baby gates at both the top and the bottom of the stairs, anything else?" she asked as she made her way into the kitchen, where I was writing out a grocery list.

"No, bella. You're amazing and did everything already. We just need to go get some kid friendly foods and we'll be good to go," I said, giving her a hug and a kiss.

"Ezra seems to like pretty much everything. Do you really think we need to go get special food for him?" Maya questioned. She hated going to the grocery store and would do anything to avoid it, so I usually did the shopping on my own.

"Yes, I don't think he would appreciate a kale smoothie for breakfast bambina," I responded teasingly, taking a jab at her usual green smoothie.

"Oh come on! It's not that bad. You would like it if you tried it, you know!" she said.

"Sure," I said with a laugh, "let's head out to the store and then we can pick Ezra up on the way back."

We made our way out the door and headed to our local grocery store. It was about an hour before we had to pick Ezra up, giving us plenty of time to shop. The store was fairly empty for a Saturday afternoon, it was quiet. I had been feeling sort of anxious this past week so I couldn't have asked for anything better than a quiet grocery trip with my wife and a visit from our favorite bambino. We were making our way down the aisles picking up different things like cheez-its, cookies, and fruit snacks when all of a sudden a mom and her new born baby made their way toward us. Maya noticed me looking at the mom and reached out for my hand, giving me a reassuring look. I was still having some trouble with things like this but had been too busy, between work and visits with Ezra, to make my way back to Diane's office after our first appointment. I was getting better at keeping these sorts of feelings at bay and keeping myself grounded but today everything I knew seemed to be failing me.

I tightly held Maya's hand as she looked at the snacks in front of her trying to decipher which ones Ezra was likely to enjoy. I kept my eyes fixated on the baby in the car seat, watching her kick her little feet and play with the toys dangling in front of her. I suddenly remembered the little flutters I had felt inside of me once only to never realize that they had stopped.

"Maya we have to go," I said, startling Maya.

"Okay, let me just grab this and we'll go pay okay," she said as she noticed the panic building on my face.

"No, just leave it, let's go," I responded, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Baby it's okay. You're going to be okay, let's just finish this. We are already here," she said, giving my hand a squeeze.