Don't Need A Man

in which the conversation continues

Sidney is at work, Basil is at school for the first time, and I have a hyperactive two year old, so I came to London's condo.

"We're only going to live here until the wedding, we already put down a payment on a house so it'll be ready by the time we come back from the honeymoon." London shows us around the condo. "It's not much but we like it."

Primmy runs off to play with the dolls she brought in her Dora The Explorer backpack. I grip London's hand. "Can we talk?" Hesitantly, she nods. We make our way to the couch, right behind where Prim has dumped her backpack's contents. "I need your advice on whether or not it's a good idea to have another baby."

She chokes on the air. "Another baby? You have two already, how many do you need?" Prim looks over as London's voice becomes louder and louder, but looks away when she sees I'm in no danger.

I shrug. "Three, maybe four."

"Oh em gee! Your mom is going to kill you." Yeah, I know. But I don't give a flying rat's ass what she thinks. "Awe, another Beckett kid would be cute. Maybe we could get pregnant together!"

"Maybe," I mumble. The condo front door opens and Sid drops his thinks by the coat rack.

"Sid!" Prim launches herself onto her godfather. He catches her just in time and she snuggles into his neck. Sid walks over to us, still with a two year old attached to him, and greets London and I with kisses on the cheeks. He isn't a big fan of PDA, probably because he turns a bright red every time London kisses him.

Prim climbs into my lap, playing with my long hair. "What brings Rose and Prim in today?" He asks, grabbing a Sprite and a Coca Cola from the fridge. He hands me the Sprite and London the Coca Cola before grabbing an identical Sprite for himself.

"Mourning my son going to school and discussing my next pregnancy," I say nonchalantly. "The usual."

"You're pregnant?" He asks, slightly out of breath. "Again?"

I chuckle. "No, no. I'm thinking about it. Actually I'm almost sure I'm going to do it."

He nods and sips his soda. I hand Prim the can when it's only half full, knowing if it was anymore full it would be on my lap and not in her mouth.

"I have some shopping to do, and Prim needs some clothes, so I'm going to be heading out now." I smile at the couple. "Thank you for having us."

Prim scoops all her toys into her backpack and leads the way out the condo.

➖✖➖

-two days later-

Basil climbs into the back of the car with a big smile and a smudge of dirt on his new khakis. Primmy clasps his hand into hers. "Momma take us sopping."

"Shopping, sweetheart, shopping," I correct.

"Sopping."

"Shopping."

"That was I says, Mommy!" She shouts in defense.  I give up with this kid. Basil laughs at his sister and tells her he's excited to go shopping. "I more 'cited."

The two bicker back and forth until we reach the shopping center, an outdoor mall closer to downtown than our house.

Because it's a Friday evening more people litter the place with their children but I know my kids will have fun none the less. Basil climbs out of the car to help unbuckle Prim from her car seat and buckled into her pink wagon. Basil grew jealous weeks ago when I purchased the wagon for Prim to ease her away from the stroller. So, I bought him a pair of new shoes in about the same price range to shut his whining up.

"Listen here, Baze," I say before we leave the parking lot. "You know the rules; don't leave my side, look before you cross the street, if you want something ask, and do not whine if I say no."

"Yes, I know Momma." Our hands clasp together, I look back at a giddy Prim, and we cross the street to the first strip of stores. "Can we go into The Children's Place, please?"

I lead them to the requested store. Prim gazes with wide eyes at the aray of dresses and girly clothing. It's packed in the small store so I grip Basil's hand a little tighter. We look through Prim's size first, to ease her cries for the dresses. Basil helps me pick shirts and pants for her. He leads the two of us to his size clothing. I insist he gets a pair of faded jeans and a few t-shirts. He begs for a pair of ripped jeans and I finally allow him to put the jeans in the wagon along with Prim's things.

Then we pass the baby things. My heart jumps at the sight of the itty bitty socks and too big bibs. I miss having a baby around.

"Let's get this, Momma." Basil holds up a tiny sign which reads 'Baby #3 Sleeps Here'. I almost burst into tears. With Basil's wide smile and Prim making grabbing hands for it I can't help but tell him to put it in the wagon.

The total is high, but my children are worth it. It's obvious my children want me to have another baby, if you can call Prim cooing at the sign obviously wanting another sibling, and who am I to not oblige?