Waiting for the Moment (Rizzoli and Isles)

Chapter 9

"Maura, if you don't hurry up we're going to be late for your doctors appointment!" I shouted up the stairs.

"Do not rush me, Jane. I'm four months pregnant."

"I know you are. What is taking so long?!"

"I...I can't find anything that fits me. I think it's time to shop for maternity clothes."

I walked up the stairs and found my wife standing in our closet in nothing but a silk bath robe that rode up because of her baby bump.

"Put on a pair of yoga pants, and one of my t-shirts. We'll go get you new clothes after the appointment, okay?"

"Okay." Maura said, as she kissed me.

"Make sure you put on a jacket. It's a little chilly outside." I said.

"Well, it is October, so..." Maura replied with a smile.

"Just get dressed!"

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"I'm telling you, we're going to have a baby girl!" I said.

After Maura's appointment, we decided to walk around in the park until we had to pick Lyndzie up from school.

"No, Jane. I really think our baby is a boy."

"Are you guessing?"

"Well, yes. That's one of the more excting parts of pregnancy. Guessing the baby's gender is one of the things I was looking forward to most. While I don't like guessing, the excitement kind of won me over."

"You think it is a boy then?"

Maura nodded. "Yes. I really do."

"How do you figure?" I asked.

"I'm listening to my intestines." She replied with a smile.

I smiled and grabbed her hand. I inhaled the crisp autumn air before looking at my wife and pulling her close to my body.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked her.

She laughed. "No, not really. I will swing though"

She pushed away from me, but still had a hold of my hand. She dragged me over to the swingset and sat down on the swing.

"Push me!" She said happily. 

"Are you being serious right now?"

"Yes! Push me!"

I laughed and pushed the swing.

"When I was little, when my parents and I lived in Boston, my mother would bring me to this park and she would chase me around in that grass over there." Maura said, pointing. "Then I would go over to that slide and climb up. My mother would always tell me that I wasn't big enough to go down it by myself and she would scoop me up and bring me over here to the swings."

Maura looked down in her lap.

"My mother knew how to be a mother when I was small. As I got older, I became more independent. I suppose she thought that I didn't need her anymore. The more independent I got, the less she was around."

At first, I didn't know what to say. I kept pushing her on the swing. Then I knew exactly what to say to get her to smile.

"I bet you're big enough to go down the slide all by yourself now." 

She chuckled. "I might be too big to go down the slide now. Not to mention the fact that in another five months I'll be even bigger."

"I still think you should try to go down the slide. I'll hold your hand, if that helps." I said with a warm smile.