Doorstep Baby

Wedding Bells

A week or so later, I went back to work at the beach cafe', and it was like I was never gone. On my first day back, and I did everything from hiring a new waitress to cleaning up vomit after an incident involving a 6-year-old and too many pancakes. I had decided to do my first semester of college online, going all-out and declaring a double major in Social Work and Education. Carter was growing like I was slipping Miracle-Gro into her bottles. Everything was whizzing by, and I was always busy but also, always happy. (Except for the vomit-y things, of course.)

For my birthday back in July, which now seemed like 2 lifetimes ago, Jason and Lauren chipped in together to get me a day at the spa, and I'd saved it for a special occasion. And today was the day to use it, because the next day was the big day--I was getting married! 

We had everything planned out. It would be on the beach at sunset. All us girls would be holding a single lily, and every one of us would be barefoot. We have a long white sheet to lay out for the walk to the arch, which was actually loaned to us by one of my regular customers. It was going to be amazing, and we were being smart about the cost--something I was determined to do. I wasn't about to drop thousands of dollars on one day. Carter, our home, Jason--they all meant too much me, so I couldn't be frivolous.

After I got out of the shower, I put on a sundress, then dried my hair. I twisted my hair and put it up in a clip, and went to get Carter out of her crib.

She was now just over nine weeks old, and although there was no way she should be able to, she was holding her head up for long periods of time. She was always watching with those wide blue eyes, always taking in the world. She seemed to be able to recognize Jason's voice and mine, and even seemed to recognize Lauren's. She'd really started to laugh lately, little giggles, but they made me melt.

I read fairy tales to her sometimes, but more often I sang to her, nonsense songs about what we were doing or where we were going. She loved getting those little hands tangled up in my hair and pulling on it. And Jason was just amazing with her. He showed her off at work and to anyone we met in the store or at the park. I never doubted for a moment that he loved her dearly.

Lauren was almost four months pregnant. Her morning sickness had hit her hard around the second month. Even water made her queasy for a while, but it was starting to dial down. Jason and I tried to be there for her all the way, but really, there is not much you can do for someone in that state, is there? All I could do was hold back her hair, hand her a cup of mouthwash, and give her a wet cloth. Jason kept a supply of ginger ale and rosemary crackers handy no matter where we were. Personally, I thought those crackers were nasty, but for a while, they were the only thing Lauren could keep down.

I put Carter to my chest, and she started playing with a strand of hair that didn't go into my clip. I grabbed her diaper bag, then walked into the kitchen and put her in her car seat.

"Guess what?" She stared at me, all curious-looking. "Mommy is going to the spa with Auntie Lauren while you're at daycare." I pulled 4 bottles of milk out of the fridge then put them in the bag. "Then I get to come home and spend time with you and Daddy. But at 11:30 Daddy has to got to a hotel, because tomorrow, we are getting married."

I walked back over to her. I tickled her stomach a little and she put her hands on mine and smiled. "Yeah. There's that gorgeous smile." She made my heart want to burst.

***

I dropped Carter off with only a touch of misty eye when I left. I was handling it way better than I expected. I parked in the front lot of the spa and spotted Lauren. We walked in and the staff immediately handed us our robes and showed us to our changing rooms. We were led first to the massage room. They put Lauren in a special chair, one that left an opening covered with a stretchy hammock thing for her belly but cradled the rest of her body so that she could fully relax. The room was warm and dim, everything felt so good, and the soothing nature sounds playing in the background had us both melting in no time.