CHAPTER 35
JOHN
I didn't say a single word the whole drive home. I could see the road in front me and I could feel the gas pedal underneath my foot, but my mind was racing miles ahead. Carly sat beside me, unmoving and equally as silent, her eyes glued to her phone, staring at our baby's most recent ultrasound.
I was in shock; it was the only way I could describe it. There was such a surge of adrenaline coursing through my veins, but simultaneously I felt completely numb. Knowing what we were going to have made this whole thing realer than real. All of a sudden, there were these things we needed to do, things we needed to buy, books we'd have to read. I had a hell of a lot of learning to do.
We needed to think about the nursery.
"Wanna head to Dallas and do some baby shoppin'?" I broke the silence first.
"Really?" she looked up at me, excitement in her shining eyes. She looked unbelievably happy. You know how they say pregnant women have this sort of glow about them? Carly had it now and it looked damn good on her.
"Yeah, really," I grinned.
"Okay, let's do it," she smiled, slipping her phone back in her purse.
We probably looked like two kids entering a candy store when we walked through Babies 'R Us a few hours later, her hand wrapped around my arm as I pushed the cart forward down different aisles, making our way a little haphazardly to the crib bedding.
Carly's parents kept her old crib and changing table from when she was a baby, and she was set on using the furniture again for our little Cookie Monster. I'd probably have to give it all a good sanding and a couple coats of paint, but that was something I could do in an afternoon or two, easy.
The real problem right now was shopping for a girl and trying to look like I knew what the hell I was even talking about.
"Look at this one John, isn't it the cutest?" Carly gushed every other second, picking up one bedding after the next, all in shades of pinks, lilacs, mints and even a bright canary yellow. There were Disney princesses and other cartoons I'd have to get used to seeing on the TV in a couple months; lions, bears, butterflies, frogs... pretty much any and every animal imaginable.
I followed her around like a very lost and very confused puppy, not quite sure if my opinion would be worth anything. I didn't want my daughter to end up hating her bedroom a year or two down the line, so maybe it was best if I left the final decision to Carly.
I didn't exactly have any sense when it came to fashion and decorating.
"Look at this one with the bees!" Carly whispered excitedly, rounding on me. "We could paint the room yellow... or like... this... sort of... off-white," she grinned.
"Really, you wanna go with yellow?" I asked, unsure, my eyes wandering towards the price tag. Holy shit, two hundred bucks for freaking bedding set!?
They couldn't possibly be for real!
"You're right, maybe it's too much... and with all of the black and white, it doesn't really scream: cute and girly," she shrugged, putting the bedding back.
"What about...?" Carly began again.
"Darlin', I love you, but we're not bringin' that into the house. Our kid ain't gonna know a single thing about Frozen," I told her definitively.
Carly had to work hard to stifle her sudden onslaught of giggles. "The fact that you even know what movie the characters belong to is adorable," she grinned.
"We'll get her hooked on Mulan or The Lion King or somethin'... those I might be able to sit through a couple thousand times," I chuckled, picking up something with a whole lot of pink on it.
According to the label the color was actually called plum... but it looked plenty pink to me. I shrugged and put it back, following Carly further down the aisle.
"Oh, I love this one!" Carly gushed.
The set had a creamy white base with varying shades of pink.
"Yeah, it's nice," I nodded, not quite as enthusiastic about the pink as Carly was. Then again – and I mean no disrespect for the men that do – if I enjoyed pink as much as she did... I probably wouldn't be marrying her.
"It's really nice," Carly smiled.
"We could paint the wall somethin' close to that color, maybe a few shades lighter," I suggested, pointing to a pastel pink butterfly. "The crib will look nice in white too," I added.
"Yeah, I like that," Carly beamed, hugging the packaging to her chest. "It comes with curtains too and we can probably find a lot of accessories that'll match. I can look online – maybe this brand sells other stuff too that goes with this set... we could always go look in another aisle, save on shippin' fees... a nice butterfly lamp maybe... Oh! We could paint butterflies on the wall, and her name! We could paint it right above the crib in this hot pink, add a white border maybe..." she rambled on, a far-away look in her eyes, like she was back on the ranch mapping out the whole nursery.
"So we're gettin' that one then?" I asked.
"I don't know... do you think she'll like it? Is pink too... stereotypical for a girl?" she asked, letting out a frustrated breath.
"It's cute... Taylor will love it... and if she doesn't, we'll have a solid two years before she's able to tell us," I said playfully.
"Taylor?" Carly giggled, placing the bed set in our cart. I suppose it was the one we'd be going with after all.
"Just tryin' it out," I shrugged.
"Taylor Kessler," Carly murmured, considering it for a moment. "Nah, I don't know... I don't like it... it's too rhyme-y," she said a little sheepishly.
"Eh, no big deal, we've got a couple months to figure it out... right Ingrid?" I grinned, patting Carly's belly.
"Oh God... we're not callin' our daughter Ingrid," Carly huffed, unimpressed.
"You've just offended grandmas and hipsters everywhere," I told her, which caused her to burst into a fit of giggles in the middle of the store.
A few people looked our way, but for once it wasn't to accuse us, or to whisper that I was too old or that she was too young. Nobody criticized us for being in love; nobody cared that my child was growing inside of her; nobody minded that my ring fit so perfectly on her finger.
It was a great outing; we got to spend the whole afternoon together, emptying our wallets in the process. We got a bunch of other things for the nursery, including a nice rug that matched the bedspread perfectly, butterfly stencils to paint on the walls, our daughter's first teddy bear, a few girly onesies and a pair of little sneakers that were somewhat unnecessary, but Carly was adamant on our little girl having a closet fit for one of the Kardashians apparently.
We went out to dinner afterward and decided to take a walk along the Trinity River, throwing some baby names back and forth again.
"Christine."
"Casey."
"Alex."
"Mary."
"Carol."
"Georgie."
"Scarlet."
"Trina."
"Linda."
"Aly."
"Ashley."
"Joleen."
"No way, I'll have the song stuck in my head every time I say her name," I chuckled. "How about... Jessica?" I suggested, quickly running out of baby names.
"There was this girl in high school named Jessica... she was uh... kind of a bitch... so let's not," Carly said with a small smile. "Paisley?"
"You wanna name our kid after your favorite singer?" I laughed.
"It's a pretty name for a girl, and it's not like we'd be naming her after somebody trashy like Kim or Khloe!" Carly giggled.
"Mm, point taken; it's a nice name, got to admit," I nodded.
"Paisley Kessler," Carly mulled it over.
"I don't know, I'm not really feelin' it... let's keep at it," I said.
"This is gonna be impossible," Carly giggled.
"We can always go with Ingrid," I shrugged.
A/N: This chapter goes out to everyone that sees their name up in that list of baby names John and Carly have been tossing around. :) You guys are amazing, thank you so much for your support! We're so close to 2.5K reads! :O
Oh yeah, IT'S A GIRL!