My Fighter [13]
She can't seem to stop staring at her ring. She keeps her hand in front of her face, her thumb twirling the ring around her finger like she can't believe it. It was only months ago that we were celebrating Dakota's wedding and now we have another one to plan.
Mar and Dakota came over early this morning, along with Nick and Bradley. They were up in the baby's nursery painting the walls a light blue.
"Just ask her." I hear Dakota tell Mar as I wobble my way into the kitchen. I head straight for the refrigerator and grab the pickle jar. Dakota rolls her eyes and takes it out of my hands. She takes a fork out of the drawer and stabs on with it before handing it to me.
"You're the best."
"See now she's happy, ask her."
"Ask me what?"
Mar is still twiddling with her ring as she looks to me. "I was wondering if you would be okay with us having the ceremony here."
"At my house? Are you sure?"
"That's not all," she said. "We want to have a very small ceremony on Christmas day. I was thinking all of our family could come over and Dakota could get ordained online and she could give the ceremony."
"You realize it's November right?" We only have a few weeks until Christmas.
"Yeah," she said. "We were thinking that we could do the ceremony right in front of your Christmas tree. You always have the prettiest Christmas decorations."
It was true. My mom liked to make all our ornaments and decorations by hand. She liked making them. All of our ornaments on our Christmas tree have a special place in my heart. They all mean something. It's why I'm not modest when it comes to my favorite holiday. We have the prettiest house and I was touched she wanted to have her ceremony at my house, especially during Christmas.
"Of course you can." I said. "That means I'm going to have to step up my decorating game. I'm going to have to start now."
I waddle out of the kitchen but Dakota grabs onto my arm. "There's still three weeks until December."
"I always start right after Thanksgiving though. Colton makes me wait. If I had my way I would start decorating after Halloween."
"You're crazy." Mar said, passing me and making her way into the living room. "But thank you."
"You're welcome. It's going to be the best Christmas."
When the boys have finished the first coat in the baby's room they joined us in the living room. Colton plops himself down beside me as I fill them in on what's happening. Colton already knew though. Apparently they knew I was going to say yes so they spent the entire time painting talking about what they were going to do for Bradley's bachelor party.
Then that started the conversation about Mar's bachelorette party. I couldn't drink and Colton was skeptical about letting us take her to the male strip club in Orlando, but he finally caved. Since she was having her wedding on Christmas, we knew the club wouldn't be open on Christmas Eve so we planned to go a week before the ceremony.
I couldn't drink and Colton's not letting me drive, so the boys were going to pay for a limo for the night. Not that I'm complaining, of course.
When they left, Colton kept me in the living room. He wasn't even letting me go into our bedroom until the paint fumes were gone. Not that that was going to happen anytime soon. I tell him I'll be fine, that my back is hurting and all I want to do is lay down. He finally caves, slipping into bed beside me, and falling asleep with me.
The next few days are spent putting a second coat of paint on the baby's room and then assembling everything in his room. I purchased everything we would need for baby proofing the house even though we don't need it until he starts crawling, which usually happens when he's at least eight months. I've spent hours researching all that I would need.
It's a surprise when my father shows up one random afternoon later in the week. He has Toby on a leash, the puppy has grown a lot since we've seen him last. He barks at me, trying to jump up onto my stomach but my dad pulls him back.
"He's been jumping on everyone lately."
"Everyone?" I ask. "Who's everyone?"
"Max and Susie have been over a couple times."
"Colton's parents were at your house?"
He nods, "We are friends too Ellie."
"I know." I said.
It was always my mom who invited Colton's parents over. My dad never really cared who they hung out with, he just wanted to see my mother happy. Sure, my dad had his own friends but he would rather spend his time with my mother. It was a love I always wanted. I love I think I got.
"Did you hear the news?" I ask him.
"What?"
"Mar and Bradley are getting married. It happened a few days ago."
His eyes light up and a smile takes up his face. "Good for her, I like that boy."
"They're getting married on Christmas at our house."
"This Christmas?" he asks.
"She wants to do the ceremony in front of the tree."
"Your mother would have loved to see that." he said.
"I know."
My dad bends down to unhook Toby from his leash. I hook my arm through his and lead him towards the couch. My feet are swollen and hurting as well as my back. The baby won't stop kicking against my stomach. Just as I think I'm about to fall asleep each night, he starts kicking again. I like being pregnant, don't get me wrong, but I would really love a good night's sleep right now. Especially when I spend my days with little kids. A lot of patience is needed for them.
When we're sat on the couch, Toby jumps up and sets his head in my lap. I rub at his head.
"I came over here talk to you sweetheart. I know your mother wanted to have this conversation with you but since she's not here, I figured I would try my best." He said.
I try to pivot as much as I can to look at my father but between my stomach and the pup's head that is like dead weight, I can't move too well.
"Parenting is hard. Your mother and I had no idea what we were doing half the time. We didn't have the internet at our fingers. Your mother called your doctor every time you even coughed. It's going to be hard sweetheart, especially with Colton being away. You'll get very little sleep and you'll have things on you that you never imagined you would. But watching your little boy grow up is going to be the most precious thing in your life."
"I'm scared dad."
He places his hand on my knee. "I know you are. I was terrified when your mom told me we were going to have a baby. She told me on my birthday and I didn't know what to say to her. I was happy but I was so scared. I wasn't like Colton, the thought of being in charge of a person, of a baby girl, scared the life out of me. I was sure I was going to drop you or feed you something that you were allergic too or the bath water was going to be too warm. Your mother freaked out about everything that could possibly go wrong."
"I try not to let myself think about it."
"That's probably wise." My father said. "Because there are so many things but stressing yourself out will only make things worse."
"I miss her." I lean into my father's chest as his arms come down around me.
"I know baby girl, I miss her too. I think about her every day. I know it's going to be hard without your mother but you have me and Colton and his parents. I'm moving in once Colton leaves for the summer, it's going to be okay. A little overwhelming at first but you'll get the hang of it. Mother's are always good at picking things up quickly. When they're a baby it's just a lot of long nights, it's when they get older that they're more to handle, especially a boy."
"He's going to be a handful." I said.
"Just like his father."
"I know it's going to be a lot." I said, placing both of my hands on my stomach. "I've already got everything coming to baby proof the house. I talked to Aunt Nichole the other day. She said that the baby won't be crawling for months and I won't need it so soon but she said that she did the same thing. We have the pool outside, should I baby gate it?"
My dad laughs, "I don't think you'll need to baby gate the pool but if it helps you sleep at night, then yeah. He won't be able to unlock doors for a while so I would think you're safe for a while. You're not going to let him out of your sight for a long time and with you being on summer break, it'll be awhile until you have to look into babysitters."
I look towards my dad with a smile, "I just thought you or Colton's parents could take him. You can always switch off days."
My dad gives me a smile in return, "I think that's a wonderful idea. Max and Susie will be very happy as well. But when he gets older, I would look into an actual baby sitter."
"Colton wants to have four in four." I said.
He gives me a confused look, "He wants what?"
"Four kids in four years." I said. "He wants them all to be relatively close in age so that no one will feel left out. He wants four so that everyone has a buddy to sit with on rides to Disney World. He doesn't want an odd number."
"Yeah I do," Colton says, plopping down on the other side of Toby who lifts his head to look at him before resting it back onto my lap. The not-so-puppy-anymore goes right back to sleep. My husband nuzzles the dog's head. "Four sounds like a good number."
"I'm betting five," My dad says, "I think you'll have this one and then two sets of twins."
I groan, "Dad do not encourage him."
"What? My father was a twin, your mother is-was-a twin. It's a high possibility. You know what, make it six. This little guy, two sets of twins that'll all be boys, and then the last will be a girl."
"You want me to pop out five boys?" I ask, my eyes widening.
"Maybe four boys and two girls." Colton said. "That way my little girl's can do girly stuff and still kick some ass."
I shake my head, "The thought of giving birth to this one makes me cringe. I just got over the though of having to do this three more times, now you want me to do this five more times?"
"Whatever you're comfortable with." He said, kissing my cheek.
"Have you finished the nursery?" My dad asks Colton.
"Not yet," he said. "I'm waiting for the paint fumes to die down a little bit before I let Ellie in there to tell me where to put everything. I know if I try it myself she'll tell me I did it wrong and then I'll have to do it for a second time."
"Smart man."
"I learned from the best."
"Hey Colton," I said.
"Yes dear?"
"You're going to have to get all of our Christmas decorations out of storage this weekend."
"What have I told you baby? We don't start decorating until after Thanksgiving."
"We're breaking that rule. If we're having a wedding here in front of my Christmas tree then I need to start working on it now. I'm already fat and slow, it's going to take me some time to get everything ready. Please get it out of storage this weekend?"
He bends down to kiss my lips, "Of course sweetheart. But next year, I'm making you wait until December 1st to put it out."
"Fair enough."
I kiss his lips again, jumping back when the baby kicks. "I swear this little kid is going to play soccer."
"I hope so." My dad says. My dad played soccer all throughout college. He wanted to go play professional, but decided he wanted to settle down with my mom instead. When I was in high school and even when I would come home from college for the weekend, a net would be set up in the back yard and he would spend his time kicking into it. It's how he's stayed in shape through all these years.
"Guess I'll have to learn the rules to soccer then." Colton said. "But I want at least one of our sons to give football a try."
"If we have anymore sons."
"We will honey, I know it."
[author's note]
Kind of a weird way to end it, but oh well.
I REACHED 5,000 FOLLOWERS! Thank you all so much if you're following me. This update is dedicated to everyone who follows me. I love you guys so much. I promised you an update and here it is.
I'm getting kind of sad that this story is coming to a close. I say that and there's still like seven chapters left. But it's winding down. I want to try and finish this story in the next week or so. I should be able to do it.
I'm thinking that this will be the end of their story for good. I don't think I'm going to do another story about this family or any of the other relationships here. If y'all can convince me otherwise, I might do one strictly about one of their kids, but you'll have to wait until the epilogue to find out much about them.
Anyway, this is unedited like always. I threw this chapter together pretty quickly. I hope you enjoyed it.
Thank you to everyone who follows me. I love you so much!
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