"Stop fidgeting. It'll be amazing," I said to Logan as he bounced on the balls of his feet.
"I can't help it, what if no one shows up?" he muttered, running his fingers through his hair nervously.
"Logan, we have over five million followers. Do you really think not one hundred of them want to see this? C'mon. Your pictures are amazing," I smiled reassuringly at him, fixing his mussed hair and straightening his tie.
His worried green eyes focused on me, "You think so?"
"I know so," I grinned and he smiled, "Louise and Todd already said they were coming anyway. There won't be no one."
Logan chuckled at my joke and wrapped his arms around my torso.
"Eva, have I ever told you how beautiful you look?" He asked, looking down at me.
I pursed my lips and feigned some hardcore thinking.
"Because you look absolutely stunning, Mrs. Easton," he beamed. I was only wearing a flowy cream colored dress and some flats.
"Mmm, thank you baby," I hummed and pecked his lips.
"Shame Nix couldn't come," Logan said as he pulled back.
I shrugged, "It's not my fault she gets overexcited."
"It is too, you didn't train her," he chuckled and I pushed him slightly.
"Nix is a perfectly good dog, she doesn't need training," I said matter of factly.
"Oh sure," Logan rolled his eyes playfully.
There was some tapping on the window and I peeked outside. Louise and Todd stood just outside the door. Behind them was an entire crowd of people dressed for the occasion.
Louise pointed at her watch.
Oh shit, time to start!
"Ready?" I looked at Logan and he fixed his casual suit jacket, nodding nervously.
I opened the door of the studio and people cheered, pouring into the space. I had to back away and just let them come in on their own as I tried to find Logan.
Once the place was packed and the door shut, Logan moved to the front of the crowd, excitement and accomplishment in his eyes, "Alright everybody!"
People hushed themselves and turned to him.
"I'd like to thank everybody for coming. I didn't think pictures of my wife would bring so many people to our little town," Logan grinned and people chuckled. I elbowed him playfully and he laughed, wrapping an arm around my waist, "But seriously, this really means a lot to me. We rented this studio to give the public a true view of our life and website to share our experiences. We've picked the pictures most favored by the public and ourselves. I'd like to thank Eva, especially, she's my muse."
People awed and Logan grinned as he gestured around the walls with the covered pictures waiting to be seen. I smiled and leaned against him.
"So, I hope everyone enjoys our first public photography gallery. We're open to all comments. Thanks," Logan grinned and pulled a cord while people applauded.
The covers on the pictures pulled to the sides and revealed them. There were so many varieties from all sorts of places we'd been to.
A large amount of the pictures were of me. The most photogenic ones that is. If only people knew of the other half that included me making faces.
Others were of the landscapes, sunrises, and other amazing angles only Logan would be able to get. There were even a few of Nix, when she was sitting still enough for a picture.
In all, about fifty pictures had been blown up larger and hung on the walls. Logan walked around leading some people, explaining what a few of the special pictures meant. Some art professors from the nearby college, professionals and specialists followed him around, their interns scribbling on pads.
Champagne and cheeses were on tables for people to nibble on while they observed the pictures. Many of our guests were fans and we wound up taking a lot of pictures with people.
After about an hour and a half of letting people walk around and view the pictures, I decided to really make this gallery special.
"Okay everybody, I have a surprise, if everyone would follow me back this way please," I said loudly enough to catch everyone's attention.
Logan sent me the questioning look of, am I forgetting something or did we not discuss this?
I only smiled at him as I led everyone to a separate room in the back. On the furthest wall, an enormous picture was hung and covered by a sheet.
I stood by it and ignored the confused glances from Louise and Logan. I had told neither of them about this. Logan nudged his way to the front of the crowd and raised an eyebrow at me.
"I hope you guys have really enjoyed Logans art tonight. Normally, most of his pictures include me and they're a partner effort but this is something we truly did together. It's the start of something amazing and I'd like to share with everyone. I wanted tonight to be special for Logan, he does so much for me," I smiled at him and he grinned. My heart thundered in my chest with excitement.
I grabbed the side of the sheet and pulled it down, letting it fall to the floor. It took everybody about four seconds to make out what the picture was. Then came the cheering.
Louise forgot she was in a room of at least a hundred people and screamed excitedly. Todd grinned at Logan and smacked him on the back in that manly congratulations kind of way.
I grinned as Louise began to cry and room became abuzz with the chatter and congratulations of the whole crowd. I looked at Logan, who was still staring at the picture.
His mouth was open and he blinked at it like he couldn't believe what was happening.
"Can you image the look on the copy ladies face when I asked her to blow up a sonogram to this size?" I joked as I walked over to him, grinning madly.
Logan's eyes shifted over to me and he looked me up and down as if I had changed in the past couple hours.
"You- you're- are you really?!" Logan sputtered to me, grabbing my hands.
I nodded and giggled, "I'm twelve weeks along. You don't know how hard it was to hide this from you."
"I'm going to be a dad?" Logan beamed at me with wide eyes and I nodded. The both of us got watery eyed and I laughed as Logan picked me up to spin me around.
"Oh my god, I can't believe it. When did you find out?" He set me down gently but still held me.
"When I skipped a period and then vomited up everything but my toenails," I chuckled, "I would've told you sooner, three weeks sooner, but I wanted it to be special."
Logan leaned down and kissed me passionately in front of everyone, getting a couple whistles sent our way.
"This was incredibly special," Logan grinned at me, cupping my cheek. His eyes were glassy as he leaned his forehead against mine.
"We're going to have a family," he whispered to me. We were suddenly in our own little bubble. The chatter of a lot of people faded to background noise and there was only Logan. It was two that the two of us were soon going to be three.
"Yeah," I giggled, in disbelief myself, "We are."
"We're going to have a baby," Logan grinned and I nodded.
"We're going to have a baby!" He exclaimed and people cheered along with him.
Louise couldn't handle it anymore and pounced on me for a tight hug.
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod IM GOING TO BE AN AUNT!" She cried hysterically and a few tears of my own rolled down my face.
"Hey hey hey! Don't squish the baby!" Logan said worriedly and Todd pried Louise off of me.
We giggled and wiped our cheeks.
Other people began to come up and congratulate us. Logan puffed his chest out and held onto me like the proud father he just learned he is.
It took a whole other hour for people to clear out of the gallery. I could hear my phone in my purse exploding over the blog, that of which was most likely flooded with excited messages. I see the fans have already spread the word.
Before the night was over, I did take a picture of the sonogram and posted it on the cite.
Yup, it's true! Baby Easton is due in April! - I captioned it. I had to turn off the notifications after I posted it because the feedback was insane.
After everyone cleared out and Todd finally got Louise to leave me, Logan and I were alone.
"Well, I'd say that was a success," I smiled tiredly at him as we locked the studio and put the key under the mat for the owner.
"That was the most amazing thing that has ever happened in my life, aside from meeting you," Logan beamed at me. He hadn't stopped smiling since the sheet dropped.
I chuckled, "I'm glad I pulled this off. I thought I was going to barf half way through."
I yawned and Logan tucked an arm around my back and under my legs. He scooped me up and carried me to the truck, "Tired?"
"Extremely," I mumbled, leaning my head against his shoulder. Making a life is hard.
"You should've called off our last trip. We hiked a mountain! You would've been....seven weeks pregnant, that couldn't have been good for you," Logan chattered on and I smiled.
"I went to the doctor while you were in the studio. I'm healthy, the baby's healthy, everything is fine," I reassured him.
"That's extremely relieving. I'm still in shock but I'm sure I'll snap out of it sometime," Logan said goofily as he set me in the passenger seat.
"Yeah, just wait until reality sets in that we're going to be parents," I chuckled and he got into the truck.
"I know right," Logan giggled.
"Louise lost her damn mind," I laughed and remembered her reaction.
"I think everyone did," Logan said and I nodded.
Beyond the reactions and the initial excitement, it had already set in for me. I was going to be a mother, Logan was going to be a father.
We're going to be parents.
.................
I chewed my lip and pushed my hair out of my face frustratedly. I didn't really know if I wanted to do this or not. It had been eating away at me for a couple weeks now.
"Eva!" Logan called from the front door and I set my pen down.
"In here!" I yelled back and stood up from my desk.
"So I got the squash, the peanut butter and the gummy bears. I picked up some hot chocolate too," Logan said as he stomped his boots on the mat and shook his head to clear the snow out of his hair.
"Thank you," I smiled at him and immediately attacked the bag of gummy bears, dumping a few of them in my hot chocolate.
Logan kissed my temple and looked down at my desk as he shrugged his coat off, "Joey came this morning, I thought you gave it to him."
I shrugged and stared at the envelope, "I couldn't do it."
"Maybe tomorrow morning, if you want to," he said nonchalantly, letting me pick whether I wanted to send the picture to my parents or not.
"Well, I wanted to get it to them before Christmas," I mumbled unsurely, "What day is it?"
"December twentieth," Logan smiled at me and I nodded. Pregnancy brain, am I right?
I looked down at the Christmas card we'd taken and grew anxious. We'd sent out all the others to our friends, but not this one.
Did I want my parents to know they were going to have a grandchild or not? I mean, who's to say my mother hasn't scrolled through my blog in her free time?
Well I haven't put this on there yet. But they're not going to have any kind of contact. Is that mean or not?
"Don't stress yourself out babe, whatever you want to do," Logan said comfortingly as he wrapped his arms around me, his hands rubbing my belly that was getting bigger every day.
I didn't think I'd be this big at five months. I was so wrong, I'm already a whale.
"I think I'll send it to them. They deserve to know," I sighed and leaned against him.
"Okay," Logan said simply and kissed my cheek.
I left his hold to go relax in the living room. I was tired of staring at that envelope for right now.
I passed Nix and she wagged her tail happily. I scratched behind her ears and grinned at her, "You're so ready to be a big sister, huh Nixie?"
She nudged my belly with her nose and I chuckled. She followed me to the couch and jumped up as I sat down.
Nix had been reluctant to leave me ever since I became pregnant. She would only allow Louise and Logan to touch me. It was a whole other side of her.
Nix laid her head on my lap as I flicked on the tv. I stroked her ears calmingly and watched the weather report about an upcoming snowstorm.
Good thing Logan and I canceled our trip to China. We'd be at the Great Wall by now.
As long as I gave weekly updates and statuses over the baby on the blog, I was ensured a paid maternity leave. And since Logan and I had a partnership, and maybe the fact that he refused to travel without me, he would be staying with me.
Logan cooked dinner while I wandered about the house, picking things up and situating stuff. Louise called it nesting.
I went back into my office room and sat at my desk determinedly.
I smiled at the picture and recalled taking it. Logan, Nix and I stood in front of our fireplace. Our Christmas decorations had been put up but the theme had been pink.
We were wearing pink Santa hats and I even had some silver and pink garland hanging from my shoulders.
Merry Christmas from the Eastons!
I pulled out one of the most recent sonograms I'd had and tucked it behind the card. Clicking a pen, I tediously wrote a simple message to my parents before tucking everything into an addressed envelope and sealing it.
Merry Christmas, it's a girl.