HI YOU GUYS, WELL I AM TRYING MY BEST NOT TO CRY WHILE WRITING THIS, BUT THIS WILL BE THE FINAL CHAPTER FOR 'LOVE DOES NOT HAVE A COLOR.' I AM THANKFUL FOR ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL AND DEDICATED READERS WHO HAVE INSPIRED ME TO CONTINUE THIS TALE THUS FAR. YOU EACH HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART. OKAY NOW LET ME SHUT UP SO YOU GUYS CAN READ THE FINAL CHAPTER. PS...STAY TUNED AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER FOR ONE LAST ANNOUNCEMENT!!! OKAY NOW SHARE, LIKE, COMMENT ;)
CHAPTER 28
9 YEARS LATER
“That’s stupid.” Chi Chi said.
“No it’s not!” I yelled,” I think it makes it more exciting don’t you think?”
“No it’s stupid because now I don’t know whether I should buy clothes with tutus or clothes with race cars on them!”
“Well look when you had Hazel you wanted to know if it was a boy or girl and I respected your decision so now respect mine. My baby is undefined damnit.”
Chi Chi laughed and threw her hands up in surrender.
“Whatever you say.” she laughed.
“Thank you. Now if you want to buy something buy some damn diapers and bottles.”
I love how it is Chi Chi’s idea to take an overdue pregnant woman shopping and fuss with her the whole time. Like damn. She’s acting like I can’t start crying or raise hell any moment.
“When were you suppose to have the baby anyway?” she asked.
“About three days ago.” I said holding up a cute onesie.
“Damn. How come you won’t induce labor?”
“I thought about it, but I want to be surprised when the baby will come. Plus I feel as though if it doesn't come out yet it’s not meant to then.”
“True true. Okay well when you are ready to pop Mel I better be the second person to find out.”
I laughed.
“The second person?”
“Yes. I’m sure you are going to tell the baby daddy before me. And I’ve known you longer.” she said.
“Shut up you will know. You are at the top of my list. Now if you don’t mind can we get out of here? My feet hurt, my back hurts, and Kathy said she was making dinner tonight.”
“You still go over there huh?”
“Yeah sometimes. Is that even a real question? Her and my parent’s became friends over the years, and she can cook so we are going over there.”
“It’s only 3:57.” Chi Chi said.
“Yeah I know. That means some of the food is already done so come on.”
Chi Chi laughed at me again all the way to the cash register. We grabbed a few last minute things, such as blankets, diapers, a few more outfits and toys. Chi Chi made me get this stuff anyway. We already had enough at the house. Once we were in the car and I was sitting down I felt so much relieved.
“Oh yes.” I said to myself.
“Before we go eat I have to call Hazel.”
“You have to call Hazel??” I asked confused.
“Yeah. I have to check up on my baby.” Chi Chi said.
“She is only two years old what the hell can she possibly tell you on the phone?”
“In a second I’m going to teach her to say Auntie Mel mind your damn business if you don’t leave me alone.”
I fell out laughing as she made her call. Once done we rushed off to Kathy’s house. I swear I could smell the food from outside the door. Kathy no longer lived in that shabby house on the edge of town. She now lives a few blocks away from my parents, so it’s easy for everyone to get together for dinner and stuff.
“So you aren’t going to knock or anything?” Chi Chi asked.
“Nope.” I said walking through the front door,” Kathy!”
I yelled out her name as I continued to head towards the kitchen. As if nothing has changed, her frizzy brown, well gray now, hair and big blue eyes was in the kitchen stirring up something.
“Mel! Oh it’s so good to see you honey. My have you gotten big.” she said coming around the stove to hug me.
“Hi Kathy. It’s good to see you too.” I said.
“Oh and you brought Chi Chi! Hello come in!” she said hugging her as well.
We both sat down at the kitchen table to rest. Well I rested.
“So when are you due honey? You look like you can pop any moment.” Kathy said giggling.
“Three days ago.” I wined.
“Oh now don’t you worry. When I had the girls it took way longer than just three days overdue. You will be fine honey.”She said.
“How are the girls anyway?” I asked.
“They are good. They both got jobs as camp counselors this summer at this camp up by the lake. It’s about an hour or so drive from here.”
“Oh that’s nice.”
“No what’s nice would be a phone call from time to time.”
We all laughed as Kathy put a plate down.
“Here eat something.”
“Kathy that is just music to my ears.” I said with my mouth watering.
Kathy gave me a hot plate of food. Chi Chi got up to get me some water and then I was going to demolish this food. I put the fork full of food in my mouth when,
“Ow!” I yelled dropping my fork.
“What’s wrong? Too hot?” Kathy asked.
“I told you your greedy butt needs to slow down.” Chi Chi said bringing me my water.
“Oops. Kathy do you have any paper towels. I must of spilled some.” Chi Chi said.
“You didn’t spill that. I did.” I said huffing.
I looked wide eyed at the both of them. Panick and excitement running through me.
”My water just broke.”
Kathy and Chi Chi both went into turbo mode. Kathy cut off all the food and wrapped it up while Chi Chi went and grabbed my jacket and purse. Then Kathy helped me out of the chair and helped me walk to the front door as Chi Chi started making phone calls to everyone, telling them to meet us at the hospital.
“Did you cal-”
“Yes yes I called everyone now get in the car.”
This going into labor shit is no joke. After timing each contraction, Kathy told us my contractions were eight minutes apart.
“Oh shit this baby is coming. Okay let’s hurry.” Chi Chi said.
Within another ten minutes we were at the hospital. They immediately put me in a chair and wheeled me to a room.
“Where is everyone?” I asked nervously.
“They are coming Melanie. Don’t worry. Hold my hand.” Kathy said.
Just then the doctor came in.
“Alright Melanie well it looks good so far. You are dilated about four centimeters now so you are in labor. It should not be much longer before we get to meet a new face okay.” she said smiling.
“Oh my god this is really happening.” I said breathing hard.
“Yes! And I was number one to know about you going in labor!” Chi Chi said.
“Shut up Chi Chi and get me some ice please.”
Chi Chi walked out the room to get me some ice, but Kathy stayed to hold my hand still.
“And where is Dad? Is he on his way?” the Doctor asked.
“Yes he should be. Chi Chi called everyone, whoever that is.” I laughed a little.
“Okay great. The more support the better.” The doctor smiled and then left out.
Just then Chi Chi came back with the ice. It helped a little to take my mind off the pain, but it still hurt. That’s when we had a visitor.
“Ma-ma” said a baby voice walking into the room. It was none other than little Hazel holding her daddy’s hand walking into the room.
“Hi baby.” Chi Chi said picking her up and kissing her all over,”hey babe.” Chi Chi said kissing Henry.
I never thought that over the years Chi Chi and Henry would somehow find a way to make their relationship last. Even when Chi Chi went to school, Henry was still by her side. He only did about two years of college himself, and then dropped out to start his own photography business. It is actually booming with success. They had Hazel about two years ago.
“Hey. How’s it going so far?” Henry asked me.
“I’m alright. I’m four centimeters dilated.” I told him.
“Actually five now.” Kathy said.
We looked at the monitor and it now said five and I started to panick. Everyone wasn’t here yet, I can’t be so close to giving birth. I’m halfway there! Just then more familiar faces came in.
“Alright y’all now this is a party.” said Angel coming in with flowers and a teddy bear.
“Hey Angel.” I said giving him a big hug.
“Hey girl how do you feel?”
“Like hell.” I said smiling.
“Don’t worry it will all be over soon.” he encouraged me.
Angel turned out to be a very close friend of mine. He was in the same grade as me in high school and I didn’t even know it. So when everyone left it was just us to terrorize the halls at school. As everyone started talking and relaxing while I became more and more hurt by the contractions I heard my mother’s voice.
“Hi I am looking for Mel-”
“Mom! In here!” I yelled.
Just then her and my dad walked in with my younger brother.
“You know Mel you picked a fine day to make me an uncle. I was just about to go to this New York car show.” my brother said.
“Well damn sorry to mess up your plans.”I said back.
He laughed and came over to hug me.
“Alright how far are you?” my mom asked.
“Five centimeters.”
“Six now.” Chi Chi said.
“Oh my god. Can someone call my baby’s father please!”
“What do you want me to tell him?” Angel asked dialing a number.
“To hurry up and bring his ass in here!” I yelled,”Ow!”
Another contraction was here, damn these things are coming fast. Just then the doctor came in with a nurse.
“Wow Melanie this baby is playing no jokes. Okay we are going to give you an epidural,”
“Thank god.” I said.
Everyone laughed. Even the doctor.
“I think we will be having a baby within the next hour.” she said.
“Oh my god.” Chi Chi said jumping up and down excited.
Another five, ten, twenty minutes went by, and there was no one else walking through this door except the doctor and nurse, telling me the time has come. So many emotions were going through my head I did not know what do. Should I smile and laugh, should I cry, i don’t know! They started hooking me up to certain things and more nurses came in, telling everyone it was time for them to leave. The only ones who stayed was Chi Chi, my mom, and even Kathy. After all this time she has truly become a second mother to me.
The doctor pulled out these things for my legs and feet to sit up on, and then it hit me. I’m going to have a baby! Right as the doctor started explaining things to me, there was chaos going on outside the door. It was pretty distracting, and the doctor told a nurse to go see what was going on. And that’s is when he walked in.
“Is he the father?” The doctor asked me.
A big wave of relief hit me as I told the doctor that he was the baby’s father.
“Where the hell were you?” Chi Chi asked him.
“Chi Chi!” I yelled at her.
“Sorry.”
“Where the hell were you?” Kathy then yelled.” You are about to be a father and you are out going to practices instead of staying home with your wife?”
“I’m sorry mom.” Jacob said as he came by my side.
“Hi beautiful.” He said kissing my forehead.
“Alright you guys it’s go time.” The doctor said.
They suited Jacob up in all of this hospital stuff and then he came over to me and held my hand.
“Don’t let go.” I said to him with tears in my eyes.
He smiled and kissed my hand.
“Never.” he said.
“Okay Melanie now remember what we just talked about. Now give me a good big push.” she said.
I started to push and I felt like my whole body was breaking. The pain was crazy and even though Jacob is a big time football player, I know I was hurting him by squeezing his hand.
“Come on Melanie give me another big push!” The doctor encouraged.
I gave her another big push, and everyone started saying they could see the head.
“You are doing great baby. Come on.” Jacob said.
“Push!” the doctor said again.
I grunted as I pushed a really big push. I started to get a little lightheaded from all of this.
“Hey babe. We are about to be parents.” Jacob said.
He kissed me on my lips and held my hand tight. We did a few more pushes and then it was all almost over.
“Okay Mel. One more one more!”
I squoze Jacob’s hand so hard as I pushed, and then the pain was all gone, It was over. Our baby was here and in the world. We waited a couple of seconds and heard it cry, and then I started to cry.
“What is it?” I asked.
The doctor held up the baby after cutting the cord and brought it to me.
“Congratulations. You have a baby boy.” she said handing him over.
“Yes!” Jacob yelled out loud.
I shook my head as I held out my arms and held the baby for the first time.
“He is so perfect.” I said.
“I’m so proud of you baby.” Jacob said kissing me.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I gave Jacob the baby to hold and it was such a moment to see. He has been happy before, but I never have seen him this happy. We have been through so much that I couldn’t believe we made it this far.
“So what should we call him?” Jacob asked.
“Well I thought you wanted a little Jacob.” I said to him.
He looked at me and smiled.
“Yeah I did.”
“So that will be his name.”
“Jacob?” he asked.
“Yes. Jacob Peterson Junior.”
“We can call him JJ.” Jacob said.
I laughed. “Okay.”
Eventually everyone started to file back into the room and say hi to the new member of the family. They were all so happy they did not know what to do.
“Great it’s a boy. Okay I am going to run to the store and get some little boy outfits for him. Oh he is going to look so cute in a vest.” Chi Chi rambled.
“Oh god.” I whispered to myself.
Everyone took their pictures and cried in joy until it was time for them to leave. After that the nurse came in to teach me how to breastfeed.
“Oh this looks fun.” Jacob said amusingly.
“Shut up. You want to do it?” I asked him.
“No babe it’s okay.”
Breast feeding is not all that easy, it took some time and a lot of patience. At times I really did want to give up. I was exhausted and drained, but Jacob stood by my side and made sure I didn’t give up. Eventually JJ got a hang of feeding off of me, and once finished I was ready for sleep. As I got comfortable in my hospital bed, Jacob sat down in a rocking chair next to me, holding JJ.
“Aren’t you going to get some rest?” I asked Jacob while he started rocking JJ.
“No. I have to talk to my son.” he said smirking at me.
“What is it you have to talk to him about?” I asked smiling.
“What isn’t there to talk about? Girls, football…” he rambled on.
“Oh god. Good night babe.” I said reaching to give him a kiss.
Holding close to JJ he rose out of the chair and kissed me back, and within seconds I fell asleep. That night had to be by far the deepest sleep of my life. I woke up completely dazed and confused, and as the previous days events flooded back into my mind a smile crossed my face and I instantly gained energy. I looked around the room to find it empty, and panic automatically came across me. Where was Jacob? And where the hell was my baby? I looked around the room for a clock, it said 1:42pm. Holy shit. Just when I had decided to get up and go look for them the doctor walked in.
“Well hello new mommy.” she gushed.
I smiled and said hi in return.
“Where is my family?” I asked her.
“Oh they are at the baby hospital checking on the little guy. You were still asleep so Jacob insisted no one step foot in here.” she said smiling.
“Oh okay. I started to panic a little.” I said honestly.
“No need. That is just a feeling you have to get used to. It’s your mommy senses.” she told me.
“So is everything good? With JJ?” I asked.
“Oh yes everything is fine. We just had to go through procedure, making sure he is one hundred percent healthy and fill out the birth certificate. Your husband handled all of that though.” she assured me.
“Okay great.”
“I checked all of your vitals and everything. You should be able to go home later on today if you want.”
“Yes I will. Thank you again doctor.”
“No problem and good luck.” She said warmly and exited the room.
I laid back in bed and waited for Jacob to come back. He did within the next five minutes, and helped me get dressed.
“Don’t get any ideas.” I said looking at him with raised eyebrows.
“What did I do?” he asked dumbly.
“I mean it. No sex for a while. My body needs to heal.” I said laughing at him while he pouted.
“How long?”
“The doctor said about a month or so I think.”
“A month? What the hell!” he exclaimed.
“I told you before it was going to be a while.”
“I know but damn.”
I continued to laugh at him while I finished getting dressed. The nurse brought JJ in not too far after that, and we were on our way home. We lived in this nice house in the town next to my parents and Kathy. For months I was nagging Jacob about baby proofing the place. No sharp corners, putting carpeting down, and getting a few gates up. I drove him crazy but he understood the importance. As we pulled up in our big driveway there were about five other cars already here.
“Who's here?” I asked Jacob.
“Just a few people who wanted to stop by and say congrats.” he said smiling.
I looked at him curiously as we got out the car and headed inside. Jacob insisted on carrying the baby in his car seat into the house. Once we walked in there was a big cheer of congratulations as all of our friends and family came into view, all holding blue balloons. There was a cake and gifts and a huge pile of boxes of diapers.
“Oh my god.” I said covering my mouth as I cried in joy.
“It’s a baby shower.” Jacob said to me wrapping an arm around me.
“How did you do this?” I asked him.
“Well remember when I was almost late for the birth? I lied to everyone and told them I had football practice. But really I was here, setting all of this up.” he said pointing around the house to different things.
“But the balloons? How did you know we were having a boy?” I asked.
“Well I didn’t. So I sent Chi Chi out to buy a bunch of blue stuff today.” he said smiling.
“Oh babe.” i said looking at him with tears in my eyes.
“The plan was for Chi Chi to take you out, get you out of the house so I can get this done. A few guys from the team helped. But then I get a frantic call saying your water broke and…” everyone started laughing.
I couldn’t believe this. I know usually when people have baby showers they do it way before nine months, but I didn’t have one. I was too busy working as a party planner, planning other people’s parties instead of my own.
“I love you.” I said grabbing Jacob’s face and kissing him lovingly. He kissed back just as easy.
“Okay you are messing with my emotions Mel. You can’t kiss me like that and not give me the goods.” he said smirking.
“Shut up.” I said laughing.
Jacob kissed my forehead and we enjoyed the baby shower. JJ practically slept through everything but it’s okay, he got everything he needed. By the time all the guests left it was a quarter to midnight, and I found my way upstairs and in bed while Jacob put JJ in his new crib. It didn’t take him long, and he soon entered the bedroom barefoot in his sweatpants that hugged his waist nicely and a baby monitor in his hand.
“You couldn’t wait for me to get in bed huh?” he asked amusingly.
“I tried babe but it wasn’t working.”
Jacob put the baby monitor on his nightstand and climbed on in.
“Is this really real?” he asked wrapping his arms around me in bed.
“What is?” I asked.
“This. Life. Am I really married to you and have a beautiful son? Or is this all a dream that I am about to wake up from?” he asked.
“Oh it’s real. You can’t dream the pain I went through in labor.” I said to him.
He laughed huskily.
“Yeah you’re right. I’m a lucky guy.” he said kissing me as we drifted off to sleep.
The piercing sounds that began to echo through my head were something I never heard before. I sat upright in bed trying to figure out what was wrong. But then it hit me, it wasn’t nothing tragic, the baby was crying. I looked at the clock on the side of my bed. It said 1:57am. I looked over at Jacob who clearly woke up from the sounds of a baby crying through the baby monitor, and he moaned as he through a pillow over his face.
“I put him to bed.” he said muffled through the pillow.
In other words, it was my turn to get up. I shook my head at him and giggled as I got up and entered the nursery across the hall. JJ was indeed up, squirming around in his onesie under the blanket.
“It’s okay booboo I got you. Momma’s got you.”
I picked him up and grabbed his blanket and brought him back to my room. I sat up against the headboard, propped up by pillows and began to feed him. Jacob rolled over to look at us and simply smiled.
“What?” I asked him.
“He’s got it good.” he said jokingly.
I could not help but laugh, this was going to be life now. And despite everything that has happened, that does not matter to me anymore. I am in the now, here with my son and husband, and nothing to could take this away from me. Jacob rested his head across my thighs as he started to drift off to sleep again.
“Don’t let go.” he said wrapping his arm around my legs to bring me close to him.
I just looked at our son and then back at him.
“Never.” I said.
OKAY YOU GUYS, BEF0RE I START GETTING A STAMPEED OF QUESTIONS, I WOULD JUST LIKE TO ADDRESS THAT NO THERE WILL NOT BE A SEQUAL ANYTIME SOON. HOWEVER, I DO PLAN ON WRITING ONE-SHOT CHAPTERS OF WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE FOR MELANIE AND JACOB BEFORE THEY RECEIVED THEIR HAPPILY EVER AFTER. WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE FOR MELANIE AFTER JACOB GRADUATED? WHAT HAPPENED DURING THEIR COLLEGE YEARS? WERE THEY EVEN TOGETHER? DID MELANIE EVER GET OVER HER BEST FRIEND'S DEATH? WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO JACOB'S DAD? IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU WANT ANSWERED JUST COMMENT OR MESSAGE ME PRIVATELY! ;)