Chapter 20
After two days of nurses poking and prodding at me, not to mention hospital food, I was dying to go home. When we walked inside, there was a surprise party, and everyone that had visited while we were in the hospital was there. I took Mackenzie upstairs to the nursery and was shocked to see that every lamp shade, curtain, blanket and article of clothing was now pink. There were stuffed animals of every shape and size filling the corners of the room, and there was a large pink chest full of every baby toy I'd ever seen. I was amazed.
When I had her asleep I laid her down in her crib, and then I just had to stand there for a long minute, marveling at her. I went back downstairs after a few more minutes, and enjoyed the party. I was exhausted and feeling the first traces of post-postpartum, but I got through it and the inevitable pains that came from over-exerting myself.
I fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow that night, but I was awake at midnight when Mackenzie began crying. As I sat up, I realized that just above the built-in alarm clock, there was a baby monitoring system that had also been built into the wall. Mackenzie's voice was coming from the little speaker that had been painted to match the wall. I thought that was rather clever.
I got up to change her, and as I was sitting down in the nursery to feed her, Jared walked in, rubbing his eyes. I was surprised to see Jared was the one that came to check on her. He must have seen the bewildered expression on my face, because he said, “I moved my stuff in this morning and it's my night to have the monitor thing on.”
“You've set up a rotation?” I asked. I was impressed by the ingenuity.
“Yeah. Colin did, actually. I agree with him, it's smart, and it's fair. I hate to admit how much I like your other boyfriends. But I do. And this house is amazing. I wish I'd have been able to be the one to give it to you, but I'm glad that you have someone that could.”
“I get to have you. I'm luckier than you'll ever know.” I said, looking down at Mackenzie to make sure that she had latched on properly. I looked back up and Jared was kneeling in front of me, his eyes full of a love and wonder that I'd never seen before.
“Thank you. For everything. I love you more than I ever thought possible, and I love her even more than that. Thank you,” Jared whispered, and he stood to kiss me without disturbing the baby. When I laid her down, he walked with me back to my bed. His lips were on my neck as soon as I sat down on it. He moved to take off his shirt and I shook my head.
“Why not? I've missed you,” Jared tried sweet talking me to make me change my mind, but the burning pain I felt was all the reminder I needed.
“Stitches. Six weeks of no sex.” I replied.
“That sucks. Can I sleep in here with you anyway?” Jared asked, and I nodded, thinking that would be nice. We cuddled up together and slept until Mackenzie woke up again. I spent the first week like this, with Jared clinging to my side at every waking moment. I thought it was cute, but I was glad when he finally relaxed.
After my six weeks check-up, I went to Colin that first night, wanting to thank him for everything that he'd made possible, and I'd missed his touch bad enough to make me hurt. Seven weeks later, I discovered that I was pregnant again. And this time, all three of them stayed and enjoyed my pregnancy, and Micah didn't change one bit.