My Real (29 page)

“I did, but it’s such a good nickname for you. You’re my little Lima Bean.” She sticks her tongue out at him. Emerson told me the first time that I cooked lima beans for her that she hated them. She said the first time she tasted them, she spit them all over the place because they tasted so bad, including all over Jake’s shirt, hence, the nickname.

Jake leans over and puts Emerson in her car seat as Ella pulls me aside.

“I’m going to go home with Jake.” My only response is a raised eyebrow. She leans in and hugs me.

Good byes are said before we head home.

I look back into the review mirror and see that Emerson is asleep, and we haven’t even left the parking lot yet. As we left Chocolate World, we picked up all of Bailey’s flowers and chocolates and load them into the car. The chocolate is safely in the trunk, the back seat next to Emerson is filled with flowers, and the love notes from the chocolate are all in a pile sitting on Bailey’s lap.

“When did you have time to do all of this?”

“I’ve been working on them all week. I estimated you could finish off a bag every other week so there were twenty-six bags of candy.”

“A year’s supply of chocolate?”

“And a year’s supply of love notes,” I answer as I grab her hand. Her eyes get really big.

“Please tell me I don’t have to wait to read these.”

“No,” I say rubbing her hand. “These are all for tonight. I’ll write you as many love notes as you want. I’ll read them to you in bed tonight, fiancé.”

“I love the sound of that, fiancé,” she grins.

“Me, too.”

We cuddle in bed together, unwinding after a very eventful day. I reach over onto my night stand to get the pile of love notes that Bailey put there before she went in to shower.

“Will you read some to me?” Bailey asks sounding sleepy already.

“Sure,” I say as I tear the first envelope open and pull out the piece of paper.

“I love that you always give me a good night kiss,” I read off of the paper. She stretches up and kisses me.

I tear open the next envelope, “I love that you were my best friend in college and are again.”

I go for another envelope and hear Bailey’s even breaths. I put the pile of envelopes on the nightstand and wrap my arms around her. “I love that you are finally mine.”

I roll over in bed and come up with a very cold and empty side that is supposed to be filled with my beautiful fiancée. Fiancée, I’m going to like saying that but not as much as I’m going to like calling her my wife. Everything went perfectly yesterday, and we decided on Labor Day weekend to tie the knot. I’m relieved that she doesn’t want to do a big wedding. I would have given that to her if that’s what she really wanted, but I wasn’t looking forward to going through all that again.

I go downstairs and start breakfast for the three of us. Bailey’s out running, so she shouldn’t be gone too long. I hear Emerson walking down the stairs, so I get her chocolate milk ready. Bailey is already rubbing off on her.

“Morning Daddy.” After climbing up to the table for a kiss, Emerson drinks down her chocolate milk. “Ahhhhh.”

“Did you have fun yesterday?” I ask as I sit in the chair in front of her.

“Best day ever! I’m so excited you and Bailey are getting married,” she exclaimed.

“Me too baby. Me too,” I agree.

“I have a question for you though. What do I call her now? Bailey or Mommy?” she asks innocently.

“What do you want to call her?” I ask.

“Well, I already have a mommy, but Bailey does more mommy things with me. And I love her just as much as my mommy,” Emerson states.

I wait for her to continue. I’m not going to push her into a decision one way or the other. She just looks at me waiting for an answer.

“I think that’s something you need to talk to Bailey about,” I decide.

“Talk to me about what?” Bailey asks as she walks in the door all sweaty from her run.

“Well,” Emerson starts while Bailey sits down next to her. “I was trying to figure out what I should call you now.”

“What do you want to call me?” Bailey asks.

“I want to call you ‘Mommy’ but what about my other mommy? Can I have two mommies?” Emerson asks scratching her head.

“Sure you can, I have two mommies,” Bailey explains.

“You do?” Emerson looks at her with bright eyes.

“Yes. My mommy and daddy got divorced when I was in high school. My daddy got remarried so now I have a mommy and a stepmom.”

Emerson looks at Bailey for a second while that sinks in. “So I can call you Mommy?”

“I’d love if you would call me Mommy,” Bailey answers.

“Okay Mommy, I’m going to go color now.” She hops down from her chair and kisses Bailey on the cheek before she runs off to play.

Bailey stares at the door that Emerson just walked out of. I walk up behind her and put my hand on her shoulder. When she slowly turns her head up toward me, she has a smile on her face. I lean down to kiss her.

“For the longest time I thought I’d never hear someone call me Mommy. I thought that I’d never feel this kind of love for a child. I prepared myself to never feel this. That right there may have just been one of the sweetest moments I’ll ever experience.”

“I know. I’m glad I was here for it. We both love you more than you’ll ever know.” I say as I wrap my arms around her waist.

“Are you all packed yet?” Ella asks me as we stand in the faculty room at school getting ready for the first day.

“You’re not even funny. Is this you volunteering to help me pack tonight?” I beg.

“Absolutely not. That’s why I bought the house I did. I’m never moving again. I despise packing and moving, like loathe it more than state testing, hate it,” Ella complains.

“How much more are you doing today in here?” I ask.

“I want to copy all of my guided reading packets then I’m leaving.”

“Do you want to go grab lunch after that? I’m going to need some extra energy for the long night ahead of me.”

“You’re on. I’ll meet you at your room in thirty minutes,” Ella says as she feeds another packet into the copier.

I walk back to my classroom. Thirty minutes. I have about thirty hours of work to finish in this room before it’s ready for kids and no time to do it, an entire house to pack before Thursday night, and now a wedding a few short weeks away to plan. The stress is starting to build.

I start hanging posters and before I know it, Ella is breezing into my room. “Let’s go, I’m starving.”

“I have to finish hanging these math posters. If you help me, we can leave faster.” I say as I throw a roll of tape at her.

“No, you can do this tomorrow,” she says as she grabs my purse and pulls me out the door. “You know, you’d have a lot less to do in August every year if you’d leave your posters up over the summer.”

“I like to start fresh every year,” I answer as she drags me down the hall. We walk down the street to the restaurant talking about the kids we have in our class this year. Ella is in for a wild ride with some of the cherubs on her list.

We get to the restaurant and order our food.

“So are you getting nervous about moving in with Andrew?” Ella asks was we find a table.

“Not really, we have been spending most nights together now, anyway,” I reply. Our order number is called, so I jump up and grab our tray. As I sit back down with our food I see that Ella has papers spread out all over the table.

“Last night, I looked up the number of three different places that will do beach ceremonies, two restaurants, but I really think the first one is the best, a couple of florists, and a whole list of ministers,” Ella says, surprising me.

I sit in the booth with my mouth hanging open and stare at her.

“What?” Ella asks.

“You did that all in one day?” I’m stunned and grateful.

“It’s really not that big of a deal. It’s just a list of numbers. We still have to call them all,” she downplays all her hard work.

“You’ve definitely earned your Maid of Honor title. You’ll look mighty nice up there next to Jake,” I add.

“I know I will. That’s one of the reasons I let you get married so soon. Standing next to that dreamy man is already getting me hot and bothered,” she agrees.

“So what’s going on between you two?” I ask innocently like I have no clue there is a major attraction coming from both parties.

She shrugs her shoulders and nonchalantly says, “We’ll see.”

We start calling the numbers on her list and weeding out the ones not available for Labor Day Weekend.

“That’s the last of them. Thank you so much for helping me with all this Ella. Between moving, going back to school, and the wedding, I’m getting a little overwhelmed,” I admit. I stand and empty our trays. Ella follows behind me.

“You’re the one who wanted a wedding in a few weeks,” Ella reminds me.

I stick my tongue out at her as we walk out the door.

I head home to start the dreaded chore of packing everything I own into boxes for the move. When I pull onto my street, I see that Andrew’s truck is already in my driveway.

Andrew is walking out the front door when I pull into the driveway.

“What are you doing here already?” I ask.

“I got to work early and worked through lunch, so I could get here early to help as much as I can.”

“Thanks honey.” I lean in to kiss his cheek as he finishes putting a load of boxes into the bed of the truck.

“I’ve got one more load of boxes in the Goodwill pile, then we can start on the bedroom. I was thinking we’d start with the lingerie drawer,” he suggests raising his eyebrows.

“Forget it mister. You tried that last night, and we didn’t get any packing done. I’m headed to the kitchen.”

He follows me into the kitchen, and we pack for several hours. Later, he takes a seat on the stool at the island, and leans his head against his hand.

“What time did you get up this morning?” I ask as I tape a box.

“Four.”

“Why don’t you go home and get some sleep?” I say as I walk up behind him and put my arms around him.

“I’m here to help.”

“Alright, I’ll order some pizza, you go relax for a few minutes. I have all week to pack. Besides, Jake’s not moving in for another week. It doesn’t all have to be out by Friday.”