Allie and I spend hours there looking through
books of different nursery decors. With only a couple of books left
I stop on a page and lightly hit Allie on her arm. Since we don’t
know and won’t know for a while the sex of the twins, I like this
décor because it’s an antique white crib and matching furniture.
The room is painted in a light beige with pictures of the babies
newborn pictures in antique frames on the wall over the crib. And
since no one but Jesse and I know we are having twins I notice they
had the crib in stock to order separately. Once we find out the sex
of the twins I can get blankets and accessories for the colors or
color I need.
“Allie! This is perfect! I love it!” I
exclaimed.
Allie looks at the picture then up at me with
a big smile on her face.
Once Sabrina comes back and I show her what I
have chosen we make the arrangements to begin on the babies’ room
in a couple of weeks. No sense in hurrying at this
point.
~*~*~*~
A few weeks later I awake to see Jesse setting
down a tray on the night stand by me full of breakfast foods,
orange juice and a single handmade rose hand in a vase.
He leans over kissing me softly. “Happy
Birthday, baby,” he says into my lips. He helps me sit up and puts
the tray across my lap and then sits down by my legs.
“Thank you, babe. You went to so much
trouble,” I say sniffling. He reaches across the tray and rubs some
tears off that are already on my face. “Aw, no tears baby. Unless
they are happy tears.”
I sniff and nod. “They are. Immensely happy
tears. I. I’ve never had any-anyone do something like, like this
for me.” I cry.
He gets up taking the tray and setting it back
down on the table. He sits with me now and pulls me into a hug,
rubbing my back.
“Shhhh. Its ok, baby. You deserve this and
more,” he says lovingly.
Once I have calmed down, hiccupping a bit, I
share my lovely breakfast with him. We talk about that evening’s
festivities at the Café.
Later, walking into the Café holding hands
with my love, I stop right inside the door and gasp. I pull my hand
from Jesse’s and cover my mouth. “Oh, my God!” My yell is
muffled.
Looking around the Café, I see decorations of
balloons and streamers. They had pushed a couple of the tables
together and on them is a ton of food, drinks and a huge birthday
cake.
Stella walks over and grabs both of my hands
and holds them. “Pumpkin! Happy Birthday!” She leans over and
kisses me on my cheek. I look into her eyes, tears in mine. “Oh,
Stella! This is amazing. I don’t know what to say.”
Jesse puts an arm around my shoulders, pulling
me to him. “Baby, this is all for you. You are so special to
everyone here, don’t you know that?” He kisses me on the side on my
head.
“Go on, you two. Go join the fun,” Stella says
shoving us into the room.
I received so many great presents and the food
was out of this world. They even provided sparkling cider, since I
can’t drink alcohol. They turned on the jukebox and some even
danced in the middle of the Café. I had the best birthday,
ever.
By 10:00 I was sitting in a booth watching
everyone have a great time and started yawning. Jesse walks over
and sits beside me. “Come on. Let’s get you home.” He puts his arm
around me and I lean my head on his shoulder. “Ok,” I
yawn.
Chapter
thirty-nine
The months have passed by quickly. It’s
unseasonably hot for June. But that’s Kansas for you, the weather
can change rapidly in a day.
We’ve been going to my doctor appointments
every two weeks and today we will see if our babies’ cooperate and
show us what sex they are. I’m not sure who is more excited, Jesse
or me.
I’m in my now normal position on the table not
embarrassed in the slightest anymore. Dr. Zellar is moving the wand
over my lubricated belly and suddenly stops.
“Both babies are in really good positions,
right now. See there,” he says as he points to the screen. “It’s
pretty obvious that is a penis.” I swallow almost choking on my
spit. “And over here,” he moves his finger to the next sac. “Here
you can see there isn’t one. It’s pretty safe to say you’re having
a boy and a girl. Congratulations.”
I don’t think I could contain Jesse’s
exuberance if I tried. He jumps up and is hugging the doctor and
the nurse as I lay there all exposed for the world see. I thought
he might leave me there and run outside to pace the street stopping
everyone to tell them and hand out cigars.
But finally he realizes he hasn’t hugged the
most important person in the room. ME.
His head turns so quick I’m surprised he
didn’t get whiplash. He runs over to me, hopping up onto the bed,
and covers me with kisses. Ok, he’s forgiven.
~*~*~*~
Sabrina is coming over with a crew today to
start on the nursery. We have talked a few times, over the phone,
about a few things she needed before they started.
Jesse and I are having breakfast in the
kitchen when I suddenly ask, “So, Sabrina says you all have worked
together a lot.” He looks up at me, from his paper, and I smile
sweetly.
“Ah, well yes, we have.” He smiles back. I
pick at the food on my plate with my fork. “That’s nice. She talked
like she was rather fond of you,” I say.
Jesse puts his paper down on the table and
turns to me. “Babe, we just worked together,” he chuckles. His face
then turns serious. “Well, I guess we have gone out for drinks a
couple of times after work. But, not a big deal really. Ok, we
dated some. But it was nothing, baby. Really!”
I take his hand. “Oh, I know. She just seemed
like, I don’t know, like maybe she was a little too fond of
you.”
Jesse grabs my other hand and leans forward on
the table. “Baby, now what is all this about? You’re the only one I
love.” He kisses my hand.
“I know. I’m being silly and probably
hormonal. I trust you.” I lean and give him a quick
kiss.
After Jesse leaves to run some errands,
Sabrina and her crew showed up and began working on the room. I
stay downstairs and occupy my time by watching TV so I don’t get in
the way and ended up falling asleep on the couch.
I awoke to hushed voices coming upstairs. I
make my way to the bottom of the stairs and stop.
“Jesse. You really should tell her about us.
Really, what are you thinking? That she won’t find out? Seriously,
I don’t understand what you see in her anyway. What we had was the
best. Why would you want someone like her, when you can have me?
Hmmm?” Sabrina whispers loudly.
I am shocked and frozen on the stairs. I can’t
believe what I am hearing. I knew something wasn’t right by the way
she was talking when we met.
I turned around and quietly went downstairs.
Allie is in her office typing away on her laptop. I clear my
throat. She stops and turns around. “Cassie? What’s wrong,” she
says coming towards me. I back up a step. “I. I overheard,” I can’t
seem to form the words.
She puts her hands on my shoulders. “Cassie,
tell me. What happened?” I have tears in my eyes and shake my head
slowly. “I heard Sabrina tell Jesse that they should get back
together. That what they had was the best and why would he want to
be with me.” I am shaking now.
Allie pulls me to her. “Oh, Cassie. Jesse
loves you. You’re being a hormonal pregnant mommy and are feeling
insecure. Don’t let what she says bother you.”
I stay downstairs with Allie for a while and
feel better by the time I return upstairs.
I can’t hear any of the noises from the
nursery so I go up to find Jesse but he is nowhere to be found. As
I go back downstairs I hear clanking of dishes coming from the
kitchen. I stop in the doorway watching Sabrina putting a glass in
the dishwasher. She turns around and leans back against the
counter.
“If you’re looking for Jesse he isn’t here,”
she smirks. “He said he needed to go to the Café to pick up
something.” I nod my head slowly. “Ok. So is your crew done for
today?” I ask.
“Oh, yes. They will be back tomorrow. I am
leaving now. The crew will be on their own from now on so if you
need me for anything you can just call me.”
She starts to walk past me and turns to me.
“You know you’re not good enough for him, don’t you? He needs a
confident real woman. Not some,” she eyes me up and down, “mousy
little scared girl.”
And with that, she leaves. I don’t get a
chance to say anything as I am standing there with my mouth hanging
open, in shock.
When Jesse returns he finds me sitting on the
couch staring at the TV which is turned off. He sits on the coffee
table in front of me and puts his hands on my knees. “Cassie? Baby?
Are you ok? What’s wrong? Is it the babies’?”
My vision comes into focus and I blink. “What?
Oh, I’m sorry. I must have zoned out.” I smile.
He laughs. “It’s ok. Hey, I went and picked up
an apple pie from the Café for dessert tonight.” I lean in and kiss
him. “That sounds wonderful.”
~*~*~*~
A week goes by and the nursery is finished. It
looks just like the picture in the catalog. I love it! I’ve already
called in for the second crib, which will be delivered in about a
month.
“Hey, the nursery turned out perfect! Are you
happy, baby?” Jesse says standing behind me with his arms around my
waist. I lay my head back against his shoulder and smile up at him.
“Happy doesn’t begin to describe it.”
He turns me around and kisses me. When he
pulls back he gives me his famous grin. “I want to take you out to
celebrate. But also I wanted to ask you if you would accompany me
to a charity we are running this Friday night. It’s a pretty big
deal so I really need to be there and would love for you to go with
me. It’s kind of dressy so we could use that night to celebrate
too. Will you go?” Then he gives me his pouty
expression.
I laugh and swat his arm playfully. “Oh, ok. I
would love to go with you and celebrate.”
Come to find out that this charity event is
near the design company. It’s being held in a ballroom at a ritzy
hotel.
Allie and I went shopping and found me the
most beautiful cocktail dress. It is a navy blue V-neck dress that
comes to just above my knees. It has a gorgeous sequenced design
right below the breasts in the middle of an open waistline. Since I
am getting so huge so quickly now I needed something to help
conceal my belly for an event like this. We find matching shoes and
a small clutch.
Friday night is here before I know it and I am
really nervous. I have never been to anything like this. Jesse is
so comforting because he knows I am apprehensive.
The ballroom is beautifully decorated. Food
covered tables in a buffet style against the farthest wall from us.
Over to the left of them is a fully stocked bar with two bartenders
and another bar at the opposite end of the room.
The center of the room is full of people
talking and laughing, everyone seems to be enjoying
themselves.
I take Jesse’s arm as we walk around the room.
He introduces me to the people he knows and nods at those he
doesn’t. We end up at the food tables, taking our full plates and
sitting down at an empty table.
As we eat I look around the room watching
others mingling when I see Sabrina walk in the door. I watch her
look around the room, and her eyes stop abruptly on Jesse. He is
oblivious to her stare as he eats. A few minutes later I feel the
hair stand up on the back of my neck, and a cold chill sweeps down
my spine.
“Hello, Jesse,” Sabrina says with a sexy
smile. She turns to me with an obvious fake smile. “Hello, Cassie.”
She immediately turns back to Jesse. “I am so glad you made it
tonight. Didn’t everything turn out great?” She says putting her
hand on his shoulder.
“Yes, everything turned out very nice. Good
job, Sabrina,” Jesse says with a small smile. He seems
uncomfortable.
“Thank you. Well, I must go mingle before the
auction begins. Have a nice evening. I will talk with you later,”
Sabrina says walking off completing ignoring me.
I am feeling a little green and am not sure if
it’s jealousy or an upset stomach, or both. “Um, I think I am going
to go use the ladies room,” I tell Jesse.
He looks at me and nods. “Do you want me to
walk you there?” I bend down and kiss his cheek. “Oh, no! Really, I
can manage. But thank you.”
Once in the rest room, after finishing with
all my necessities, I am standing at the mirror applying a little
lip gloss.
I hear the door open behind me and my focus in
the mirror switches from my lips to Sabrina standing with her back
against the door, glaring at me.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the little girl who
is trying to keep my Jesse from me,” she says sarcastically. I turn
around and lean against the counter. “Sabrina. What do you want?
Jesse is happy now, with me. He doesn’t want you anymore. I heard
you all talking at the house,” I smirk.
She raises her hand, looking down at her
fingernails, “Ah, little girl. Jesse doesn’t know what he wants. He
thinks he’s happy now, but he will find out what he’s missing and
come back to me. He needs a real woman.”