“Alicia. Geesh. Calm down. It’s fine. I don’t mind Drew going through my phone. Stop being psycho hormonal,” I warned. She was so sensitive about everything lately.
“It’s not being psycho hormonal that I think it’s bullshit your husband checks your phone, the mileage on your car, your laptop history. Don’t you get sick of being on his leash?”
“Alicia!” Celeste warned with a tone. “That’s none of your business.”
“It is my business. Morgan is my friend, and I—”
“Alicia?” I was the one to notice the grimace on her face.
“My water just broke,” she quietly and shockingly spoke.
Celeste jumped up. “We’re not ready. Are we ready?” she frantically asked Alicia.
“Yes, our hospital bag is at the house, packed and ready. These things take time. We’re fine. You guys have Vincent duty, right?” Alicia, the calm one, asked.
I felt a chill run down my spine, anticipating the arrival of this baby girl. “Yes, we’re fine here. Go bring your baby into the world.”
Celeste squatted to Vincent, explained that he was going to spend the night, and they were going to get his sister.
“I changed my mind, just get me a brother like Nicholas,” he decided.
“You’ll just have to be Nicholas’s big brother. We’re getting a little girl, remember.”
“Um, okay,” Vincent said, looking over to Nicholas, standing between Drew’s legs, deciding that plan would work.
That day lasted forever. Drew and I put the boys to bed around nine in Nicky’s room without one word from Celeste or Alicia. I was worried sick.
“Will you stop? Come here,” Drew urged, grabbing my arm from pacing the floor.
“I can’t. Why haven’t they called?” I asked, leaning into him.
“They will. They didn’t leave here until after seven. These things take time, remember?” he asked, reminding me of our own, very long labor with Nicky.
“UGH, I hate waiting.”
“Alicia’s right, you know.”
“About what?”
“About me going through your phone. I shouldn’t do that. I don’t know why I’m so insecure.”
“Do you trust me?” I asked, turning to face him.
“Absolutely. It’s not about that.”
“It’s about the control, isn’t it?”
Drew nodded and kissed the tip of my nose. “Probably.”
“You can control me. I kind of like it, but you can’t ever mention Valerie or Skyler ever again, not even in the presence of Deidra, deal?”
“Deal, but I shouldn’t need to control you. You think doing all this with Deidra is helping anything?”
“I think it has gotten a lot of things off your chest, things you’ve kept buried for a long time. So, yes. I think it is. Do I think there is a fairy-tale cure, and we’re going to magically turn into a normal couple? No, I don’t believe that for a second. I think we’re always going to be a little on the screwed up side.”
“Is that bad?”
“It’s us, Drew. It’s who we are as a couple. I’m not sure I’d want it to be any other way with you.”
“You have no idea how much I love you, Morgan,” Drew admitted, kissing me more passionately than he needed to. I wasn’t doing that. I couldn’t. My mind was at the hospital with my two best friends. I wanted to be there too. I wasn’t interested in having my legs in the sky at the moment.
“Stop, I’m going to shower,” I sighed, getting away from him.
***
Nicholas cried after us. It was the first time he’d cried when we left him. Drew made sure Vincent was secure in the backseat and turned to me.
“Can’t we just take him?” he asked. It was cute as hell. He didn’t want to leave Nicky crying.
“Drew, he’s fine. I’m sure he’s already over us leaving him.”
“I should just run in and check on him real quick,” Drew stated, walking back towards the door.
I grabbed the back of his shirt, not letting him go. “No, you’re going to make him cry again. Let’s go, Vincent is waiting to see his sister.” We headed to the hospital.
“Oh, my god, Drew. Look how little she is,” I exclaimed, walking into the room with baby Christina—so not the name they had picked out. She was the tiniest little thing I’d ever seen. Nicholas was almost twice her weight when he was born.
Celeste looked like the proudest peacock ever, smiling from ear to ear. She took the tiny baby from Alicia and sat in a nearby chair with Vincent. I watched in admiration as she placed his new little sister in his arms.