⇾ 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐄 𝐈'𝐌 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 | 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐌𝐜𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐈𝐈

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙮-𝙊𝙣𝙚 ➪ 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙘𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙮 & 𝙏𝙖𝙮𝙡𝙤𝙧 𝙁𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙍𝙚𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣-𝙎𝙞𝙭𝙩𝙮-𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚

ꕥ November 17, 1969 ꕥ
31 weeks
Juliette's POV

I woke up feeling refreshed, in between Paul and Mary. As soon as I stirred, Paul was awake too.

"What time is it?" he asked me quietly, his hot breath blowing against my neck because of how close he was to me.

He moved and then he was hissing to me. "Shit, Juliette, they'll be here any minute," he said, getting up and leaving room for cold air to blow on me from behind. His breath certainly was better than that.

"Paul, don't leave," I whined.

"Oh, Julie, love, one of us needs to be awake when they arrive, don't we?"

"I dunno, do we?" I asked grouchily. "I want you to lay with me." I was comfortable and dead-set on not moving...until one of the babies moved and hit me straight in the bladder.

"Dammit," I said, moving quickly to make it to the bathroom. "Your bloody children are too rowdy," I told Paul as I made my way into the bathroom. "Always kicking me everywhere."

"Sorry," I heard him murmur as he went towards the stairs. I returned to the bedroom and saw Mary sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes sleepily as she tried to make sense of what was going on around her.

"You hungry?" I asked her.

She nodded. "When will Gramma be here?" she asked, her words slurring together as she spoke.

"Soon," I replied. "Let's go make some food so they can eat when she gets here, alright?"

"Can I eat Miss Isla's cookie?" she asked.

"Sure, you can," I responded. Then, I reached over and ruffled her messy hair. "And we need to fix your hair again," I told her with a laugh. "You've got bedhead!"

She giggled and leaned her head on my shoulder as I picked her up and carried her downstairs. I sat her onto the couch, grabbing her favorite fleece blanket to put around her. "Let me get you your cookie," I said. "Would you like some milk?"

She nodded, giving me a smile. "Chocolate milk," she clarified.

"Oh, alright, then."

Paul appeared around a corner, working hard to do up the buttons on a white dress shirt he had just slipped on. I grinned when I saw how much he was struggling. "Alright over there, McCartney?" I asked him, getting the chocolate milk out of the fridge. His head jerked up.

"Did you ever think about how raggedy this house is?" he asked, looking around. I raised an eyebrow curiously.

"It looks fine to me," I responded.

"Well, of course, it's perfect for us, but...your mum is so judgmental. Do you think she'll hate it?"

I rolled my eyes, filling up Mary's cup. "I don't care," I said. "She can judge all she wants. As long as we're happy, who the hell cares what she has to say, huh?" I smiled at him, the handed him Mary's cup and her cookie. "Take these to Mary, will you? Fix her hair too, please. Looks like an animal's living in there," I joked, leaning over to kiss him on the lips. "I will make some food."

"Ooh, can you make that casserole you always make? It's so good."

"Paul, we had that two bloody days ago." I put my hands on my hips disapprovingly, but I was still smiling.

Paul pouted. "But, you looove me!" he argued.

I sighed. "I'll see if I have the stuff for it," I told him. He beamed. "But, that's not a promise!" I warned.

"Oh, yes it is." He kissed me on the cheek before turning towards the door, hearing Mary call out for her snack. "Duty calls."

"Don't forget her hair!" I said as he disappeared.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a master at this whole 'dad' thing if you didn't notice already, dear!"

ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ

"Nana, Papa!" Mary yelled when Paul's step-mother and father stepped out of the taxi that had brought them up. Ruth got out behind them and she immediately smiled when she saw Mary.

Mary squirmed in my arms, trying to get me to release her. I obliged and she ran toward the three of them. "Ruthie!" she said delightedly, though the word comically came out more like "roofie" than what it was actually supposed to sound like.

Paul's father scooped Mary up into his arms, looking very happy to see his granddaughter. Paul moved to greet them as well, but walking over there seemed quite daunting to me. I'd already been standing for quite some time because I'd been cooking, and now Paul's damned casserole was in the oven and I was really looking forward to sitting down.

"How are you guys?" Paul's father asked Paul and I as they all made it up to the front door with us.

"We're pretty good, thanks," Paul responded, opening the front door. "Welcome to our humble abode!" he said sarcastically.

All three of our guests looked around at our house as we entered through the front door.

"What do you think?" Paul asked them eagerly. Ruth looked around in awe.

"I love it!" Ruth said before anyone else could respond. I smiled as I sunk down into one of the chairs in our living room, putting my hands to my belly. The babies were really moving around now. It's like they knew that their grandparents were here to visit!

"Well, let me show you the rest of it!" Paul said with a smile. "Coming, Juliette?" he asked and everyone turned their eyes on me.

I shook my head. "I'm gonna wait here. I need to sit for a little while." I smiled. "Enjoy the house. I decorated it as best as I could."

Paul elf his family away from me and I leaned back in the chair, closing my eyes. Every now and then, there was a little jab from inside my stomach and it hurt, but I couldn't have cared less. At least the bloody contractions had stopped now.

A few minutes into my well-deserved sitting session, I noticed another cab pull up in front of the house and I stood, ready to greet my side of the family.

I waddled my way over to the front door and opened it, waving as I saw Arabella get out first, followed by Amelia, then my father, and finally my mother emerged from the front seat. I was most nervous about her reaction to the house. She was bound to find something wrong with it. I knew it.

"Where's Paul?" Arabella asked as she came up to me and wrapped me in her arms. Then, she pulled away to marvel at my baby bump. "You're huge!" she said. "But, in a cute way, got it?" She smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"He's showing his parents around. Come on in," I said, leading them all three into the house and calling out for Paul. When he appeared at the top of the stairs and called out a response, I rolled my eyes again.

"He'll come down her eventually. He'll probably give a three hour lecture on the features in every room. It's just what he does. Oh, and get ready because he'll do it to you too." I laughed.

"Gramma! Grampa!" Mary said, slowly making her way down the stairs to greet the rest of our guest. "Auntie!"

Mary ran straight into my dad's arms. "Wanna see my room?" she asked everyone excitedly.

"Let's see it, Mary," Arabella said as she held onto Amelia's hand.

I watched as Mary told them where to go, debating whether or not I'd join them. Finally, I decided to. No matter how exhausted and sore I was, our whole family was here, and I needed to enjoy every bit of it.