Jes Hood sipped a glass of lemonade, the drink made her lips pucker. It was a bit more sour than she had anticipated but it helped to make the Southern California late summer air more bearable. She pushed her legs against the floors of the back porch to get the swing she sat in started as her eyes scanned the back yard for her two children.
Seven year old Paisley and four year old Ryker came streaking around the corner of the house just as she had begun to worry. They were squealing and her eyes squinted as she tried to figure out what they were doing. She didn't have to wonder long when a stream of water followed them closely from the side of the house, eventually revealing their father holding a massive water gun.
She couldn't help but laugh. Calum was always up to something with them but she did wonder for a second exactly where he had found a water gun that large. She stood from the swing and moved over to the railing, still sipping from her glass as she leaned against her forearms and watched her family play together in the yard below.
"Guys, guys." Calum said, grabbing their attention and then beginning to whisper. Ryker chanced a few glances in Jes's direction and she knew that couldn't be good. She realized what they were planning a moment too late, she would never quite figure out how her children had also gained access to water guns so quickly or how Calum convinced them to soak her but within a minute she was soaked to the bone. She raced down the stairs, tackling Calum and stealing his toy for herself, emptying the rest of the water it held on him until he looked as drenched as she knew she was.
The result was their family of four collapsing into a fit of giggles as they laid in the grass and allowed the water to dry. In such a happy moment Jes was saddened to find that in the midst of their happy chaos it felt like something was missing.
Later that evening she still couldn't shake the thought she had realized earlier and so when both Paisley and Ryker were asleep and Calum joined her in their bed she turned to face him. Their faces were only inches apart in their sea of blankets as she found the dark brown eyes she had fallen in love with and told him that she wanted another baby.
Calum's first response was to stare back at her with wide eyes and parted lips as he stumbled through his brain for what she was sure were the words to gently remind her that she could no longer have children.
"Obviously I know that I can't give birth to another child for us." She whispered, his body relaxing when he realized that she wanted them to consider another avenue.
"So, like, adopt then?" Calum said slowly, obviously beginning to come to terms with the conversation she had sprung on him so suddenly.
"Yeah." She nodded. "I know we haven't really talked about it since Paisley was little and we were having trouble getting pregnant but I don't know, today when I was watching you and P and Ryker out there, when we were all lying in the grass I just got this overwhelming feeling that we were missing something. Someone."
"Three kids is a lot more responsibility. Right now we can each split our time with them pretty evenly. That could be a challenge going from two to three."
"I know, I'm not saying it would be easy. I'm just opening up the discussion about the possibility of us having more kids and I want to know your opinions on the subject."
"Jes, you know how much I love our two kids. I love being a dad more than anything else in the world and if this is something you think we can handle then I'm all in. I think we need to consider the two other members of this household though."
"You wanna ask the kids?"
"I think they'll be on board but I also don't want to make such a life altering decision for our family without including all of the members. They might have questions or hesitations and I would rather talk those out with them before we get too deep into this and get disappointed."
"That sounds reasonable."
"I love you, you know?" He asked, leaning forward to press a kiss to her forehead.
"I know." She promised, meeting his lips with her own. "I love you, too."
*
"Okay guys. Your mum and I want to talk to you both about something." The whole family had gathered in the living room, Paisley was seated on her father's lap and Ryker was content on the floor, rolling his toy cars across the carpet while Jes had taken a seat at the opposite end of the couch that Calum and P sat on.
"Daddy and I were thinking that we might like for you guys to have another brother or sister."
"Is there a baby in your belly?" Paisley asked.
"No." Jes said, doing her best to hold her voice steady. "Mommy can't have any more babies in her belly. But, there are a lot of babies out there who don't have a mommy or a daddy or a big sister or brother. We thought that we might give one of those babies a family."
"I'm the baby." Ryker said, his lower lip looking terribly pouty as he abandoned his cars on the floor and rushed to climb into his mothers arms, his thumb slipping into his mouth.
"Of course you'll always be our baby, just like sissy. But don't you think it would be fun to have another friend like Pais?" Ryker seemed to consider his mother's words but didn't reply. Instead he just buried his head into her neck, his chubby little arms holding on to her as tightly as was possible for him.
Jes kissed the top of his head and then shot a worried look over to her husband.
*
"Hey buddy, how are you feeling about everything?" Calum asked his son as they rode through the streets of their neighborhood on the way to a dinner with his band. He felt Jes' hand squeeze his and he watched Ryker's face through the rear view mirror as they waited for the stop light to change.
"I don't want another sister.' The little boy said grumpily. It had been several months since they had first discussed adoption with their two children. Paisley had quickly hopped on the idea, she had loved helping with Ryker when he was little and she was excited to get to help with the new baby as well. They had been told about a possible match but they were concerned that Ryker still hadn't really come around to the idea.
"Is there anything mommy and daddy could do to make you excited?" Jes tried. "Maybe special days where you or Paisley or eventually the new baby get to pick what we do?" If he was worried about feeling forgotten that would help with that, right?
"Can I pick her name?"
Calum had moved to press the gas with the light changing green and they jerked forward in response to his tapping of the gas a little too hard in surprise.
"You want to name her?' Jes asked, turning around to face Ryker in the back.
He met her eyes and nodded.
"And what would you like to name the baby?"
"Gracie."
Jes looked over to Calum who tilted his head and smiled. "I like Gracie."
"And you would like the baby if we named it Gracie?"
Ryker nodded and fiddled with the cars he held in his hands. "Yeah, I like Paisley. I don't want her to go. But Gracie and her could both stay and then I would like her."
Jes was confused for a moment and then it hit her and she could have burst into tears of relief. Ryker wasn't upset they were adding a new baby, he had just been confused. The way they had explained things to him he had misunderstood and thought he would be losing Paisley to gain "another sissy." He wanted his Paisley not 'another Paisley."
The reality of it was too pure and fucking cute for words.
"I think Gracie sounds perfect bubba." She said, her eyes shining with tears. "Hopefully we can meet her soon."
