Main Attraction

Chapter 18

We had to wait quite a while for Dean to call us to say the baby had been born. He wasn't telling us the gender or any information other than the fact that both Kim and the baby were happy and healthy. In the end, that's the only thing that mattered.

We said goodbye to my parents and Tessa before we all headed to the hospital. Both kids were so excited the entire drive to see the new baby. They were chatting away, in their own little world. Reid was quiet on the drive. He just reached over to take my hand, giving it a slight squeeze. I was excited to see the new baby. I just loved babies. It made me remember the first time I held Melody. I'd never felt love like that before.

Everyone met in the hospital parking lot so we could all walk in together. We were quickly directed to Kim's room. When we walked in, Kim was in the hospital bed holding the little one in her hands. Dean was sitting on the bed with his arm around Kim as he looked down at the little one. They looked up to see us all filing in. They both had the proudest smiles on their faces.

"Come in! We've got someone for you to meet." Dean said before looking down at his wife.

"Say hello to Mackenzie Sarah Wilson," Kim announced, looking down at the little girl. I hung back as the family said hello to the girl. Dean took Mackenzie from Kim so everyone could get a better look. Kim relaxed back, exhaustion written all over her face. I went to her free side and sat down on the chair beside her.

"So how you doing Mama?" I asked.

"Well, I just pushed a baby out of me with no epidural so I could be better. Although the doctor said my labour was remarkably fast for a first kid so I guess that's a win."

"I remember, but it is so worth it in the end."

"Definitely worth it." She answered.

We hung out at the hospital for about a half-hour. Mackenzie needed to nurse so we called it a night. As we drove back, Will and Melody were talking a mile a minute. When we got home, trying to get them to go to bed was difficult, they had way too much energy, but they eventually fell asleep.

Reid and I fell onto the couch exhausted. I curled up beside him, laying my head on his chest as he traced his fingers up and down my arm. I found my eyes starting to flutter close as I relaxed into him. I was so perfectly content. "Hey Oli?" He asked. I hummed to let him know I was listening. "Do you see yourself having more kids one day? Like down the road, not now, but later?"

"I'd love more." I yawned, "You?"

"Yeah. Seeing Mackenzie today just reminded me how much I want more." He said, "I want to be there for every step, every doctor's appointment, everything."

"Yeah, well if you can do the delivery for me then you've got a deal."

He let out a chuckle, "Alright, let's get you to bed sleepyhead." He pressed a kiss to the top of my head before he carried me into our bedroom. I was half asleep as I got ready. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I was out like a light.

*****

When I woke up Reid was still dead to the world. I slipped out of bed and made my way to the washroom, careful not to wake him up. I had a quick shower, threw on a pair of comfortable pjs all while Reid snoozed. I went out to the living room surprised to see the kids were still asleep. I guess yesterday wore everyone out. I went to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee.

I decided to treat everyone since they were so sweet yesterday. I whipped up some cinnamon pancakes. They were my dad's recipe, he used to make them for me all the time growing up. I got the batter all ready before I started to fry up some bacon. The smell of fresh bacon brought the sound of little footsteps. I turned to see Melody and Will padding out into the kitchen both looking half asleep. "Breakfast?" Melody asked.

"I'm working on it. Reid is still sleeping so why don't you go watch some tv quietly?" Both kids nodded as they made their way to the living room. The sound of cartoons soon filtered in. I just kept humming along as I made the kids their pancakes and put their plates together. I brought the pancakes out to them and they both slid of the couch to eat at the coffee table.

Since Reid wasn't up yet, I decided to just put the rest of the batter in the fridge and go relax with the kids. I curled up with my coffee to relax on the couch. The kids enjoyed their breakfast. It was about an hour later that Reid finally made his way out. He wore his hair up in a messy bun, he wore a pair of sweatpants low on his hips with a snug t-shirt over top. I loved seeing him in the morning. He was just so handsome when he was tired. "Good morning sleepyhead," I said as I got up from the couch. I walked right over to him, giving him a quick kiss.

"Morning. What smells so good?" He asked with his voice still raspy from sleep.

"Cinnamon pancakes. Now sit down and I'll bring you out a plate."

"You don't have to do that."

"I know, but I want to." I gave his shoulder a quick pat as I walked back out to the kitchen. I heated up my pans, and soon, I was plating up two delicious plates of pancakes and bacon. I brought out Reid's plate with a cup of coffee just how he likes it. I grabbed my plate and went back to enjoy my breakfast with my family.

Eventually, Reid and Will had to head home leaving just Melody and I together. Melody played for a bit while I read my book. After a while, Melody climbed on the couch and curled up next to me. "Hey Mama?" She asked.

"What's up Monkey?"

"Can I stop doing dance?"

I paused for a moment in surprise, "I thought you loved dance. Why do you want to quit?"

"It's just okay, but I want to learn piano so I can be like you and Aunt Red. I want to do that instead."

I paused, touched by the sentiment. I knew that Rebecca probably had a bigger influence on this decision than I did. It was still nice to think that my little girl wanted to be like me. "Well, if you like dance you can do both. I don't want you feeling like you have to quit something you love."

"But I don't love ballet. It's boring and there are so many rules that don't make sense."

"Well, piano has a lot of rules too. It's not going to be easy to learn. I had to practice every single day to get as good as I am today. Rebecca, Adam, Lincoln, and Dean are all going to tell you the exact same thing. Being a musician is a lot of work."

"I know. I asked Adam how he got so good at guitar yesterday. He said hard work and Lincoln said that I should learn piano first because it helps learning... uh... something... I don't remember but Adam agreed."

I laughed as I remembered them all playing together yesterday. Apparently, Melody had put more thought into this decision than I thought. "Okay then. I'm going to start looking for a piano teacher for you. You only have one more week of ballet before summer vacation, so we'll still finish up this week, then I'll find you a piano teacher for September. Does that sound like a deal?"

"Yes! Thank you Mama!" She gave me a big hug which I returned. "So... what's for dinner?"

I chuckled, "Chicken sound good?"

"Yep!" She hopped off the couch and went back to her room. I shook my head as I put my book on the coffee table. I had my hands full with that one, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

*****

Author's note:

A nice little short and sweet chapter I hope you enjoyed. Things will be picking up soon. Thank you for reading. Please don't forget to vote. It really helps us authors to reach more readers.

Thanks again,

EJ