Twisted

30

August 10, 1988

It had been five years since the death of King Jess. As a result, the royal family was going to hold a memorial. Stevie had a plan up her sleeve for said memorial and that would be announced at the tomb. Eliza was on vacation so she did her own hair and makeup and as she was tying her dress- it was a black wrap style dress with flutter sleeves there were burgundy pink and burnt orange little designs on it to give a pop of color- Lindsey walked into the closet.

"I don't know Steph, you look too big to be 18 weeks." He shakes his head.

"Dr. Skye says it's access amniotic fluid. I have no idea what that means, but I'm not going to question it. We're healthy that's all that I care about. But I can't like bend down so can you put my shoes on me?" She asks. 

"Those blush pink sandal things?" He asks

"Yes." She nods. 

He groans but he gets down on his knees and she places her hands on his shoulders as he gets the shoes on her feet. Once she's safely tucked in the shoes he grabs her hips.

"What are you doing." 

"Hi baby. It's daddy. What are you doing in there...Just relaxing. I mean come on, you're floating in a giant jacuzzi. Your mom and I can't wait to meet you." He speaks to her stomach and kisses it. Stevie smiles and laces her fingers in his curls.

"What's our peanut doing?" She asks.

"He's screaming on his bed because he doesn't want to wear pants." Lindsey states.

"So I guess it's me then?" Stevie rolls her eyes.

"He listens to you." Lindsey uses her body to brace himself as he stands up. 

"Yeah why is that...why did I become the strict parent?" Stevie asks.

"Because you're his mother. And My mom always scared me." Lindsey shrugs.

"Good to know." She shakes her head going to deal with the little boy who was supposed to be getting dressed in a pair of black pants and a short sleeve grey and red striped button down. 

***

When Stevie made her appearance at the memorial people noticed her bump and immediately started whispering about it. She rolled her eyes but approached the mic anyway. 

"Good Afternoon, I want to thank you all for coming today to remember my father and show your love for him and our family. As you can see I am expecting again. Lindsey, William, Tucker and I are so excited to welcome another member to our family, this coming winter...If you don't know who Tucker is, he's our black lab mix and though he's a dog, he is a very important member of our family. I invited you here today, not to mourn over my father. It's been five years since he suddenly left us and while it rattled our nation, today we're going to focus on his legacy. 

My father was an avid outdoors man. He loved hiking, hunting, fishing, and skiing. But the most important thing to him were his gardens. I'm very lucky to get to live in Amalfi where he created his first garden atmosphere. Today I'm announcing the creation of the Jess Nicks Gardens. Located at Amherst Gardens. The garden will be especially created for children to come and learn about many different plants. There will be a tree house play area. Butterflies, a pond with several types of fish in it, and a little space where families can picnic and enjoy the scenery. The creation of the garden is slated to start in January with an end goal of opening on August 10th, 1989. My dad had spoke about wanting to create a garden for many years, but sadly he passed away before his ideas could come to fruition. I can't wait to share the gardens with you all and most importantly my children. Thank you all for coming out today. Now I'm going to hand it over to my mother." Stevie smiles and makes her way over to the family. 

Barbara gives a brief eulogy for her husband. She was in no state of mind to do it at his funeral five years ago and in the middle of the eulogy, William turns towards his mother's hip. He had been standing in front of Lindsey being patient and obedient, but even Stevie was getting antsy. Lindsey went to scold him, but Stevie just put her hand on his arm and bent down to collect him into her arms. It was slightly difficult with her growing bump and when she startled to struggle, Lindsey noticed and helped hoist him up for her. 

William straddled her bump and laid his head on her shoulder and within minutes she felt his breath even out against her neck. When that happened she picked Lindsey's arm up and looked at his watch to see that it was broaching 11:30. William had pretty much grown up out of the nap time phase but every once in a while he'd curl up and fall asleep on the couch, on Lindsey's lap, or on Stevie's lap around 10 if he wanted a nap. 

"Do you want me to take him?" Lindsey whispers down.

"No, I'm fine. He'll just have to join me for the press conference." Stevie points as Mick makes his way to the microphone to announce the Q and A portion. When she was summoned, Stevie returned to the Mic and then took a minute to look at the crowd and her son, and then she sighed.

"So, Will here, is three years old and he's pretty much outgrown the nap phase. But he does still take naps some times and when he does he usually falls asleep around 10. It's way passed nap time and he's out, so he's going to join me for this portion of the day...so um, First question."

"Have you been planning the gardens for the past five years?" 

"No, I actually hadn't thought about it. But in April, Lindsey and I went to Hawaii and we had rented this private chateau. Along the walk way up to the front door there was a whole bunch of flowers and the first thing William did..." she was cut off by the little boy making a noise into her neck. She looked down at her was looking at her with a cracked eye. "Well good morning I was just talking about you." 

"Mama" He replies sleepily as the crowd coos and Stevie just brings her free arm up to hug him tighter.

"As I was saying, the first thing William did, was he sat down and he just started admiring these flowers. Staring at them. Sniffing them. Touching them and I looked at Lindsey and I said, 'he may look like you, but my dad would do that exact same thing.' and Lindsey never met my dad, but he replied 'maybe he's haunting us'" She and the crowd laugh. "And anyway, a few days later we were on the beach and Lindsey and William were playing in the sand and they found a hermit crab and the way William was just taken by it, got the wheels turning in my head. As soon as we got back I got to work." Stevie explains. 

A few more questions are answered, and William falls back asleep and then they head home for the day. Stevie's second pregnancy was finally out and as unhappy with it as she was, she couldn't have been more happy.