Little Warrior

4. Complete

Lucy pulled a box out of the back of the truck when she heard Tim.

"Don't you dare," he said.

"It's just a box of Trixie's stuffed animals," she explained.

"You know what I'm gonna say," he replied and took the box out of her hands.

"I'm carrying one of our babies, and that's enough," Lucy repeated the words he had said a million times since they found out she was pregnant as an excuse for why it seemed she could not lift a finger regardless of the task.

"Baby sister!" Trixie said happily and tugged at her mom's skirt.

"We don't know that yet, kiddo," Tim chuckled.

"I want a baby sister! I can braid her hair!"

"What if you have a baby brother?" Lucy wondered.

Trixie screwed up her face in disgust. "I don't want a brother."

"And why not?" Tamara wondered as she walked out of the new Bradford house to gather a few more boxes.

"Boys are gross," Trixie grimaced.

"Boys aren't gross. Daddy's a boy, and you love daddy," Lucy pointed out.

"Daddy's a special boy," Trixie justified.

"Hear that? I'm a special boy?" He repeated his daughter's words to his wife with a smug smile on his face.

"You're inflating their egos, kid," Tamara joked and picked up the last box from the back of Tim's truck. Based on the label affixed to the top, she said, "Trix, why don't you help me bring this box to your room? Looks like it's some more of your clothes."

Trixie nodded and followed Tamara into the house.

Balancing the light boxed of stuffed animals on his hip, Tim looped his free arm around Lucy's back and looked at the open front door of their house. "We're officially moved in. Only took a few months."

"John worked pretty quickly to fix the house how we wanted. Our goal was to be all moved in by the time this little guy comes along, and since he's still got a few weeks, we're on schedule," Lucy reminded him.

"HE? We're not having this argument again. You are going to have a GIRL."

"Be prepared to be wrong pretty soon when we meet our SON."

Tim rolled his eyes and put his hand over her swollen stomach. He was still surprised by how much their baby and therefore Lucy's belly had grown throughout her pregnancy, and now that her due date was quickly approaching, he wished they had more time to prepare for another child that was almost ready to join the world. "We're going to make a lot of progress moving in today, okay? I don't want you to keep stressing about the house. It's not good for the baby or you."

"Tim, I love you, but you gotta relax a little. I've been following the doctor's orders to the letter, our baby's healthy, I've been riding a desk for months, our house is ready, and Trixie is doing well in school. Everything is going great. You need to stop acting like the other shoe is about to drop out of nowhere. That's not how our lives work anymore."

"Can you blame me for getting a little paranoid?"

She cupped his chin, "No, but you should stick with me. I'll remind you of all the goodness we have in our lives."

"That's what I married you for."

"Really? I thought it was for my good looks, well..." she dropped her eyes to her pregnant stomach and did not feel so pretty due to her size.

"You are and will always be the most beautiful woman to me," he promised and kissed her forehead. "Second place is our daughters."

"Our DAUGHTERS, huh? Way to slip that in there. Am I the only Bradford that thinks we're having a boy?"