Our Bakery

Making Room for Baby

"Harry." Louis said. His voice was tired. I looked at the clock and dropped my head back onto the pillow.
"Lou, babe it's three forty-seven. Have you slept yet?"
"No, I have not slept, Harry. But guess who just emailed me?"
"Audréa?"
"Yes! I haven't read it yet."
"Well, read it!"
"It says, Hello boys, I'm pleased to inform you that Janis Marie Kampton will be giving birth to a baby girl in early April, and she will be yours. Janis has scheduled to meet with you at your home next week on Wednesday." He froze, wide eyed, and turned to look at me.
"Louis, April... that's two months from now..."
"I know..." Then, before I knew it, Louis was crying. Not happy crying.
"Lou, baby what's wrong?"
"What if I drop her? Or she grows up and hates me?" He was sobbing now.
"That's nonsense boo, here, lay down." I shut his laptop for him and he pressed his head into my chest.
"You are going to be a great father." I told him. He fell asleep and I listened to his short breaths until they became normal again before I finally fell asleep.

The week went by very quickly, and so did the weekend, and so did Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday night, I'd like to say that we were calm, I really would, but... we were insanely not calm. Think of am antonym for calm. That was us the night before Wednesday.
Janis had contacted us, she was very sweet, only 17 years old, and was living with her grandmother and aunt, who wouldn't allow her to keep a baby when she had no job, and was expected to keep going to school.

"Hey Louis?"
"What?"
"I can't stop shaking." I said, looking at my hands.
"I'm nervous, too. She seems nice. Hopefully she likes us enough to give us her baby."
"I'm hope so." I said, putting my hands in my lap and becoming aware of my leg, which was involuntarily bouncing lightly up and down. Louis was pacing through our clean and shiny house, straightening paintings and de-smudging windows. I looked up at the white ceiling and wondered how on earth this was all happening so fast. Louis sat down at the kitchen table and put his head in his hands, taking deep breaths. The doorbell rang. I stood up and Louis raced to the door and opened it.

"Hi... are you Louis?" She asked quietly.
"Yes! I am. Here, come in." He ushered her to the couch and she waddled in, holding her tummy.

"Hi, I'm Harry." He said slowly.
"I'm Janis. I'm not as old as my name makes me sound." She laughed awkwardly.
"So..." Harry began. "You are how far along?"
"Oh! Right, the baby. I'm seven months as of last week." She said, rubbing her stomach.
"How's she treatin ya?"
"She's a pest sometimes. I hate pickles normally, but at three in the morning, they become my favorite food."
"She likes pickles." I laughed.
"She's strange. The doctors say I'm due in two months, but I feel like I'm about ready to pop."
"She's healthy?"
"Yes. She's doing good in there so far." She said, glancing down.
"That's great.... umm... do you want to know anything about us?"
"Oh yeah. Umm, I forgot that you're probably nervous, what with the fact that I decide if you get a baby. But, you shouldn't be. You seem like lovely people. I dunno, what's your hobbies?"
"Um," I started, completely blanking out. What she'd said made me happy, but also even more nervous somehow.
"We like to surf and sing." Harry finished for me.
"Oh that's just wonderful! She loves music. I sing to her all the time, though I don't have a good voice... Do you?" She asked, looking at both of us.
"Oh... um... yeah?"
"Yeah we're good." Louis smiled.

We showed her the house and then sat at the table, like we'd done with Audréa.

"It's... umm... really hard, guys. This. I mean, putting a baby you've conceived into someone else's care forever. I think you guys are fit to have my- your baby." She said, getting choked up.
"Are you sure?" Louis asked her, and we both looked up at him in shock.
"Yes. I mean, I trust you."
"So..."
"The baby is yours." She smiled. I couldn't help it. I started crying. Louis did too, and then Janis. We were all blubbering and bawling and stayed that way. She'd promised to visit us and the baby every month, and we got her contact information so that we could know when she was going into labor. I was scared, terrified even, but I knew that my happiness was overpowering it all. Every negative emotion was drowned in the good ones.