September 21, 2014
"Mina?" I heard the front door open and scrambled off my seat at the table. Myles had barely rounded the corner into the kitchen when I jumped on him, arms and legs wrapping around him tightly.
"Welcome home babe." I said when I finally stopped kissing him.
"Mmm, it's good to be back." He set me down on my feet carefully before bending down to greet Sigmund, who'd been barking since he came in the door. "Hey little guy, I missed you too."
"He's not the only one who missed you." He looked up at me, a smile already spreading across his face.
"I forgot to say hello to you." He pressed a kiss to the bump that seemed to have formed overnight. "How are you feeling?"
"Still getting sick in the mornings, but it's getting better." I had a hard time keeping my hands off my belly nowadays. It was still so strange to me to think that I was growing a little human in my body.
"I'm glad to be home so I can take care of you. I don't know how you managed to finish your tour like this."
"Believe me, it wasn't easy." I'd been throwing up four times a day on tour and annoying the shit out of everyone while I was at it. Thankfully I hadn't been too far along before we finished our touring cycle.
"When's your next appointment?"
"Two weeks. I've got the schedule written on the chalkboard." I pointed to the portion of the wall that we'd painted with chalkboard paint so I could write all over it. I had a grocery list going on one side, my appointment schedule in the middle, and a list of forbidden foods on the other side.
"Hopefully the baby will turn so we can see what we're having." He kissed my forehead. "You're glowing, you know that?"
"I'm just happy to have you home." I missed him terribly on a normal day, but now that I was pregnant it seemed like I cried every time I even thought about him because I wanted him with me so badly.
"You've got me for a good long time." He glanced over at the table. "Oh, you were eating. Go finish your food."
"Are you going to be one of those husbands that force their wife to go on bed rest so they don't get overtired?"
"Maybe. Eat." I sat back down to finish the sandwich I'd been picking at. He'd called me when he landed about an hour ago. He wouldn't let me come get him from the airport because he didn't want me to have to sit in traffic. Considering how weak my bladder already seemed to be, I couldn't exactly blame him.
"There's a book on the coffee table I think you should read." I practically held my breath as he brought the book to the table and cracked it open, revealing a small picture tucked into the front. For a moment he just stared at it, then looked up at me open mouthed.
"Is this-?" I just nodded and he looked back down at the ultrasound picture.
"It's a boy." Great, I was crying again. At least these were happy tears not "I want my husband home" tears.
"We're having a boy." He wrapped me up in his arms, rocking me back and forth. "Why did you tell me they couldn't see him?"
"I wanted to tell you when we were home together. It's been hard to keep my mouth shut, trust me." He seemed to be blinking back tears too, so I didn't feel so bad about crying anymore.
"He's beautiful." I'd thought the same thing when I first saw him appear on the ultrasound. I may have cried then too.
"I hope he looks like you."
"Why?"
"Because I look just like my dad, and I want him to look like you. Although if he inherits the Hawkins lion mane I might not be too upset." Something about being pregnant had made my hair grow incredibly fast. It was nearing my waist at this point, which I was very happy about. Sigmund pawed at my leg and I lifted him onto my lap. "Demanding little creature. When he sees me petting Milkshakes he shoves her out of the way."
"Where is the cat anyway?"
"Last time I saw her she was sunning herself in the studio. She really loves having a house to prowl now."
Getting our house was probably the most stressful thing I'd ever done. We'd needed a very specific house and I'd essentially had to walk through each house with a realtor with Myles on FaceTime so we could pick one. All of this had taken place in the space of a month while I was home from tour last year. I think Myles may have been in Asia at the time. My parents had helped out so much with the remodeling and decorating. Most of the changes had been done while Myles and I were on tour. When I came home I took over. Right now I was in the middle of building our studio. I would be happy to let him take over now that he was home.
"It all looks so different from the last time I was here."
"Would you like a tour?"
"Once you've finished eating."
"Love I'm not that hungry. If I do get hungry later I'll finish it, all right?" He didn't argue, so I put it on the counter where Sigmund wouldn't be able to get to it and took Myles's hand to start the tour. The dining room hadn't changed since he was last here so I didn't bother taking him through there.
"We changed the mantel piece and started putting up some pictures. You were here after the furniture came, right?"
"Yeah, for all of three days." He stepped closer to the wall to see which pictures I'd put up. Some were photographs I'd taken at the beach or in the city, but there were a few of the two of us. My personal favorite was one that had been snapped during Lola's birthday show when I brought Myles and Slash onstage. A photographer friend of mine had been in the audience that night and had gotten a shot of him dipping me backwards onstage.
The studio was next on the tour, but it was pretty much still gutted so there wasn't much to see. Our guest bedroom, or as Mom liked to call it, her bedroom, was the first thing that had been finished. It was painted a restful pale blue with coordinating shades of blue throughout. The guest bathroom was also not very exciting. Then it was up the stairs to the upper level.
We hadn't changed much in the bedroom, although it did look a lot cozier with the curtains hung up now. Dad had almost broken something when the ladder he was up on fell over, but everything was fine. The master bath was completely redone to look less like it came out of the 70s. Mom still hadn't told me how much that cost. Apparently it was their housewarming gift to us.
"And now to the final room in our tour." I opened the door to the nursery, letting him in with a Vanna White gesture.
"It's still empty?" He asked as he looked around at the blank white walls.
"I thought you might like getting to do the work in here yourself." I hadn't let Dad and Jack do any painting in here except to primer over the hideous egg-yolk yellow paint that had been in here before.
"I would, actually." He rested one hand on my belly. "Blue would be too cliché, right?"
"I was thinking about green, but we can discuss paint colors when you've had a chance to rest and you don't look like you're about to pitch over. Have you eaten lately?"
"I'm not hungry, more sleepy." He did look pretty worn out.
"Well I'm a big believer in naps. Let's get you to bed." He let me bundle him into bed and I climbed in after him. After all, my husband had just come home from a long tour; I'd be damned if I didn't cuddle him while he slept. It felt good to have our little family back together. I couldn't wait for our son to be born. I won't lie and say I didn't tear up a little at the thought of Myles singing our son to sleep. Our son. It felt good to even think it.
I stifled a yawn. I guess I was tired enough to nap too. I tucked myself into his side, smiling when he sleepily tugged me closer.
"Home sweet home." He murmured, kissing the top of my head. Home sweet home indeed.
