Love You Enough

Strike Two

Stevie and Lindsey were up early the next morning. Their bags were packed and breakfast was being cooked in the kitchen. They got dressed separately, Stevie in the bathroom and Lindsey in the bedroom. Stevie seemed to have popped overnight and evidence of their growing baby was becoming obvious. Before, her body just felt different and you couldn't really tell but it wasn't just the weight gain now. She emerged from the bathroom in a blouse with a fitted waist, and a long skirt with makeup and hair done. She immediately started looking for her boots, as she had somehow misplaced them.

"Linds, have you seen my boots? The brown ones?" She asks. Lindsey turns to face her, pulling on a tee shirt and stares at her. "What? Do I not look okay?"

"Don't be self conscious. You look great." He says, going to her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "When did this happen?" He strokes her sides.

"I have no idea." She says "I told you the baby is growing like a weed"

"I see that"

"And you're sure I look okay? Nothing really fits"

"You have never, ever looked more beautiful to me. I feel an overwhelming sense of pride just looking at you"

"Young and virile man" Stevie jokes.

"I'll show you virile" he says, pressing his arousal against her.

"I think you've shown me enough. Come on, I'm hungry"

"Fine. Have you checked under the bed?"

"What?" She asks with an adorable confused chuckle.

"Your boots"

"Oh, right. No."

"I'll look. I don't need you smashing my baby" he says and she rolls her eyes.

"From what I've been told they are very safe in there. It's just uncomfortable to lay on my stomach now."

Lindsey lays on his front, looking under the bed. He finds one and presents it to her. "Jesus, Steph. You have great hiding places"

"Hush"

He looks around the room and it's literally nowhere in sight. "Hmm..." He starts looking in odd places, places her other boot couldn't possibly be. There was a space between the headboard and the wall. "They say you find things in the last place you look" he says, laughing at his own corny joke. "Ah-ha!"

"My hero!" Stevie squeals. "What's it doing back there?"

"Remember when I asked you to..."

"Shhh, I remember now. You don't have to say it" Stevie tells him, blushing. She sits down on the edge of the bed to put on her boots. She smells the food and her stomach is growling. "I'm so hungry"

"So I heard"

"This is your fault, you know" Stevie says, rising to her new full height.

"Yes, because you had absolutely no part"

"Right" she says, simpering. He wraps an arm around her shoulders, kissing her temple as they walk down the hall to meet Gertrude and Ruth in the kitchen.

"Stevie, darling! Look at you!" Ruth said. "My grand baby is trying to show off"

"Yes they are" Lindsey says, touching his wife's bump.

"Doesn't she look just adorable, Gertie?"

"Yes, very" Gertrude replies in a very unimpressed manner, sitting her coffee. Stevie's shoulders slump a little. She thought she had made so much progress with her only to feel back at square one. Gertrude was so hot and cold, sometimes very nice and other times very cutting.