Infinity and Beyond

36 - Best Proposal Ever

Ashton

Emily's tummy, it turned out, actually was starting to show. Despite putting it down to a food baby, we realised over the next few days that there was a noticeable bump that wasn't there before. It wouldn't have been enough for anyone else to know she was pregnant, but to us it was visible that her stomach wasn't as flat as it had been before. Even if it was barely anything at all, it made both of us considerably excited, and on the night before our last day we were both lying on the hotel bed staring at it.

"How long do you think it'll be before I actually look pregnant?" Emily asked, stroking it for about the fifth time that minute.

"Who knows," I shrugged. "Maybe this is where a parenting book would have been useful. What if we've been doing everything wrong so far? Oh my god, we might have already failed and the baby probably doesn't even have fingers yet. Wait, what if the baby never even grows fingers because we've already messed up? I can't believe we've destroyed our baby's ability to count to ten before it's even ten weeks."

"Ash, honey, I think you're overreacting," she laughed. "Not to mention, you're starting to freak me out a bit."

"Right, sorry," I sighed, then shuffled down so I was lying with my face just inches away from Emily's stomach. "Sorry, little one. I promise, even if you don't have all your fingers, I'll make you some out of cardboard so you can still count to ten. And high five me. You'll want to high five me when you see what an awesome job I've done at making you cardboard fingers. Oh, who am I kidding, you can't even hear me yet, can you? Hold on, Em, what if it can't ever-"

"Ashton, our baby will be able to hear, and see, and have ten fingers and ten toes, and be able to high five you."

"And play drums. You're going to be an amazing drummer," I said to the bump again. "At least you better be. I'm not getting baby sick on my clothes and poop on my hands and wee on my face for you to grow up and not be able to drum."

"Are you threatening our child?"

"...No."

"Good."

"Just you wait and see, though - she'll be the same if you can't dance," I whispered to the baby and the bump shook as Emily laughed.

"I'll have you know, I'll love our baby no matter what talent they grow up to have," she said, placing a hand on the back of my head and playing with my hair. "Although I'm not saying I won't be a little disappointed if it has two left feet."

"You think it'll have two left feet?" I gasped in horror.

"I mean metaphorically!"

"Oh, right. Good. Otherwise those would be some expensive shoe bills."

"I can't believe you're going to be in charge of this human being."

"Yeah, well, if all else fails, at least I'll be able to make cardboard fingers."

"Enough with the cardboard fingers!" she exclaimed as I placed a kiss on her stomach and then crawled back up the bed to lie down next to her. It wasn't the last I mentioned of the cardboard fingers, to say the least, but at least Emily got used to it after a while. Or rather, she stopped complaining so much. I think by that point she was glad I was just fixated on a lack-of-fingers problem, rather than anything else. Either way, she gave up with trying to make me stop talking about it, and just let me waffle on. Eventually, she fell asleep with her head on my shoulder as I carried on chatting away softly to her and the baby. Maybe everything would be just fine, maybe there would be a few bumps in the road. But nobody would love this baby more than the two of us.