Ryley's Child

Waiting on Baby

**•**Marley's POV**•**

"I really like the name Zoe." I pointed out as we flipped through the Complete Book of Baby Names that we had borrowed from our friends, the Hummel-Andersons.
We sat on the couch in our living room, me reclining on my husband's chest, his arm around my body as he held one half of the book and I held the other. "What about Zelda?" Ryder asked.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm assuming you chose Zelda because of the video game, darling?"
Ryder reached his hand farther around me so that his fingers felt my growing baby bump. "Yeah, we don't have to use it, honestly."
"Thank you." I told him gratefully.
"Let's put Zoe down as a possible name then." Ryder told me. "Then we need to look at the boy names."
I flipped to the front of the book and took out a piece of white scratch paper that was already covered with twenty five potential baby girl names. Twenty five potential names for my child, our child.
I jotted down, Zoe, and then flipped to the first boy name page. "Okay, I'm ready."
We scanned down the first page looking at Adam, and Aden, and Amos... "Alonzo." Ryder said out of the blue.
I craned my head back to give Ryder a strange glare. "Alonzo?!"
Ryder shrugged. "That's the name that stood out to me." He smiled and I knew he was joking.
I continued to stare at him. "So what really looks good as an A name?"
He looked the page over again, his finger trailing down the sleek paper until it stopped just below a name. "Andrew." he said. "That's the name my parent's were going to name me before they came across Ryder. The name has always been special to me because it was so close to becoming my own."
I nodded. "I like that name too." then I remembered, "Oh and Andrew is also my great grandfather's name. He was killed in World War II at Normandy."
Ryder raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Alright then, there's our A name."
I flipped the scratch paper over and wrote our first boy name down. I could already sense that we would use that name, but I flipped the page anyway to the B names.
By the time we reached Zachary, Zebulon, and Zeke we had exactly twenty five names selected, one from each letter, though it was unlikely that we'd name our kid Yale (the college didn't mean that much to us), or Quillan, or Xavier.
When I closed the back cover shut we both let out a relieved sigh. Ryder yawned and I felt his chest muscles move as he stretched his arms out. "Done." he announced.
I waived the list in his face. "For now, until we narrow all twenty six girl names and all twenty six boy names down to one or two a piece." I sat up quickly and then fell back, immediately regretting my sudden movement. Little Bit shifted in my womb, probably saying in unborn baby language, "Mom!! What did I tell you about lunging like that?! It's not just you you're taking care of, you know!"
Ryder caught me and whispered in my ear, "You and Gertrude need a break. I'll just order a pizza and we can sit on the couch and watch a movie, like a Jr. High date."
I smiled. "Sounds great. Just know, and I've already told you this, we are not naming it Gertrude."
Ryder huffed with mock annoyance. "Bob?" He tried again.
I laughed and reached back to tousle his hair. "Sure, husband. Bob it is, we've named our child."
He smiled like a fool and looked at my stomach. "Do you like that name, Bob?"
I felt a pang in my middle and closed my eyes until the feeling stopped. "Maybe not Bob." I confirmed. "It doesn't seem to react too kindly to that name."
We laughed and Ryder joked some more, talking to my stomach, calling the baby inside, Bob. I have an amazing husband, right? Okay, that's being a little sarcastic. I do love my husband dearly, and he is amazing, he's just tends to be occasionally ornery.
•••
We painted the walls of It's room a pale yellow with blue and white splatters scattered randomly across the walls like dripping paint caught frozen in time. That was in part because of Ryder, and then I joined in. It's a long story, but basically we had finished with the yellow paint and started painting the crib white and the rocking chair blue. Then Ryder was working on the chair and accidentally tripped causing blue paint to fly up and onto the wall.
At first I was angry and he was flustered. He was constantly telling me sorry and promising he'd get the yellow paint back out and paint over it. However, while he went to get the yellow paint I took a second look at what he had done. It was then that I realized it was a beautiful mistake, so I added to it with a white splatter.
When Ryder came back with the yellow paint in hand he stood in the doorway looking at my addition, his jaw dropping in awe and confusion. "Wait....Wha?... Why's there white pai... you added to it?!" he had stammered.
I had shrugged and then slowly smiled. "Well, we are a couple who cherishes art. Therefore we will be a family who cherishes art." I had walked over and put a dot of white paint on Ryder's nose and he looked down, cross-eyed at the white liquid I had put on his skin. "I looked your mistake over again and saw it from a different perspective. I think it's beautiful. A Beautiful Mistake. So I added to it."
He had grinned, set down the unneeded paint, and pulled me into a kiss, making sure not to press too hard on my growing middle.
So now we have blue and white splatters decorating our child's walls.
Besides the crib and rocking chair we also have a wooden dresser that is already filling with clothes from the baby shower I had last week. So many girls dresses and boy's onezies. There is also a small walk-in closet that is currently home to our child-to-be's toys and blankets.
My heartburn has increased dramatically and our baby is almost ready to enter into the world. I'm anxious to get this child out of me and just be its mother. We have four names picked out, two girl and two boy.
Everyday our main topic of conversation is the baby. Ryder can't stop talking about how he's going to teach It guitar and percussion and how I should teach It to write songs. He's already talking about what sports It will play and who will be It's godparents.
I've listened patiently to his giddy I'm-Almost-A-Dad talks like a good wife, but I don't want to wish all that on my child this soon. I don't want to plan It's life before It is born. I want the child to plan his/her own life, just with the right amount of guidance, support, and most of all, love from Ryder and me.
Now...we wait for Baby.