The Thief Who Stoll My Heart

Chapter 10

I was in a good mood. April had learned to say “momma”. It was the day of Piper’s double date birthday thingy. I had just found out that April was soon going to be an older sister. That’s right, I was pregnant – again. I’m still not quite sure how to respond to that. My first reaction was of incredible joy. Then I realized how annoying the nine months toting April around was. But in the end, I remembered how prideful it felt to be a mother. Well, I still had to tell Travis somehow. I decided that I might as well break the news at Piper’s party. I loaded April into my car and drove to the grocery store. My mission – to gather all of Travis’s favorite food and cook a superb dinner that would butter him up for the news later. Half an hour later, I regretted ever going. I was in the snack food aisle picking up chocolate flavored marshmallows when it started. April began to cry. I immediately went into mommy mode. I picked her up and gently whispered in her ear while I tried to ignore the other people in the aisle staring me down. This one older lady, probably in her 60’s, was really glaring at me. My attempts at cheering April up were not working. I had to go to plan B. I pulled a pacifier out of her diaper bag and shoved it up by her mouth. She sucked on it for a few seconds – long enough for me to get out of the snack aisle – before spitting the pacifier out of her mouth and continuing her relentless wails.  It was a second later before I figured out what I had to do. I rushed to the bathroom and claimed the one stall with a baby changing table. I did my business and did it quickly. Since then, I have always changed April before I go to the grocery store. I did manage to get the rest of my groceries. When we finally got home, I set April in her play pen and started cooking dinner. We were having specialized pizza. The batter took 45 minutes to make. I had just washed my hands to let the dough rise when the phone rang. I felt like I was living in Grand Central Station. People were calling me 24/7. It was Travis.

“Hey. I’m heading home from work. What’s for dinner?”

“Make your own pizza.”

“Cool.” I went to hang up the phone.

“Wait, Katie!”

“What?”

“What’s the bad news? You only make pizza when you are trying to butter me up.”

Darn. He had seen through my plan. Why did he always have to see through my plans?

“Nothing.” I hung up before he could respond. He arrived home 20 minutes later and didn’t say anything about dinner. Soon, it was time to decorate our pizzas. I made a flower out of sausage. I risked a glance over at Travis’s pizza. It was a smiley face. Last time, he had made an m-n-m. I could always count on him to make the weirdest pizza designs. By the time we had finished cooking our creations, we only had ten minutes before we had to be at Piper’s place. We scarfed down our pizza and hurriedly tucked April in her car seat. We got there only a minute late. “Hey guys!” Piper greeted us at the door, “Come on in!” Annabeth and Percy were already there. “Hi!!!” Annabeth said enthusiastically. “Rion, Sophia, and Silena are already in the other room. Do you want me to show you and April where?” I nodded thankfully at her. “It’s just through here.” I walked into the room and just had to laugh. Annabeth’s three kids and Hazel’s son, all of various ages, were playing together. Sophia, the only one who could walk, was pushing Hazel’s son, Tyler, in a little wheelbarrow, Rion was licking the wall, and Selena was toddling towards the new arrivals with a little walking toy. Jason, who we had voted the most responsible, was watching over the kids. Annabeth led me to the movie theatre. (Piper was rich because of her father and has the best house ever. It has its own movie theatre!) We were going to watch Avengers 2, our favorite movie. About half-way through the movie, we took a short break. Piper went to make some more popcorn. I decided now was the best time to tell Travis. I pulled him aside. “Um, Travis? I’ve got to tell you something,”

“What?” said Travis, looking nervous.

“Do you have any ideas for baby names, because April’s going to be an older sister.”