Free to Love

Chapter 75

Joanna

Shawn walked over to me and looked at the perfect little baby in my arms.

"Hey there, Asher Finlay Mendes," he said before giving him a kiss on the forehead. Asher meant happiness and blessed. We felt both because of him.

He turned to his sister and her husband and burst into tears. When he regained control, he walked over and hugged them.

"I know we've said thank you a million times in the last nine months, but I have to say it again. Thank you for making this possible. Thank you for sacrificing so much for us. Jo and I love you both for what you've done."

Alec laughed, "We were happy to do it. Except for the late night ice cream runs, it was all Aaliyah, though."

My husband pulled his sister in for another hug. "You're seriously the most amazing sister ever."

After my emergency hysterectomy, Shawn and I had pretty much accepted that we would not have any more children, but when Stella turned four, we were hit with baby fever. This might have been caused by Weston's birth the year before, coupled with many of our other friends having children around the same time.

Because I still had my ovaries and therefore my eggs, it was possible to have a baby in vitro. This meant the baby would be 100% ours. We just needed someone to carry the baby for us since I had no womb. We were in the midst of interviewing candidates to act as a surrogate when Aaliyah and Alec invited us out to dinner without the kids. They'd discussed it at length and wanted to help us by having Aaliyah carry the baby. At first, we said no. What if Aaliyah had a complication like I'd had? My sister-in-law explained that they only wanted one child, so if that happened, it wouldn't ruin their plans for more children.

It took us several weeks to reach a decision, but ultimately we decided to take them up on their offer.

And now we had our fourth child.

I'd even been able to 'catch' him as he was delivered, and I'd cut the cord. I knew this day was hard for Aaliyah. She'd grown her nephew inside her and had formed a special bond. We'd talked a lot about the potential to become over-attached. She'd assured us from the start that the baby did not feel like he was hers, and she was fine with handing him over to us. Looking at her smiles now, I believed her. I loved her so much for what she'd given us.

~~~~~~

"Pop, did you hold me when I napped as a baby?" I overheard Stella ask Parker a month after Asher's birth.

"One of my favorite things ever is holding my sleeping grandbabies. I held Grace, then Nolan, then you, my shining star Stella, and now this peanut," he told her.

I smiled to myself as I recalled Mallory's letter to me. She'd brought up including her parents in our family as it grew. We never had to even discuss it with Parker and Jean. They just took on the grandparent role with Stella, and she just assumed every child had three sets of grandparents until she was old enough for us to explain why the Mendes kids were so lucky to have an extra set. Now the Everetts had Asher as a fourth grandchild.

"Stella, you've got to get ready for school. I'm walking you to the bus stop," I said as I finished packing her lunch. Grace and Nolan had already left.

Shawn was out running a bunch of meals we'd made and frozen yesterday over to Aaliyah and Alec. There was no way we were letting her recuperate from having our baby without feeding her well. We'd provided at least half of their dinners since the birth.

Jean joined us on the short trip to the bus stop. It was a gorgeous fall day, so after Stella had been picked up, we extended the walk by circling two blocks.

"So it sounds like your parents had a good visit," Jean said. "Marceline texted me a bunch of pictures, and I could tell they were in heaven to be surrounded by all their grandkids. How many do they have now? Ten?"

"Ten, and undoubtedly they'll have a few more before my siblings are done," I said.

My parents had moved to New Mexico after my youngest sister graduated college. My dad had developed horrible arthritis, and the climate there was therapeutic for him. It was hard for me to only see them a three to four times a year, but they were great about FaceTiming us every couple of days. They'd come for a three week visit after Asher's birth, dividing their time between their kids' homes.

"Parker and I booked our flights for Christmas before the prices jumped up. Are you sure you don't want us to stay in a hotel? We hate to add stress when the holidays are already hectic," Jean said.

I shook my head. "Karen and Manny want you to stay with them. They have tons of room and they love your company."

"Well, that would be wonderful. Have you decided who is hosting the big dinner?"

I laughed. Christmas was two months away but I had already planned all that. I was known for coordinating the family events. I was also known for doing it way in advance.

"Aaliyah and Alec are doing Christmas Eve dinner at the condo. His parents will be there, too. You and Parker will come to our house for Christmas morning and Karen and Manny will go to Aaliyah's. Everyone will meet up at our house for dinner. My parents are flying back for the holiday so they'll come by for dessert, and I'm sure they'll bring some of my family members."

"No wonder you had to plan ahead!" Jean exclaimed.

Shrugging, I said, "It's going to be crazy, but we're lucky to have such a big family.

When we got back to the house, Parker was walking Asher to try to keep him from fussing.

"Are you hungry, sweetness?" I asked him as I took him from his grandfather's arms.

I took a bottle from the fridge and warmed it up. I missed being able to nurse my baby, but at least he was getting breast milk. Aaliyah had offered to pump for the first two months since her milk came in anyway. We supplemented with some formula, but Ash was still getting all the benefits of mother's milk.

Shawn walked in as I was burping our son.

"I have eight more bottles of milk. Freezer?" he asked.

"Yep. And you gave Aaliyah the clean bottles?"

"I did. Along with the lasagna and enchiladas."

After he put the bottles in the freezer, he walked over and reached out his arms, and I handed him his son. I watched as he sat down and peppered Asher's cheeks with kisses.

Parker chuckled. "Shawn, you're the best father I've ever met."

Shawn smiled broadly, his laugh lines showing around his eyes. We both had some wrinkles these days, and Shawn even had a gray hair or two. He was still shockingly handsome. He'd been named People magazine's 'Sexiest Man Alive' last year, and I couldn't say I was surprised.

"Parker, I've probably said this before, but if you'd told me on the day we met that being a father would be this incredible, I probably wouldn't have thrown up like I did," Shawn said.

"Nonsense. You wouldn't have believed me. You had to figure that out for yourself. You're a very lucky man to be blessed with what you have. You are married to a gem of a woman and you have four terrific kids."

Shawn looked over at me and we held eye contact for a long second. "I'm the luckiest man alive," he said.

Later, after Asher had gone down for a nap in the bassinet next to our bed, Shawn and I decided to take a quick breather, too. We snuggled together on top of the covers of our bed.

"I meant what I said," Shawn whispered in my ear. "Not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for what I have. I love you, Joanna Mendes. Thank you for being the light of my life, for being an amazing mom, and for doing what we're about to do."

I quirked an eyebrow at the last part. "What are we about to do?"

"Come take a shower with me and I'll show you."

The end.

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