Settling in Seattle

Chapter 14- The Crib

"Mike, you've got paint on your nose." Rachel pointed out to her husband as he dipped the roller into the tray of light grey paint.

"Babe, I've got paint everywhere. Look at me." He held out his hands, the roller clenched in one of them.  She shook her head and continued to paint the wall with her broad paintbrush.

"Yeah, well it better wash off, we've still got a lot to do after this first coat, and we've nearly finished it." Rachel took step back and looked at the work they had done, Mike stretching himself so that he could reach the top of the wall.

"Andd, done." Mike stepped back next to Rachel and slid his arm around her waist in between her arms. They stood and looked at the walls, it matched perfectly to the wood installed on the floor.

"It looks just how I imagined it." She looked up at Mike and smiled at his grey splattered face. She hugged him round the waist, mirroring his posture.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, there's nothing in here yet but three tins of paint, floor covers, and that ladder." He pointed at the rickety looking metal ladder.

"Well, if you go shower and scrub all that paint off you, we can get to work on this crib that you think is impossible to build. Maybe then we can buy a couple of other things online."

"Hmm, sounds great." He kissed her forehead and she laughed.

"Go!" She pushed him away towards the door, and he ran out of the room, pulling off his shirt and throwing it in the laundry basket as he headed towards the bathroom.

Rachel decided to stay in the clothes she had been painting in, they were comfortable and didn't have much paint on. Her leggings were black, so you could only see the little splatters, and she was wearing one of Mike's old hoodies. As Mike showered, she went downstairs to find the cardboard box all the pieces of the crib were stored in. It was in the garage, where they were storing everything that needed to be unboxed, built, or worked on. Rachel had to shove the door a little to get it to open, and found the box, next to the high chair that one of the partners at the clinic gifted them. It was a pretty hefty box, and she kicked it back into the kitchen. Once it was there, Mike was down, and he carried it through to the nursery.

"Right, let's do this." Rachel slit the tape on the box with a knife and opened it up, pulling out all the white pieces.

"Oh, the mattress is still in the garage, I forgot about that." She looked at Mike as he read through the picture instructions huffing slowly at the complexity.

"Okay, Rachel, pass me that piece there, and that one there,' he pointed at two pieces of wood that were identical, "I'm going to get my hammer and screwdriver, can you go get the spirit level?"

"Yep, looks like this is going to take longer than I anticipated." She gestured to the instructions.

"I did say..." Mike held his head back as he walked to find his tools, Rachel following him out to find the spirit level.

They returned to the room fully equipped and got on with working out the perplexing set of steps. The crib they had purchased had a little drawer underneath the mattress, where they were going to store different things for changing, maybe some clothes.

"Well, there we go. Are you sweating?" Rachel laughed at Mike who lay on the cold floor, almost wiped out from the building. It had taken them four hours to complete it.

"It looks adorable. God, I'm so hungry, and tired," Mike sat up and groaned, "But it was all worth it."

Rachel looked at the crib they had built, and imagined their little girl in it, sleeping soundly, hopefully. "Thank you, even with the toughest of instructions you powered through and got it done!" She beamed as Mike took a deep breath.

"Your welcome, you're the strong woman who is carrying this child for nine months!"

"Don't remind me, three more to go!" She put her head in her hands and soaked up the silence caused by the lethargy in the room.

"Chinese?" Mike asked, finally standing up and brushing off his joggers.

"You know it."