A World That Is Not Mine

LIV.

When the next morning arrived, Stevie would get herself together for the arrival of her brother, sister in-law and niece. She was over the moon to be seeing them. It had been a while since she had and it wasn't often that the family of three would go to out to Colorado. It was just too cold for their liking so they didn't. Stevie didn't complain though, because, she knew she wouldn't be making her way to the humidity that was Arizona.

Lindsey would work in his home office today, just so he could meet more of Stevie's family. For her and at least look good by being there. He had heard Rick was never home so, that was her small order.

Stevie was doing some organizing around the house, just getting the new boxes out of the way. Lindsey had the place very plain and that was because, he was hardly there, so he let Stevie have the honors of decorating how she wanted. It was a three bedroom house; his room, the guest and a room for storage, but all of that would go down to the garage because it was to become the guest. The baby would have their own room, right next door to their parents and that is how it would work. Stevie loved that idea and she was so excited for decorating it. She loved to shop so it was perfect for her.

...

By late evening, her family was over.

Stevie could hear when their car pulled up and she hopped from the couch to get the door. She held a huge smile as she waited in the doorway.

"Oh my God, you didn't tell me Stevie was pregnant," Lori whacked Christopher on the arm.

"Hey! She didn't tell me either," Christopher creased his brows---anger filled. Lori was always jumping to conclusions with him.

"No fighting!" Jessica yelled from the backseat. She pulled her seat belt off and hopped out of the car after her father turned the car off. "Aunt Stevie! Aunt Stevie!" she ran up the steps to see her.

"Hi, beautiful girl---" Stevie embraced her as best as she could. She squatted and fell to her knees, gently but she knew it would take herself a second to get up. She just had to see her little girl. Her niece had been the closest she had to a daughter and she hadn't seen her for a while.

"Stephanie Lynn!" Lori walked up with a smile but stern tone. She was about to scold her sister in-law for not saying anything about the prominent baby in her tummy.

"Loretta Lynn," Stevie replied with a laugh as she stood and hugged her sister in-law. She had no idea why they were adding the middle name, but she had thought it was funny they both held the same name, so she just went with it.

"Why didn't you tell us? We would have come sooner," the red head responded.

"It's all good---it was a surprise," she winked. She then moved to hug her brother.

"How are you, sis?" he asked, rubbing her back. He was happy to see her---he loved her. He wasn't too into travel like she was. He was a couch potato, as Lori would say. And he would say, they were probably about to divorce. That, he would never tell his sister. Stevie would be more upset than their parents. She was very connected to Lori and they were close.

"Fine," she bluntly said.

"Well, I guess so," her brother nodded toward her stomach.

"Ha-ha," she gave him a sarcastic laugh. She knew he was teasing her about having sex. She was then able to get enough leverage to pick her three year old niece up and place her on her hip without hurting her back. "Lindsey?" Stevie said loudly. She was moving to the living room and she made her way to the couch. She would have rather be sitting with her niece on he lap than having to carry her weight. She was only three and not that big, but as said, her goal was to protect her baby from any harm.