Best of Women

Pippa

I was growing exponentially and I felt like a blimp. Some women were gorgeous pregnant.  Glowing.  I did not feel like one of them, but Lin tried to insist I was.  He was constantly handsy with me, which I thought was adorable.  He was obsessed with the idea that our baby was growing inside me.

"We need to get this baby addicted to Puerto Rican food," Lin decided one afternoon.  "We're going to Sofrito tonight."

I rolled my eyes as I tidied up the living room area.  Lin was obsessed with his culture, but it was cute.  I was perfectly fine with stuffing my face with Puerto Rican food.

I was now 8 months along and could pop any day, really.  We decided to wait to find out what we were having.  The twins were annoyed about that.  They desperately wanted to know and were hoping for a girl.  I'd always wanted a little girl myself.

I was a little puzzled as to why Lin still hadn't proposed to me.  Of course there was the misguided proposal early on.  Now we lived together and I was about to have his child.  It wasn't like it really mattered nowadays, but I'd like to be married before the baby came.

Lin and I went to my checkup and everything looked good.  The doctor estimated the baby was between 7 and 8 pounds.  I planned to have it au naturale so I hoped it wouldn't get much bigger.  Lin took my hand as we walked down the steps to the subway station.  Before we got on the carriage, he gave me a little kiss on the cheek.

I scrolled through my phone mindlessly as we started moving.  About thirty seconds later, someone started singing.

Her eyes, her eyes make the stars seem like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her trying
She's so beautiful and I tell her every day

I had been a New Yorker for a while so I didn't think anything of it.  People did weird things on the subways.  However, someone else joined in.

I know, I know when I compliment her she won't believe me
And it's so, it's so sad to think that she don't see what I see
But every time she asks me, do I look okay?  I say

They sounded really good.  I put my phone away and looked over at them.  Maybe they were an acapella group.  Next, about ten more people joined in.  I was flabbergasted.

When I see your face there's not a thing that I would change
'Cause you're amazing just the way you are
And when you smile the whole world stops and looks for a while
'Cause your amazing just the way you are

I looked around, amazed.  Was it a flash mob?  I looked at Lin to see his reaction, and he was smiling.  I was shocked by what happened next.  The singers backed down to a humming and Lin went down on one knee.  My hand flew to my mouth.

"Pippa, you're the most beautiful woman in the world, and I'm the luckiest man to call you mine.  You're carrying our child and I couldn't be more in love with you for it."

He pulled out a box from his jacket pocket and I teared up.  He opened it up to reveal a beautiful diamond ring.  I felt all eyes on me.

"Philippa Soo, will you marry me?"

I could barely get my answer out.  Of course it was a yes.  Lin smiled widely and stood up, placing the ring on my finger as the subway car erupted in cheers.  The singers started singing loudly again as we kissed and Lin's hands went to my belly.  I saw a few phones out recording.  As we reached the next stop, I was still trying to compose myself.  Of course Lin's proposal had to be outlandish.

We got off at our stop, holding hands, and I couldn't stop smiling.  Neither could Lin.  "How did you manage to pull that off?  Getting on the right car at the right time?"

"I have my ways," he told me, grinning mischievously.  I just laughed as we walked down the street to our apartment.  When we walked in, the place was crawling with activity.  The twins were dancing ridiculously to a rap song that was blasting and Rio was shouting for them to turn it off.  Lin joined in the dancing, shaking his butt up against the twins as they laughed.

"I just said yes to this?" I teased him.  He told the girls to turn off the music because he had an announcement.  Soon, everyone was gathered in the living room and Lin broke the news.  Everyone cheered and all the girls wanted to look at my ring.

"We helped him pick it out," Mia informed me proudly.

"Oh, so you were in on this, huh?" I asked.  She smiled and nodded.  Sebastian, Mia, Eva and Rio would officially be my stepchildren.  I'd have a....stepgrandson?

I didn't really want to have a wedding while I was pregnant, so we decided to do a quickie wedding at the courthouse and they we'd have a ceremony a few months after the baby had been born.  The next week, we made an appointment with the justice of the peace.  All the kids came, along with Lin's parents, and we were officially married.  I was now Philippa Miranda and I couldn't be happier.