Another Reason to Love

chapter 21

"So, should we tell everyone or make them wait until the new little miss makes her appearance?" Lauren asked her wife.

Camila looked at Lauren like she had about 6 heads. "Are you crazy? Do you know anything about me and my secret keeping skills?"

Lauren laughed. "Alright, we tell them," she said, grabbing Camila's hand and playing with her fingers. There was so much nervous excitement between the two of them that they actually felt like they were buzzing.

"We have an hour before we have to pick up Brooklyn from preschool. Want to call our parents and tell them the good news?" Lauren asked. She dug around in her bag to find her phone and pulled it out. They quickly dialed each number and waited anxiously each time for the person on the other end of the line to pick up.

*****

One Month Later

Camila searched through the contact list in her phone and when she found the one she wanted, she hit the call button. After a few rings, she heard someone pick up.

"Mila, what can I do for you today?" Normani said in a sarcastically sweet voice.

"What time do you think you, Dinah, and Ally will be here?" Camila asked. She peeked around the corner to see if Lauren was around and then sat down on the floor, picking at the frayed edges of the rug.

"You said around 10am. Is that still okay with you?" Normani asked. "We have everything we need, I'm just going to pick up the others and we'll be there soon."

"Yes, please come whenever you want." Camila lowered her tone to a whisper, "I'm not sure if she's just tired of being stuck at home or if she's tired of me, but she's extremely irritable today. I just want to get her out of the house."

Normani chuckled, but Camila could tell that understanding ran through her voice. "We'll be there as soon as we can. I'll call the others right now and see if we can get there before 10. Hang in there. I'm sure she's not irritated at you," she assured her.

"Thanks, Mani. I don't know what we'd do without you and the others. You're the best!" Camila said. "See you soon."

Just as Camila was ending the phone call, Lauren came up behind her. "Who are you going to see soon?" she asked. Camila jumped to her feet, startled at her voice.

"I guess now would be a good time to tell you..." Camila said. "I'm going to take you and Brooklyn out today and Dinah, Normani, and Ally are going to come over and paint the baby's room. I hope that's okay. They wanted to do something nice for us and I wanted to get you out of the house, so I thought it would be perfect. What do you think?" Camila held her breath, not knowing how Lauren would feel about the whole thing. Mood swings were becoming common and Camila was not ashamed of the fact that she was a little scared.

Lauren's eyes lit up and Camila allowed herself a sigh of relief. "That would be so great. I've been wanting to get the room painted but I knew I couldn't be here when it happened. I can't think of a better way to spend the day than with my two favorite girls. Well, three favorite girls if you count this one," she said, pointing to her stomach, which had grown a lot in the past month.

Camila reached out with both hands and held Lauren's stomach. "Of course she counts!" she said. Camila then wrapped her arms around her wife and pulled her as closely as she could get. "I love you," she said as she leaned in to kiss Lauren.

"Love you too, Babe," Lauren mumbled between kisses.

*****

A knock on the door signaled that their friends had arrived. Brooklyn and Lauren were sitting on the sofa in the living room attempting to get the little girl's shoes tied. Everything became a bit of a challenge when you have to work around a baby belly. Brooklyn didn't mind. She gladly laid down on the sofa with her feet up in the air to give Lauren a better chance at the laces.