Miss. Parsons is a fresh-out-of-college high school English Literature teacher who has a passion for love, Shakespeare and apparently, hunky southern cowboys. She pays close attention to detail, including the flirty smiles exchanged by students and...
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I watched for a moment as students settled into their seats, the flirty laughter exchanged and nervous glances causing a smirk to fall onto my face while I took mental notes before I broke in. "Alright class, today we will be, oh," I placed my hand on my lower back and stretched, accentuating my growing stomach.
My class looked my way anxiously, awaiting the worst.
"Are you going into labor?"
"She's only 7 months you idiot!"
"Are you okay Mrs. McGuire?"
A small smile had slivered onto my face at the concerned looks that surrounded me, "settle down, I'm fine." I assured them and watched as the worry washed off of their faces. "Now, today we will be studying Romeo and Juliet." And that's when groans began to fill the air.
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I came home to a dark room and immediately felt agitated, though that feeling left as soon as it came like a summer rain storm.
"Surprise!" They yelled when the lights were flickered on and I heard the clicking of a camera off to the side somewhere. A grin broke the surface of my lips as my mom and Harper rushed to my side to pull me into a hug.
"Happy baby shower day!" Harper dopily said, earning a light smack on the arm from mom.
"I told you not to say that." She said sternly.
"Thanks guys." I pulled them back into me, before looking around the room and spotting the warm smiles of everyone's face. "Aunt Sue!" I began making my way over to her as quickly as I could, though my swollen ankles only allowed for minimal movement.
"Hey there, sweets!" She closed the distance between us.
"How was your drive up here?"
"Oh, not too bad," she waved her hand at me. "Uncle Earl complained, although no one told him to drive the entire way." Her tone was light-hearted with an undertone of 'mama knows best'.
"Where is Uncle Earl?" I asked, eagerly looking over her shoulder for another familiar smile. In the recent years Uncle Earl had become like a father figure to me, even walking me down the aisle.
"Oh the men'll be gettin' in in an hour or less I suppose." She assured me as I had locked eyes with Mabel, a smile breaking out onto both of our features.
"Mabel!" I shouted waddling into her strong grasp. She sported a small pregnancy bump of her own, causing our embrace to be a bit awkward.
"How are you, mama bear?" She teased, placing her hand on the lower part of my belly, "hm, carrying a bit low." She noted, "signs of a boy." Dustin and I had chosen to wait to find out the baby's gender, which drove Mabel up a wall with researching just about every wives tale there was.
I rolled my eyes, with a smile nonetheless, "oh sure." I left her to greet others, fellow teachers and other family members that had flocked up from Tennessee.
The array of food had been mouthwatering and I began piling my plate ignoring the laughter and sly jokes being made at my eagerness to dive into the food. "Hm, salty foods that means a boy." Mabel was mentioning from my side, her tone matter of factly.
"Really? If you put a tub of ice cream and a platter of cookies in front of me I'm sure I'd dig into that too." I shot a teasing smile her way, shrugging my shoulder before turning and continuing to shovel potato salad onto my plate. I settled to a table claimed by my mom and sister when the door had swung open, my heart pounding excitedley as I caught a glimpse of Dustin. He did a quick survey of the room before finding me, a smile lighting up his face as he made quick footwork over to me.
"Hi baby!" I wanted so badly to leap into his arms though I knew my bump would make it near impossible.
"Hey darlin'," he greeted me with a swift peck before lowering himself beside my seat and holding my stomach, "hey babygirl, how're you." My hand immediately went to bury itself into his crewcut, his hair now a light brown color, darkening as he had aged, his trimmed beard grazing across my clothed belly.
"We've been good, daddy." I answered for the little life growing inside of me, loving the way his eyes shifted to a dark color as I said the word 'daddy' so openly in front of family. "Did you see Aunt Sue?" I asked motioning over to her table, noticing Uncle Earl for the first time.
"And I'll keep asking, when are you marrying my little girl here?" I could hear Uncle Earl's voice as I watched Wyatt's face turn the color of a ripened tomato. He scratched the back of his neck and Aunt Sue delivered a light smack with the back of her hand to Uncle Earl's stomach.
"Uncle Earl, quit it." Mabel whispered through gritted teeth as she rubbed a soothing hand down Wyatt's arm, he whipped his head over to her, his short dark locks following, as a smile breaking onto his face, revealing dimples on his clean shaven face.
"Uncle Earl!" I called from where I sat as Dustin made his way over to greet his Aunt and sister. Uncle Earl turned to me, a crooked smile in tow as he walked over and wrapped me in his arms.
"Hey there, how're the two of you." He motioned toward my seven month stomach.
"Good, and yourself?"
"Oh you know, can't complain." He had always said the and I wasn't sure if it was because he was fond of the saying or truly had nothing to complain about.
Dustin returned with a full plate and Uncle Earl's eyes widened at this. "If you'd excuse me little missy, I think that's some of Aunt Sue's cornbread." He licked his dry lips and I laughed as a response.
"Go ahead now, don't starve yourself." He flashed me another smile at hearing this before hoisting himself up and over to the food table
Mom and Harper were in a deep conversation about what gender the baby was and I looked over to see Uncle Earl continue to interrogate Wyatt, the other occupants of the table trying to console him. I turned to face my husband who wore mayo from the potatoe salad on the side of his lip. "Oh, baby." I said, reaching over with a napkin and wiping it from his face, he willingly leaned into it, as if reveling in the moment.
"You're gonna make the best mama, little mama." He shook his shoulders and wiggled his eyebrows.
"No." I said, causing him to give me a look that seemed as if I had grown three heads right before his very eyes. "We're going to make the best parents." I corrected watching as a blush ran from his ears to his cheeks, his freckles standing out brilliantly.
"I'll say cheers to that." He brought up his water bottle clinked it with mine and in that moment it was as if time had stood still. It was ironic that Shakespeare, a man who was considered one of the most romantic poets of all time, could never write a love story that came near comparable to the one Dustin and I would tell our children.
