the apartment across the hall

39

A few months later at the end of April, Brooklyn was nearly 7 months pregnant and there was no hiding her belly anymore. She finished her semester at college and Brian was preparing for his upcoming MTV interview. Brooklyn and Brian had been moved into their new house for a while and they loved it there. They had an appointment coming up and decided they finally wanted to know the sex of their baby. Neither one of them had a preference as long as the baby was healthy.

The day of the appointment Brian woke up before Brooklyn, he made breakfast and went back to wake her up.

"Babies it's time for breakfast." He said.

Brooklyn woke up smiling. "Good morning."

Brian leaned down to kiss Brooklyn's stomach. "Good morning little girl."

"Little girl?"

"I think she's a girl."

"Really? I'd like to see you be a dad to a girl."

"I'd be so protective over her, she'd hate me."

"No, she's gonna love you, just like mommy does." Brooklyn kissed Brian.

"I can't wait, let's go eat so we can find out."

They ate their breakfast and went to the doctors office for the sonogram.

"Okay Ms. Campanella, I hear we want to know the gender today. The doctor said.

"Yes we do." She smiled at Brian.

"Okay well I can see here that you're having... a girl."

Brian smiled the widest Brooklyn had seen since she met him.

"I told you." He kissed her.

"Congratulations. We'll print out your pictures and you can go home to celebrate."

"Well now that it's official we can start buying pink clothes." Brooklyn said.

"We can start today, I can't wait to spoil her."

When they left the doctors office they went straight to the baby supplies store and started buying pink everything. While they were shopping Brooklyn got a call on her new cellphone Brian bought her, he wanted her to have it in case she or the baby ever needed anything.

"Hello?" Brooklyn answered.

"Hey Brookie what are you doing?" Her mom asked.

"I'm shopping now mom, what do you need?"

"You're coming to your cousin's baptism right?"

"What? When?"

"The first week of June."

"No mom I can't go back to Jersey that soon."

"Why not? College is out, right?"

"Yeah but I still can't come."

"Brooklyn you need to be here. You know how important baptisms are."

"Are you making Vinny go?"

"Yes he's finished with college in Italy, he's moving back home."

"I'll see what I can do, I'll call you when I get home." She hung up.

"What is it?" Brian asked.

"She wants me to go to my cousin's baptism in a month. I can't go back to Jersey looking like this, I'm about to pop."

"Baby don't you think it's time they know? By then you'll be almost 8 months, you have to tell them soon anyways."

"I'll think about it." She went back to shopping. She didn't say anything about the subject for the rest of the day until they got home and started decorating the baby's room.

Brian sat in the floor assembling the crib and Brooklyn stood at the doorway watching him.

"Bri?"

"Yeah babe?"

"Will our baby be baptized?"

"I don't know, I've never thought about it. I know you're Catholic but you know how I feel about organized religion."

Brooklyn sighed.

"If it means that much to you, I don't see what it would hurt." Brian gave in.

Brooklyn smiled and walked over to kiss Brian on his forehead. "Thank you. Do you wanna go to my cousin's just to see what it's about? It might make you more comfortable."

"Are you ready to tell your family?"

"By the time of the baptism I'll have less than two months left, so I guess it's about time."

"Ok, we can go but I might burst into flames." He joked