Exhale

Why Are You Here?

Together mom, Olivia, Laura, Hanna, and I decorate the twins room. I love having Laura and Jared just down the road. Hopefully soon Olivia and her boys will move here as well. Simon is moving down next week, so I'll have a great support system. As I'm testing the rocking chair, Hanna and Mom start talking about Ian. "Well maybe I should be looking around for a homeless man. He's quite a looker." Hanna says. Mom blushes. "I got lucky, I never thought that I would feel this way about another man again." Mom says glowing with happiness.

"Well that's good. I know I shouldn't but I often think of Gary." Hanna says. And we all just nod. Olivia brings in some iced tea, "Well lets talk about, Maggie and her twins." She says. I sip the sweet cool tea, "What's there to know? I'm having twins, Elijah and Aliana." I say. Derek walks in, "Hey we're all needed in the living room." He says, We follow him down.

Jared, Ryan, Ian, and Simon are waiting looking very dashing in suits. Hanna opens the closet under the stairs and brings out four beautiful gowns. "These are for you beautiful ladies. Derek." She says as she stands beside Ian. "We've decided to take you ladies to a very lovely dinner in Atlanta." He says. Hanna hands us our gowns. "Now we leave in two hours, so I'd start getting ready now. If you look closely you'll notice your gowns match our suits." We look and sure enough they do. "Since all you ladies have wonderful men, Simon will be my date." Hanna says. We share a laugh and head upstairs to get ready.

An hour later, we are all dressed up and ready to go. I look at myself in the mirror and I feel so fat. These little ones sure are doing a number on me. Two more months to go, I already feel ten months along. Mom comes in, "Hey honey. You look beautiful." She says hugging me. "I don't feel beautiful I feel huge." I say and for some ungodly reason I start to cry. "Oh honey that's just the hormones talking." Mom says laughing. I retouch my makeup and follow the rest of the girls downstairs.

We're about to leave when I think about the kids. "Who's watching the kids?" I ask. Hanna points behind me to a teenage girl. "Hi I'm Leah." She says sticking her hand out. "Hi." I say. Hanna reassures me that Leah is the best babysitter in town. The kids will be fine.

We head outside where Derek and Hanna have rented a limo. I would like to know exactly what the occasion is. On the ride Mom and Hanna share stories about when Derek and I were little. As mom talks about the embarrassing things, I remember one of my favorite memories.

"Maggie! The Grayson's are here." I hear dad call out. I put my drawing pad away and run downstairs. I turn ten today and my parents have planned this big party with all my friends, which isn't many. I join everyone in the living room. Derek stands beside his parents. I wave at him and he smiles. "Hey there's my birthday girl." Dad says as he begins to sing happy birthday. I blush. "Ok dad." I say. "Derek, why don't you and Maggie go for walk." Mom says clearly getting us out so they can plan my party. "Sure, Come on Maggie." He says and we head outside. We walk down by Lake Sinclair to our bench and sit.

"So finally hitting the double digits, huh old lady." He says. "Shut up." I say and push his shoulder. He laughs. "Hey Derek." He looks at me, "What's up?" In the past year or so I've developed a crush on him. He's no longer a scrawny boy, at thirteen, and on the wrestling team, he's become more toned. "Let's always be there for each other." I say. He smiles and wraps an arm around me, "I'll always be there for you."

Derek nudges my shoulder, "Hey you day dreaming?" He asks. I nod, "Yeah just remembering my tenth birthday." Derek smiles. Mom over hears me. "Oh yeah. Your tenth was a good one. Wasn't that when you got your first diary and Derek teased you about writing about him?" She asks. "I wasn't teasing her, just making a suggestion." Derek says. The limo stops and the door opens. The guys get out first and one by one the girls get out. I get out last considering this huge load of humans I'm carrying.