Try

Part 8 of 8

Rosaline Elizabeth Gilbert came into the world a few months later. The weeks leading up to her birth seemed to drag slowly, but the days following proceeded almost too fast for any of the family to comprehend. Little Rosie was a small thing, but it did not take long for her to outgrow her first set of clothing. Matilda watched in pure fascination at how quickly someone as masculine and tough as her brother could melt. Rosie is a daddy's girl; he just does not know it yet. With all the sleepless nights and stressful days, Matilda and Cooper have easily stepped into the role of doting aunt and uncle, eager to help with whatever was needed.

Matilda and Amber, having finished a morning run, make their way quietly up the steps of the house. The dogs, having barely burned any energy, play a game of tug of war outside. Matilda quietly tosses the dogs a treat and then heads in after Amber, only to pull up short at the sight. Amber, leaning against a doorway, tilts her head to Matilda with a shake of her head while mumbling something about men. This was the first morning that they left little Rosie at home, instead of taking her on the run. The guys said they could handle it. All three are passed out on the couch. The TV, on mute, is playing some Mickey Mouse show. The humor of that fact is that Rosie is barely four months old and has zero interest in the TV, which means the guys put it on and watched a child's show for no reason. Morgan has spread out the length of the couch, with Rosie tucked in his arm. He always has a protectiveness over his daughter, hovering in case anything goes wrong. Matilda would smile at the sight of her stressed-out, exhausted brother holding his near clone, but she cannot seem to keep her heart from melting at seeing Cooper, as equally stressed out and exhausted. He is curled up at Morgan's feet, with burp rags and bottles in his grip, with his head propped on a pillow.

"Have you told him yet?" Amber questions, having moved to Matilda's side and keeping her voice low.

"What? In a few months, this will be his normal. Are you kidding? He is going to run as far away from me as possible." Matilda cannot deny the fear in her mind. She knows she will have to tell him soon because it is getting harder to hide it. Amber narrows her gaze at her. "I know I will tell him. I just got to figure out how to break it to him in a way that won't terrify him." Matilda sighs. "I'm going to take a shower. You should wake Morgan up. He has to meet with the seed specialist in an hour at his place."

Thirty minutes later, Matilda is braiding her hair in the bathroom when she sees Cooper come up behind her in the mirror. He must have just woken up because she snakes his arms around her and lays his chin on her shoulder with his eyes shut. "She wouldn't stop crying." He mumbles, and Matilda's nerves shiver through her. "Mickey Mouse was no help."

"Well, something worked." She tries while hoping that her voice did not give away her fear.

"I don't know what." He nuzzles her slightly, with his eyes still closed. "One minute she was screaming, and Morgan told me to go fix a bottle, and the next I come back, and they were asleep."

"See, you guys are getting the baby thing down." She offers with the smallest ounce of hope.

"Yeah, maybe." He mumbles while pulling her closer like a pillow.

After a few seconds, he lets her go, and she hears him padding down the hallway. He plops back down on the couch, and Matilda sees an opportunity to fess up and not see his panicked reaction. "Hey, Cooper. I got something to tell you." She hollers slightly, knowing that he can hear her. He makes a grunting noise, and she counts backward from five. "I'm pregnant." Silence. Matilda leans on the sink, trying to tell herself that he is not freaking out in the living room, but she can almost picture it. She waits a few minutes, working up the courage to walk out of the bathroom and face him. Having given him his freak-out time, she knows it might have sunk in by now, and takes the steps out of the bathroom. "Cooper, I..." She trails off, feeling deflated like a balloon. She should have known better than to assume he would not fall asleep again. Now she has to tell him all over again.