Moving On

C h a p t e r 4

I started remembering the last normal day we had as a family. It was April 14, 2017. It was a late Sunday morning. It was about 10:30. I woke up and rolled over. Betty lay next to me.
"Good morning, my love." She said in a plea set tone with a smile on her face. I smiled back in pure happiness.
"Good morning, beautiful." God, I was so in love. These were some of the best memories I had of us. Just the little things she used to do. Like when she used to al ate trip on this step on the staircase even though every time she tripped, she always forgot. And did it again. It was so funny. Not when she was pregnant, of course. But, otherwise, it was funny. I also loved how she was such a perfectionist. Honestly, I think she got that from her mother. Whenever she came to my trailer, she always offered to help clean it up. I loved her so much. I miss her more and more everyday. She slightly laughed and smiled me. We both froze. Just stared into each other's eyes. We shared a passionate kiss. We did this a lot, as you can imagine.  We started making out until Julie began to wake up. Betty had like a sixth sense to when Julie was awake. The baby would just make a mumbling sound and bam! Betty knew she was awake. Or she needed something. I loved her in that way.
"I'll get her." She pulled away and went to go get Julie. I got Julie a bottle downstairs and gave it to Betty.
"So, what are the plans for today, Cooper?" I said leaning on the changing table I Juliet's room as Betty began to feed her.
"It's Jones now, remember?" She chuckled.
"Oh that's right, we're married." I laughed. We all shared one big hug. It was great. My life felt so full.
"But, I would like to ask if V and Archie are free today."
"Okay."
"I think I want to do a picnic or something."
"Sounds fun."
"Yeah." She handed Juliet to me with her bottle as she went into the bedroom to go wash up and maybe shower. Regardless, she was beautiful either way. Thank god I was still in my pajamas because, after Julie finished her bottle, I burped her but, I forgot the most important part. The towel itself. That's why I needed Betty. She knew this kind of common sense stuff. I mean, we were so young I'm surprised she knew this much about all this parenthood stuff. We were barely 20 years old and we were parents. Betty took a quick shower and put her robe on. She took the towel off her head and saw Julie's spit up all over me. My shirt, the side of my face, the back of my pants, even some on the rug, too. She just laughed at me. I mean, it was pretty funny. We both began to laugh hysterically. Then, I put Julie back in her crib. I'm gonna go shower real quick.
"Alright, ha you do that haha." She continued to laughed at me as I approached the master bedroom. I was still kind of laughing but I felt disgusting. I showered then I came out and Betty was just laying on the bed in some old night gown from out honeymoon she had found.
"Wow, Betty." I said in such amazement. I was in aw of her. Her hair was pinned up in a messy bun still quite wet. My towel was barely hanging on as I walked over to her laying on the bed. We started making out heavily. Long story short, we did it. We also had to do it fast. Considering we have a 6 month lease of baby, we had to be quick. We both got dressed and Betty did her hair and her makeup as I brushed my teeth. Then, Julie began to cry.
"I got her this time."
"Thank you."
"Mhm." I said satisfied with the morning I am having so far. Betty had Juliet's outfit laid out for the day. It was blue jeans with a yellow sweater with daisies on it. And a white headband. Betty probably spent the most of our money buying those headbands. It was hilarious. I also loved that aspect of her. How she loves to spend money on unnecessary things. Well, I put the outfit on Julie and as I picked her up I see Archie and baby Tommy through the window. We were both holding our babies. It was so funny. Then we took their little hands and started waving back at each other. I laughed it off then I brought Julie downstairs. Betty was in the kitchen.
"Hey, Betts?" I said as I put Julie in the baby play pen in the living room.
"Yeah?"
"Did you call V?"
"Oh my gosh, I completely forgot. I'll do it right now." I kind of laughed at her procrastination but in a playful kind of way. She called Veronica and they said yes to a picnic in Pickens Park. Betty came to me with a big smile on her face.
"They're coming!" She said happily and clapping her hands together. I just started to embrace her and said,
"I love you." She smiled.
"I love you too." She said as she kissed me. We smiled at each other then Betty got really excited.
"I've got to get to work!" She said laughing.
"Need any help with anything?"
"I'll make you a list and you can run to the store."
"Okay." I said as I put on my shoes and picked up Juliet out of her play pen. Honestly, she didn't really use it as a play pen. More as like a crib on the ground. Considering she was still pretty young. I picked her up and brought her in the kitchen as Betty was finishing up her list. She looked up and passed me the list across the counter.
"Hey, baby!" She said to Juliet with a smile on her face.
"Hey." I said jokingly. She gave me a look and began to laugh. We shared a quick kiss and just exchanged a look. The look. The look of two people madly in love. She kissed Julie on the cheek. And I smiled as she admired our daughter. They were so precious I thought to myself.
"I love you."
"I love you too." I kissed her on the head and walked out to the garage with list in hand and car keys in the other. I had a truck. When Betty and I got married, my dad gave me his truck to fix up. It was pretty much ready by the the time Betty was pregnant with Julie. I hopped in the truck and went to the grocery store. I came back with the groceries in the trunk. I unloaded them into the kitchen. Julie was sleeping when I came home. Betty started packing the picnic basket. Later, we all met in Pickens park. Archie and I held the picnic baskets while the girls were holding the babies.
"Hey Tommy!"
"Hey Julie!" Veronica and Betty said to each other and traded babies. We all started laughing as they cooed over each others kids. Archie and I just smiled at each other as we began to setup for the picnic. We all sat down and talked for a while. Archie and Roni brought pie. Of course Archie and I ate the majority of it. We just had a good time for almost two hours. After that, we put the picnic. Stuff in the trucks and we brought out the strollers. We took a walk in Pickens park altogether. It was so nice. So peaceful. So simple. After that, we went home. I made some little edits on my book, but after that, I spent some time with Julie and Betty. Julie was napping once we came home from the walk in Pickens park. When Julie woke up, Betty and I played with her for a while. Then, the most amazing thing happened. Julie sat up for the first time. That was one of the milestones that a six-month-old should. Betty got so excited and had a huge smile on her face. I wrapped my arm around her and kissed her on her cheek. She laid her head on my shoulder. Just admired Juliet. She was so beautiful. Juliet was playing with her blocks for a while and Betty snapped a picture.
"What was that for?"
"For my scrap book."
"Since when are you making a scrapbook?"
"Since Julie was born and I want to treasure those memories forever."
"Aww.. Betts." I said as kissed her once more.
"I love you."
"I love you too." She said with a smile on her face. Juliet began to cry.
"Seems like someone needs their diaper changed." I laughed.
"I'll get it."
"No, you always do it. Let me." I changed her diaper and brought Julie back down stairs. Betty was looking at my computer. (Which by the way was shut when I went upstairs.) Betty was reading what I had written down. I put Julie down in the bassinet for n the corner.
"Betty."
"I think it's great."
"You do?"
"Yes. It's very real."
"Thank you, baby."
"Aw, your welcome."
"We'll just have to wait and see how much my publisher seems to like it."
"I'm sure he'll love it."
"I don't know, Betty. The writing world is very strict."
"I know."
"Especially the agency I'm in. They work in New York as their mane base."
"Jughead."
"Hm?"
"Stop stressing. The book's not even done yet. You still need to find an editor as well. You still have a lot of work to do. But you can do it. Hell, we became parents at 20 years old for God's sake. You can do this, Jug. You can publish this book."
"Did I ever tell you how much I love you?"
"Always." We shared a kiss as baby Julie began to fall asleep. Betty and I watched tv for a while. We had a nice quiet day. Cheryl called. So, that was nice for Betty to talk to her. After that, Julie woke up and I gave her a bottle. After that, she fell back asleep in my arms. She had a pacifier in her mouth. God, she was so cute. Betty finished up her phone call and sat down next to us. We just kind of hung out for a while until Betty started on dinner. We ate dinner about and hour later. We heard scratching at the back door later. It was hot dog. He was living domestically for a while. But, he's all around town. It didn't really seem to worry us. Betty gave hot dog some left over meatballs because we had spaghetti for dinner.
"That dog smells, Jug."
"Well, I mean, it is from the south side." I said shrugging my shoulders in a funny way. Betty let out a light laugh. We fed Julie again during dinner. After that, Betty made some tea and Julie played with some of her toys on the ground. Betty came in with her tea and read a book while I played with Julie. We put Julie down in her crib once she was out for the night. Hot dog fell asleep on the couch.
"I was feeling like taking a bath."
"Can I join you?" I said in a naughty kind of way. She smiled at me and jerked her head in a way that that said, "get upstairs right now mister!" We sat in the bathtub together. There were candles lit. And it was a bubble bath with bath salts. That's the thing about Betty. She loves things to be perfect. That's one of the many things I love about her. Betty had me go downstairs to get the tea she had made. She didn't want to drink any alcohol since we had Julie. So, I poured the tea into champagne glasses. We both laughed as we clinked the glasses together. We shared a kiss. A while after, we got ready for bed. Then, we checked in Julie once more. She was definitely out for the night. We climbed into bed and she laid on my chest as we drifted off to sleep.
"Good night, my love."
"Good night, Jug." Betty said as she lay on my chest with a smile on her face.
Looking good back at it, I wish I could've treasured it more. The simple life that was our family.