The look on Chris's face is pure excitement. Sophia and Dante were flying in from LA today.
As soon as Chris had asked for a divorce Sherman had taken the kids to LA.
They went to court two weeks ago. The kids were going to stay living in Los Angeles and going to school there but they were going to fly home every other weekend and every other holiday with us plus summers. It wasn't ideal but Chris was happy.
They were going to be here within the hour.
I was slightly anxious. They didn't know we were together or that we were having a baby. In their minds I was still Auntie Rish, not their dad's fiancé. If they were older they would have seen it in the tabloids or read about it but Sophia's six and Dante's three.
I've missed them too. I used to see them nearly everyday.
The doorbell rings and Chris jumps out of his seat to answer it.
I see the kids hug his legs but he just stands there frozen.
"Sherman, I wasn't expecting you." He says. "You told me the nanny would be flying in with them."
"I had business in New York." She says.
Chris takes their bags from her hands as he walks in.
I get up and the kids run and hug me.
He invites her in to say goodbye to the kids.
He wraps his arm around my waist and I run my fingers through the short hair at the nape of his neck.
Even though she has her own kids Sherman doesn't really like them.
I think the only reason she had kids was because Chris wanted them so badly. She doesn't really seem to like her own kids. She uses them in her and Chris's relationship like bartering chips.
Chris takes the kids into the back of the apartment to show them their room.
"Mariska..." She says, her face wrinkling as she looks me up and down. "You look... Large."
"Sherman, you look bitter." I say, picking up August.
"See you're still pleasant as ever." She says, "But then again I imagine being pleasant might be hard what with the guilty conscience."
"Excuse me?" I say.
"Most people would feel guilty after tearing apart a happy family." She says.
"Oh please." I say rolling my eyes.
"I trusted you, Mariska!" She says angrily. "I trusted you around my husband, your my daughters godmother for fucks sake!"
I don't say anything. I mean, she's right.
"You have the nerve to even talk to me, with your swollen belly and your hands all over my husband. How fucking dare you?!" She yells at me.
I wipe the tears off of my cheeks.
Chris comes down the hallway.
"Jesus christ, Sherman, that's enough!" He yells.
He takes August from me, resting him on his hip.
"Dada!" August says, clapping his hands on Chris's face.
"Mariska didn't do a damn thing wrong!" He says angrily, "You are way out of line!"
"Please Chris, don't try to defend her." Sherman scoffs. "She's what? 8 months pregnant? We've barely been apart 7."
"Don't act like you didn't do the same damn thing!" He says angrily, "At least I had a goddamn reason, at least I didn't do it just to spite you."
"You know what?" She says, "Have fun while this lasts. Pop out a couple more kids, fuck you'll probably even get married, but one day you won't be on that goddamn show and you'll have another pretty young costar with curves and a nice rack and you'll cheat on wife number two."
"You need to leave." Chris says firmly.
"Fine." She says, "But fuck you and your little whore girlfriend. And fuck that bastard child growing inside of you."
She slams the door hard enough that August starts crying.
Chris comforts him, rubbing his back.
He pulls me into a hug and wipes the tears off my face.
"I love you." He says, kissing me softly, "And I love our daughter."
"I love you too..." I say, leaning into his embrace.
The next morning I woke up early to make the kids breakfast before we left for our shoot. It was December 10th and we were doing a Christmas shoot for people magazine.
It was going to be the cover picture for the Christmas issue.
We got there, all three kids in tow and I went to hair and makeup while the Chris went with the costume designer to get the kids in their clothes.
It was originally going to be just me and Chris and August but now that we had Dante and Sophia with us they were going to be in the pictures too.
Chris and I had two outfits because it was essentially two different shoots in one.
One of the shoots is just the two of us. Chris will be in a tux and I'll be in a gorgeous red ball gown.
And the second is the family shoot.
I step into the red ball gown after having my hair and makeup done. My hair is in a loose chignon and my makeup is quite heavy.
It's a mermaid style dress so it's extremely tight until just under my knees where it flairs out. It's actually gorgeous. The navy blue heels are at least 7 inches tall.
The first round of photos is done quickly.
For the second round of pictures I'm wearing a red sweater that shows off my cleavage and my belly with tight skinny jeans and white wedges.
We take pictures with all of the kids and then just with August.
Eventually it's just the two of us and we take the classic pregnancy pictures.
The last picture we take is of Chris and I kissing with mistletoe dangled over our heads.
The producer stops us and says he has an idea.
He brings out and artist who says he'll be painting my belly.
He paints a reindeer in my bump quite skillfully and we take pictures.
We're finally done after about five hours.
We get the kids home and all of us immediately take a nap.
We spend the rest of the day watching Christmas movies and decorating the giant tree.
I know how much Chris loves having his kids here. And I know it breaks his heart that their going home tomorrow morning.
We get into bed with August laying in between us. Not 20 minutes later both Sophia and Dante come in.
They both crawl into bed with us, cuddling around August and in between the both of us.
Sophia insisted upon having her hand on my belly while she fell asleep. She said she didn't want her baby sister to feel left out.
And we all fell asleep like that. Our entire family together.
