Hart Hunter

May 10th 2018 11am

Shawn was enjoying watching his wife grow. Once she stopped throwing up every morning, her food cravings went crazy. Shawn often found himself doing midnight runs for pickles and ice cream. Not long after that, she started to say she could feel movement. Eagerly, Shawn placed his hand on her belly, but it wasn't for another month or so until he felt the fluttering. He loved talking to her belly, no matter how stupid it made him look, and Katy didn't seem to mind.

"Topanga said Cory did the same thing with Riley," Katy told Shawn with a laugh.

"Why does that not surprise me," Shawn chuckled back.

Rather than find out the sex of the baby, they decided to wait till it was born. Shawn finally got to buy stuff at the baby store which he quite enjoyed. He also bought yellow paint for the nursery walls, with two small cans of accent colours, one blue and one pink. He didn't plan on painting the accent colours until after the baby was born.

"But you still want a girl," Katy was saying from where she sat in the new rocking chair surrounded by painting tarps.

"Yes," Shawn replied, turning to make sure she hadn't gotten up. Now in her third trimester, Katy was far less comfortable standing than before.

"But I've already raised a daughter," Katy whined.

"Exactly," Shawn said, turning back to painting the wall in front of him. "We know we can raise a girl, but a boy would be new territory."

"Where's your adventurous spirit?" Katy laughed.

"It's still in shock," Shawn chuckled back.

"Are you sure I can't help?" Katy sighed a few moments later.

"Yes," Shawn said. "Just sit and relax."

"I'm pregnant, not ill," Katy sighed. "I want to paint my son's bedroom."

"Your daughter's bedroom will be painted just fine without you," Shawn replied as he ran the roller up and down the wall, leaving yellow paint behind.

Just then they heard the front door open and Maya's voice call out.

"We're in here," Katy replied. Footsteps approached then she appeared in the doorway.

"Oh, painting," Maya said. "I'll go get Riley." And she disappeared again.

"Linked at the hip those two," Shawn laughed. "At least this new kid will like us more than Riley."

"Don't be bitter," Katy told him sternly with a smile. "It's not a good colour on you."

Moments later, Maya was back with Riley and they were both already dressed in painting clothes, looking excited. Shawn handed them each a paint brush and assigned them a section of wall.

"There's another girl in class whose mom is having a baby soon," Riley was saying as she used her brush strokes all wrong. Shawn was going to have to go over those again later.

"It isn't so unheard of then, huh," Shawn smiled.

"I know now my jealousy didn't make any sense," Maya confessed.

"If all human emotions made sense, the world would be a much simpler place," Shawn chuckled. He'd known how Maya had felt when she'd found out, but was glad she'd found the courage to put it into words.

"You can't control what emotions you have," Katy smiled told her daughter. "Only how you react to them."

"And I reacted badly," Maya sighed.

"I handled it badly as well," Shawn added. "Let's call it even."

"Okay," Maya smiled.

Suddenly Shawn felt something wet flick onto his face, and turned to see Maya holding the paintbrush like a weapon. With his free hand, Shawn touched his face and saw yellow paint on his fingertips.