Complicated Love

Announcing

"Brad I really don't feel good."

I walk into the kitchen where he is making the food for the cookout we're supposed to have today.  He takes one look at my messy bed head and pale face, immediately handing me a bucket.

"Should I ask if George can have it at his house?" He walks over, rubbing my back as I vomit in the bucket "I don't want to pressure you too much.  You should be resting."

"No, I don't want to ruin your fun.  I should have taken that stuff, this is what I get for getting drunk and having sex."

"But you're going through this because of me.  I'm easily just as much to blame as you are.  Probably even more."

I walk the bucket to the sink, washing it out, standing there staring at Brad across from me.

"This took both of us, babe.  Besides, we won't be able to pick up and do stuff like this once the baby is here, we should do it now while we can."

I look down, flattening the baggy shirt I threw on, staring at the proof of our child growing.  It might not seem big, but I feel huge.  Brad tells me he loves it, but I still feel like I'm getting way too big way too quickly.

"And we have to tell everyone anyway... at least everyone we want knowing before we announce it."

"You look cute." He lays his hand on my belly, leaning in to kiss me, knowing how desperately I need it "Especially in your oversized shirt and messy hair.  I can't wait for everything though, this kid is so lucky to have you."

"Even luckier to have you."

"We'll see how you feel about that after I rub off on it." He goes back to cooking, glancing up at me every few seconds as I work on cleaning his mess "Go get ready.  I don't want you worrying about any of this.  All you need to do is pick out a cute outfit and keep everyone entertained until I'm done here."

I stand there for a while, really not liking the idea of dirty dishes laying around my kitchen, but he doesn't give me much of a choice.  He grabs my hand, pulling me towards the steps before turning towards me.

"I want you to be relaxed.  I will take care of the dishes and clean the counters.  I'll do whatever I can to help, but you really need to take care of this mess.  I know this kid is trying to make you hate it already with all this sickness, but you're going to win this battle."

"At least make me some pancakes?"

"Deal.  As long as you don't jump out of the shower thinking I can't handle things."

"Fine."

I go through our closet, looking for the perfect outfit.  It can't be anything too tight or our secret will be obvious before we share it, but I also don't have much that isn't tight.  I dig around for what feels like forever until I find the perfect dress, and quickly grab some heels to match it.  He hasn't burned the house down yet so I jump in the shower, letting the water take over relaxing me.

After a way too long shower spent picking apart every square inch of my rapidly growing and stretching body, I get out to dry off.  I don't feel like myself at all.  Everything is changing, and as amazing as it is that our child is growing, it's hard to adjust to all the changes happening to me.  I can't control any of it and that alone drives me crazy.

"You look cute.  The dress fits you really nice, I love it." Brad walks up behind where I'm admiring the clean kitchen, wrapping his arms around me to rest them on my belly, flattening the dress to reveal the bump "Everyone is going to be so excited.  I can't wait."

"I just hope nobody ruins it for us.  I don't want it announced yet."

We finish all the cooking we need to have done before everyone gets here.  Brad's making burgers later, but since I've been starving all the time, we're making sure we have plenty of snacks out to keep me content.

"Why does it look like a buffet threw up out here?" Court and Lisa are the first to arrive with their families, looking around at everything as the kids jump right in the pool "How many people are you expecting to be here?"

"I got hungry when we were shopping and might have picked out a little too much.  Dig in."

Our other friends arrive shortly after with George bringing all the alcohol he can fit in his car, most of which I really wish I could be drinking to make me less anxious.  Brad grabs a beer, hanging around me while we try to contain out excitement of telling everyone the huge surprise.  

"Let's just do it," I lean towards him, noticing everyone is close to us anyway "We can get it out of the way and have fun the rest of the night.  And I can stop checking to make sure my dress isn't giving it away every 5 minutes."

"You're definitely overreacting, but let's do it.  I wanna see their reactions."

He gets everyone's attention, pulling them even closer to us.  You can tell they know something is going on just by their expressions.  He can hardly hold it in anymore, so I let him do the announcing. 

"So we wanted to see everyone after being so busy, but there's a bigger reason we had this party.  Jen's pregnant." 

"Oh my God!  I knew it!" Lisa runs up to hug us, almost crying from excitement "I knew you've been hiding something!  I'm so happy for you guys."

"We all are!  That baby is going to be the cutest ever!" George adds.  He walks over closer to us, whispering "See I told you when you accidentally ruined the surprise for me last week that I wouldn't tell anyone.  You should trust me more often."

"Thank you for not ruining it.  Now, we just need everyone to keep it a secret until we announce it publicly." 

"Of course.  We would never do that.  We all love you two and this baby so much."

"We love all of you too."

Go check out the new story "Hollywood Journey" on the account brennifer2! 🙂