The imagination of a perfect life

Chapter nineteen

It's been 5 months since Aurelia's graduation. She's been the biggest help at home and Veronica doesn't even want to think about the fact that she leaves for college in half a year.

The whole Andrews family lies cuddled up on the couch. All three kids between Veronica and Archie, Ben in Aurelia's lap and Emilia next to her. The snow is falling outside while they watch some home videos.

"Why exactly are you two still awake?" Aurelia giggles and looks at her siblings "it's past midnight"

"Mommy said we can stay up as long as we want because it's Thanksgiving" Ben grins and snuggles into his sister's arms.

Aurelia turns to Veronica.
"I expected them to fall asleep hours ago" she whispers which makes Aurelia giggle.

Veronica feels really uncomfortable. She's one week past her due date and the baby drives her crazy. She has to pee constantly and the girl's kicks get stronger and even hurt a little bit sometimes. Her hands are on her belly while her daughter moves around.
She looks outside the window and sees how more and more snow falls. It has been snowing for hours and it makes her very nervous. If anything happens tonight it will take hours to get to the hospital.

"Oh my" Aurelia says staring at her phone.

"What?" Ben asks.

"There's a blizzard coming. All roads are closed"

Veronica's eyes widen. She grabs her daughter's phone and reads the news herself. This is not good. This is not good at all. She has a really bad feeling about tonight. She closes her eyes and rubs her stomach, praying her daughter can wait another day before she wants to meet the rest of her family.

"You good babe?" Archie asks. He looks over to her but doesn't really see her. The only light in the room comes from their tv.

"Yeah" she breaths out.

"Who's that little baby?" Emilia giggles and points to the Tv.

"That's Lia the day she was born" Archie grins. "I remember it like it was yesterday. It was January and mommy wasn't feeling well at all. We were still cuddling in bed when she suddenly felt contractions and it got worse with every passing minute. So we decided to go to the hospital"

"Were you excited?" Ben asks with big eyes.

"I was very very excited. Lia made me daddy so I had no idea what was going to happen. I was trying my best to calm mommy down and support her because I knew she would be the best mommy in the world"

"Oh come on Archie. You were a mess" Veronica giggles but is quickly quiet again.

"Okay, okay. Mommy was calming me down" he laughs. "I was holding mommy's hand and kissed her head because there was nothing else I could have done to help. There were doctors and a midwife who helped mommy. Abuelita was there too. Grandma and Abuelo and auntie B and uncle Jug were waiting outside.
And then all of the sudden there was a tiny little baby in the room"

"Lia!" Emilia giggles.

"I remember looking at her and falling in love instantly. She was so perfect. The doctor asked me if I wanted to cut the umbilical cord and I said yes"