The five of us flew out on the private jet the next day, heading back to Las Vegas. I slept most of the way and Drew and Celeste worked, making up for the last three days.
We did fly back, all of us, for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I loved Celeste and Alicia. I hated to admit it, but Lauren had been replaced. Dawson called every week to find out how his baby was doing. He was still calling him his baby, and I didn’t stop him. I just prayed that it wasn’t his.
We never did send for my car. Drew liked having it there when we were at my mom’s. I didn’t really need it anyway. He didn’t let me leave without him much.
Right after we had exchanged gifts on Christmas morning, Drew insisted that we had to go somewhere. I should have known that everyone was in on it. They all insisted on going, and we piled into two different cars.
Drew couldn’t contain his excitement. I was going crazy, trying to figure out what the hell he was up to. Celeste wouldn’t tell me either. Caroline on the other hand was made to go with her dad. She was dying to tell me.
We only drove maybe a mile up the shore and pulled into a driveway. I knew. I knew exactly what he was up to.
“You bought this house, didn’t you?” I accused.
“You told me that you needed to live by the beach.
I figured this way we could fly here when we wanted and have our own space. If you look up that way, you can see your mom’s house.”
“I freaking love you,” I exclaimed, getting out of the car.
The house was perfect. It wasn’t anything extravagant like the one in Vegas. It was simple. Four bedrooms, two baths, an eat in kitchen and a magnificent deck, overlooking the ocean.
“I thought maybe you would want to decorate this nursery,” Drew said as I checked out the best Christmas present I had ever received.
I loved the idea of decorating the nursery. Drew and Celeste had to fly to Europe for over a week. The newly pregnant Alicia, Vincent and I were staying at the beach until Vincent had to be back to school after break.
I spent more money that week than I ever had in my life, furnishing our new home. There were delivery trucks coming and going for three days in a row. I even made Alicia pick out the furnishing and décor for the two bedrooms on the other side of the house. I figured they would be the one using them anyway.
Vincent’s room was done in surf décor and his bed was a floating bed in the shape of a surfboard. He was so excited about it. He stood on it moving his legs and holding out his arms, riding the waves painted on the wall that Alicia had done for him. I didn’t know until that day that she was the one that had painted the enchanted forest in my baby’s room back home.
I chose subtle for this nursery. It was painted light blue with pictures of Caroline, my mom, Jason, Drew, Celeste, Alicia and Vincent all framed in white. Justin’s framed picture hung in the center of them all.
Alicia and I had a blast. We stayed up too late talking, fed our pregnant bellies too much ice cream and shopped until we literally dropped.
I didn’t want to leave when Celeste and Drew came back to retrieve us. They loved the house and what we had done in such a short time. I was happy. I was so happy. I loved my new house close to my mom and Caroline. I loved Vincent. I loved Celeste and Alicia, and I loved Drew. My cup runneth over.
***
“Drew,” I called to him, sleeping beside me.
“Hmm,” he moaned, rolling over.
“My water broke.”
He jumped out of bed wide eyed and nervous as hell. “Are you sure?”
I gave him a look and then looked down at the soaked bed.
“I’ll call Dr. Long,” he stated.
“Drew,” I called before he got out of our room.
“What?”
“Where are you going? Your phone is right there.”
“Oh,” he said, realizing the obvious. He called Doctor Long, my mother and the one dreaded call to Dawson. That one caused an argument more than once, but I had promised I would call before I ever left. I hoped that he didn’t come, but I was still going to hold true to my word.
I was only two centimeters dilated when we arrived. It was going to be a while. I wasn’t even allowed to have an epidural yet because they said that it was too early. The contractions weren’t too bad, and I was tolerating them okay.
By ten in the morning, my visitors started to arrive.
Celeste and Alicia were there first, and then my mom. I couldn’t believe she had gotten there so quick. I wasn’t looking for her until early evening, of course my husband had a hand in on that and got her a private flight out right away.
I had been in labor for nine hours and the contractions were starting to come stronger and more frequent. Drew was great. He held my hand and talked me through every one of them. I finally got the epidural around three in the afternoon. It helped, a lot, but the pain was still there, and I was feeling a lot of pressure. My visitors except for my mom and Drew stepped out to wait for the news.