A Melwood Story

/chapter twenty-two/

A Melwood Story
Chapter 22

Melissa

Chris takes my hand and leads me outside of the loud busy building.

"Melissa, please tell me what's wrong," Chris says. "I will listen, okay? Just please tell me."

I can't not tell him now, although it's not the perfect situation.

"Chris," I say, looking down at my feet.
"Just tell me," he sighs.
"I'm-I'm pregnant," I whisper.

He takes a step back from me and a tear escapes from my eye.

"I'm sorry," I say, more tears falling down my cheeks.
He steps close to me and holds me. Just holds me in doesn't say anything for a couple minutes.

"I know it's not what you wanted just yet," he says.
"It's not," I admit.
He holds me tighter.

"I would do anything for you and our children. Do you want this?"
It's not even a question for me. I nod against his chest.

Suddenly he's crying. Not just small amounts of tears every couple seconds, like full on crying, which makes me cry even more.

"I love you," he sobs as he pulls away to see my face.
His face is red and there's tears just pouring out of his eyes, but there's a huge smile across his face.
"I love you too," I say as my own tears fall down my face.

"We're going to have a baby together," he whispers between sobs, then kisses my gently on the forehead.
"We are."

Once we cool off and there's no more tears, we go back in and go about like nothing happened.

Chris

Whatever I thought she was going to tell me, was not what she ended up telling me. The thought that she could be pregnant never crossed my mind. We talked about it when I asked her to marry me, but I didn't expect it to be so soon.

The wedding ends around 11 p.m. since the kids have to get to sleep, but I wish the night could last forever.

I pick up Nya from the chair she's been sleeping in for at least an hour. Melissa gets the twins, who are surprisingly not asleep yet, but they had taken a really long nap earlier today.

All three of the kids fall asleep in the car on the way home, which leaves Melissa and I to talk.

"How long have you known?" I ask.
"A few days."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wanted to wait until after the wedding," she says.

I glance over at her. "Is that the only reason?"
She sighs. "No."
"Melissa-"
"You're right, okay?" she says. I can tell she wants to speak louder, but doesn't want to wake the kids. "The last time I told a man I was pregnant with his child, he walked out on our relationship. I knew you wouldn't leave me, but that doesn't mean the past and my fear won't disappear."

"I get it."
She smiles a half little smile. "Okay."

"Do you want to tell the kids tomorrow?" I ask.
"Sure," she says, then leans her head back and closes her eyes, resting her hands on her stomach.
"Okay," I whisper, then let her fall asleep. It's been a long night.

—the next morning—

When I wake up, Melissa is already awake and reading in the chair in the corner of our room.

"Good morning, husband," she says. "Sleep well?"
I rub my eyes and little, smiling. "I did. Wife. Did you sleep?"
"No, not really."

I sigh, then turn to see the time. It's almost 11:30 a.m. How did I sleep in that much?

"Are the kids awake?" I ask.
"They're in the playroom."
"Okay." I push the blankets off and walk over to the bathroom.

"How are you feeling today?" I ask, as I wash my face with a wet washcloth.
"Still have morning sickness."
"Hopefully it will get better."
"Probably won't," she says. "I didn't have morning sickness with the twins, so now it'll probably be really bad and last forever."
I laugh lightly and turn around to see her. "It will last forever if you stay with that attitude."

She shakes her head, then changes the subject. "I hope it's a boy for Max's sake. Being bossed around by two girls is making him more shy."
"I hope it's boy, too."

Melissa

We're all sitting at dinner. Nya and Lulu are discussing some sort of game that they were playing earlier, Max is quietly eating and listening to his sisters talk while Chris and I are talking about the weeks events to come.

Once the girls pause their conversation for a couple minutes, I look at Chris and he nods.

"What do you guys think about having another brother or sister?" I ask them.
They all look over at the same time, different expressions on their faces. Nya looks happy, Lulu looks halfway between confused and excited and Max looks like he won't be sharing his opinion anytime soon.

"Really?" Nya asks.
"Really," I say.

"Is it a sister?" Lulu asks.
"We don't know yet," I tell her.
"I hope it's a girl," Lulu sighs, then continues to eat her dinner.

"Max?" Chris asks. "What do you think?"
"It's fine," Max replies.
"What do you mean by fine?" Chris asks again. Trying to make Max talk about his opinions and thoughts is almost always a struggle.
"I don't know," he says. "I know it'll be fine."

Chris looks over at me. "It's okay," I sigh.

-later that night-

I walk over to Max's room to put him to bed, but he's not in his room.
"Maxwell?" I call out.

A couple seconds later, Max comes speed walking out of the office with a handful of magazines in his grasp.

I smile at him. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing," he says.
"I see that."

He walks past me, into his room.

"Are you ready for bed?" I ask.
"No, I will be staying up longer," he says as he climbs into his bed.
"It's late, Max. It's time for bed."
"I want to read."
"You can read tomorrow."

"I want to read now."
"We're not arguing about this, Max."

He sighs. "You're just like Nya and Eloise."
"Maxwell..."
"It's the truth, mom."

I walk over and sit on the edge of his bed. "What's wrong?"
"I'm always getting told what to do by Nya and Lulu. I don't like it."
"Okay, well, the next time they are bossing you around, tell me. I will deal with it, alright?"

I stand up and hug him.
"Okay," he says.

"Do want to sleep with daddy and I tonight?" I ask him.
He smiles. "Really?"
"Really."
I lift him up and carry him down the hall to Chris and I's bedroom.

Chris looks up when we enter the room. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I say. "Max is going to sleep in here tonight."
"Sounds good," he says with a smile.

I push the blankets aside and set Max in the middle, then lay down beside him.

"Good night, mommy," he says.
"Good night, Max. I love you."
"Love you too."