Thicker Than Ink

Thirteen

As hard as I was already blushing I hadn't thought about the one thing that might make me blush harder... Which is Grammy pointing out how red my face is when we finally make it into the library...And Liam walking up to the two of us with the biggest smile on his face, both of us pulled into a monstrous hug while he continues to beam... His arms only releasing us when Silas growls at him for touching me... Which only makes him chuckle before he starts in on us, Grammy having spilled our beans about the teeny tiny Bean about to join us, "Congrats, you guys!"

If I didn't know Liam as well as I do I would have sworn that he's about to start clapping his hands and jumping up and down with how excitement radiates off him in waves as he starts to talk about what kind of colors we want if we've decided from the samples he got or if he should go get more and if we think it's a boy or a girl and if maybe we had any theme in mind for decorating the nurseries... The fact that he's about to be an Uncle making him so happy that I almost wonder why he and Cassie haven't adopted a few Beans of their own... 

A thought that I'm not allowed to dwell on for very long... The rest of the crew taking turns to say congrats, not all of them daring to get close, some of them still wary of how antisocial Silas was in the past and the grumpiness that has now simmered down into a gentleness none of them actively understand thanks to me walking right into his life in my fuzzy slippers needing the love he had hidden so deep inside of himself... Grammy taking it upon herself to navigate most of the conversation for us so that we don't have to field every single overly-excited question that keeps flying so rapidly out of Liam's mouth... Not that she even knows more than Liam actually does as far as plans go... But it's nice that in all of my flusteredness that I don't need to stress myself out trying to catch every little question that comes our way when all I really want to do is smile and curl up with my Daddy while we kiss the rest of the day away and greet the evening with just as much affection...

As happy as the conversation it also makes me feel just a tiny bit self-conscious, so many different sets of eyes all on me all at the same time being just a bit much for me... Not nearly as bad as the first few days of that conference... Or that first time Silas and I ate lunch together and we couldn't keep our hands off of each other... But it's still enough to make me squirm, even if most of the eyes are directed at my belly trying to figure out if it's too early to see a bit of a bump.

...

Silas

...

As much as I would normally loathe having everyone stop and pay attention to us... It's kind of adorable how shy it makes my sweet Bean... His hands resting so protectively over his belly while he leans into me with his cheeks red as can be... The look he gives me when I lean over and press a kiss into his hair after a chuckle so puppy-like that it's nearly impossible not to pepper his cute face with as many kisses as he can handle... The only thing stopping me being the fact that we are indeed the center of attention at the moment... With Agatha standing not even three feet away and at least trying to be on her best behavior... Something that tends to change if she thinks I'm getting too handsy for company because Addy is her baby... A habit that, when thinking about how I'll likely be that over-protective with our kids as well, makes me smile for once. 

It's not much longer that we have to wait for Liam to calm himself down just enough to realize that now that it's been confirmed that Baby Ashwood is on the way that we now have a definite deadline on when we need to have things as close to finished as possible, his ass suddenly in gear while he turns his conversation inwards trying to figure out how quickly we can get things done, Grammy smiling at us all as she tugs Addy away from me so that she can give him a hug... The way she whispers something to him before kissing his cheek and letting him go making me raise my eyebrows at the both of them and the little smile that they share afterword before Agatha excuses herself giving me a polite goodbye before walking around the side of the house to get to her car...

 My attention turning to my Bean as he starts to tug me over to the spot we normally set him up at... The spot where he can see me a majority of the time no matter what part of our little expansion I'm working on while still giving him enough shade to not get too hot and enough sun to stay warm and read by...

...

Adrian

...

While normally I would help Daddy as he snags the blanket from my basket in order to shake it out before spreading it out... But I know that he's feeling a bit extra careful of me at the moment... So I don't move to help him beyond letting him motion for me to back up so he can spread it out for me before letting me slip back to his side after setting my basket down... His hands slipping around my waist just as he bends to kiss me... The connection of our lips lingering just a bit longer than usual... But not long enough for him to forget the little secret Grammy had told me... "What was that about, Princess? Am I allowed to know?"

Technically... Technically it's not lying to him since he gave me the option on whether or not to tell him instead of telling me to tell him... And just not thinking about it isn't really fibbing... It still feels funny though when I bite the corner of my lip to keep myself from smiling while cheeks tint themselves pink before saying, "Not yet, Daddy... But soon!" A nervous giggle escaping my mouth right after.