Secret Love

19

April 1, 1994

Stevie was sitting on the couch in the living room with her knees slightly pulled up to her chest. Isabella was laying on her thighs in the cutest little outfit. The onesie was blue with yellow and pink flowers on it and her little pants were pink. In her small tufts of blonde hair on her head, there was a yellow stretchy headband with a flower on it. 

She heard Lindsey walk in the door. "Daddy's home bunny." 

Stevie continues tickling her tummy as the baby smiles, giggles, and kicks her little legs into her mother's stomach. 

"Oh look at you, how did I get the cutest baby in the whole entire world?" Stevie questions as Lindsey comes in and kisses her cheek. 

"She gets it from her momma." He moves to kiss the baby. 

"Are you sure you up to go pick up my parents from the airport. It's an hour to where they're flying into and you just worked a sixteen-hour shift?" Stevie asks.

"I'm sure...I'll be fine. Trust me." He kisses her head.

"Lindsey I don't know, I mean you were called into work at two this morning and you didn't come back to sleep like you normally do. I think I should go with you." Stevie shakes her head.

"Angel, I'll be fine...I promise you. I slept in my office on the couch. I'll be okay." He tells her. 

"Okay. But drive safely." She warns.

"I will. I'm going to go change and then I'll get going." He kisses her again. 

***

Stevie had the baby strapped to her front in her baby wrap and she was pulling the roast out of the oven. Instead of bending like normal she had squatted to protect her baby. She was putting the contents of the pot on a plate when the door opened. 

She smiled as her parents trailed in, Lindsey behind them. Barbara hugged her from the side and kissed the top of the baby's little head. Jess came in and kissed his daughter's cheek, and then behind Lindsey, two more people came in. She gasped when she saw them and immediately came around the counter to hug them. 

"Hey, sis." Chris hugs her tightly.

"You didn't tell me you were coming." She squeezes him as all of a sudden a cry makes them jolt apart. 

"Oh my god, I forgot about her...Lindsey, how do I make sure she's okay?" Stevie asks her hands coming to her mouth. 

Lindsey just chuckles and takes her out of the wrap and lays her out on the couch. He checks over her little arms and legs, and her head and then he holds her back out to Stevie. 

"She's fine, you were suffocating her," Lindsey explains. 

"Where's Jessie?" Stevie asks as Lori takes the baby from her.

"Lindsey put her upstairs. She fell asleep. They're so close in age and I can only imagine them being so close." Lori snuggles the baby.

"Right, but we live here and you guys live in Arizona." Stevie points out. 

"So, they'll still be close." Lori grins. 

"How come you guys didn't tell me you were coming? I would've done something Easter Egg wise for Jessie." Stevie sighs.

"We wanted to surprise you, and it's okay, she's still a little young yet," Chris explains. 

"Well, you certainly did surprise me." Stevie laughs.

"You look, good sis, healthy."  Chris smiles at her.

"I feel good. I'm finally feeling better about myself...but, I made a roast so let's eat!" Stevie grins. 

As they were sitting down to eat, Isabella started to cry and Stevie whined.

"You can feed her while you eat you know," Lindsey tells her.

"I know, but wouldn't it be weird?" She asks.

"No, it's natural," Barbara tells her. 

"And if you're really worried about it you can cover yourself with a blanket." Lindsey walks into the living room where he knows that one of her blankets is on the couch cushion. 

Stevie leaves the room to latch, but then she heads back into the dining room the little baby wrap and a blanket hiding the suckling baby. They made small talk over dinner and when Stevie finished, she peered down under the blanket. Isabella wasn't suckling anymore and she had pulled off of her mother's nipple and she was just sleeping against it peacefully, her little hand resting on the breast and Stevie swooned. 

"You're smiling like a maniac, what's she doing?" Jess questions.

"She's just sleeping, she pulled off a while ago but I was waiting until I finished eating or she started fussing but she fell asleep her little eyelashes are fluttering against her cheek and her little hand is resting on my breast. She's not doing anything special she's just so cute. But I think, I need to go put her in her bed because my arm's breaking." Stevie pushes back and stands up.

"Jessie's in Bella's crib. She's going to sleep in there while they're here. I figured it'd be fine because Bella sleeps in the bassinet in our room."  Lindsey tells her.  

"I'll go check on her." Stevie chuckles. 

Walking into her bedroom, she can hear light whimpers and she smiles knowing that Jessie is definitely awake, and she knows that very quickly the poor girl is going to scream. She puts Bella in her bassinet and turns on the baby monitor. She fixes her bra and her blouse as she walks into the nursery and sees Jessie bouncing in the middle of the crib. 

"Well Hi, you don't remember me do you...I'm your Aunt Stevie. Yes, I am...come on munchkin" Stevie picks her up out of the crib. Jessie grabs at her moon necklace and brings it to her mouth and starts chewing on it. Stevie sighs and takes it out of her mouth. Jessie pouts but lays her head on her aunt's shoulder anyway and just plays with it that way. 

When Stevie gets downstairs, everyone is still at the table and she can see Lori had cut up some veggies for her and the potatoes that Stevie had cooked with the roast were mashed on a plate. 

"DA!" Jessie cheers when she sees Christopher. 

"Yeah is that daddy, do you want to go see daddy?" Stevie asks. When Chris tries to grab her she shakes her head.

"Uh," 

"Uh?" Chris asks her.

"Uh!" She points to Lindsey.

"I think she wants to sit with Uncle Lindsey." Jess chuckles.

"Do you want to go sit with Uncle Lindsey?" Stevie asks her.

"Uh!" She jumps on Stevie's hip. Lindsey takes her and situates her on his lap as Chris starts feeding her the food on the plate. 

Lori wraps her arm around Stevie and smiles, "Let's go talk about babies."