November 5, 1990
Stevie and Lindsey woke up together to head to work, and as Stevie had gotten out of the shower and was dressing, Lindsey cleared his throat.
"What?" She asks grabbing at a green fuzzy sweater.
"You have a baby in your belly." He tells her.
"You're right." She gives him a weird look.
"No, Steph...you're showing." He points.
"It's about damn time. I'm sixteen weeks along. I was hoping I'd be showing earlier.' She looks down at her stomach and gently caresses it with her hand.
"You should wear something tighter." He points.
"What?" She asks.
"Yeah. Wear something tighter and show it off." He shrugs.
"Could I wear Jeans to work?" She asks?"
"I always do." Lindsey shrugs.
"Alright." She puts the green sweater back into the dresser and pulls out a plain white long sleeve teeshirt.
She pairs it with a pair of jeans and a black fringe vest. She's curling her hair when Lindsey's hand cups around her stomach.
"It feels weird. It's like...it doesn't feel like fat." He shrugs.
"Well, it's not it's a uterus. An internal organ." Stevie explains.
"I know, I'm just saying. What do you want for breakfast?" He asks.
"Oh, I just want some yogurt and fruit." She tells him.
"I'll have that right up for you." He kisses her cheek.
When Lindsey's gone Stevie looks down at her stomach and she pats it gently.
"Well baby, I think your daddy is warming up to you."
***
Walking into the breakroom at work with Lindsey, Kristen sees them and the coffee mug in her hand falls to the floor. '
"What is that?" She points to Stevie's stomach.
"It's a baby dear." Stevie smiles grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge.
"But..." She starts.
"But what?" Stevie inquires.
"I didn't think you could get pregnant. I mean you're ancient." She states.
"I am NOT ancient." Stevie spits turning away and making her way out of the breakroom.
Stevie lingers outside of the breakroom to listen to what Kristen and Lindsey talk about, it's been her thing recently...snooping on them, but she has good reasons.
"I didn't think you wanted a child?" Kristen asks him.
"I didn't. But now one's coming so there's not much that I can do about it."
"Are you sure it's yours?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Stevie and I have been married for about eighteen years. I know she's faithful."
"Do you think she did it to trap you or something?"
"No. I think she just really wants a baby. She's thrilled about it."
"Well anyway...are we all set to go to Colorado tomorrow?"
"Oh right...what time are we leaving, I haven't told Stevie yet."
"Eight in the morning."
"Oh shit, she has a doctor's appointment at eight-thirty I was going to go with her. Oh well, I guess there's next time. I have to go break the news to her."
Stevie quickly walks to her office and she fakes doing paperwork so she looks like she wasn't just snooping.
"Hi Honey." She says when she looks up.
"Hey, so you know how I promised you I'd go to your appointment with you tomorrow. Well, a couple of days ago we were approached with a job in Denver and tomorrow afternoon was the only time the guy could meet. We have to fly out at eight to get there for our meeting on time." He explains.
"Of course you do." She shakes her head.
"Are you really that mad?" He asks.
"Yes, Lindsey I am...because our child should be more important than a job." She shrugs.
"But to raise a child we need money, and in order to get the money, I have to go to work. Stevie, the baby isn't going to change anything. If I end up out of state when you go in labor, that's too bad." He says.
"God, you're an Asshole you know that." She shakes her head.
"Look, I'm sorry but it is what it is." He shakes his head.
***
Stevie was sitting alone, in an exam room waiting for her doctor, swinging her legs. She was making small conversation with her stomach when the knock came at the door.
"Good Morning Stephanie, how are we feeling?" She asks.
"Good, morning sickness is gone, I'm showing, I can feel the baby moving around." She pats her stomach.
"All good signs. Do you know what else is good, We have your CVS results back and your baby girl is perfectly healthy."
"It's a little girl!" Stevie gasps her hands coming to her mouth.
"Yes, it's a girl. When we do the CVS test the sample that we ultimately take has all of the baby's genetic information including the gender which is determined by week eight when most women find out they're pregnant. Even though, we can't see it on the screen until around week eighteen CVS can and it's always 100 percent accurate." She grins.
"Can we see her?" Stevie questions.
"Of course, lay back and lift your sweater." She grins.
***
When she gets to work, Stevie is in awe as she looks at her ultrasound image on her desk. When a knock comes at her office door.
"Come in!" She calls putting the picture down onto her desk and sitting up straighter.
"Hi my name is Tom Petty, I was wondering if I could talk to the owners of this fine establishment." He smiles.
"Ugh....ah....yeah, t-that'd be m-me. I'm Stevie Buckingham, my husband's not here at the moment he's in Colorado on business but I can meet with you. I'm a huge fan." She stands up and shakes his hand.
"Well, I'm honored to meet you, this is my wife Jane. Our house caught on fire a couple of weeks ago and we're looking to rebuild. We've heard that Buckingham Homes is the place to go." Tom smiles.
"Well, I'm honored that you chose us. I can't tell you building logistics as that's my husband's department but what I can do is start sketching ideas for homes with you and I'll present them to him and I'll have him set up a meeting with you to go over everything." Stevie explains.
"That's fine. So where do we start?" Tom asks.
"Well...um, I guess we can start with how many bedrooms and bathrooms." She shrugs.
"Jane?" Tom looks at his wife.
"Um, how many do you have in your house?" Jane looks at Stevie.
"We have seven bedrooms and six bathrooms. But only two bedrooms are in use five are left as guest rooms." She shrugs.
"Why so many?" Tom asks.
"My husband likes to think big. But it allows us both to have our whole families over on the Holidays." She shrugs.-
"Well, we don't need seven bedrooms. Maybe like five. It's just us and our two girls." Tom shrugs.
"Fine, how many bathrooms?" Stevie asks.
"Like six and a half." Jane states.
"Alright, I'm going to start sketching just start throwing things out to me. Like do you want a bay window, things like that." Stevie smiles.