CHAPTER 2-Always and Forever-Still The One
Charlotte's holding Andie's right leg back at the knee while Nicky's holding up and pulling the left leg in. "Push!" Addison urges her. "Just one more push and this baby will be home free."
"Come on, Sweet Pea!" Charlotte offers her daughter some encouragment. "One more good push and this hell will be over."
Andie grips onto the birthing table with all the strength she can muster up. She manages to squeeze out one more strong push before dropping her head back down on the pillow in utter exhaustion.
"It's a boy!" Addison announces. "And he's a big one." Addison suctions out the newborn's nose and mouth.
Nicky beams, gazing at his newly born son. "That wasn't so bad, Belle. You were only in labor for four hours this time."
"Are you kidding me?" Andie scoffs. "You try having labor pains for four hours and see if you still say it's not so bad."
"I just meant compared to Harper and Charley, this time it went much faster." Nicky clarifies.
"It's her third baby." Addison tells Nicky. "That's usually how it works."
"That's good to hear." Nicky nods. "Next time you'll only be in labor for two hours."
"Bite your tongue." An exhausted, sweating, Andie snaps. "There isn't going to be a next time. This factory is closed."
"Aw, come on." Nicky teases. "We need to have at least four like your parents did."
Charlotte stands near Nicky while Addison guides him to cut the umbilical cord. "He is a big boy."
"He is." Nicky cuts the cord then watches the nurse take his son to the exam table. The newborn lets out his first cries as the nurse cleans him off and examines him.
"Is he healthy?" Nicky asks the nurse.
"His apgars are 10/10." The nurse replies. "They don't get any better than that."
Nicky counts ten fingers and ten toes while the nurse weighs the baby. After wrapping the infant up in a blue blanket the nurse hands the baby to Charlotte who's eagerly waiting nearby. "Here you go, Dr. King." Charlotte knows the nurse is handing her the baby first because of her Chief of Staff status. Charlotte feels a tinge of guilt knowing that Nicky is itchin' to hold his new son but she lets it fly and takes the baby from the nurse.
She gazes at the new life in her arms. "We finally have one that looks like you, Nicky."
"What does he look like, momma?" Andie calls out from her bed.
Charlotte carries the baby over to Andie. "He's got a full head of dark hair and an olive complexion like his father."
Andie studies her baby. "He does look like you, Nick, look at his nose and cheeks. You'd never known he just came out of my body."
"It's about time." Nicky tells her. "Harper and Charley look like you and your momma. It's about time one of our children took after me."
Charlotte gets a text. "That's your father." She talks as she reads. "He wants to know if you had the baby yet. Harper's excited to know if she has a new brother or a sister."
"Uh..oh." Nicky swallows. "Harper's been praying every night before she goes to bed for a little sister. She's not going to be happy."
"Guess that means you'll have to have one more." Charlotte jests. "We can't have my granddaughter unhappy."
"Bite your tongue, momma. I had three younger brothers and survived all these years without a sister."
Charlotte quirks an eyebrow. "You're not gettin' a little sister out of me now."
"Now, that I'd like to see." Addison chortles out while she sutures Andie's episiotomy up. "I'll even give you free pre-natal care if you pull that one off, Charlotte."
"Put a cork in it, Montgomery." Charlotte cradles the newborn.
Cooper's sitting on the couch watching The Cartoon Network with seven year old Harper and her two year old brother, Charley. Tess and Chase sit on the floor nearby.
"Here it is." Cooper reads the text. "Andie had another boy. They even sent me a picture." Cooper passes his phone around for everyone to look at.
Harper grumps, folding her arms. "I wanted a sister. It's not fair."
"Aw, but he's so cute, Harper." Tess tries to cheer the seven year old up.
"It's not fair!" Harper stomps her foot. "Charley has a brother now and I still don't have a sister."
Cooper's phone buzzes with another text. After reading it, he pulls Harper onto his lap. "It's okay, Munchkin, your dad sent me a text." Cooper shows it to seven year old Harper."He said to tell you not to worry, the next baby will be a girl."
Tess screws up her face. "They're discussing having another one already. This one hasn't been out of the womb ten minutes."
Cooper laughs. "I think its Nicky's idea. He wants a big family. Andie would have been fine with one or two."
"When can we go see momma?" Harper asks Cooper.
"We can go right now. By the time we get to the hospital your momma should be all settled in her room."
Cooper ruffles little two-year-old Charley's red hair. "Do you want to go up to the hospital with me and Harper to visit your momma?"
The little red-headed boy pulls his thumb out of his mouth to nod yes before sticking it back in his mouth.
"Okay, then." Cooper stands up, taking the mini -Charlotte by one hand and two year old, Charley, with the other hand, leading them out the door.
"What's wrong?" Tess asks Chase.
"Nothing." Chase sulks.
"There's something wrong. It's written all over your face. Aren't you happy for Andie and Nick?"
"I'm happy for my sister but I feel like we're on a fast road to nowhere."
Tess furrows her brow. "What on Earth are you talking about?"
"My sister just had her third kid and we haven't even had one. Hell, we're not even married yet." Chase complains.
"Because we decided to finish college and medical school before we got engaged." Tess reminds him.
"Right. We agreed to that but now we're both done with med school, we're almost done with our residencies and we don't even have a wedding date set yet."
"Jeepers, Chase." Tess sighs. "We're not even finished with residency yet. What's the rush?"
"The rush is my sister just had her third baby and we don't even have one."
"We're not in a competition with your sister. Andie and Nick have a completely different lifestyle. They're not doctors. They didn't spend years in medical school like we did. We deserve a break now." Tess tells him.
"Planning the wedding and setting the date is supposed to be fun." Chase tells Tess. "Why do you need a break from that?"
"I didn't mean I needed a break from that. I just want a couple of months to do nothing, to have nothing to think about besides my residency before we start to plan the wedding. Is that so hard to understand?"
"I must want to get married more than you do." Chase gets up and picks up his keys.
"Where are you going?" Tess asks.
"I'm going to go visit my sister at the hospital, maybe she'll let me hold her baby." Chase grumbles. "At this rate, I'll be an old man before I hold a baby of my own."
"You're acting like a big baby." Tess calls after him.
"If we had a baby I wouldn't need to act like one!" Chase walks toward the door.
"You're being ridiculous!" Tess yells before he slams the door on the way out.
"What's going on?" Thirteen year old Drew walks in the house. "Did you and my brother have a fight?" He asks Tess.
"Not a fight." Tess tells Drew. "A disagreement."
"About what?" Drew drops his backpack from school on the couch.
"Chase wants to plan the wedding and get married as soon as possible." Tess shrugs. "I don't see the rush. I want to finish my residency and establish my career before we start having children. I think it's better than rushing everything, don't you?"
"Yeah." Drew nods. "I don't know what my brother's problem is. My parents didn't get married and start having kids until my dad was almost forty."
Tess responds. "I think Chase feels some kind of competition with your sister and she just had her third baby."
"Did Andie have her baby yet?" Drew asks.
"Yeah, she had another boy. Everyone went to go see them at the hospital."
"Oh," Drew thinks out loud. "Harper's not going to like that. She wants a little sister."
"Kids have to learn early that they can't always get what they want or they grow up to be big spoiled babies." Tess shakes her head.
"Are you talking about Chase?" Drew asks.
Tess nods. "Chase is a great guy and I love him more than life but he's being a baby about rushing the wedding and having kids right away. I have to find a way to show him it's better to wait. It always turns out badly if you juggle more balls then you can handle, one always gets dropped and all our balls are too important to drop. Do you follow what I'm saying?" Tess asks Drew.
"Yep and I have an idea."
"What?" Tess asks.
"Take Chase to the circus and show him the juggler. Say one ball is your job, one ball is his job, one ball is your marriage and the other balls are your kids and see which one the juggler drops first."
Tess rolls her eyes. "With my luck it'll be an expert juggler and Chase will end up wanting five kids if the juggler can manage all those balls at once."
Drew laughs. "I better call my momma and find out about my new nephew. Let's see how many balls Andie and Nicky can juggle before they start dropping them."
"You're a funny little man." Tess throws a piece of popcorn at Drew.
Drew catches, chews and swallows it before he answers. "Funny, yes, little, no."
"Sorry. " Tess apologizes. She always forgets how sensitive Drew is about being the smallest boy in his class. Chase is tall like Cooper. They keep telling Drew he'll shoot up and grow tall one day like Noah did but Drew's thirteen and still waiting for his growth spurt.