"Hey baby girl why don't you come over here and help me tell Aunty Katie all about our trip" I ask Kelly. She's currently on the floor trying to mediate a friendship between her Dalmatian puppy Chessie and Katie's dog Oscar. She'd decided when she got her puppy that she looked a bit like the chess boards she'd seen in shops. Emily and I certainly hadn't ever played it. Despite this it was the reasoning behind Chessie's name.
We'd arrived home from New Zealand two days ago. Now after finally recovering and readjusting to our home life we were visiting Katie to show her the pictures and have a catch up. Course the bit she was most interested about was what we'd bought for her.
"This my birthday boat trip, see whales" Kelly says climbing onto my knee and pointing to the photo on the computer screen.
"Yeah it was heaps of fun wasn't it baby girl. Do you remember what else we saw?" I ask looking at Kelly as she thinks. Katie sits beside us looking at the photo before looking to Kelly to hear her story. I'm sure she had seen and heard about it before what with facebook and skype. Despite this she looked like she was really interested and eager to hear Kelly's story.
"Seed four dolphins one of them was a baby he was little like Bradley" she fills Katie in. "And the whales go whoosh" she says making motions with her hands of the whales spurting water out their blowholes.
"Wow that sounds pretty exciting Kelly" Katie says. Kelly nods.
"Yip I love whales I wanted to get one for my fish tank but Mummy says they too big" Kelly informs us causing Katie to let out a slight laugh. Kelly really was a little entertainer, most of the time without even knowing it. Her verbal language was well beyond that of most of her peers. She started talking quite early too. I think it because we were constantly talking to her. We've always treated her like she had something important to say and respected the small decisions we let her make. I guess these things had influenced her desire to talk and our modelling had encouraged her. Despite the knowledge that children do learn because of the relationships and interactions they have, sometimes I just look at her and she amazes me. I feel so lucky to have such a bright beautiful young daughter looking at her mother gave me similar feelings of awe and pride.
"I think your mummy was right there Kels your fish tanks a little small for a whale" Katie says.
"Yeah, but Mumma and Mummy gots me some little tetra fish to live with Nemoily and Dorelly" Kelly points out. Emily and I had decided to get her a fish tank like the one in New Zealand. Katie had been kind enough to have it sorted when we got home. I didn't feel good lying to her so we'd let her know they were new fish. She'd been fairly happy with the idea, especially since we had given the New Zealand ones to our New Zealand neighbour Doris. She was a lovely older woman who had formed a strong relationship with Kelly. The two of them got on so well that it allowed Emily and I to have a few nights out on our own over the two months. It was nice to have someone we could trust with Kelly. It was also nice for her to have someone other than the two of us. Doris also had two grandchildren one was 6 and the other 10 and when they visited they would fawn over Kelly. She loved the attention and had an amazing time playing with the older children.
"They sound pretty neat sweetie I will have to come and see them one day soon" I hear Katie reply reminding myself to tune back into her and Kelly.
"Yip" she replies tapping the arrow on my laptop and bringing us to another photograph.
"That when I got my Chessie" Kelly informs Katie as we look at the picture of her and her Emily and the puppy sitting together on the lawn. It was about 5 minutes after we brought Chessie home.
The experience of getting Chessie was a bit of a drama. We'd called into the pet store the afternoon of Kelly's birthday. She had her heart set on her 'delly' dog so when we'd looked at the puppies and seen no Dalmatians I was anticipating a bit of a tantrum. After all Kelly was so convinced she was getting a Dalmatian today I was sure she was unwilling to deal with the alternative. Emily had asked Kelly which puppy she liked, I hadn't been game, to afraid of initiating any upset. She'd manage to surprise me though she bent down and patted one of the golden lab puppies and said she like that one but she would be getting a dally dog so we'd have to look at the fish and birds now. I'd been confused by the remark and as Emily took Kelly to look at the budgies and cockatiels I'd approached the counter. I asked the woman behind it if they happened to have any Dalmatian puppies or knew where we might get one. I have received the no I'd expected as an answer. I returned to my family who were now looking at the gold fish. I had then softly told Kelly that there weren't any Dalmatian puppies here and she might need to choose a different dog.
"See rest of fish first Mummy" she had said taking my hand and pulling me over to show me the neon tetra. We'd spent another 10 minutes observing all the different fish tanks.
"You ready to choose a puppy now sweetie?" I had asked hoping that while we had been looking at fish she had been thinking about which one she wanted.
"Yip" she said looking towards the door where a lady was walking in. She was wearing gumboot and a baggy bush shirt and carrying a cardboard box in her arms. I watched as she walked towards the counter hearing excited barks coming from the box.
"Want one of those ones" Kelly had said pointing at the box and walking towards the counter like the lady was.
Long story short the woman had had three Dalmatian puppies in the box. Kelly had been so happy. She'd spent ten minutes petting and talking to the dogs. Finally she choose the smallest of the three, apparently the runt of the whole litter. She really was a beautiful dog and the smile she put on Kelly and Emily's face put an even bigger one on mine.
"This one of Mumma bunny jumping" Kelly says as we reach one of Emily bungy jumping off a bridge. I couldn't believe she'd done it, I certainly wouldn't have but I didn't have to tell her that. Being pregnant was my excuse with out having to say I was just too scared. I was scared enough when she did it.
"Wow I can't believe you did that Ems" Katie says looking over my shoulder as I feel Emily rest her hands on my arms. She's been in Katie's kitchen making dinner for all of us.
"Was a lot of fun" she replies as Katie looks past us again presumably at someone else who's entered the room her face breaks into a smile. One that I presume means it's Mark. Form what Emily's told me the two of them are pretty serious.
"Hey Mark" I greet as he joins us at the table, kissing Katie softly on the lips before taking his seat.
"Hey Naomi, Emily, Kelly" he says looking down at the table avoiding making eye contact, I'm also fairly certain there is a slight redness to his cheeks. I turn my head to look at Emily wondering if she has also noticed his strange behaviour. Looking at her only puzzles me more as I notice she also looks slightly embarrassed.
"Going to sit down Ems?" I ask figuring that I would observe to figure out exactly what going on here.
"Yeah" she says pulling the chair next to mine out and taking a seat. She pushes the seat right up nest to mine so our legs are touching.
'You ok Sweetie" I whisper in her ear. Katie and Mark seem caught up in there own conversation and Kelly's still on my lap flicking through our holiday photo's for entertainment.
"Yeah fine, whys that" she asks looking at me confused.
"You look a little flustered is all" I reply running my fingers over her forehead to smooth the worry lines.
"I'm good, I miss the sunshine and beaches in New Zealand but I'm glad we're home." she explains smiling at me.
"Yeah, me too" I reply leaning in to kiss her pulling away quickly as my lips touch hers.
"What's wrong" she asks frowning as she sees the apparently startled look on my face. I look at her and then Mark and back to her and she seems to understand what I'm talking about.
"So Mark" I say interrupting his and Katie's conversation. "Any particular reason you found the need to kiss my wife?" I ask seeing his eyes widen in fear as I look at him sternly.
"I I I didn't know you were home yet. When I came in, I just um kissed her without really looking at her. Please don't hit me I didn't mean to. How did you even know?" he says hiding behind Katie.
"I'm a crazy pregnant woman Mark, you've just been at the pub and my ultra sensitive nose can smell it all over Emily. Plus she doesn't taste right, I've been kissing her for many years, I notice even the smallest difference." I say seeing him move even further behind Katie.
"Settle down you big baby. Naomi's not going to hit you, its not like she's never accidently kissed me before." Katie says making me remember something I'd like to forget. Emily's head whips round from looking at her sister to looking at me apparently eager for the story.
"Thanks for that reminder Katie, I thought that was something both of us agreed to forget, I mean it was one time. I can say without a doubt say that sober I would never get the two of you mixed up. Hell I could tell you apart 3 parts gone. That night I was under the influence of more substances than I've ever been under before and to be fair you were in Emily's bed. I mean my vision was practically non existent how am I meant to know that the person in Em's bed surrounded by her scent isn't her?" I ask reliving the night myself. I had disappointed myself a lot that night. I thought I'd never mix up my Emily and her sister but as a very drunk, stoned teenager I had proved myself wrong. It hadn't and never would happen again. Now I could tell my girl apart from a crowd of 200 of her clones.
"The thing you fail to mention Naomi is that the reason I was in Emily's bed was that you and Effy were in a drunken coma on mine." Katie bites back causing Emily and Mark to laugh.
"Mummy why you not have no vision?" Kelly pipes up from her seat on my lap, making me realise that I had perhaps said some things I shouldn't have around little ears who are far to smart for their own good. I mean most children her age wouldn't know what vision was. She on the other hand had learnt about it from a conversation with Doris who had been in for a vision test too have her driver's license reissued.
"Well my little Munchkin, Mummy did something she probably shouldn't of done and it made her feel particularly ill" I explain hoping the taming down of the truth would satisfy my daughter. Though it seems to have satisfied her Emily and Katie are both wearing matching looks of raised eyebrows at my statement. I poke my tongue out at them both and shrug. I can't help it if I'm a word wizard who can tell the truth while making it sound a lot better that it actually was. Hopefully one day when my baby girls all grown up Emily and I both can be a little more honest about these things. I hope that our experiences will be able to educate her to be safe and make the good decisions.
"So Naomi how's my nephew doing then" Katie asks doing a fantastic job changing the subject.
"Well we're off to see Dr Graham tomorrow actually but as far as I can tell everything is progressing nicely. I'm looking all whale like so that's a good sign. I swear I'm as big at 7 months as Ems was at 9 it's so not fair. Our boys going be a big baby" I voice rubbing my stomach smiling as I feel Emily's hand link with mine.
"Good we need some more big strong men in this family" Katie says sending a sly smile and wink Marks way.
"Hey our son can be whatever he wants to be. If he wants to be skinny and weak like his uncle James that's fine by me." I say causing Katie and Emily to laugh.
"Hey" Emily says pushing my shoulder "you can't say things like that about my brother when he's not here to defend himself" Emily says cheeky smile on her face.
"Yeah" Katie chips in "You'll give Mark the wrong idea he'll expect him to be bigger than he is. You made him sound average and let's be honest despite all his years on the naughty bar James muscle tone is well below average." Katie finishes resulting in the table's laughter again. Even the dogs join in barking excitedly and wagging their tails.
"Oh who's this?" Mark asks leaning down to pat Chessie, apparently noticing her for the first time since he entered the room.
"That's my Chessie" Kelly pipes up crawling from my lap to Emily's and cuddling into her.
"She's a beautiful dog Kelly, when did you get her" Mark asks looking at Kelly as she hides in Emily's neck. Apparently she's become all shy now, or she's just getting tired. Though I would suspect it's shyness after all she has only met Mark once and that was two months ago.
"You going to tell Mark when you got Chessie?" Emily asks brushing Kelly's hair from her eyes.
"Mmmm" she says looking at me and sticking her thumb in her mouth, apparently all of a sudden unable to communicate with anyone. I couldn't really blame her, I'd like to be curled into Emily's neck right now too, but I think that's the sort of thing only three year olds get away with I this situation.
"Mmmm" I say as I cuddle into Emily's neck inhaling her scent just like Kelly had been doing hours before.
"Happy to be in bed are we sweetie?" she asks kissing my forehead and snuggling down deeper into the embrace.
"Yeah" I say smiling at her before pulling away and lifting her shirt over her head and throwing it away.
"Babe you know we can't tonight" she says as I cuddle back down into her arms.
"Yeah I know" I reply though a yawn "I just wanted to feel your skin, it's all warm and soft. It's much nicer than your stupid shirt." I point out running my hands up and down her back as she does the same to my belly.
"You excited about tomorrow?" I ask a few moments later feeling her smile against my cheek.
"Which part, the doctors or the real estate?" she asks knowing we have two important things planned for tomorrow.
"Both" I reply shortly.
"Super excited, I can't wait to see how much our boy has grown since we saw him last. Plus the properties we're going to look at, this is like the first step to making my career dreams come true" she replies happiness oozing from her tone.
"Life's pretty good then" I say as I tickle her causing her to squirm under my touch and try and push me away.
"Pretty darn good" she replies through her laughter trying to restrain my hands so I'll stop my childish ministrations. She was right it was pretty darn good.
Well there we go another chapter, hoped you liked it. Thanks so much for all of you who are still reading and enjoying hope there a still a few out there. Thanks fro those who are still reviewing and adding me to your alert. It really makes me feel good. If you've got any feed back on this one do tell. Anything you'd like to see would be great too. :)