Chapter Twenty-Nine: One Beautiful Mess
"Babe, I'm not sure about this dress," Piper declared as she looked over at Alex fixing her already impeccable eyeliner, only she knew just how much of a perfectionist her wife was when it came to putting on her makeup. She knew better than to complain though, she would much rather watch her wife redo her makeup a million times than anything else, "You look like an immortal angel with perfect makeup and clothes that hug all the right curves and I just look like I have my holiday potbelly before the holidays have even really started. I don't know why I thought I could keep this a secret through dinner, let alone why I chose this dress. Well, other than you told me it matched perfectly with your outfit," Piper looked over at Alex's tight navy-blue sweater with it's perfectly plunging neckline and black slacks with midnight blue heels and an impeccably tailored black men's blazer with a pocket square that magnificently matched her heels and back to her shimmering blue-black dress with hints of gold and crystals.
"Pipes, you are the most beautiful woman in the world and this," Alex said softly as she put down her eyeliner pencil and walked over to Piper and cupped her small bump, pushing her palms into the blonde's hard belly as far as she could. Piper felt a little kick when her wife pushed a bit too hard and rubbed Alex's wrist to let her know that their child was not currently pleased with the brunette, "makes you more beautiful. And if anybody says anything about it, they'll have to deal with me. You tell or don't tell people when and how you want and I will back you up one hundred percent of the way, regardless of your choices."
"Really," Piper exclaimed.
"Yes, you silly ball of ridiculousness. I don't think people are gonna make as a big a deal about it as you think. You are married and doing what women do when they're still crazy enough in love to think putting their body through hell is a good idea," Alex declared as she looked at Piper's eyes in the mirror before she kissed the curve of her wife's exposed neck.
"Well, when you put it that way."
"Hey, did I say being in that place was a bad thing? I gotta admit it's a nicer neighborhood than I thought it would be."
"Is there something you wanna tell me, Al?"
"One at a time, sweetheart. Just tell them. You don't have to make it a big thing. As cute as it may be. I think they'll prefer cute baby pictures way more, anyway."
"You're probably right," Piper replied with as deep of a sigh as she could manage with their baby rearranging her insides to their liking chilling in her womb.
"I'm always right," Alex fired back with a cocky smile before squeezing Piper tightly.
"Sure you are, Vause," Piper challenged with a chuckle as she tried to shake her head but Alex leaned against her so she couldn't move.
"What did you say, wife," Alex retorted with a lilt at the end that made sure the blonde knew she was joking.
"Nothing, dear. You already managed to make me a criminal on the run and a mother all in the span of about five years, what more could you do to me? Now, Al, How's my makeup, my love?"
"The eyes could be just a bit smokier. Can I," Alex asked as she reached blindly for a makeup brush.
"Work your magic, babe," Piper told her wife before giggling when the brunette kissed her nose.
"You know you're my favorite muse."
"It was a competition?"
"Not until you made it one," Alex looked down from Piper's eyes to her growing belly.
"You are hil-fucking-larious, Vause."
"You know you love me. C'mon babe, you're wearing my ring and you let me put a tiny vampiric allegedly human monster in you."
"Yeah, and I don't regret it, not one teensy, weensy, tiny, bit. I'm just scared, you know, about what people will think."
"Will their opinions change a damn thing, Pipes?"
"No. I love you and I fall in love more every day with this little being we made from that love," Piper lovingly declared as she made heart eyes at her wife and pulled her hand to her belly where she could feel their baby nestled inside her.
"Stop, Pipes. You're gonna make me cry and my eyeliner isn't dry yet. And you know the punishment for ruining my makeup," Alex replied as she rubbed her wife's belly and supported her modest bump with both her hands as one meandered up to her swollen breasts.
"Death for a lesser person and kisses for me," Piper teased as she held her pursed lips to Alex's face until the brunette could no longer resist those rosy pink lips that always tasted like strawberries.
"That's what you're calling it now? I've made a mess out of you. But lucky for you, you are one beautiful mess. I think I'll keep you and all your wonderful mess and annoying, pain in the ass, cuteness."
"A kiss to a woman's lips is a kiss to her lips, which pair is dealer's choice. As a wise woman once told me."
"Do I know her, she seems like the sorta chick I'd have fun getting whiskey-drunk with."
"You might but I don't think you'd wanna get drunk with her cause you would be a sicky baby in the morning if you did."
"Remind me again why I keep you," Alex taunted.
"You tossed the receipt for me into the East River years ago?"
"I forgot on purpose to ask for one," Alex teased with a kiss to Piper's cheek, "Pipes, babe, you know I don't get receipts for things I have no intention of returning, silly dweeb," Alex added as she finished touching up Piper's makeup.
"Can I look?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
Piper looked shocked at her own reflection in the mirror, "Babe, how do you always do that?"
"I'm a woman with a keen sense of what makes other women beautiful, besides it's easy when the raw material is already perfect. It takes work to look as beautiful as I try to but you literally roll out of bed looking gorgeous," Alex told her wife as she kissed her hair and then fixed the spot she messed up slightly more than necessary.
"Well, I think you look hot in the morning," Piper challenged as she pressed her body as close to Alex's as possible in her current state, "Before all this," she added as she gave her wife a once over and felt her tits against her back as if there wasn't a stitch of fabric between the two of them.
"Me or my tits," Alex asked as she kissed the bit of her wife's cleavage that showed over the neckline of her dress.
"Um, well, um, uh—"
"See? Told ya so," the brunette replied as she grabbed ahold of Piper's chin and pulled her lips to hers before letting the blonde take over the inevitable kiss.
"That's not what I meant," Piper replied as they heard a knock on the partially open bathroom door, "Girls, we're leaving in about ten minutes," Celeste told them as they pulled away from each other and quickly turned to see the source of the sound.
"I'm just about ready," Alex responded before looking at her wife, "Pipes?"
"I am too, babe."
"You girls look so beautiful. And you're glowing, Piper," Celeste gushed at the pair.
"Talk to my makeup artist, Grandma. It's all her work, she's a master," Piper told the older Chapman while looking softly at her wife.
"I'll be it is and she is," Celeste replied as she glared knowingly at Piper and shifted her weight on her heels.
"It is, I swear," Piper declared.
"You don't have to lie, Piper. I'm happy for you. Even if I don't feel old enough to be a great-grandmother."
"Yes, I'm glowing cause I'm pregnant," Piper begrudgingly admitted before adding, "Although I'm not feeling the glow."
"You are though. But I couldn't see it either. Judging from that bump you have going on and the swelling to your face, it's a girl. And girls steal your beauty but they give so much more than boys in return. Still wish your grandfather had been willing to try for a girl but he was happy with his boys and I didn't have much say. I was younger and not as fearless then."
"That is the odds winning favorite. We aren't finding out. We want to just enjoy the moment and let our baby come into the world without any preconceived ideas about who or what they should or can be."
"I think that's a great thing. People have gotten so carried away with silly things. All that matters is that the mama is healthy and the baby is happy. Is everything good in those areas?"
"Yeah. Still a little nauseous sometimes, I thought that was supposed to go away. The baby is definitely mine, just as wild and strong as I ever was."
"Do I get to ask?"
"As long as you acknowledge the only thing that matters is that I love my wife and the baby is ours. We used a known donor but we've gotten out of contact since we sent them a recording of the heartbeat. We tried to set up a time to meet in the City this weekend but never heard back. Guess it got too real for them or something, but I have Alex. So our kid has two parents who love them immensely. I'm starting to feel a lot more kicks and movement and sometimes I feel this weird heaviness low in my pelvis."
"Any stretching yet? That was always the roughest part. Nothing but time makes it stop."
"I've felt some strange pains and cramps. They're kinda like when I didn't eat or drink enough the night before a big meet. You think mom and dad will take it well?"
"I know they will. Your mother even mentioned that 'Piper was positively glowing earlier.' Not that she's smart enough to think anything of it. She's always believed what she wanted to believe. That's why she still talks about how she was the last one to know you liked girls. The signs were always there, I saw them before you even did. I just figured you'd come out to me when you were ready and if I loved you right then one day you would trust me enough to tell me. Come downstairs ladies. The three of us can tell them together. And if they have anything to say I'll just take my favorite grandchildren to my club and leave them behind. I'm the matriarch of this family and I will outlive Carol Chapman if I have to in order to protect this family."
A few minutes later the three women were sitting together on one sofa with Carol and Bill across from them and Cal in an armchair in between the ends of the two sofas.
"Piper and Alex were just telling me upstairs that they had some exciting news," Celeste told the group with an upward lilt at the end.
"Oh," Carol responded as she stiffened her shoulders and Bill wrung his hands in his lap.
"Relax, you two. Really, I said exciting not horrible," the eldest Chapman admonished the two.
"Forgive me, Celeste if I'm not exuberant at the idea of Piper having news. It seems every time she does there's a catch. I found a hobby I love, it's athletics. I got a scholarship to college, it's a lezzie college. I'm in love and I've found the one, it's a woman," Carol argued.
"Were any of those things really bad things? Piper is an intelligent, passionate young woman who you are lucky enough to get to call your daughter and Alex has filled a void in this family I didn't know existed until she came along," Celeste asserted.
"No, I guess not. She was miserable in those ballet classes but was always the best on the field and got into the paper as the top female athlete in the county, she went to one of the Seven Sisters, even if it wasn't the one I would have chosen for her and she has a happy marriage even if it's with a woman and an admitted drug addict," Carol reluctantly admitted.
"Was that so hard," Celeste challenged Carol with a hint of polite sarcasm.
"No. Now, Piper, what's your news," Carol exclaimed.
"Yes, baby girl, tell us," Bill added.
"Alex and I—I'm pregnant. We're gonna have a baby in April!"
"Really? I thought I saw a little bump but I didn't want to say anything," Carol replied.
"Yes," Piper responded as she interlocked her fingers with Alex's and smiled.
"I don't see how that works, since you're both women," Bill declared.
"Evidently it does under the right circumstances and with a little help," Alex gruffly added.
"Is this one of those test tube babies," he asked.
"We did artificial insemination at home. It was perfect. It took seven tries but we went to this great naturopathic doctor and right after Nicky passed we got pregnant. We were planning to take a break for the move after that cycle but evidently this kid wanted to come with on our big move. It made the cross-country drive a bit longer and more dramatic but I wouldn't have changed it for anything," Piper explained.
"Yeah and maybe they'll give me a Christmas present and let me feel them kick," Alex softly stated.
"That really is an amazing feeling, Alex. I remember the first time Piper's mother told me to come over and feel her belly when she was pregnant with Danny. And then when I felt it again with Piper, even then she was wilder, stronger and more active. I thought I was about to get my All-American football player," Bill told the brunette as he made his best attempt to connect with his daughter-in-law the same way as he would if she were his baby girl's husband.
"And you sorta still did," Alex fired back with rolled eyes as she gazed down at Piper's muscular thighs.
"I definitely did, just nobody told me it wouldn't be American football and I'd have an all-American girl. I'm sorry about my reaction earlier, Piper. Nothing about you has turned out the way either your mother or I expected and that's not such a bad thing. I forget that sometimes."
"So did you do the test," Carol interrupted as she leaned forward in a sudden burst of interest in her daughter's pregnancy.
"What test," Piper asked, as if she didn't know exactly what her mother was trying to ask.
"You know the one that tells the gender, Piper."
"We chose to decline all testing unless medically indicated except for an initial ultrasound, just to make sure everything was as it should be, we're using a midwife and a birth center so it's not required or offered at the clinic we're using."
"Surely, you must want to know. They had the tests by the time I was pregnant with Cal. I tried to get it done but they weren't elective back then and my doctor told me no amount of money would convince him to do one on an otherwise healthy, low-risk pregnancy."
"Not really. It doesn't matter. We just want our kid to be who they want to be."
"You aren't planning to raise it without gender entirely, are you?"
"No. As long as they let us dress them, they'll be in cute gendered clothing. But if they let us and it's cute we wouldn't be against them wearing clothing typically associated with the opposite sex. And as they get older our only worry will be if what they are wearing is age appropriate and they say they are comfortable. Regardless of whether we'd make that choice. They'll learn on their own. They already have quite the wardrobe starting, whatever they and their fashion choices are. And even if they never wear something we get we'll just save it for the next one."
"Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself? How are you both going to work and raise babies, one baby might be doable but two is just impossible. And with Alex in school, her career really needs to be her priority and it's your job as a wife first and foremost to support her, no matter what personal sacrifices you need to make. That's why women quit working after the second baby," Carol told her daughter.
"I can get help and we already have a woman who comes once a week to help clean and has agreed to come twice a week when I get too big to do much around the house. And I can get someone to help with the children while I work," Piper explained.
"I still think a mother should either stay home and care for the domestic duties or work outside the home, not try to be what do they call it now—a work at home mom? It's impossible to do both at once, at least if you want to do justice to either," Carol added.
"I'm doing this on my terms," Piper declared as she leaned in closer to her wife for comfort and was greeted with a kiss to her temple.
"Of course you are. But you'll see. You're young and haven't seen much of the real world," Carol declared.
Piper leaned on her wife and the woman nuzzled her temple as she wrapped her arm around her. Piper had so much she wished she could say, could make her mother understand. If her mother only knew that thanks to the woman beside her, she had seen more of the world than Carol even knew existed and felt emotions that she never knew were possible.
"Yes, and things can change but those things would be a discussion and decision by me and my wife and nobody else. We run our home the way we choose, it's one of the nice things about having a woman for a life partner, there really aren't any firm rules, both inside and outside our community. Every couple does things a little differently," Alex firmly stated as she defended her wife and the sanctity of their marriage.
"And I hope it works out for you. I'm happy for you both. I'm going to be a grandpa, I can't believe it. That tiny little girl with blonde curls, big blue eyes and a pink heart shaped mouth full of energy and curiosity is making me a grandfather."
"I know sometimes I forget I'm really about to be a mother. That I'm having a baby, and even better I'm doing it with Alex."
"You'll be a great mother," Bill added with a warm smile, "You both will."
"You know this means I'll be expecting you to call me more often now," Carol declared.
"If that's what you want, mother."
"Well, Piper, I only have one daughter. I'd rather do the things that mothers and daughters are supposed to do, that I dreamed of doing when I held you as a baby, on your terms than not at all. Now, come give me a hug," Carol told her daughter. After a moment, Bill added, "Both of you," and the four of them stood in the living room in a tight embrace as Celeste looked on and smiled until she finally cleared her throat, "Well, we had better go and I think us women should have a chat when we get back."
Alex looked over at Celeste with a vulnerable expression that she rarely let show to anyone but Piper. Celeste laughed a little, shook her head and smiled, "Yes, you too. You are a woman, aren't you?"
"Yes, just—"
"No, just about it. You are a woman in this family by marriage. You belong in this family. You deserve to be a part of this family like any other daughter-in-law. C'mon don't make us late, Alex," Celeste asserted as the family slowly headed out of the house.