Chapter 10

"Amanda, I was thinking…why don't we have your baby shower here, at the house? I mean, we have plenty of room. You won't have to worry about lugging the gifts anywhere but up the stairs," Dotty rambled as she sipped her coffee.

Amanda shook her head, "I don't know, Mother, I feel kind of silly having a baby shower. I mean, it's not like it's my first baby…"

"But it is Lee's. Come on, it will be fun. We can have one of those… what do they call them… Jack and Jill parties!" Dotty exclaimed. She waved her hand around excitedly. "We can invite Mr. Melrose and his wife, Jeannie, Lee's friend, Leatherneck, Francine, and we can't forget Bob, Harry, and Christina."

"Mother, I'm not so sure the guys are going to want to hang around with a bunch of ladies opening baby gifts," Amanda insisted.

"Nonsense! Philip and Jamie should be there, too. After all, they are going to be big brothers to the girls," Dotty continued. She stopped long enough to take a sip of her coffee again. "Have you and Lee put any more thought into names for the girls?"

Amanda sighed, "We have a little bit but it's so hard. I really want to help honor his parents' memories and use their names somehow, but Lee insists he doesn't want to. He says it might be too much on them when they are older and they ask what happened to them, you know?"

"What do you mean, what happened to them? I thought they died in a car accident when Lee was five?" Dotty questioned, confused.

"Well, they did, Mother, which is pretty sad. And I don't think Lee wants to be reminded of that all the time. I mean, I can understand that, but I still would like to do something," Amanda explained.

Dotty shook her head, "So what names have you come up with?"

"Well, I like Kaylee, Sophia or Sophie, Kate, Johanna, Patrice, and Hillary but Lee doesn't seem real thrilled with any of those," Amanda rattled the names off.

"Okay, what names does he like?" Dotty pried.

Amanda rested her hand on her chin, "That's just it. I don't know. I mean, we talk about names in the car, at work, when we're alone but he hasn't really said much. I just don't know what to think."

Dotty gave her daughter a weak smile and said, "I think you just need to give him a little time, dear. After all, this is all new to him. He might be feeling a little overwhelmed still."

Amanda sat up, her eyes wide, "Do you think so, Mother?"

Dotty shrugged her shoulders, "Well, not that you say that, he has been awfully quiet lately whenever anything is mentioned about getting ready for the girls. I mean, look at what happened the other day when you asked him to help pick out paint swatches."

"Mother!" Amanda groaned. "He got called into work. He couldn't have known the phone was going to ring at that exact moment."

"No, but he never did help choose a color, now did he?" Dotty reminded her.

"Mo-ther," Amanda admonished once more. "I think you're looking at something that just isn't there. Lee's excited about the girls, I'm sure of it."

Dotty stood, lifted her coffee mug, and waved her hand, "If you say so." She sauntered into the family room and sat on the couch. "I think you should sit down and talk to him," she called back in Amanda's direction.

Amanda sighed. "You bet I'll do exactly that," she stated softly.

"What was that, Dear?" Dotty called out.

"Nothing, Mother. I'm going to go measure the room once more to make sure the furniture is going to fit the way we want it," Amanda replied louder. She pulled a small tape measure out of a drawer in the kitchen and headed up the stairs and down the hall to the bedroom just past Dotty's that would become the twins' room. She stepped inside and closed the door. With a heavy sigh, she surveyed the empty room. She started measuring from one corner to the other then stopped. "I know what I need to do," she decided and left the room to return to the kitchen.

"Mother, do you know where that roll of tape is?" Amanda asked.

"What tape?" Dotty returned.

"The masking tape. The one we got the boys for that paint project they were working on," Amanda explained.

Dotty nodded her head, "The tape is in the drawer next to the sink, along with the receipt from the furniture store."

Amanda chuckled, "How did you know I was going to ask for that next?"

Dotty sat up higher on the couch and smiled at her daughter, "Because you did the same thing when I first moved into the house on Maplewood with you."

Amanda laughed back once again, "Well, I just want to make it easy, that's all. If we know where everything is going to be placed, it will just make the delivery process go that much easier."

"I didn't say it was a bad idea, Darling, but do you really think you should be doing that alone?" Dotty questioned.

"I'll be fine, Mother. I'm just putting tape on the rug. It's not like I'm moving the furniture myself," Amanda stated. She turned back into the kitchen, found the roll of tape she was looking for and headed back up the steps. She closed the door behind her once more and sighed loudly. Thirty minutes later she heard a soft knock on the door.

"Amanda?" Lee called as he stepped into the room. "Amanda, why are you on the floor? Are you okay? You didn't fall did you?" he worriedly fired off the questions before Amanda could reply.

Amanda looked up and held up her hand, "Sweetheart, I'm fine. But I could use a little help." She held her hand out and Lee helped pull her to a standing position slowly.

"What are you doing in here? What's all this?" Lee indicated the taped off areas on the floor.

"Well, I was trying to figure out the best place to put the cribs and the bureaus, not to mention the changing table," Amanda explained. She pointed to one smaller rectangular shape and asked "What do you think? Should it go here or over there?" Amanda indicated another smaller shape across the room between two longer shapes.

Lee ran his hand through his hair nervously and asked, "What are those?"

Amanda crossed the room and stood between the two shapes. "This is where I was thinking the cribs could go. But I thought maybe if they were against the wall we'd have a little more room to move between them. So if the changing table went here, under the window, then when we have to change diapers in the middle of the night, everything is all right here," she explained in one breath.

"Um, I guess that works," Lee stuttered. He looked around the room again and sighed.

"Do you really like the paint the boys chose?" Amanda asked, trying to draw information from him to glean how he was feeling. Something about the look on his face worried her.

Lee nodded, "The color is fine but are you sure you want to go with yellow? I thought you would want pink."

"We can go with pink if that's what you want," Amanda assured him.

"No, no, the boys chose yellow so let's stick with yellow," Lee shook his head.

Amanda put her arms around Lee's waist and rested her head against his shoulder, "Sweetheart, is something wrong?"

Lee gave her a slight squeeze, "Nothing's wrong. Seeing this just makes everything feel a little more real, you know. I don't know how to explain it."

"Let me guess. You're getting a little nervous? Don't be nervous," Amanda assured him again. She kissed his cheek lovingly. She felt Lee relax in her arms slightly. "You want to laugh? Mother suggested we have a Jack and Jill baby shower, here at the house."

"Wait, is that when you invite guys to the party too?" Lee asked.

"Yup. She suggested Billy and even Leatherneck," Amanda laughed. She turned her chin to look up at Lee's face and for the first time since he walked in the door, he smiled.

Lee laughed with her, "I'm not so sure about Leatherneck but I'll bet anything Billy would go."

"I guess she and I will have to sit down and talk about a guest list. I'm just not sure I want anything big. I just feel funny asking people to bring gifts. I mean, since the boys were little, I've done most everything on my own and to ask others to help…" Amanda's voice faded as she slipped into thought.

Lee gave her a squeeze, "Hey, if I've learned anything from you, I have learned it's okay to ask for help and more importantly, we should celebrate with family and friends." He slid his hand down her arm to rest on the side of her belly. "I may be pretty nervous about what's going to happen when the girls are finally born but I know we're going to have help. That makes me feel a little better."

"I love you," Amanda sighed against his chest.

Lee pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered, "I love you, too."