Chapter 29
Later that evening after everyone had gone home, and Bernie and Lois headed back to the loft, Gary and Kaitlyn were putting the girls to bed. Gary had read them their bedtime story and was in the process of tucking Casey in.
"You have to get a good night's sleep because Santa comes tonight." Gary told her. "I have a feeling he is going to bring lots of presents."
"Is he going to bring our baby?" Casey asked. Gary and Kaitlyn looked at each other and smiled.
"Casey the baby is in Mommy's tummy." Jessica said.
"It is?" Casey asked as she looked at Kaitlyn.
"Yep, it is, and it's going to be a while before we have the baby." Kaitlyn said as she kissed her forehead.
"How long?" Jessica asked.
"Not till almost the end of summer. Now, you girls had better get to sleep. I'll see you in the morning." Kaitlyn said as she kissed Jessica and headed out of the room.
Gary kissed Casey then went over and kissed Jessica. As Gary reached for the light, he heard Jessica's voice.
"Daddy." She said.
"Hmm" Gary answered and turned his attention towards her.
"When Mommy has the baby, you're going to be the baby's real father, right?" She asked.
"Yeah." Gary said as he sat down on her bed.
"Are you still going to love us?" She asked.
"Of course, I'll still love you." Gary said. "Why would you think that I wouldn't?"
"Well, because you'll have the baby to love and you'll be the baby's real father." Jessica said.
"Jess, I love you and Casey very much. I'll always love you. You are both my daughters. No matter how many babies Mommy and I have, you and Casey will always be my first babies." Gary said as he kissed her forehead. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Jessica smiled.
"Now go to sleep." Gary said as he tickled her. He got up from the bed, turned off the light, and closed the door. He saw Kaitlyn standing in the hallway.
"I guess you heard that." He said.
"Yeah." She said.
"You okay?" He asked. Kaitlyn shook her head yes. "Come on we got presents to put out." Gary said as they headed downstairs.
When they got downstairs, they headed out to the garage to gather up and bring in the presents. After they had brought all of the presents out of the garage and into the living room, Gary sat down on the floor in front of the tree his back resting against the couch. Kaitlyn quickly took a seat between his legs and leaned back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. The only lights that were on in the room were from the Christmas Tree. They both sat and became mesmerized by the twinkling lights.
"That is a beautiful tree." Gary commented.
"Yeah. Considering how we fought when we picked it out. I was so upset I didn't even really look at it until we brought it home." Kaitlyn joked.
"What do you mean you didn't look at it?" Gary asked.
"You said pick a tree and out of frustration I did." Kaitlyn smiled as she turned and kissed his lips.
"Well we'll never fight over that again. I promise." Gary whispered in her ear. Kaitlyn sighed.
"Tired?" Gary asked as he started to massage her shoulders.
"Yeah." Kaitlyn sighed.
"Why don't you go on up and get ready for bed?" Gary said as he kissed the top of her head. "I'll get the lights and make sure everything is locked up."
"Okay." Kaitlyn turned and gave him a quick kiss then got up and headed upstairs.
After she had changed into her bedclothes and brushed her teeth, she headed back into the bedroom. She thought it was strange that Gary still wasn't upstairs, so she headed downstairs to find him. When she got to the bottom of the steps, she caught him coming out of the basement with an armful of packages.
"Where did those come from?" Kaitlyn asked as she pointed to the pile that he was carrying.
Gary peeked over the top of the packages and said, "These are some extra things that I bought." Gary said as he headed into the living room and set them under the already full tree. "I thought you were going to bed?"
"You bought all those?" Kaitlyn asked. "Gary, this is to much. You are going to spoil them."
"What I can't buy my kids some extra Christmas presents?" He asked as he walked over, turned out the light, and picked her up.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Taking my wife to bed." Gary said with a smile as he headed up the stairs. "You know, not all those packages are for the girls. In fact, I think the one in my back pocket might be for you." He said as wiggled his eyebrows at her and headed into the bedroom. He laid her down on the bed. As he crawled on the bed beside her, he pulled the package out of his back pocket and handed it to her.
"Go ahead, open it." He said with a smile.
"But, it's not Christmas yet." Kaitlyn smiled.
"Close enough. Open it." Gary said. "I wanted to give this to you in private."
Kaitlyn pulled off the wrapping paper to find a thin jewelry box. She opened the lid and there was a beautiful diamond tennis bracelet.
"Gary, it's beautiful." Kaitlyn said.
"Not as beautiful as you." He whispered in her ear. "Merry Christmas."
"Thank you." Kaitlyn said a she reached up and kissed him. "Now I have to give you a present." As she sat up to get out of bed, Gary grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back down.
"You've already given me the best Christmas present I could have ever asked for." He said as he rubbed her stomach. Kaitlyn smiled and put her hands on top of his.
"So, tell me about those baby names." Kaitlyn said.
"Zeke." Gary said quickly as he continued to rub her stomach.
"Zeke?" Kaitlyn asked.
"Yeah, Zeke Hobson. My son is going to play hockey." Gary said with a smile.
"Really?" Kaitlyn said. "What's the girls name?"
"Zeke." Gary said as he looked up at her. "But, we don't have to worry about that, because, I know this baby is a boy."
"You're almost as confident as Chuck." Kaitlyn joked. Gary shrugged. "How about we make a deal. If we have a son, you can call him Zeke if you want to, but on his birth certificate we're going to give him a normal name."
"What, call him Zeke as like a nickname?" Gary asked. Kaitlyn nodded yes. "I guess that would be all right." Gary said. Kaitlyn could hear the disappointment in his voice.
"You really like that name don't you." She said. Gary shrugged. "All right if it's a boy we can name him Zeke." She said as she rolled her eyes. "I guess I have seven months to get used to it."
"Ha." Gary smiled as he reached up and kissed her.
"If this baby is a girl, it will not be named Zeke." Kaitlyn said.
"Okay. You can pick the girls name." Gary whispered as he slowly kissed her neck. Gary spent the rest of the night showing his wife exactly how much he loved her.