"Mom! She's coming! I just saw Livvie's car pull up!" Serena alerted Lucy and the rest of the guests that Alison was arriving.
Lucy and Livvie had been planning this surprise baby shower for months now, and now they were about to pull it off. Lucy, aided by Serena, Karen, and even Amanda, had sent the boys out for the day and decorated the lighthouse with pink and blue decorations and streamers, not to mention the hundreds of pink and blue balloons. One color would have been easier, but, alas, Alison refused to learn the sex of the baby.
"Here she comes! Here she comes! Ok, everybody, get down and remember...not a sound!" Lucy whispered loudly to the rest of the guests.
Outside, Livvie did her best to persuade Alison out of the car.
"I just don't understand, Livvie. Why do I have to get out of the car and come with you if you just have to run in and borrow something from Lucy? Can't I just wait here?"
"Oh, Alison! Come on now! You know Lucy would want to know why you stayed in the car and why you didn't come in the house, too! Then I'd hear it! She'll go on and on with the inquisition until she gets to see you."
"We had Thanksgiving dinner with her less than a week ago...AND she just saw me at birthing class the other day, Livvie."
"Alison!" Livvie shot her a look of slight exasperation.
"Ok, ok...I'm getting out. Ya know Livvie, when YOU'RE eight months pregnant, I can't wait to make you climb in and out of little cars all the time."
Alison continued to whine about having to get out of the car all the way up to the door. When they approached the door, Livvie rang the doorbell and proceeded to walk right in.
Alison was confused, "Aren't you going to wait for Lucy to-..."
Before Alison could finish... "SURPRISE!!!!"
Alison nearly fell over from the shock as a roomful of women jumped up from behind various pieces of furniture.
"Oh...my...God..." was all that Alison could say, at first. She was speechless.
Alison turned to Livvie, whose grin was as wide as the ocean at having pulled this off, and hugged her, "I can't believe you did this!"
"Well, I had a little help." Livvie replied as she gestured at Lucy.
"You guys are amazing! Thank you so much!" And Alison ran over to Lucy to give her a great big hug, "I can't believe you threw me a baby shower!"
"Of course we threw you a baby shower!" Lucy declared. "What kind of coach...and friend...would I be if I didn't?!"
Alison took hold of both of her friends in a great big group hug.
"Happy Baby Flower!" Christina exclaimed as she ran over to Alison from behind the couch.
Everyone laughed.
"Awww...thank you Christina." Alison chuckled as the little girl hugged her.
"Baby SHOWER, not flower!" Serena corrected her little sister.
"But mommy said there's no baby yet, so how can we give it a shower? And I don't think babies take showers. They take baths...like me!" Christina smiled as she shared her reasoning.
Alison leaned down and kissed Christina's head, still giggling from the cuteness of the whole conversation, "I never did understand why they call it a baby 'shower' either."
Christina smiled even bigger and let out a satisfied, "hmph!"
Serena ushered Christina away to play with the balloons that engulfed the room, and Alison continued to greet her guests.
"Nana! Lucy and Livvie told me you helped plan this. Thank you so much!"
"Well of course, darling!" Amanda kissed her granddaughter graciously on both cheeks. "Though, I wanted to have it at the club, you know, but Lucy insisted on having it...well...here." Amanda glanced around the room.
"Well it doesn't matter where it is, Nana. I'm just so grateful to have such wonderful friends and family. Thank you. Besides...," Alison leaned in closely to her grandmother, not being able to resist the temptation, "we wouldn't want the people at 'the club' to know about your unwed and pregnant granddaughter, about to give birth to your illegitimate great-grandchild, now would we?"
"Oh Alison, really! I thought we were through with that nonsense!"
"I'm just kidding, Nana. I know you love me, and I love you." Alison kissed her grandmother. She still enjoyed getting to her every now and then.
"Ok, everybody! Attention, everyone, attention!!" Lucy was standing at the front of the room, attempting to gather everyone around her.
"What is she up to now?" Alison wondered.
"Livvie, come up here please."
Livvie joined Lucy at the foreground of the large group of people.
Lucy began again, "As you know, this is a baby shower, and what is a baby shower without...party games!"
Alison rolled her eyes, having hoped that this would have been left out of the shower.
It was Livvie's turn. With a huge, wicked smile on her face, she looked right and Alison and held up a spool of ribbon. "Ok, who wants to take a guess at how big Alison's stomach is?"
"Oh, this is thrilling." Alison smiled and said sarcastically.
As the time passed, Alison loosened up a bit and really did begin to enjoy the party games. The baby pool, she had to admit, was fun.
Everyone bet on the sex of the baby and what day it would be born. They knew the baby was technically due on the 30th of December, but guesses ranged from this very week on through January 15th. When someone called out that guess, Alison couldn't help but cry out, "January 15th!! Please, God, no!" And everyone was rolling with laughter.
Eventually, all of the guests formed a large circle as Alison opened her gifts. She could not believe all of the gifts she received- baby clothes, car seats, a stroller, diapers, diaper bins, diaper bags, blankets, money, and anything else that a new mother would need for herself and her baby.
Alison was overwhelmed by her friends' generosity after opening the presents.
"You guys are just the greatest-..." and tears filled her eyes.
Livvie laughed and grabbed a box of tissues, "Uh-oh, here she goes."
Alison laughed, too.
"No, I mean it. Thank you all so much! I can't wait for the baby to meet each and every one of you!"
After all of the guests had left Livvie and Lucy began to clean up all of the decorations and wrapping paper and bows all over the floor.
Alison tried to help, but Lucy wouldn't hear of it. She shooed Alison away and so Alison decided that she'd take a little breather outside on the porch.
As Alison stood outside on the porch, she breathed in the cool air of late autumn that was quickly turning into winter. She placed her hands on her stomach and rubbed her baby that was almost here.
"Well, looks like you're going to be a winter baby, huh? A little snow angel, just like your daddy and I used to make."
Just then Alison heard a sound behind her and jumped as a hand grasped her shoulder.
She whipped around in fear, only to see a familiar face.
"Jamal! You scared me half to death! What are you doing here?"