Part Three
Sydney hears the front door click open that evening, and as usual, Emily runs to greet Michael.
"Daddeeee!"
"Hey, princess," Sydney hears Michael say, and she knows Michael is sweeping her into his arms. Their son Jack is quieter, less easily excitable; he is content to stay in the backyard with his basketball hoop, no matter what the weather, and greet his father at the dinner table. She wonders if Grace will join Emily on her run to the door once she is walking and talking, if this next baby will. That has to be the thing Sydney likes best about being a mother-- watching the children develop personalities, become little people. She is looking forward to seeing what they are like as older children, as teenagers, as adults.
"How was your day?" Michael asks Emily then.
"Not too good, Daddy. I ate a bug and I throwed up and then Mommy made us go to Mrs. Winthrop's."
"Emily," Sydney admonishes as Michael carries their oldest daughter into the kitchen. "Didn't Mommy buy you ice cream on the way home from picking Jack up from school? That part was fun, wasn't it?"
"She wouldn't let me get chocolate sauce and whipped cream on my ice cream cause she said I'd make a mess," Emily tells her father solemnly.
Sydney rolls her eyes as Michael puts Emily down and moves to kiss his wife. "Mommy couldn't do anything right today," Sydney murmurs to Michael.
"Has she been pouting about one thing or another all day?" Michael asks softly.
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Should we get Jack and tell them about the baby?"
Sydney sighs. "If we must." It's hard to predict what Emily's reaction to this will be, and she's not sure if she's quite prepared to handle it.
Michael kisses her on the cheek, pausing to coo at Gracie before moving to the backyard to get Jack.
"Why don't the two of you sit at the kitchen table," Michael instructs Jack and Emily. "Oh, and Jack, why don't you hold Gracie," he adds, lifting the girl out of her playpen.
"She can't understand this, Michael," Sydney murmurs.
"She should still be part of this," Michael insists, carefully arranging the girl in Jack's arms.
"Is this a family meeting?" Jack asks with a frown.
"Yeah, buddy, it is," Michael tells him.
Jack's eyes widen. "Are we moving again?" The last family meeting they'd called had been to tell the kids they were moving to New York.
"No, sweetheart, we aren't moving," Sydney assures him.
Jack's eyes widen further as he presumably remembers the only other reason his parents have ever called a family meeting. "Then Mommy's having a baby."
Emily frowns at Jack, her little face screwed up in confusion. "But we already have a baby."
Sydney bites her lower lip, suddenly near tears. Michael takes her hand and squeezes it. "Emily, do you remember how long it took for Grace to be born after we told you that Mommy was going to have her?" Michael asks. "By the time this baby is born, Grace won't be a baby anymore."
"Will she be big as me?" Emily asks.
"I wish," Sydney murmurs.
Michael nudges her in the side. "No, sweetie, but she'll be able to walk, and to say Mama and Daddy."
"Will she be able to say Emily?" Emily asks, eyes widening hopefully.
"Maybe if you work with her, she'll say Emily first."
"Michael," Sydney says, rolling her eyes. He'd convinced Jack he could get Emily to say Jack first, too, and then she'd refused to say it until well after she'd been able to say Mama and Daddy. She'd even managed to say Eric Weiss's name before she'd said Jack.
"So you're really going to have a baby, Mom?" Jack asks. "That's great."
"Thanks, sweetie," Sydney says, ruffling his hair affectionately.
"Will it be a boy or a girl?" Emily asks with a frown.
"We don't know yet, honey," Sydney tells her.
"What will its name be?"
Sydney and Michael exchange a glance. "We don't know that either, Emily," Sydney says. "Maybe Sam, if it's a boy."
"I want it to be a boy," Emily decides, scrambling out of her chair. She is staring at her mother's stomach, and Sydney crouches down so she can have a better view. "It's in there?"
"Yes, sweetie."
"Hi, Sam," Emily says to Sydney's stomach. "I'm your big sister Emily."
Sydney's eyes fill with happy tears this time, and she thinks that moments like this one make having another one worth it.
