Chapter Five: I Want More

"Hey Emma," Manny said as she walked into her best friend's office. "How are things going here?" she asked.

"Great actually. Chaela and Joshua are going home today," she announced, talking about two siblings who had been in foster care for almost seven years.

"I'm so glad!" Manny squealed. "So, how have things been going with you and JT lately?" Emma sighed before answering.

"Not so great. I haven't talked to you in awhile. JT was laid off at work, and now he's moping around the house. All he does is sit, drink, complain, and then sleep. It repeats day after day. I love him and everything, but he needs to go out and look for a new job."

"He gets drunk every day? Em, is he an alcoholic?" Manny asked, concerned. Emma hesitated before answering.

"Of course not!" Emma said, a little too defensively. "He only has like, one drink a day. I just don't want him sitting around anymore."

"Well, you look really tired Emma. You can get some rest and I'll work on a few things around the office."

"No!" she snapped at Manny. "I'm fine."

"What's wrong with you?" Manny asked. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were…"

"Pregnant?" Emma asked. "That's what you were going to say, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah. Are you?" Emma didn't answer right away. She just gave Manny a look. "You are, aren't you? This is so exciting!"

"Not really," she replied, almost disgusted.

"What's the matter Em? Having a baby is the best thing in the world. You'll love being a mother."

"I'm just not ready, okay? I wanted to wait at least two more years. And now, my husband doesn't even have a job! How are we going to support ourselves and a baby?" Emma complained.

"I'm sure JT will have a job by the time the baby is born. He has nine months."

"More like five months," Emma corrected her.

"You're four months already? Why didn't you tell me?" Manny whined.

"I just found out a few weeks ago. I've been working so much that I never even thought about my missed period. I went to the doctor, and, here I am," Emma explained. She stood up, and Manny could see a small bulge forming in her stomach.

"You may not think you're ready, but you're lucky that you are twenty-five years old! I was eighteen with…"

"Three kids, I know, I was there," Emma told her.

"So, what does JT think about it? I mean, I'm sure he's excited. Have you talked about names or anything like that?" Manny asked.

"Well…um…" Emma wouldn't finish the sentence.

"You haven't told him, have you?"

"Not yet. I don't want to upset him. He just lost his job."

"But he's going to be a father. Maybe if you told him, then he'd try to find a job sooner," Manny pointed out.

"I guess so," Emma said. "Now that's enough about me. Let me see my beautiful little niece," she said, walking over to Bella's car seat and unbuckling it. She lifted the baby out of the seat and held her, making sure to support her head. "Have you talked to Paige recently?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.

"No, I haven't. Hey, I think I should call her tomorrow and you two should come over just to hang out. We haven't spent time together in awhile. You can take the day off. I'll have Julie take over," Manny suggested.

"That's a good idea. I guess I could use a break," Emma said.


"Where have you been?" Jimmy asked Manny as she walked into the house.

"I went into the office to visit Emma and see how everything is going."

"You just can't stay away from there for five minutes, can you?" Jimmy asked, laughing.

"I guess not. What are you going home so early?" she asked him before kissing him.

"There wasn't much going on at the hospital, so I took the rest of the day off. They all have it under control over there anyway. And we still have three hours before the kids get home," he said, raising his eyebrow at her.

"Let me go put Isabella upstairs in her crib. She fell asleep on the way home. I'll be right back," she said.

"How about I put her to bed and you go wait for me in the bedroom?" Jimmy suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Manny unbuckled Isabella and handed her over to her father. She ran up the stairs ahead of him and rushed into her bedroom. She pulled all of her clothes off and put on her sexy black lingerie that Jimmy bought her for Christmas that year.

"I don't know why you bothered to put that on," Jimmy said, appearing in the doorway. He had already taken his clothes off and was in his boxers. "I'm going to take it off anyway." He walked over to his wife and kissed her hard. Then he picked her up and dropped her onto the bed, climbing up after her. She giggled and pulled him down on top of her.

"I love it when you get rough with me," she said and kissed him, this time shoving her tongue into his mouth.


"Have you thought about, you know, having more kids?" Manny asked Jimmy. They were lying on their bed, their bodies pressed together after their incredible sex. Jimmy had his arm around Manny's waist and pulled her closer to him, kissing her again.

"We just had a baby," he said.

"I know, and she is the most beautiful baby in the world. I want to have more. I love all of our children and I've always wanted a huge family," she said.

"I could deal with one more baby. I'd rather wait a little while though. Bella's only a few weeks old," Jimmy told her.

"I was thinking about having two more…" she trailed off.

"Two!" Jimmy yelled in surprise.

"I want there to be an even number of boys and girls," Manny explained. "Three boys and three girls would be perfect. And I'm not saying that it has to be right now. I just don't want to be an old mom. I'd rather have them all before I'm thirty…"

"Well, we have four years andone month then," Jimmy said. "But for now, let's just relax while we can. Bella will be up soon." He stroked Manny's hair with his other hand and kissed her on the top of her head. In a few minutes, they fell asleep, grateful for the silence that filled their home.