Chapter 18

Brittany's POV

The snow had started to melt but the air was still cold when Everly started rolling around the living room. That was also when we realized that our apartment was not baby-proofed enough. She also started babbled in response to Santana and me talking to her, and I loved that.

Still, I was stressed about not contributing enough to rent and other costs. Santana insisted that she had everything under control, but a job was starting to sound better and better.

When our beautiful daughter was six months old, Santana and I discussed the option of me getting a job.

"Are you sure this is something you want?" she asked. "I know how much you love staying home with Everly."

"I do, and I wish I could work from home. But, since that probably isn't a possibility, I want to look for work. I feel worthless, not bringing in any income when I know we don't have a lot of money. All I ever do is spend it on groceries and baby clothes."

"You have no reason to feel worthless because you aren't," Santana said. "I am so glad that you get to spend time at home loving our baby, but if you think you need to work, then I support you."

"Okay, thank you."

I found a job listing online only a day later, advertising for an educational assistant at a nearby elementary school. So, I applied, but when a few weeks had passed without a response, I gave up on that job.

"I think I want to stay home with Everly a little while longer," I told Santana, realizing that even if I had gotten the job, it would have been extremely difficult for me to leave Everly during the days.

We had another video call with Miranda in the day that Everly sat up by herself for the first time.

"When can I really meet her?" Miranda had asked again.

"Soon," I'd replied, although I was still unsure of it happening altogether.

"I can't wait!"

Everly showed off all her new developments before we ended the call and put her down for a nap.

"You know, we should probably try giving Everly some solid food soon," Santana said once I'd breastfed Everly and she was asleep.

I nodded. We'd discussed it for a while already, but hadn't yet. "Maybe we'll do that tomorrow."

"Sure."

So, the next day, Everly was seated in her highchair, and I was mashing a banana for her to try.

"Would you like to give it to her?" I asked Santana, tearing up a little with disbelief that my daughter was already old enough to eat solid foods.

"Okay," she replied, taking the bowl and tiny baby spoon from my hands.

Everly grimaced at first, refusing to let the spoon pass through her lips, but Santana worked her motherly magic (what I'd started to call the way she could get Everly to do almost everything) and managed to get some banana into her mouth. After that, Everly ate almost the whole thing, clearly enjoying the sweet flavor.

Wedding planning while job searching and raising a baby was hard work, but thankfully I had Santana, along with our friends and family to help us out.

Since we did not have a lot of money, we decided to have a very small wedding. We wanted to get married in the park that meant so much to us, so we called the Lima city council, and they agreed to close off a part of the park to others for two hours on our wedding day, which we had decided would be in June.

We decided on Brittany's parent's house for the reception, since we were inviting only her family, my parents, and Jessie to the wedding, and we knew there would easily be enough room there.

We made our wedding plans quite quickly, since, to be honest, we just couldn't wait to be married. Then, Santana could officially adopt our daughter and we could make more legal decisions together. We felt as though once we were married, everything would legally be the way it already felt to us.

I could tell Santana was a little nervous. It was hard for her to constantly be out, even though, she no longer feared telling anyone. She hadn't come out to her entire family, but the ones who didn't know, she never visited anyway. I knew this would be hard for her, but it was also so exciting.

Any dreams of a honeymoon were placed on hold until our daughter was older. We decided we would go away for one night after our wedding while our daughter stayed with my family, and we would save up for a bigger honeymoon further down the line.

Santana's POV

As excited as I was to marry Brittany, I was stressed. Despite having a small wedding, it still cost money, and we hadn't actually been in a relationship for very long. I was scared that our relationship may not work out, and then I would not only lose Brittany again, but then I would also lose Everly. Still, I knew that we loved each other and would put a lot of effort into our marriage.

Brittany insisted we wear white for our wedding. She wanted to buy a wedding dress, her parents offering to pay for it. I decided to also wear a wedding dress, since as much as I'd bashed romantic traditions in high school, I wanted to wear one.

"Jessie?" I asked. "Could you come wedding dress shopping with me?"

"You decided to wear a dress?" they asked.

"Yeah, Brittany is, and I realized I actually do want to."

"I'd be honored to. Do you want your mom to come too?"

"I don't know. She can be a little controlling," I said.

"You should invite her."

"Okay."

So, the next week, my mom and Jessie came with me to go wedding dress shopping.

First, we looked through the dresses on display, and I picked five out to try, even though I didn't think any of them would look good on me, I knew I couldn't really know what a dress would look like on me until I was wearing it.

I needed a lot of help from the woman assisting us to get the first dress on. It scratched my legs and the skirt was so wide, I could barely leave the dressing room to show Jessie and my mom.

"I don't think this is the one," Mami said immediately.

"Yeah, me neither," I replied. "Time to try on the next dress."

The next three dresses weren't right either, and I only had one left to try on: the one I'd liked the most on the hanger. It was lacy and elegant. The moment I put it on, I felt comfortable (well as comfortable as one can feel in a wedding dress). Stepping out of the dressing room and seeing myself in the full length mirror was like seeing myself in a whole new light.

"What do you think?" Jessie asked, breaking me out of my trance.

"I can see myself getting married in this dress," I replied, turning to the side.

"It's beautiful," my mom said.

"It really is. I think it's the one." I smiled, playing a little with my hair.

After having my measurements taken so the dress could be altered, we left the bridal shop feeling even more inspired for the wedding.

Brittany went dress shopping the day after me with her mom and sister. I wasn't allowed to go with, since we were going to follow the rule of not seeing each other in our wedding dresses until the actual wedding.

Brittany insisted on us buying a fancy dress for our seven-month-old daughter, so we went to the same bridal shop together with her. We didn't invite our mothers or Brittany's sister, or Jessie, since we wanted it to be a moment between just us.

"Hello again," the woman at the counter greeted.

"Hi," Brittany said. "We want a dress for our daughter for our wedding."

"Okay. Do you want a flower girl dress?"

"I think so," said Brittany.

We followed the woman to the flower girl dresses, immediately surrounded by pink. At first, I wasn't completely on board with a pink dress, but they were the only ones Everly showed any interest in.

"What about this one?" Brittany asked, holding a light pink dress, with a flower design on the top and a poofy skirt.

"We can try it," I replied.

Once Everly was wearing the dress, we knew it was the one. Since it was roughly her size, we didn't need to measure much for alterations before leaving.

As the wedding drew closer, Brittany and I picked out flowers and a few more decorations, as well as food. Soon, there was not much left to do but wait and pick up our dresses.

A/N:

Hello readers! Unfortunately, I will not be able to post a new chapter next Saturday, but I will continue with posting a new chapter every Saturday the week after that. Thank you for reading!